I think it is important to celebrate our baptisms today and to recognize that our own baptisms are located back into the baptism of Jesus Christ himself in the River Jordan.

God was in the process of revealing himself not only to Jews but to gentiles, people like us.

To fulfil Old Testament prophesy, the birth of the saviour of the world was first revealed to the Jews, i.e. the shepherds; then the gentiles, the wise men.  

So today let’s be like the Shepherds and go and see this little baby – this literally awesome baby who was already Lord at his birth.  He came for us, for you and for me. 

God did not entrust his son to be fathered by a rabbi or a scribe or a Pharisee or a rich merchant but by a tradesman, from a very humble village in one of the most humble provinces in the Roman Empire.

John the Baptist's question from prison is really the question for hearers of every age. “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” It is the question.  It sort of leaps off the page and lands in our laps.  What are we to make of this Jesus for whom we wait?  Is he real?  Could he really be ‘God with me?’  When John preached ‘Repent!  For the Kingdom of God is nigh,’ what did he even mean?

For all the gospel writers; Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and for the early Church, John the Baptist was the start of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus didn’t just arise out of a vacuum but is the continuation of what God had already been doing through the Jewish people.

So, welcome to Advent, when we look back to the birth of Jesus and all that that means and look forward to his second coming. And we are beginning our season of Advent by looking at today’s Gospel and New Testament readings in the light of the great hope we have in Christ Jesus.