If someone were to ask Jesus who had been the most influential preacher in his life, I don’t think he would hesitate to answer. I believe he would have said 
John the Baptist. I don’t know that there was another person more influential upon the life and ministry of Jesus than him.
We don’t talk about John the Baptist the same way we talk about Paul, Peter, James, John, Philip, and Andrew — but the New Testament does. I don’t believe you can fully understand the life of Jesus until you first study John the Baptist. In fact, I will take it a step further: if you want to understand Christmas, then you have to come face-to-face with John the Baptist.
This Sunday, all over the world, Christians will begin celebrating Advent, the season of preparation for the birth of Christ. And all over Christendom, readings of John the Baptist will be shared and heard. His message was as 
rough as he was himself: “You brood of vipers! The ax is laid to the root of the tree, and every tree that does not bear good fruit will be thrown into the fire.” What’s frightening to us about John the Baptist is that he speaks the truth, God’s truth. And that’s what everybody wants, and yet that’s what everybody doesn’t want — because the truth reveals our need of God.
Before we rush headlong into Christmas joy, we need to take a moment to stumble over crazy, abrasive John the Baptist; because joy, real gospel-evoking joy, comes only by way of the truth. A Savior is given to those who are able to honestly admit our need of one, our need for salvation.
Maybe you can get to Christmas without first encountering John the Baptist. But you won’t find Jesus.
