Category: Sermon Page

First Sunday after Christmas
December 26, 2021

“The Firstborn Son Is Presented in the Temple” (Luke 2:22-40)

Yesterday was Christmas, and now we’re into the days after Christmas. For us, these days mean eating leftovers, returning gifts that don’t fit, and taking down the decorations. But what about for Jesus? What did the days after his birth mean for him? Our text is one the few places we have an account of what happened during that time. It’s the story of what happened forty days after his birth, when “The Firstborn Son Is Presented in the Temple.”

Actually, the first event after Christmas we have is found in the one verse between Christ’s birth and our text today. In Luke 2:21, we’re told that on the eighth day he was circumcised and given the name Jesus. That was on the eighth day, one week after his birth. Then in verse 22, the beginning of our text today, we come to the next event Luke gives us in his infancy narrative. It’s the presentation of this firstborn son, on the fortieth day, at the temple in Jerusalem. That’s how these things were done in Jewish families. After forty days, the mother was purified, that is, she was considered ready to reenter the temple grounds after being ritually unclean after giving birth. And, after forty days, in the case of a firstborn son, which is what Jesus was, that son was presented to the Lord, consecrated to the Lord, at the temple. The purification of the mother and the presentation of the firstborn son both took place on the fortieth day, after the child’s birth. And for the presentation of the firstborn, sacrifices were offered at the temple in Jerusalem.

That’s what’s going on here: “And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, ‘Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord’) and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, ‘a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.’”

Notice the emphasis on the Law being fulfilled. That’s what Jesus came to do, and he starts doing it even from infancy. The circumcision on the eighth day, when Christ first shed his holy blood. The presentation on the fortieth day, when Christ first entered the temple. Right off the bat little Jesus is busy fulfilling the Law of the Lord in our place. This will continue and reach its climax years later on the cross. But Jesus sets out on his Law-fulfilling work right away, even in his infancy, in the circumcision and the presentation.

There’s some history behind this practice of presenting the firstborn. It goes back to the Exodus and the plague of the death of the firstborn that the Lord sent upon Egypt. That was the tenth and last plague that led to the people of Israel being let go and set free from their bondage. All the firstborn in Egypt were struck down that night, save for the families of the Israelites, whose homes were marked with the blood of the lamb. The angel of death passed over them. The lives of the firstborn of Israel were spared. Therefore, all the firstborn sons of Israel thereafter were to be set apart, consecrated to the Lord’s service.

This law applied to all twelve tribes of Israel. The firstborn sons of all the tribes were to be set aside to the Lord’s service. But there was a substitute clause provided with the law. One tribe, the tribe of Levi, would serve as a kind of “designated hitter” for all the others. The Levites would “pinch-hit” for all those firstborn sons in the service of the Lord. The Levites were the “church worker” tribe, if you will. The men who worked at the tabernacle and later at the temple–the priests, especially–all came from the tribe of Levi. But for the firstborn sons from all the other tribes to “get out of the draft,” so to speak, their parents would offer up a sacrifice at the temple as the price that released their sons from that obligation. That’s what Mary and Joseph are doing for this firstborn son. They’re not from the tribe of Levi but from the tribe of Judah. Tribe of Judah, kings. Tribe of Levi, priests. Jesus is from the tribe of Judah. But he is a firstborn son, and that’s why he’s presented at the temple on the fortieth day.

Even though he’s not from the tribe of Levi, and even though the sacrifice price is paid to get him out of priestly service, there is no “draft-dodging” for this boy. He truly is holy, consecrated to the Lord, as no other son is, whether firstborn or Levite or whatever. Jesus is drafted into the Lord’s service from the get-go, and there’s no going AWOL. Jesus will carry out the greatest priestly service when he offers up his life as the perfect sacrifice for all sin. His body and his blood are the offering, whole and complete and holy.

When Jesus is presented at the temple, this is a foreshadowing of his entire priestly service on our behalf. Years later, on Good Friday, Christ will shed his blood on the cross as the once-and-for-all atoning sacrifice, fulfilling the Law in our stead, paying the price by which our lives are spared. Death passes over us because we are marked with the blood of the Lamb of God. All this gets underway when this firstborn son is presented at the temple.

There are two aged saints at the temple who recognize this. Their names are Simeon and Anna. They see in this baby Jesus the Savior who came to fulfill the promises the Lord had given to Israel. Not only is Jesus the great High Priest, greater than any from the tribe of Levi, he is also the great King from the tribe of Judah. He is the Messiah, the Christ. Simeon and Anna can see this. Oh, it wasn’t as though there was a halo shining around this particular baby’s head, to mark him out as the Messiah. Rather, this was revealed to Simeon and Anna by a special work of the Holy Spirit. They see Jesus, and in him they see the Savior, the fulfillment of what they had been waiting for.

We first encounter Simeon: “Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God. . . .”

Notice what Simeon was waiting for: the “consolation of Israel.” “Consolation” means “comfort.” Think of that great prophecy from Isaiah 40: “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.” That’s the comfort, that’s the consolation, that Simeon was waiting for. The Lord had told him that he would not die before he saw the consolation come in the person of the Christ. Now, finally, he does see him, in the little baby being brought into the temple courts. Here is the long-awaited Messiah!

Simeon takes the little baby in his arms and says: “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.” This song of Simeon has come into the church’s liturgy as the canticle the Nunc Dimittis. We sing this song after Communion, because, having encountered Christ up close and personal, now we are ready to depart, whether that means departing the service or even departing this life. Now we can depart in peace. Through the child he held in his arms and beheld with his eyes, Simeon saw the Lord’s salvation in the person of the Christ. Same with us, brothers and sisters, when we receive Christ’s body and blood in the Sacrament. We’re ready to depart in peace.

Simeon says that this child is the salvation God has prepared “in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.” But how will this salvation come about? In darkness and in pain. The shadow of the cross is present at the presentation. Simeon says to Mary: “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.” Jesus will suffer opposition. He will be spoken against by his enemies. They will conspire against him and have him put to death. And the death of her firstborn son will be like a sword piercing Mary’s soul, causing her great grief, as she stands at the cross and sees her son dying.

But there could be no other way. This is the only way salvation could come. It takes the death of God’s only-begotten Son to do the job. Only his holy blood, only his priestly service of offering up the perfect sacrifice, would suffice. And it is more than enough to do the job for you. You are saved from eternal death and condemnation. You are saved for life at peace with God and eternal life forever. This is the consolation Simeon was waiting for and he found in Jesus.

There’s one other saint we want to meet, and that is Anna. It says that Anna was “waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.” “Redemption” means being set free, liberated. Anna sees her Redeemer, her liberator, in this child. Yes, Jesus Christ has redeemed us lost and condemned persons, purchased and won us from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil. He redeemed us by his holy precious blood and his innocent suffering and death. And the redemption he won for us is an eternal home in his kingdom.

Consolation and redemption, salvation and peace–these are the gifts Jesus brings with him when he enters the temple. He is the firstborn son, the infant priest. In the temple, here in this temple, we find the same Christ and receive his same gifts. In him we find our consolation and our redemption. In Christ, we find our salvation and our peace. Here in the temple, the firstborn son is presented for us. And so we sing with Simeon, “Lord, now you let your servant depart in peace, for my eyes have seen your salvation.”

The Nativity of Our Lord: Christmas Day
Saturday, December 25, 2021

“Making Known What the Lord Has Made Known to Us” (Luke 2:15-20)

Last night our message had to do with the “Good News of a Great Joy.” The news went out when Christ was born in Bethlehem. An angel appeared to some shepherds out in their field, telling them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” And then a multitude of the heavenly host began praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” So that was the good news of a great joy that came to the shepherds.

But what did those shepherds do in response to getting the good news? That’s what we’ll take up this morning. Our text is from the last portion of Luke’s Christmas account, reading again these verses: “When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.’ And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.”

Notice, the shepherds first say, “Let’s go see that which the Lord has made known to us.” And after they see it–they see the baby in the manger just as they were told–then what do they do? It says they made known what had been told them concerning this child. And so our theme this morning: “Making Known What the Lord Has Made Known to Us.”

Notice what has to come first: The Lord has to make known to us what he has done. Otherwise, we would out standing in our field–not “outstanding,” but out, standing, out in left field somewhere, completely in the dark. We would not know what God has done–we would not even know God–unless God first acts and makes known what he has done to us. That’s the darkness we would be left in, if God had not acted to save us in the birth of Jesus Christ, and then made it known to us. We were sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death, but then Christ came to bring light and life. This is truly good news of a great joy!

Good news of a great joy, yes, but not only for those shepherds. Remember, the angel had said, “I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people.” “For all the people,” not just the shepherds. This good news is meant for all the people of God. Now in this context, when the Bible says “the people,” it’s referring specifically to the people of Israel. They are “the people,” singular, the chosen people of God. And in this sense, Christmas is really a Jewish holiday.

Why? Because the birth of Jesus fulfilled the prophecies made to the Old Testament people of Israel. “Jesus” is his name; “Christ” is his title. The Christ, the Messiah: “Mashiach” is the Hebrew term; “Christos” is the Greek. They both mean the same thing, “the Anointed One,” which was a messianic title. Long ago the prophet Samuel had anointed David, pouring fragrant oil over his head, marking him as God’s choice to be the king of Israel. The anointing bestowed God’s blessing and the Spirit upon him. Some years later, the prophet Nathan came to King David and told him that one of David’s descendants would be the greatest king of all, bringing in an everlasting kingdom of heaven on earth. The term for this promised Son of David was the Messiah, the Christ. He would rule over the house of Jacob, that is, over Israel, forever. So the good news to the shepherds was first of all the fulfillment of the promise of a Messiah for the people of Israel.

The shepherds are told the good news of the birth of the Messiah. But what happens when the angels leave? The shepherds say to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” They want to go and see for themselves. The good news of the birth of the Savior creates a desire and an excitement in them. They want to go and see. That’s what they do: “And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.”

Well, gee, that’s great. I mean, good for those shepherds! They got to go see baby Jesus. I suppose after an hour or so they went home, had Christmas dinner, spent some time with the fam, and that was it. No, that isn’t what happened. Our text tells us: “And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.”

The shepherds make known what the Lord had known to them. The good news of a great joy was so good and so great that it had an effect on them. The shepherds just couldn’t keep it to themselves. They go out and tell others. That’s how it goes with the gospel. The good news is so good and the joy is so great that we want to share it with others.

And notice, the shepherds didn’t need a formal evangelism program to do this. They simply repeated what they had heard and seen. They told others what they knew to be the case about the Christ. That’s all that witnessing really is. Nothing fancy. No secret formula. Just tell others the good news you yourself have heard and received and believe.

Isn’t that how it goes when you get some wonderful news? You just naturally want to share it with others. You don’t need a 13-week program. You don’t need to be pressured or guilted into doing it. You’ve got something good to share, and you share it with others, so they can rejoice as well. You just do it. That’s the way it is with the gospel of Christ.

By the way, there’s nothing wrong with a good personal witnessing program. We’ve got a good one in our synod with the “Every One His Witness” workshop, and I’d like us to run that here in 2022.

See, I don’t need to pressure you or lay a guilt trip on you to get you to share the gospel with others. I just need to give you more Jesus. That’ll get you excited and joyful about what God has done for you in Christ. Think about it. Jesus is the Savior not just for the Jewish people, he’s the Savior of us Gentiles too. Christ is the Savior of the whole world, for every person on the planet. God loves you so much that he sent his one-and-only Son into our world, in our flesh, to redeem us from sin and death. This is the Big Solution to our Big Problem. The birth of Christ is such a monumental event that we even mark our history according to it, before or after his birth. The coming of Christ to redeem humanity, by his life, death, and resurrection–this is what all of history is all about. This is the meaning of it all. This is God’s Plan. Plan A, and there is no Plan B. This is it.

For all people everywhere, for all the people you know, for everyone you meet–the gospel of Christ is the good news of a great joy they need to hear and take hold of. Everyone who qualifies as sinner–and that would be everyone–needs to know Christ Jesus their Savior.

And God has put great joy into the good news in order to make that happen. We Christians, when we hear how wonderful the good news is, we are so relieved and we rejoice to know that God does not hate us but loves us . . . that Christ died for me, to forgive my sins . . . that the Holy Spirit has given me the gift of faith to trust in Christ . . . that God gives me eternal life, as well as the help I need to live as his child from day to day, to bear up under misfortune and adversity with a joy that goes deeper than my circumstances–when I realize and rejoice in all of this, I am glad and ready to bear witness to Christ my Savior. And I know that this is the best good news I can tell anyone else. The gospel of Christ is the one thing that everyone in the world needs, I’m sure of that.

The mouth speaks what the heart is full of. And when your heart is full of the good news of Jesus, guess what your mouth is going to speak? That’s right. We Christians like talking about Jesus. We know that God wants everyone to know their Savior. And when we have the opportunity, God will even use our feeble witness to spread the good news. Perhaps you’ll do that with the members of your family you’ll be spending time with today. Or with your friends or neighbors that you talk with. I’m not saying to browbeat people or pound them over the head with a pamphlet. I’m simply suggesting a natural witness that comes from a living faith, that speaks out of the joy we have and a genuine love for others.

Making known what the Lord has made known to us. We’re like those shepherds. We have heard and we know the good news of a great joy. And this news is too good and our joy is too great to keep it to ourselves.

Fourth Sunday in Advent
December 19, 2021

“The Miracle Moms and Their Baby Boys” (Luke 1:39-45)

Two expectant mothers–two miracle mothers, moms who shouldn’t have been–the two mothers meet, and they rejoice in their good fortune. They praise God for the wonderful work he is doing for them and through them. The Holy Spirit has given them faith to believe what God has spoken and what God is doing. And what God is doing will be done by the two babies they are carrying in their womb. Those two boys are going to change the world! They will change your world and turn it right-side up! And so our theme this morning: “The Miracle Moms and Their Baby Boys.”

The two expectant mothers, one old, one young. One is six months along; the other, newly pregnant. The fact that they each are expecting was totally unexpected! Both of them are pregnant when really neither one of them should have been. This meeting of the moms is the visitation of Mary to Elizabeth. Elizabeth is the older woman; Mary, the younger. Elizabeth is in her sixth month; Mary’s pregnancy has just started. Neither one of them should have been pregnant in normal circumstances. But the circumstances are much better than normal! Mary goes to visit her older relative Elizabeth, traveling from her home in Nazareth in Galilee, to the home of Elizabeth and her husband Zechariah in the hill country of Judah. But the key to this story is not just the moms. It’s the two baby boys they are carrying inside of them. And it’s especially the baby that Mary is carrying who will change your world and turn it right-side up.

Now there is a back story to each of these pregnancies. Let’s start with Elizabeth. She was an older woman, well beyond her childbearing years. What’s more, she had never been able to have children, even when she was young. This was a great disappointment to Elizabeth and Zechariah. Zechariah was a priest who served in the temple in Jerusalem. One day when he was in the Holy Place, ministering at the altar of incense, an angel appeared to him. It was the angel Gabriel, who told Zechariah that he and Elizabeth were going to have a child. It will be a boy, and they are to name him John. The angel said that God would have a special calling on John’s life. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb. He will be a great prophet like Elijah. He will go before the Lord to prepare his way. John will be the last great prophet before the coming of the Messiah. After receiving this awesome news, Zechariah goes home, Elizabeth becomes pregnant, and she is six months along when Mary comes for a visit.

What led Mary to go visit Elizabeth? It was that the angel Gabriel made another surprise announcement, this time to Mary. He told her that she also would be expecting a child she didn’t expect. But it wasn’t that Mary was too old or unable to have children. No, what made this pregnancy unusual was that Mary a virgin. She was not married; she had not been with a man. Mary became pregnant while remaining a virgin. That just does not happen. And this is the only time it ever would happen. But it was fitting that it would happen in this way, for the child Mary would bear himself would be totally unique.

Gabriel had told Mary many wonderful things about this boy to be born: “Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy–the Son of God.” Conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary. True God and true man. This baby Jesus will be the Son of God in the flesh. He will be the Messiah promised so long ago. Gabriel then added: “And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.” That’s how Mary comes to visit Elizabeth. They’ve got these miracle pregnancies in common.

This is where we pick up the story today. Mary goes to the home of Zechariah and Elizabeth. She enters the house and greets Elizabeth. The sound of her greeting is picked up by baby John, in the womb, and he does a joyful little leap! Remember, Gabriel had said that John would be filled with the Spirit even in his mother’s womb. So when Mary greets Elizabeth, the Spirit causes John to recognize that Jesus is there, in the room, in her womb. Everywhere that Mary went, the Lamb was sure to go–the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, as John himself would call Jesus years later.

The presence of Christ among us brings us joy also. The gospel sound that greets us here in church tells us that Jesus is here, and so we rejoice. Some of us are past our leaping prime, but the coming of Christ in our midst should get at least ten Lutherans a-leaping.

John leaps, and Elizabeth too is filled with the Holy Spirit. She tells Mary, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!” Mary, you have been given a great honor, to bear the Savior of the world. I mean, I am honored to bear the forerunner of the Lord, but you get to give birth to the Lord himself! What a wonderful blessing!

Elizabeth continues: “And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” Hear the humble faith in Elizabeth’s words. She realizes that she is not worthy of such a visitation. At the same time, she recognizes that her Lord is coming to her, bringing great blessing. Such a humble faith is truly the work of the Holy Spirit.

God grant us the humility and the faith of an Elizabeth: To recognize that you are not worthy to have God grace you with his presence. To know that you are a sinner. You and I do not deserve to have our Lord come to us with his blessing. It is purely by his grace and his mercy that he does. And God has given you the humility to realize this.

And God works faith in you, as well. As with Elizabeth, the Holy Spirit works in your heart, through the gospel, so that you trust in Jesus your Savior. You know that this little child came as our brother, in the flesh, so that he could do the job only he could do, to save us. Christ Jesus came to do the Father’s will, to keep God’s law perfectly on our behalf. And he came to offer up the perfect sacrifice that atones for all our sins. Jesus suffered and died a sinner’s death on the cross, taking the punishment that God’s law requires and that we deserve. Jesus came to be our peace and our life, shown forth gloriously when he rose from the dead, victorious over sin and death. He brings us blessing and joy by his grace.

When Jesus enters your house, you get all his blessings with him. This is enough to make a person leap for joy, as Elizabeth tells Mary, “For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.”

Elizabeth has one more word for Mary: “And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.” Faith–this is what we’re seeing here, all around. The Spirit gives Elizabeth the faith to know that this is no ordinary child Mary is bringing into the room. And Elizabeth commends Mary for her faith, that Mary believed the great things the angel had told her about the son she would bear.

These two miracle moms are two great women of faith. Both Mary and Elizabeth stand out as wonderful examples for us. They believe the Lord’s words, they receive his gifts, and they praise God for them. And listen, the Holy Spirit will work such faith in you, too.

Really, there’s a whole bunch of miracles in our text today. The way that both Elizabeth and Mary got pregnant, of course–in each case, it was miraculous. But also, the way that they both believe and rejoice in the good news of their Lord and Savior–that too is a miracle. Even little John gets in on the believing and rejoicing. Anytime anyone is given the gift of faith and joy in the Lord–this is always a miracle of God. The Holy Spirit works through the Word, working in our hearts, creating a saving faith and a blessed joy. And the great thing is, you and I have the same good news coming to us today. We have the same Holy Spirit at work in our hearts.

Today we have heard the story of these two miracle moms, Mary and Elizabeth. It was a meeting of the moms, yes, but don’t forget those baby boys! They meet also, Jesus and John do. And wherever Mary’s baby boy goes, he brings blessing with him. Even in the womb, he brings blessing and joy to the home of Elizabeth and Zechariah. And Jesus brings blessing and joy into our homes, too. When we gather with our family this merry Christmas–when Christ is the reason for our merriment–Jesus will bring the joy with him. And when we gather here with our church family, here in God’s house, Christ is surely present to bless us with his gifts. Christ is here, visiting us with his grace and favor. And because he is here, I’m about ready to leap for joy myself!

Third Sunday in Advent
December 12, 2021

“What Do You Expect?” (Luke 7:18-28)

What you expect and when you expect it will make you either satisfied or disappointed. For example, suppose that for Christmas your true love has promised to give you twelve drummers drumming, eleven pipers piping, ten lords a’leaping, all the way down to three French hens, two turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree. But at the end of the day on December 25 all you’ve received is the partridge. You’re disappointed. You ask yourself, “Did my true love forget about the other stuff? Where are the geese and the maids and so on? Maybe my true love doesn’t love me, after all.”

But then, over December 26, 27, and 28, you start getting FedEx shipments of various calling and non-calling birds. By December 31 you’re up to seven swans a-swimming. Now you’re starting to catch on. Your true love’s word is good. Your true love does truly love you. The promise will be kept, in full. You remember that there are twelve days of Christmas, and you can expect that the rest of the stuff is on the way. It will arrive on time. Even though you have not yet seen any dancing ladies, you’re satisfied that you will. In this case, you really can count your chickens before they’re dispatched.

What you expect and when you expect it will determine whether you’re satisfied or disappointed. That’s true of Christmas presents, and it’s true of Christ himself. What do you expect of Christ? And when do you expect it? This is the question that comes to us, just as it came to John the Baptist: “What Do You Expect?”

Our text is the Holy Gospel from Luke 7. John the Baptist is in prison. He was imprisoned by Herod. Herod had committed adultery by taking his brother’s wife, and John confronted him on it. So Herod was mad and had John arrested. Now here is John, sitting in prison, and he’s getting reports about what Jesus is doing–and not doing. Perhaps John begins to wonder why Jesus isn’t doing anything about wicked Herod or about getting him, John, out of jail. After all, John was suffering on account of the word of God. Isn’t the Messiah supposed to right the wrongs and punish the wrongdoers?

So John sends a delegation to Jesus to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” In other words, Are you really the Messiah? Because if you are, how come you’re not doing anything about all the evil that’s going on? John seems to be disappointed with Jesus. Jesus wasn’t doing everything that John expected.

How do we deal with discouragement and disappointment in our lives when things don’t go the way we would like them to? Do we lose our confidence in Christ? Do we falter in our faith because of these difficulties? That’s how this story applies to us.

Last week we heard John the Baptist crying out concerning the wrath to come: “Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” John spoke of the Messiah who was about to appear: “He who is mightier than I is coming. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” John was saying that when the Messiah appears on the scene he will right the wrongs and bring judgment on the wicked.

Well, now the Messiah, Jesus, is here! Yet here is John, in prison, suffering, while Herod, the wicked ruler, is sitting comfortably in his palace. No judgment is taking place. No fire is falling on Herod’s palace. No angel is letting John out of prison. None of that. And the only axe that’s about to fall is the one that will soon take off John the Baptist’s head.

What’s going on? What kind of Messiah is Jesus? Why isn’t the coming wrath coming? Why isn’t the axe cutting down the bad trees? If Jesus is more powerful than John, he surely ought to be more powerful than Herod. Where is the Messiah’s winnowing fork? He doesn’t seem to be using it, because the chaff is doing better than the wheat.

Yet John does have some scriptures on his side. He must have been thinking of all the prophecies that speak of judgment coming on the enemies of God’s people. For instance, Zephaniah 3, which you heard: “Behold, at that time I will deal with all your oppressors.” Well, right now it looks like the oppressors are winning. Or Isaiah 35: “Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God he will come and save you.” So John is perplexed: “Where is the vengeance and the recompense and the saving? Are you the one who is to come, Jesus, or should we expect someone else?”

This question is not unique to John. The psalmists often cry out, “Why do the wicked prosper and the righteous suffer?” “How long, O Lord, how long?” Believers of all ages have asked these questions. Maybe you have, too. When your loved one is sick and isn’t getting better, you wonder why God doesn’t heal him or her. When evildoers kill the innocent, you wonder, even if they’re caught and punished, how can that make up for all the loss and grief? When your town is wiped out by a tornado. . . . These perplexities of life weigh us down, and we wonder. We wonder about God. We wonder about the Christian faith. Is it real? And like John, we ask, “Are you the one who is to come, Jesus, or shall we look for another?”

Jesus answers John’s question, and he does it in a most effective way. Jesus says: “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them.”

“Tell John what you have seen and heard.” These things that Jesus was doing–these things actually, objectively, happened. John’s disciples witnessed them: “In that hour he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight.” These things really did happen. Amazing things. Acts of mercy and healing with God’s unmistakable stamp on them.

These are acts that had been prophesied to be done by God’s anointed Messiah. So Jesus is sending John back to the same messianic prophecies that had prompted his question in the first place. Take, for example, Isaiah 35, about God coming with vengeance and divine retribution. That same passage goes on to say, “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer,” and so on.

Do you see? These mighty works of healing and mercy were sure signs that Jesus is indeed the Messiah. And this guarantees that he will do the rest of the Messiah’s work also. But each in its own time. And in God’s way–a way that appears to us at times to be rather mysterious. But his ways are higher than our ways; his thoughts are higher than ours.

God’s way is to deal with the root and cause of all of man’s suffering and the wrong we do to one another. The root cause is sin. Our sin. Jesus will accomplish his messianic mission by dealing with that root cause. And he will do so by himself being arrested unjustly and executed. If you think it was unfair for John to suffer, how much more unfair is it for that to happen to the sinless Son of God! You see, John had the privilege of being the forerunner of Christ, not only in his life but also in his death.

Jesus suffered and died an innocent death. He suffered shame and rejection on a cross. And he did it for you! The Son of God took all the sins that you and I will ever pile up–sins against God–and he bore the punishment we deserve in our place. Jesus died so that you will never die eternally but instead live. By his righteousness and atoning death, Jesus Christ has won forgiveness–and with it, ultimate healing and life everlasting–for you.

Now notice one more thing about Jesus’ reply. He says: “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up,” and then, as the climax, “the poor have good news preached to them.” You would think that healing blindness, lameness, leprosy, and deafness would be enough. Then Jesus adds another item to the list: “the dead are raised up.” OK, appropriate conclusion. Hard to top that. But Jesus does. He lists one more thing: “the poor have good news preached to them.” Well, there you go. And that’s what’s happening here today. The poor are having good news preached to them. Poor miserable sinners like you and me–Jesus is bringing good news to us!

And that’s what brings you everything else. Through the preaching of the gospel, God is connecting you to Christ, in whom you have healing and resurrection and every other blessing. Through Word and Sacrament, your faith is being strengthened, so that you will not be offended by Jesus and fall away, but rather you will be able to carry on in the midst of all the sorrows and perplexities of life. This is really good news!

Today Jesus gives us the assurance that all the great messianic works will take place. The wrongs will be righted. Jesus truly is the one who is to come. You don’t need to look for another. He is it. What do you expect? Expect Jesus to come and fix all that needs fixing.

Second Sunday in Advent
December 5, 2021

“The Word of God Came to John” (Luke 3:1-20)

Every year during Advent, we get Gospel readings about John the Baptist. Why is that? Well, John’s whole purpose in life was to prepare the way of our Lord Jesus Christ. Likewise, the purpose of Advent is to prepare for the coming of Christ. So it’s a natural fit: John the Baptist prepares the way during this season of preparation called Advent.

In today’s Gospel reading, Luke begins by setting the stage for John the Baptist’s ministry. He writes: “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness.” And so our theme this morning: “The Word of God Came to John.”

But why mention all these guys, Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate, Herod the tetrarch, Philip the tetrarch, and Lysanias the tetrarch? These were all political figures at different levels of government. Tiberius Caesar, as the Roman emperor, was the most powerful man in the world. Rome ruled the world, and Tiberius was the latest in the line of Caesars. The emperor would have various local rulers governing under him in the lands that Rome had conquered. In the region of Syria or Palestine–which included what we know as Israel–the local ruling dynasty was the house of Herod. Herod the Great had been the ruler at the time of Jesus’ birth. Now, thirty years later, the territory had been divvied up into four parts–thus the term, “tetrarch,” “ruler over a fourth.” That’s where this other Herod comes in, along with Philip and Lysanias. In one of the four parts, the Romans sent in one of their own guys to run that area, and that was Pontius Pilate.

By giving us this string of names, Luke is telling us who the leading political figures were at that time. Then he identifies the leading religious figures, the top men in the Jewish religion: “during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas.” Why is Luke doing this? Why is he setting the stage for John’s ministry in this was? Let me suggest three reasons.

First, this introduction tells us that these events actually occurred in history. This is not some myth or made-up fantasy. No, this is real, down-to-earth human history. It’s like we confess in the Creed: “suffered under Pontius Pilate.” If you go over to Israel, to Jerusalem or Caesarea, you can see actual archaeological artifacts with Pontius Pilate’s name on them, as the governor of Judea–the same Pontius Pilate that Luke mentions here. The point being: This stuff really happened! These events actually occurred in human history.

That’s the first point. Secondly, Luke is telling us that while all these big shots were sitting in their seats of power, the really big deal that God was doing went relatively unnoticed. “The word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness.” What’s truly important is what’s going on with the word of God. Where the word of God comes to man, that’s where the action is. It may not seem important compared to what’s happening in the halls of power, but this is really much more important. “The word of God came to John.”

First, these events happened in history. Second, what God’s word is doing is the truly big deal. Now third, by writing an introduction like this, Luke is telling us one more thing. He’s comparing John the Baptist to the prophets of the Old Testament. It’s the same style as an Old Testament prophet’s “call narrative.” For example, for the prophet Jeremiah: “The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, one of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, to whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.” Luke gives the same sort of introduction for the ministry of John the Baptist: In such-and-such year of the reign of so-and-so, “the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness.”

What’s the point? Luke is saying that just like the word of the Lord came to prophets in the Old Testament, for them to call God’s people to repentance and faith in advance of a special visitation of God, so now the word of the Lord comes to John, for him to call people to repentance and faith, ahead of the coming of the Lord. Something big is about to happen, and God sends a prophet in advance to announce the news and to prepare the way.

The word of God came to John back then. And now that same word of God comes to us today. What is this word? It is a word of repentance, and it is a word of forgiveness. This is the word that came to John that he then preached. As our text says: “And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” Repentance and forgiveness: John proclaimed both, and so do we.

“The word of God came to John,” a word of repentance. “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways.” “Every valley shall be filled”: Are there places in your life where you ought to be doing things that you aren’t, low spots that need filling in? “Every mountain and hill shall be made low”: Are there high places in your life that need to be brought low, places of pride and being full of yourself? “The crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways”: What are the crooked ways in your life, the ways you rationalize and excuse your wrong behavior? What are the rough places that need to be smoothed out, in how you treat other people? Repentance needs to happen in your life.

This word of repentance is not some vague, general idea that we can leave as mere lip-service. “I, a poor miserable sinner,” we say. OK, but poor miserable sinners do poor miserable sins. Specific sins. Sins that can be identified. And John calls us on them. He says what repentance looks like in the particular. If you have plenty of the good things of life: “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” If you’re a tax collector: “Collect no more than you are authorized to do.” If you’re a soldier: “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.” And we can take this further. If you’re a student: “Do not cheat on your exams.” If you’re married: “Do not be mean to your spouse.” If you’re a neighbor: “Do not fail to help your neighbor when you have opportunity to do so.” Repentance gets rather specific. As John says, “Bear fruits in keeping with repentance.” Don’t let your repentance be just a sham or a game you’re playing.

Bearing good fruits means you’ve got to be a good tree. And all of us are bad trees by our sinful nature, ever since our first parents ate from a tree they weren’t supposed to eat from. And bad trees produce bad fruit. They cannot produce good fruit, no matter how hard they try. So first you’ve got to become a new kind of tree. And that’s where the second part of John’s message comes in, namely, the forgiveness of sins.

“The word of God came to John,” and it is a word of forgiveness. You see, all of our bad fruits, our poor miserable sins, need forgiving. And that forgiveness is what God gives us. This is how we become new trees and bear good fruit.

John “preached good news to the people,” it says. We preach that same good news to you! The word of forgiveness came to John, and now we proclaim it to you! Your baptism was and is a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. God buried that old sinful self of yours in the waters of Holy Baptism. Now you arise each new day as a new person, clean and washed and forgiven. Now you are a new tree. By the power of the Holy Spirit, you are able to bear good fruit, fruits in keeping with repentance.

You are a new tree, forgiven and fruitful, because of one tree in particular: the tree on which your Savior died. Christ came and died on that tree to win your forgiveness. John says of this Savior: “He who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.” Christ, the mighty Savior, was coming. He would be cut down in our place, taking the wrath of God we deserve for our sins. Jesus Christ died on the tree of the cross, for you and me, in our place. This then is the good news we preach: that you have forgiveness for Christ’s sake. What’s more, Christ our Lord baptizes you with the Holy Spirit, giving you faith and new life, making you a new tree to bear good fruit.

“The word of God came to John.” Luke is telling us that this stuff really happened in human history. He’s saying that the word of God coming to man, however “off in a wilderness” it may appear, is more important than all that the powerful people of this world are doing. And Luke says that the word came to John like it came to the prophets of old, showing that God was about to do a very big thing, in the coming of the Christ.

“The word of God came to John.” This word is a word of both repentance and forgiveness. This same word comes to you today. The word of God is calling you to repentance, telling you to bear fruits in keeping with repentance. The word of God is preaching good news to you today, proclaiming forgiveness, so that now you are free and a new kind of tree. And this word of God comes to you in the person of the one whose way John prepared: our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The word of God came to John, and now it comes to you.