“Surprising Answers To Challenging Questions!”
In the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[Amen.]
Dear fellow Advent inquirers, grace, mercy, and peace from God the
Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. [Amen.]
When all the world was cursed
By Moses’ condemnation,
Saint John the Baptist came
With words of consolation.
With true forerunner’s zeal
The greater One he named,
And Him, as yet unknown,
As Savior he proclaimed.”
(Lutheran Service Book, © 2006 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO.
346:1)
Gospel
Reading......................................................................................
St. Matthew 11:10
This is he of whom it is written, “‘Behold, I send my messenger before your
face, who will prepare your way before you.’”
Prologue: Well, here we are … already at the midway point of
Advent. Two Sundays down and one to go before another annual big Christmas
celebration.
Do you notice something visibly different [this evening / today]?
It’s the something that occurs every year on the third Sunday in Advent. It’s
the different color of the Advent wreath candle for the third Sunday in
Advent. Instead of blue, it’s, well, it should be rose-colored but in our
and many other churches it’s pink. The question that challenges us is: “Why
is it pink instead of blue like the other three?” The answer may surprise
you at least a little bit.
Remember that Advent is the season of penitential preparation not
only to celebrate our Savior’s past arrival on earth clothed in our human
flesh and blood that He created; but it’s also a time to firmly focus on the
One who is the sum and substance of God’s Holy Word, Holy Baptism, Holy
Absolution, and Holy Communion, namely, Jesus. But that’s not all! It’s
also the time to penitentially prepare for His Last Day arrival in all His
glory as righteous Judge and Beautiful Savior, who will raise all dead
people back to life and pronounce public judgment on them and those still
living as to whether they will spend eternal life in heaven or hell.
“How will He determine that final judgment?” is the next
challenging question. Well, the answer to that question will also surprise
many people. In fact, the Holy Spirit answered it for us through Saint Paul’s
pen: “By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not you own
doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may
boast.” (Eph 2:8-9 ESV) That’s right. No one can earn or otherwise gain
eternal life with God in heaven by accumulating a whole bunch of good works
here on earth. It’s solely His gift to us that’s received by the faith the
Holy Spirit gave us in Holy Baptism that focuses on (you guessed it) … Jesus
Himself.
Of course, there are an untold number of challenging questions
that have surprising answers. You know, challenging questions like: “Why
don’t we turn on all the Christmas lights in the sanctuary already?” and
“Why do we stand when we sing the opening hymn or a Trinitarian hymn
stanza?” and “Why are only men allowed to be ordained pastors?” and, well,
the list is virtually endless.
By the way, the current December 2016 issue of The Lutheran
Witness, which is the “Official periodical of The Lutheran Church—Missouri
Synod” dwells on many such challenging questions with surprising answers
such as “Is Christmas a pagan holiday that was co-opted by the Church?”; “Is
December 25 the day Jesus was actually born?”; “Why is Advent important?”;
“Is it enough to show up to church only on Christmas and Easter?”; “Was Mary
always a virgin?”; “Was it really a ‘Silent Night’?”; “Is ‘Xmas’ trying to X
Christ out of Christmas?”; and others. Another by the way, if you don’t
already subscribe to The Lutheran Witness and want to do so, just call our
church office and Bonnie or Mary will assist you in doing that or login to
cph.org/witness. You see, those articles as well as today’s Gospel Reading
contain what many readers will discover to be …
“Surprising Answers To Challenging Questions!”
Okay, back to the pink candle and the meaningful significance of
its color. On this third Sunday in Advent we take a momentary break from
Advent’s sad and sorrowful penitential emphasis and sneak-a-peek at the
upcoming joyful celebration for which we’re preparing. In fact, today’s
Latin subtitle “Gaudete” (it means “rejoice”) captures the essence of today’s
Introit, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your
reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand. Will you not
revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you? Let me hear what God
the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints …
.” (Phil 4:4-5; Ps 85:6, 8a ESV) So it is that the pink candle symbolizes
and draws our attention to the rejoicing characteristic of this third Sunday
in Advent.
Now let’s consider today’s Gospel Reading to shed more light on
this sermon’s hopefully captivating title. As we do so, we first discover
that …
I. Jesus Identified Himself with His Powerful Words and Works. (4-6)
2When John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by
his disciples 3and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we
look for another?” 4And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you
hear and see: 5the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are
cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have
good news preached to them. 6And blessed is the one who is not offended by
me.”
“John the Baptist [well, as you heard me say two Sundays ago, I
prefer to refer to him as ‘John the Lutheran, who was baptizing’] had been
imprisoned by King Herod Antipas about a year earlier.” While still in
prison he heard reports about his cousin’s rambunctious preaching and
activities. Naturally (perhaps reflecting our Missouri identity of being
the “Show me” state) “John wanted to verify the reports he had heard about
Jesus.” After all, Cousin John “had used images of judgment to describe the
ministry of the One who was coming. [But] Jesus seemed not to be living up
to John’s expectations of the Coming One, a title for the Messiah.” (The
Lutheran Study Bible. Edward A. Engelbrecht, Gen. Ed. Copyright © 2009
Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO. Page 1602)
So, from his imprisonment he dispatched a delegation of his
disciples to go and interview Jesus … ask Him challenging questions to
hopefully determine whether or not He really was the long-promised,
expected, and anticipated Messiah. They perhaps thought they would hear
from Him either a denial of Messiahship or a litany of explanations about
why He really was the Messiah. What they received, however, was a very
surprisingly simple answer: “Jesus pointed to His mighty works of healing
and His proclamation of the Good News to the poor as the fulfillment of
Isaiah’s messianic prophecies. These words and deeds verified that He was
the promised Christ.” (Ibid.)
Now there’s a very noteworthy example for us to apply to
ourselves. That is, the challenging question asks: Do our words and our
works testify to our confession of faith in Jesus and our Baptismal identity
as children of the heavenly Father? Or do they deny those traits? Do
people hear words and see works from us that are holy and righteous …
sanctified words and works that bless, build up, are truthful, defend,
protect, and assist others in keeping what is rightfully theirs? Or are
they sinful and unclean … words and works such as cursing, swearing, lying,
deceiving, slandering, disobeying, hurting, harming, coveting, and stealing?
The answer that may surprise you is, well, both. On the one hand,
by the Holy Spirit’s power we say and do things that are good, right, and
salutary. On the other hand, we often fall victim to Satan’s deceit and
influence whereby we say and do things that are sinful and unclean. While
our good words and works certainly don’t save us (only Immanuel’s good words
and works do that!), our sinful words and works certainly condemn us.
Thanks be to God that the Messiah, whom John the Lutheran Baptizer
proclaimed to be “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (St
John 1:29 ESV) did that very thing … for us! Jesus took upon Himself the
condemnation we deserve, suffered the full anger and righteous wrath of God
toward our sin, and atoned for it with His Holy life, innocent suffering,
and crucifixion death on Calvary’s rugged cross. All—every last ugly
stinking one—of our sins have been washed away with His blood that “cleanses
us from all sin.” (1 Jn 1:7 ESV) It’s because of that glorious gracious
fact that Saint Paul wrote in today’s Epistle Reading: “Therefore do not
pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to
light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of
the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.” (1 Cor
4:5 ESV)
But there’s still another surprising answer to a set of
challenging questions, namely, …
II. Jesus Identified Cousin John with the Old Testament Prophet Elijah.
(7-9)
7As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John:
“What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?
8What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold,
those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. 9What then did you go
out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.”
Just who was this seemingly wild and crazy cousin of Jesus?
“Jesus had established who He [Himself] was. He now asks the same
rhetorical question three times to explain John’s mission. Each moves
closer to the purpose described in Mal 3:1” (The Lutheran Study Bible. Page
1602.): “Behold, I send my messenger and he will prepare the way before me.
And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the
messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says
the Lord of hosts.” (Mal 3:1 ESV) That very much parallels what we heard in
today’s Old Testament Reading: “A voice cries: ‘In the wilderness prepare
the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the
glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.’” (Is 40:3-5 ESV)
You see, this John, this cousin of Jesus, this seemingly crazy and
wild baptizing fanatic who even presumed to confront Herod about his
incestuous sin, was now doing the same thing for the incarnate Christ that
Elijah did then for the pre-incarnate Christ. He was calling people to
repentance and faith in Him who is the only Savior of sinners, the Messiah
Jesus Christ. Yes, “John surpassed all other prophets because he was God’s
chosen messenger, specifically identified as such in the [Old Testament], to
prepare the way for the Messiah. He played a unique role in God’s plan of
salvation.” (The Lutheran Study Bible. Page 1602.)
Pastor Marks and I are privileged by virtue of the Holy Spirit’s
divine call extended to us through you to call you to repentance and faith
in the same Messiah Jesus Christ, about whom Advent reminds us that He came
to us clothed in our human flesh and blood through the Virgin Mary’s birth
canal, He comes to us daily hidden in the sacramental Means of Grace
instituted by Him, and He will come again on the Last Day to judge the
living and the dead. So it is with heartfelt passion and longing that we
cry out the words of today’s Gradual: “You who are enthroned upon the
cherubim, shine forth. Stir up your might and come to save us!” (Ps 80:1
ESV)
There are certainly innumerable …
“Surprising Answers To Challenging Questions!”
We’ve only scratched the surface of them this [afternoon / morning]. As we
have done so, however, let’s be even more fully prepared to celebrate the
nativity of the Savior of all sinners, knowing that …
I. Jesus Identified Himself with His Powerful Words and Works. (4-6)
and realizing that …
II. Jesus Identified Cousin John with the Old Testament Prophet Elijah.
(7-9)
As we do so, let’s carry on our minds and in our hearts the
repentant cry of today’s Collect: “Lord Jesus Christ, we implore You to hear
our prayers and to lighten the darkness of our hearts by Your gracious
visitation.”
Oh, and do enjoy this little sneak-peek into the grand and
glorious celebration of Christ’s birth in two weeks. Maybe even come out
[tomorrow / this] afternoon at 3:00 p.m. for our annual Christmas Concert as
we observe Gaudete Sunday with rejoicing Christmas lights, music, and songs.
God grant it all for the sake of Jesus Christ, His humble Son, our
holy Savior. [Amen.]
In the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[Amen.]
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