"Christ was to come humbly and unassumingly, without any of the show and ostentation that is so impressive, particularly to fleshly minds. He was to conquer the world with His Word and His miracles, not with gun or sword or physical might. For this reason it was not an angel who was sent to succeed Moses, the prophets, the priests, and the Levites as a messenger of God. It was a man, whose name was John. Yet he was more than a prophet, as Christ bears witness concerning him (Mt 11:9). He was sent by God, that is, he did not come on his own, unauthorized, to go before the Lord. He was to rap at the doors, arouse the Jews, and testify of the Lord who had been promised them, saying: 'Open your doors and gates. Your Savior, for whom you have waited so long, has arrived! Awake! Behold, the new Light is present, the Light which was with God from the beginning, who is the eternal God, and who has now become man! See to it that you do not let Him go unnoticed! This is Christ the Lord, for whom you have waited so long and for whom you have yearned and sighed. He is standing before your door. Yes, He is among you (Jn 1:26). Go out to meet Him! Receive your Lord, and accept Him! To forestall any excuse on your part that you would gladly have received Him if only you had been informed, ample announcement and testimony has been given you.'

 

"This announcement and testimony came, first of all,by means of that new miracle, baptism, and then through that beloved and worthy man, John the Baptist, who enjoyed the esteem of the Jewish people. He was an excellent, saintly man. The people revered him as though he were Christ (Lk 3:15; Jn 1:20). Although he performed no miracles, the angel sent by God to Zechariah bore this fine testimony concerning him even before his conception, that he would be great before the Lord (Lk 1:15). He was filled with the Holy Spirit while still in his mother's womb. His conception and birth were miraculous, since his mother Elizabeth was by nature barren and also well advanced in years. When his father doubted the angel's message, he was struck dumb (Lk 1:20) and did not regain his speech until after the child's birth (Lk 1:64). All these facts had been noised abroad and were common knowledge among the Jewish people, as we can gather from Lk 1:65.

 

"Accordingly, he also bore an appropriate name, namely, John, which means 'rich in grace.' This name was given to him by the angel before his birth. He did not have to put up with a chance name as other people do, but he received a name that conferred what it meant, as all other names chosen and conferred by God do. Thus also God's own beloved Son was not called Jesus without reason, but because He was to save His people from their sins (Mt 1:21). Thus John does not have this name because of his person. He has it because of his office and his testimony. For he was not to preach and testify of himself, of his food and clothing, but of Christ, who had now appeared, for the salvation and consolation not only of the Jews but of the entire world. Therefore he points at Christ with his finger and says: 'Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world' (Jn 1:29). By virtue of this testimony and proclamation he deserves to be called a delightful preacher, rich in grace, one who does not preach the Law (through which comes knowledge of sin [Rm 3:20] and which makes sin abound [Rm 5:20], which strikes terror into the heart and provokes it to wrath), but the Gospel of God's mercy for the sake of Christ, who bore our sins and rendered satisfaction for them." 

 

 Martin Luther, Sermons on John, 1.6