The birth of Christ brings joy and thanksgiving and the cross

Posted on December 30, 2012 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

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Sermon for First Sunday after the Nativity

Isaiah 11:1-5  +  Galatians 4:1-7  +  Luke 2:33-40

Merry Christmas, my brothers and sisters in Christ!  Today, on the sixth day of Christmas, we are exactly half-way through our Christmas celebration.  Is that news to you?  Have you already started taking down some decorations and winding down?  Have you gone on to wishing people a Happy New Year already?

We should not view Christmas as “over.”  The birth of God as a man, the arrival of the Word made flesh is too monumental an event to have just a day, or a day plus an “eve,” especially for us who know Him, who confess Him and believe in Him—there’s too much joy and thanksgiving to cram into a day plus an “eve.”

But see how the Church has taught us to celebrate the birth of Christ; see how the Church has encouraged us to rejoice. After the pure joy of December 24th and 25th, December 26th brought us the Feast of St. Stephen, the first martyr—stoned to death for confessing Christ.  December 27th was the Feast of St. John the Apostle, exiled for his confession of Christ and forced to witness countless murders of his faithful brothers.  December 28th was the Feast of the Holy Innocents—all the baby boys of Bethlehem slaughtered by King Herod in his sinister attempt to snuff out the life of the newborn King.

In all of this bloodshed, amid all of this suffering that surrounds the birth of Christ, the Lord teaches us a vital lesson:  the birth of Christ is a joyful event, but it does not bring joy in a worldly sort of way.  It brings joy together with the cross. Living side by side with the cross there is a joy and a peace that surpasses all understanding.

It’s this joy that filled the aged saints who greeted Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus in the Temple, as we heard in the Gospel—Simeon and Anna.  They rejoiced to see the child of Mary, but theirs was no carnal pleasure, no earthly joy.  They knew full well what Jesus’ birth meant for Israel, and for Mary, and, ultimately, for Jesus, for the rest of the world and for us.  Through them the Holy Spirit reinforces for us that the birth of Christ brings joy, thanksgiving, and the cross.

First, remember what brought the holy family to the Temple in Jerusalem that day. The law of Moses required a sacrifice for the purification of the mother after childbirth—40 days after giving birth for a boy, 80 days for a girl.  A lamb was to be brought and offered up, or, if the mother was too poor, two turtledoves. And another law required that every firstborn son be presented before the Lord as holy to the Lord.  Again, the sacrifice required to redeem the child—to buy him back from the Lord—was a lamb.  Another day we’ll come back and study al that.  For now, just notice that Mary and Joseph brought no lamb to the Temple that day, except for Jesus Himself, The Lamb of God, who was, as Paul said in the Epistle, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those who were under the law that we might receive the adoption as sons.

OK, that’s some background. At the Temple in Jerusalem, 40 days after Jesus’ birth, probably after the visit of the wise men but before the flight into Egypt to escape Herod’s murderous reach.  Our Gospel picks up the account with the words, And Joseph and His mother marveled at those things which were spoken of Him. What things were spoken of Him?  The things spoken by Simeon.

Simeon was an old man, an aged Israelite. Luke says that he was righteous and devout, and waiting for the consolation of Israel.  In other words, he was a penitent sinner who was waiting eagerly for the Messiah to arrive, to make atonement for sin and to console Israel with the forgiveness of sins. And as he waited, he lived his life in service to the Lord.  Somehow, the Holy Spirit had informed him that he would not die until he saw the Messiah with his own eyes, and somehow, the Holy Spirit made sure he was in the Temple when Jesus arrived, and, somehow, the Holy Spirit identified baby Jesus to Simeon as the Christ. 

The things he said or sang that caused Mary and Joseph to marvel were the words that you sing almost every Sunday, if you attend church here regularly.  Simeon took the baby Jesus up in his arms and spoke or sang the words of the Nunc Dimittis, the Song of Simeon.  Lord, now you let your servant depart in peace according to your Word. For mine eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared before the face of all people. A light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel. 

There’s plenty in that song for us to think about, but for now, notice the joy and the peace that filled old Simeon when He saw Jesus.  Now, he knew, everything would be OK.  Now, he could depart this life in peace. And see how he pictures death as the Lord dismissing His servant after a long life of humble service. Simeon can depart in peace, because the Lord has fulfilled His promise to send the Christ.  Mine eyes have seen Your salvation.  There’s not a thing you or I need to do in order to be saved from our wretched sins.  Christ is God’s salvation—born to save the Gentiles and the Jews from sin, death and the devil.

Mary and Joseph marveled at Simeon’s words, and we marvel, too.  They’re joyful words that inspire our praise and thanksgiving, fitting words to sing after Holy Communion when we, too, have seen with our eyes and touched with our mouths the very same Jesus, the very same salvation that Simeon held in his arms.

But Simeon had more words for Mary and Joseph.  He blessed them all, but spoke directly to Mary: Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against (yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. Notice the joy and the thanksgiving mixed right in with the cross and pain, the suffering and sword surrounding Jesus.

Destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel.  Falling and rising.  It all revolves around Jesus.  He and He alone is God’s plan of salvation.  And people will either reject Him as such and fall into eternal condemnation in hell or believe in Him as such and rise to eternal life.  The Apostle Peter says the same thing about Jesus, Behold, I lay in Zion A chief cornerstone, elect, precious, And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame. Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, “The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone,” and “A stone of stumbling And a rock of offense.”

It is very much as Simeon says:  He will be a sign which will be spoken against. How true that was in Jesus’ life, and how true it still is today.  See what joy and thanksgiving Christ inspires in us who believe in Him.  And see how bitterly the world speaks against Him, especially against Him as the only God and the only Savior.  Some hate even the mention of Jesus’ name, and try to rid our society of “Christmas” altogether.  But most people speak pleasantly enough about Christmas, about Jesus as a harmless baby, as a teacher of love, or a model of self-sacrifice, but only if you’re willing to tolerate Him as one option among many “great religions,” only if you present Him as a Savior, not The Savior.  Friends, there is only one great religion—the religion of salvation by grace alone, by faith alone in Christ alone.  Every other religion is of the devil.

Simeon warns Mary that a sword will pierce her soul as well, another allusion to the cross that accompanies this child.  Mary would know one day the pain of seeing her Son rejected, despised, mistreated and crucified.  See, even the most pious Christians, the most godly believers suffer under the cross that Christ brings.  There is no Christianity, there is no faith, there is no Christ without this blessed cross.  And yet, God assures us, and Simeon confirms it again, that it’s worth it.  Because through the cross, Christ earns the forgiveness of all our sins.  And through patient cross-bearing, God is molding us in the image of His beloved Son, even as He molded His beloved Son into the image of our humanity in the first place.

We can’t close today without a word about Anna.  Her words aren’t recorded for us, like Simeon’s are.  But the Holy Spirit has honored her with a prominent place in this chapter of Luke’s Gospel.  She’s not Simeon’s wife or “companion.”  She is a widow; her husband died after only seven years of marriage, and depending on how you read the text, she’s either an 84-yr-old widow, or she has been a widow for 84 years, making her about 110 years old, and that seems to fit the text the best.  She’s an extraordinarily old woman, a prophetess, of which there are only a handful mentioned in the Scriptures.  And as a widow, without a husband or children to take care of or to take care of her, she has spent about eight decades going to the temple almost every day, fasting and praying regularly.  It’s safe to say that everybody in Jerusalem knew who Anna was, and that Anna knew a good number of people in Jerusalem.

Somehow, the Lord also favored her by revealing to her the identity of Mary and Joseph’s son.  And when she saw Him, she broke into thanksgiving and spoke of Jesus to “all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem.”  Of course, those who were looking for redemption also knew what the price of redemption would be—even the precious blood of the Lamb of God, the death and resurrection of the Messiah.  So here, even in Anna’s thanksgiving and her faithful witness to those people in Jerusalem, you see hints of the cross.

Not only that, but it’s also safe to say that as Anna spread the word in Jerusalem about Jesus, this is how King Herod found out that the wise men had not returned to him, as he ordered them to do.  And this very rejoicing and thanksgiving of Anna fueled the fire of Herod’s jealousy that led him to give the order to massacre the children of Bethlehem.

And yet, in spite of the darkness that raged in the world at the birth of Christ, the light didn’t die out.  Jesus was kept safe.  And, as Luke says, He grew and became strong.  Light grew. Life grew and the darkness couldn’t put it out.  As the darkness of the earth grew thicker, the light of Christ began to shine brighter and brighter until it reached the height of its glow from the cross itself—a light that still shines through the ages and has reached us with the light of Christ, with His word of forgiveness, and with the Sacraments that cover us with Christ.

The birth of Christ brings joy, thanksgiving, and the cross.  But the cross won’t last forever.  When Christ comes again, He will bring joy and thanksgiving, and an end to the cross.  Until then, Merry Christmas!  Amen.

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The angels of Christmas announce our Savior’s birth

Posted on December 24, 2012 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

Sermon for Christmas Eve

Isaiah 9:2-7  +  Titus 2:11-14  +  Luke 2:1-20

God used human angels called Prophets to deliver messages to the Old Testament people of Israel.  You heard Isaiah’s words a little while ago announcing 700 years before it happened that “unto us a Child is born; unto us a Son is given.”  Powerful words, but words that were, at that time, pointing to the distant future.

During the season of Advent we listened as the heavenly spirit-creatures called angels delivered God’s message to Zechariah and Mary and Joseph that God’s Son would soon be born.  Soon.  Soon.

Finally.  Finally tonight we hear the Christmas angels their great glad tidings tell.  Not, “Christ is coming,” not “help is on the way,” not “Someday God will come to your aid,” but “there is born to you this day a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

“This day” was a real day, a real date on the calendar of history.  The fact that we don’t know the exact date of “this day” doesn’t matter in the least.  What matters is that it was a real day, not a mythical day or a fictional day or a spiritual day.  There was a day in world history, roughly 2016 years ago, when a real angel appeared to real shepherds in a real place on the other side of the world from us, with a birth announcement of the real baby boy who was really God With Us, Immanuel.

The fact that God made sure to have this birth announcement written down for us and preserved for us  and proclaimed to us these 2000+ years later means that God has us, has you in mind with this angelic message, too.  The Holy Spirit still speaks through these words to call you to faith, to teach you about your God.

And what does He teach?  Listen again to the angel’s words.

The first words out of the mouth of this angel, and of most angels in the Biblical accounts, have to be “Do not be afraid,” because when human beings encounter real angels, it’s a scary thing.  Not only that, but the glory of the Lord shone around those shepherds, too, and whenever that glory of the Lord shows up in Scripture, it’s terrifying for people, because the glory of the Lord is so bright that it reveals…everything that’s in a man. And the cold hard truth is that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

But the angel says to these shepherds, Do not be afraid.  Whatever sins you have committed, whatever doubts and fears and worries fill your heart, whatever hardships and tragedies weigh you down, do not be afraid, because why?  For behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. Good tidings of great joy…what could it be?  What would be the good tidings that would make your heart leap for joy?  Good tidings!  You’re getting all the presents you wanted for Christmas!  No, not that.  Good tidings! Your job is secure. Your bank account is overflowing. No, not that. Good tidings! All wickedness and evil and hatred and immorality have been wiped off the face of the earth!  No, not that either. Good tidings! Your relationships are all healed.  Your family problems are fixed.  Your health problems are gone.  All the tests came back negative.  No, no, not any of that.  And if those are the things you rely on for true joy and happiness, well…no wonder so many people have to create this artificial, superficial, empty celebration called “Christmas in America.”  They dress up their houses and turn up the music and the drink and make up touching stories in order to forget the real story, the cold hard reality of mankind’s sin, of other people’s sins, and of their own sin and its horrifying consequences in the world.

But for those who are ready to face reality rather than forgetting about it, for Christians, and also for those who would become Christians, the angel brings glad tidings of great joy that will be for all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

Born to you.  Now, it’s one thing to receive a birth announcement about a friend’s baby or an acquaintance’s baby or a distant relative’s baby.  Good for them. And it’s one thing to hear that a baby has been born to the virgin Mary.  Good for her.  But hear the angel’s words.  Born to you.  What?  Born to the shepherds?  Yes, but not just to the shepherds.  Born to the Jews?  Yes, but not just to the Jews.  If you have human flesh and human blood, then this Child was born to you.  He is your Brother.  Whether you acknowledge Him or not, whether you believe in Him or not, He is your Brother and a Son of the human race, a Son born for the human race, a perfect Child to stand in for imperfect people.

And listen to how the angel describes this Child born to you.  Savior.  A Savior has been born to you.  A real Savior to save you from your real enemies.  From sin.  From death. From the power of the devil. 

Born to save you from sin by living a sinless life in your place and by bearing the sin of mankind and suffering the wrath and displeasure of God so that you might have His righteousness, and God’s favor and forgiveness for free. 

Born to save you from death by dying for sins, once for all, and rising from the dead so that all who believe in Him will conquer death, too.

Born to save you from the power of the devil by stepping between you and devil and shielding you with His righteousness.  You think the devil has any power over those whom God has chosen? Whom God has united to His Son through faith? 

Never again.  For a Savior has been born to you, who is Christ the Lord.  Christ, the Anointed One, Christ, the promised offspring of the woman, of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, of Judah and of David.  Christ, the theme of the Old Testament and of history itself, who is both true man and true God, the Lord Himself, the infinite One, the Creator, He who is and who was and who is to come.  The Almighty.

You’ll find Him, the angel told the shepherds, wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.  Really?  A God who not only joins Himself to our humanity, but who sees to it that, when His Son is born, His first bed is a dirty, smelly, cruddy feeding trough for animals?  But that’s the kind of God we have—the kind who comes to us in meekness and humility, who comes to suffer with us, and to suffer for us.  Isn’t that the kind of God you want for Christmas?

No wonder the angels sing for joy in their service to this God. Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men.  Rejoice again on this Christmas Eve and sing together with the angels and with the saints and with the multitude of the heavenly host. Glory to God, whose highest glory is in His grace, in His willingness to descend to the lowest place and to show favor to those who don’t deserve His favor.  Peace on earth, goodwill toward men.  Peace is in a place.  Here is your peace treaty with God, born in Bethlehem, wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.  Here is God’s favor and goodwill toward men, wrapped up in this baby. 

You have Him, but no longer a baby.  You have Him, but no longer in a manger.  You have Him, now all grown up, crucified, risen and ascended into heaven and ready to come again to make all things new.  But until then, you have your Brother sitting at the right hand of God and ruling over all things for the good of His Church.  You have Him, the Savior born to you, in this Gospel that you’re hearing again tonight.  You have Him, Christ the Lord born to you, in the Sacrament of the Altar. And so we gather around Him here and now as He makes Himself present with us in His Word.  We gather around Him who is our peace—real peace, we sing for joy—real joy, and, as the angels themselves have told us, because this child was born to us, we have nothing to fear.  Amen.

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The Baptist’s Confession – our final preparation for Christ’s Advent

Posted on December 23, 2012 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

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Sermon for Rorate Coeli – Advent 4

Deuteronomy 18:15-19  +  Philippians 4:4-7  +  John 1:19-28

Since the world was supposed to end on Friday, according to some interpretations of the Mayan calendar, I suppose none of you were planning on actually making it to December 24th and 25th.  You probably didn’t even bother preparing for Christmas.  But here we are, two days past the end of the world, and our clocks are still ticking.  It turns out Jesus was proved right yet again when He declared that “no one knows about that day or hour” of His return.

Of course, every time there’s a failed prophecy of His return, we are tempted to relax a bit too much, and to our great spiritual peril, fall back into a worldly kind of unpreparedness, as if “there’s no way Jesus would really come back anytime soon.”  But He is coming.  Maybe tomorrow.  And Christmas Eve is surely coming tomorrow, if tomorrow comes.  Are you ready?

Let me tell you, you are not ready.  Your house may be decorated and your Nativity set in place.  You may have all your groceries bought and your presents wrapped and your activities planned.  But you are not ready for Christmas, you are not ready for Christ’s coming—until you hear and heed John the Baptist’s confession.  The Baptist’s Confession is our final preparation for the Advent of Christ.

And what is the Baptist’s “confession”?  Let’s turn to our Gospel.  Last week we encountered John at the end of his ministry, waiting in Herod’s prison for the ax to drop on his head.  In today’s Gospel we rewind a bit and meet him at the height of his ministry, after he had been preaching and baptizing for at least several months, after multitudes of people from Jerusalem and Judea and Galilee had gone out to hear him and be baptized by him, after he had baptized Jesus but before he had publicly pointed out to anyone who Jesus was—you remember that Jesus left for 40 days after His baptism to be tempted in the wilderness.  Our Gospel takes place right before—apparently the day before Jesus comes back to begin His ministry.  (How fitting, then, that we are considering this Gospel today, the day before Christmas Eve!)

Up till this time, John had spent his entire ministry confessing the truth—confessing and not denying, as St. John the Evangelist tells us.  He spent a great deal of time telling the people of Judea and Galilee how—in what way—they were never going to be saved, how they would not be ready for the coming of the Christ.  You’re not saved by living in willful sin.  You’re not saved by living in adultery or by stealing or by mistreating your neighbor.  You’re not saved by your rank or your position or your money.  Your riches mean nothing.  Your poverty means nothing.  Neither are you saved by your prayers or by your piety or by what fine and decent people you think you are.  You are damned both by your immorality and by your morality. 

John’s confession slammed every door in their faces—every path to salvation, except for one.  The Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One of God was coming with free salvation for those who wanted His salvation, and with fire and divine retribution for those who wanted salvation from somewhere else.

And so, as you can imagine, John’s confession was highly polarizing.  People either loved him or they hated him, just like Jesus. Many of the sinners and the scoundrels from Judea who had given up on ever being saved were thrilled by John’s message.  They came in repentance to be baptized by him for the forgiveness of sins in preparation for the coming of the Christ.  In the meantime, all the “good” religious people of Jerusalem, those who trusted in their wealth, those who trusted in their positions and their power and their own goodness, didn’t go out to hear John.

That included the Pharisees and many of the priests in Jerusalem.  They didn’t go out to hear him or be baptized by him, but they did go out, at least by proxy, to interrogate him a little bit, and maybe throw him a bone to lure him into their trap.

“Who are you?” they asked him.  He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” John was well aware that he was unique.  He knew his message was powerful because it was given by God. He knew the rumor was going around that he himself was the Christ.  And here, if he had been seeking earthly glory and the praise of men and the friendship of the church leadership, if he was at all concerned about staying out of Herod’s prison, he might well have lied or he might have at least kept the Jewish leaders guessing for awhile with some sort of cryptic response.  But instead he comes right out and confesses what he is not.

He confesses what he is not again when they give him the option of being Elijah. Maybe you remember from a few weeks ago when our Old Testament reading was from the last chapter of the prophet Malachi, who predicted that Elijah would come before the coming of the Lord, the Christ.  It appears that the Jewish leaders thought that meant Elijah would come back in person, and John denies being Elijah. But as the angel Gabriel revealed to John’s father Zechariah, and as Jesus Himself revealed to His disciples, John was the Elijah who was to come, not Elijah the Tishbite who had been taken to heaven in a whirlwind, but the one sent by God in the spirit and power of Elijah to call His people to repentance ahead of the coming Christ.

John confesses what he is not one more time when they give him the option of being the Prophet. It may be that they were asking him if he was “a” prophet, which would still be a pretty big deal since there hadn’t been a prophet in Israel for some four hundred years, since Malachi.  But they do use the word “the,” as in “the Prophet” that you heard Moses talk about in the Old Testament reading today, “the Prophet,” meaning the Christ, to whom everyone was to listen, or else God would take vengeance on them.  In either, case, John confesses, no, that’s not me.

Then John goes on to confess what he is: I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.  The voice of one crying out.  That’s both a small thing and big thing that he confessed about himself.  A voice.  That’s nothing.  A voice.  Not a sword or a superman. Not a warrior.  Not a king or a prince or a priest or a politician. Not a famous athlete. Not a shining star.  But a voice.

It’s a small thing John confesses about himself, because even as a voice he isn’t calling attention to himself or speaking about himself.

But it’s a big thing John confesses here, too.  He admits to being the very voice that was prophesied, the very voice that the Holy Spirit enabled the Prophet Isaiah to hear centuries before John was born.

And biggest of all, John was the voice that proclaimed the Advent of the Lord.  A voice that went out to everyone listening, “Make straight the way!”, because you are not prepared and you do not know His way.  Your immorality will destroy you.  Your morality will destroy you.  The way of the Lord is the way of faith in the Messiah—the Messiah who is not “going to” come someday.  I am the voice that is here to tell you, the Messiah stands in your midst!  Make straight the way by putting aside both your immorality and your morality. Offer Him nothing but a heart that is broken and ugly and fearful and helpless and look to Him in faith for healing, for He will bring it.

But if you remain attached to your immorality or to your morality, then the message of the coming Christ will not be pleasant news to you, as the envoys displayed with John.

They turned the interrogation up a notch.  Why are you baptizing if you’re not the Christ or Elijah or the Prophet?

I baptize with water, John says.  But among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.  Gasp!  “Stands among you.”  Christ is here, John declares!  What’s the connection between John baptizing with water and the Christ who was present among them?  If salvation comes from the Christ, then why baptize with water?  The water of baptism joins you to Christ.  This water is what makes straight the way of the Lord.  This water is what prepares a person for the Advent of Christ.  Water!  Not living a good and decent life.  Not you atoning for your own sin or you coming up with your own righteousness.  Water, included in God’s command and combined with God’s Word! Take that, human reason!

So, which is it?  Does Christ save or does the water of baptism save?  Yes!  Not one without the other, but both and in different ways.  Christ saves by coming once to bear the sins of mankind and making atonement for them with His blood shed on the cross.  Baptism saves by being the divinely ordained conduit that connects the sinner to Christ.  And so faith saves by laying hold of Christ who is held out to us in Baptism.  Christ saves.  Baptism saves.  Faith saves.  Not one without the other, but all together as part of God’s eternal plan of salvation.

All we need to know now is, who is the Christ?  Who is this Savior?  What’s His name? It’s the only thing lacking in John’s confession in our Gospel.  And to the unbelieving world, he leaves it a mystery.  But to his disciples who believed his confession, he reveals the mystery the very next day, in the very next verse.  He points to the man Jesus, walking toward him, and says, “Look!  The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”

So, through the Word of God, John’s confession reaches us today. The Holy Spirit takes hold of John’s finger and points us to Jesus and identifies Him as the Christ.  He points us to Bethlehem’s manger and says, Look!  There is the Son of God and the Lamb of God! There is your Savior!  There is your righteousness!  The Holy Spirit points you to the Sacrament of Holy Baptism and to the Sacrament of the Altar and says, Look!  There is your connection to Christ!  There is forgiveness of sins for you, and life and salvation!    

So, are you prepared for the coming of Christ?  Are you ready for Christmas?  Well, do you believe John’s confession?  Do you renounce both your immorality and your morality? Do you know that baby born in Bethlehem to be God’s Son?  Do you want Him for a Savior?  Have you been baptized in His name—or if not, do you want to be?  If so, then you’re ready.  You’re prepared.  Christ could come at any moment, and Christmas can come tomorrow evening. And you can expect that He’ll bring to you just what He promises, even mercy and grace, forgiveness and salvation.  Amen.

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Rejoice in the comfort of the truth!

Posted on December 16, 2012 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

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Sermon for Gaudete – Advent 3

Isaiah 40:1-8  +  1 Corinthians 4:1-5  +  Matthew 11:2-10

The picture on your service folder today says it all.  There is John the Baptist, behind bars for being a faithful forerunner of Christ, for preaching the truth about man’s sin and about Christ as Savior; with a scroll underneath, symbolizing the Old Testament Scriptures which prophesied both the preaching of John and the coming of the Christ.  The prison bars and the look on John’s face in that picture seem not at all consistent with the word printed just below, the name for this Sunday in the Church Year:  Gaudete!  Rejoice!

In the midst of real suffering, there is joy for the Christian.  In the face of the atrocities committed by the wicked, the massacre of the children in Connecticut, the slaughter of thousands more children since then in that carnage we call abortion, there still is room for Christian joy.  Amid the dark and penitential candles of the Advent wreath, the pink candle still burns.  Rejoice!

But how?  Why?  Human reason is stumped.  There is no God, says the fool in his heart.  A good God would never… Would never what?  Send His own Son to be slaughtered by the wicked?  No parent in Connecticut sent his or her child to school on Friday to be killed.  But God sent His Son into the flesh to be put to death at the hands of sinners in order to save sinners from their sins.  Rejoice!

Ah, but it’s dark and dreary in the dungeon.  It’s dark and dreary in this world so filled with darkness where the righteous perish and the wicked prosper, where the real world, even for Christians, is filled with pain and hard work, where death seems to win again and again and again and again.  How is a Christian to rejoice?

Ask Jesus.  That’s the best place to start.  Ask Him, as John the Baptist once asked Him, and then listen to His reply.

A little background first. John had done the hard thing.  He had set aside the soft, comfortable clothes and the delicious, regular food and turned them in for camel’s skin and wild locusts.  He turned his back on the cushy life he could have had as the son of a priest and went to live in the wilderness.  And then, rather than gathering a following by telling people what their itching ears wanted to hear, he told them the hard truth, every time—You are all sinners, condemned by the Ten Commandments, deserving of God’s wrath.  Repent!  Change your hearts!  Know your sins and grieve over them!  And then be baptized for the forgiveness of sins which will be purchased for you by the blood of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

But King Herod—not the same one who slaughtered the little boys of Bethlehem after Jesus was born, but a relative who was just as wicked—King Herod refused to repent of his adultery.  He threw John in prison.  And there John sat, waiting for the inevitable, waiting for the executioner to come and take off his head.

And the Christ to whom John had pointed and said, His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire — that Jesus was not sweeping in on a white horse to rescue John.  That Jesus was not doing anything, apparently, about the wickedness in Israel, not stopping Herod from slaughtering people, not kicking Caesar off his throne or preventing the abuse of the priests and the soldiers.  He was healing people of diseases, but thousands were still sick, the poor were still poor, families still had problems, and everyone was still dying.  Where is this salvation He was supposed to bring? Can He really be the Messiah?  Is He really the one who was to come?

John sent his disciples to ask Jesus, Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?  I won’t say it’s OK to doubt.  God’s Word should never be doubted.  God is not doubtworthy but trustworthy.  But if you struggle with fear and doubt, it does put you in good company.  Rare is the saint in Holy Scripture who didn’t fall into this kind of doubt about God’s way, God’s plan of salvation.  From Abraham to Isaac to Jacob, from Moses to David to Jeremiah to Peter and Thomas and all the Apostles.  One minute they would be the most steadfast and firm believers, and in the next moment, when hardship strikes, you would think they never believed in God at all. So if you find yourself struggling with fear and doubt, ask Jesus if He is the one who was to come.  It’s OK to ask, as long as you’re actually listening to His answer.

Jesus answered them, Go and tell John what you hear and see: the 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.  John, you may be in the dungeon behind bars, and you may be in the dark and unable to see what God is doing in the world through Christ.  But know that the light is still shining in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.  Even while you sit there in chains, the Gospel is not chained.  In the midst of Herod’s wicked reign and the Roman oppression, in the midst of the false doctrine being spread in the Church of Israel by the priests themselves and by the Pharisees, in the midst of the false belief that has taken hold of so many in Israel, Jesus is still preaching and teaching.  And where Jesus is, there the blind are recovering their sight and the lame are walking.  Lepers are being cleansed.  The ears of the deaf are being opened, the dead are raised and poor are having good news preached to them.

Now, Jesus was doing those healing miracles literally, but it was meant as a sign of the real, inner healing He was doing spiritually.  What was the good news, after all, that was being preached to the poor?  That they would now stop being poor?  No.  But that the poor in spirit, those who recognize their sins and their neediness before God would have their sins taken care of for them.  That those who lack righteousness before God would have perfect righteousness provided for them, a righteousness that comes, not by doing, but by believing in Jesus the Christ.  That Jesus would make them able to stand before God and would make them heirs of an eternal kingdom that is so much better than this dark and dreary world that it’s not even worth comparing with it, as the Apostle Paul says.

Right in the midst of this dark world, where it looks like Satan is unstoppable, the kingdom of God comes.  But it doesn’t come with loud trumpet blasts or with banners or with victory parades.  It doesn’t come visibly at all, yet.  Christ the Lord comes with His Gospel, in great humility and under the disguise of defeat, and He forgives sinners and shows mercy to all who look to Him for mercy, and comforts His people, not with a pretend kind of peace or a fake kind of joy.  But with the truth that God’s people, believers in Jesus, are loved by God, especially when it seems like they aren’t; with the truth that Christ Jesus is Lord, especially when it looks like He isn’t.

That is called the theology of the cross.  It’s the truth that in the manger lies the King of kings, that on the cross hangs the Lord of lords.  It’s the truth that the suffering Christian is a son of God and that the one who is persecuted for the name of Christ is the most blessed of all.

Blessed is the one who is not offended by me, Jesus urged John’s disciples to go back and report to him.  Jesus is offensive to human reason and to our sinful flesh.  His Gospel is offensive to human ears and His running of the universe is offensive to our human and fallen sense of right and wrong.  And yet His Spirit calls out and crushes our reason and our flesh and our self-made morality and says rejoice in the Lord always.  I will say it again, rejoice!  Blessed is the one who is not offended by Jesus.

And while you can expect that many people will be offended by Jesus and will go off in search of some other kind of peace and joy and comfort in this world, while some people seek to create a different kind of Jesus with a different kind of gospel in a different kind of church—you can know for certain that some will not be offended by Him.  Some will find joy in the cross of Christ who, for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Some thrive on this comfort, some live for it.  Because it’s the comfort of the truth.  Some people run away from this kind of comfort, but others run toward it.  You have been drawn to it and have become attached to it, the truth of the Gospel, the offense of the cross, and you have been grafted by faith into the true joy of Christ. And you’ll see.  Even as the comfort of the truth drives some away, it will draw other people to it, and it will be a pleasant comfort to those who are blessed.

Rejoice!  The Baptist cries out from behind bars.  Jesus is the one who was to come.  Expect no other.  Look for no other.  In Him alone there is salvation.  In Him alone there is peace and joy and comfort and forgiveness.  And at the end of the road, at the end of the journey through this valley of the shadow of death, you will see: the kingdom of God was victorious all along. We already know how this story ends.  It ends in salvation for those who are righteous by faith and in justice against those who cause God’s children to suffer in this world.  It ends in the destruction of wickedness and in resurrection from the dead.  It ends in glory and triumph and endless joy for all who long for His appearing.  Come, Lord Jesus!  And until then, rejoice, all you who hope in Him.  For no one who believes in Him will ever be put to shame.  Amen.

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Signs so that you don’t miss the boat

Posted on December 9, 2012 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

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Sermon forPopulus Zion- Advent 2

Malachi 4:1-6  +  Romans 15:4-13  +  Luke 21:25-36

Everywhere you look the signs are there: Christmas is coming!  The signs have been out there in the stores since Halloween, really, but in full force since Black Friday.  The signs are there in people’s yards and on their houses and in their houses.  The signs are on the radio and on TV, in concerts and plays and productions.  Even if you didn’t know the date on the calendar, you would know from the signs that Christmas is coming.

But we do know the date on the calendar.  We don’t need signs to tell us that Christmas is coming.  What we do need is to understand what Christmas is and what it’s for.  The world has all kinds of answers to that question, but the Church has only one.  Christmas is the “mas” or the Mass on December five and twenty that remembers and ponders and celebrates the birth of Christ.  It’s the Mass on that day on which Christians receive the body and the blood of the one who was made flesh in the virgin’s womb.  And Christmas time is the twelve days from December 25th through January 5th during which the Church continually celebrates the birth of her heavenly Bridegroom in human flesh.

So even with all the signs around us, we’re not in Christmas time yet.  We’re in Advent time or Adventtide.  And there’s a much more important coming of Christ on which we focus during Advent time—His coming in the clouds at the end of days.  Why more important?  Because you don’t have to be ready for the birth of Christ, for the first coming of Christ.  You won’t miss it; the event of the birth of Christ is already over.  We already missed it by some 2000 years. The Church is not expecting the birth of a baby or the arrival of angels to sing to the shepherds in the fields.  We’re expecting the coming of the Son of Man in the clouds, and all His angels with Him.

The first time He came in the meekness of a manger and the angels sang, Peace on earth!  Goodwill toward men!  But when He comes again, it will not be in meekness and it will not be peace on earth.  It will be with power and great glory, and it will be destruction time for the earth and its inhabitants, a day of fire, burning like an oven, and the time for goodwill toward men will be over and past.  Only those who are found on that day in the safety of the lifeboat that is the Church will escape.  The message of Advent time is, “Beware!”  Beware, because the lifeboat is about to set sail from the fiery, blazing shores of this dying earth, and if you miss this boat, you’re stranded forever, and worse than stranded, you’re locked out of the kingdom forever and you get to spend eternity with the devil and his buddies, and it will not be like one big Christmas party.

So Jesus gives us signs—signs to encourage believers and to warn unbelievers, signs so that you don’t miss the boat.

I keep talking about this boat.  That’s on purpose.  Jesus compares His second coming to the days of Noah and the Great Flood and the lifeboat that was Noah’s ark.  For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

You notice, Jesus says that in the days leading up to the Flood, life went on as usual, and the whole unbelieving world was oblivious to the signs of the coming destruction.  What signs, you ask?  Were there signs in nature before the Flood?  Not that we know of.  What was the sign that the world ignored?  It was this one man and his family building a boat, a boat that got bigger and bigger until it was almost as long as two football fields.  Everyone in the vicinity saw the sign, saw the boat.  They heard Noah preaching to them, telling them what the boat was for. But no one believed him, and so what should have served as a sign for them to avoid the coming destruction, didn’t do them any good at all.

It will be the same way when Jesus comes again.  There will be signs, he says, in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves.  Signs in the heavens, from solar eclipses to lunar eclipses to comets to meteor showers to planetary alignments—all these are signs that destruction is coming, that the boat is leaving soon.  And as for the earth, some years it’s one earthquake after another.  Other years, it’s one hurricane after another (like super-storm Sandy), or a Tsunami, or tornadoes, or destructive wind storms, or volcanoes.  It always seems to be something, and the more we’re aware of things going on in other parts of the world, the more we’re forced to realize—the signs are all around us.

But those are natural phenomena!  There’s a scientific explanation for all those things!  That’s true, or at least, so far it has been true.  But who is the God of nature?  Who set the laws of science in place and timed the events of nature to work in perfect harmony with His will and with His foreknowledge of the wickedness of men?  The earth doesn’t spin apart from God’s will, nor do the galaxies rotate except for His permission. And the One who set all these things in motion calls them signs of the coming destruction.

Those who believe Him will recognize these things as signs and will take the opportunity to prepare for His coming.  Those who don’t believe His Word will be like the people in Noah’s day who will see the same signs we see, but will not take them as the harbingers of destruction they are meant to be.

And there are the other signs that Jesus mentions elsewhere: war and unrest in the world, the moral decay of society, the love of most growing cold, the persecution of Christians from outside the Church and from within, and the false doctrine that will spread like gangrene.  Aren’t these things all around us?  Don’t we see the fabric of society unraveling around us?  Jesus summarizes it for us, People fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

You see that fear and foreboding all around.  Fear of the devil.  Fear of ghosts.  Fear of traveling because of the unrest in the world.  Fear of storms and natural disaster and of random asteroids colliding with the earth.  Fear of going over the fiscal cliff into chaos and poverty.  And because of all this fear, people turn from one spiritual gimmick to another to try to become more spiritual, to try to make things right with the God whom they don’t really know.  People crave a solution.  They crave an answer.  They crave peace.  They turn to drink.  They turn to song.  They turn to clothing and food and drug and entertainment and pleasure and gadget and technology, to this philosophy and to that false doctrine—anything to soothe their troubled consciences, something to make them feel better about themselves, because for as much as we try to drown it out, our conscience screams the truth.  You are a sinner!  You must die!

Those who finally realize that they are helpless, that their best efforts cannot help them on the day of the Lord are left with one desperate question. How can I escape the coming destruction?  How can I possibly stand before the Son of Man?

Jesus has one answer to that question.  The true Church has only one answer to that question.  Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved! 

The Apostle Peter teaches us For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God.  Then he talks about a boat: God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. The same water that brought destruction on the whole earth brought salvation to Noah and his family.  Why?  Because they were on the boat.  They were on the ark.  And the water of the flood that drowned the unbelieving world pushed up the ark and the believers who were on it so that they rose above the destruction and survived.

And you know what that has to do with you?  Peter says, This corresponds to something which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him. Through the waters of Holy Baptism God now saves people from the coming destruction.  He rescues them from their sins and from the condemnation our sins deserve and brings us into the ark that is the Holy Christian Church, the communion of saints.

But see, he says that Baptism now saves us.  Baptism doesn’t just put you on the ark.  It keeps you on the ark as you continue to trust in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in whose name you were baptized.  It saves us right now as the answer of a good conscience—good, not because we haven’t sinned, but good because our sins are covered in Jesus’ blood.  God has called us to trust in the saving power that He has placed in Baptism, so that, when you see the signs of the coming destruction and of the coming of the Son of Man, you should cling in faith to your Baptism and not doubt that, since you have been baptized into Christ, you have therefore clothed yourself with Christ.  In Him there is no more condemnation.  In Him there is no destruction to fear on the day of the Lord, but only forgiveness of sins and redemption and safety and eternal life to look forward to.

Now, will things get worse on this earth before Christ comes?  Will the signs become more spectacular and more frightening? Can things on this earth get much worse?  I’ll tell you the truth:  I don’t know.  But I don’t have to know.  Jesus says, Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.  It doesn’t matter whether or not the final sign has taken place.  Have these things begun to take place?  Yes, they have.  So, Jesus says, straighten up.  Raise your heads.  Your redemption is drawing near.  Our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed, as the Apostle says. See the signs.  Live in eager expectation of that day.  Take comfort in God’s promises made to you in Holy Baptism, but don’t take your position in the boat for granted, as if you don’t need to stay awake and watch.  Jesus says, Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.  But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.

That’s what Advent is for.  To hear the word of Jesus that will not pass away.  To stay awake and to pray for His strength to stand on the day of His coming.  His first coming at Christmas provided the once-for-all sacrifice that pays for sins, and that’s where our peace comes from to endure His second coming.  He’s brought you into that sacrifice through Holy Baptism.  He’s given you signs so that you don’t miss the boat.  And now, in Word and Sacrament, He gives you signs that continually make you ready for His coming. Amen.

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