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Beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish and at peace. In the name of Jesus, Amen.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, it would be so easy this morning to look at the gospel lesson as only a one-time event in the history so long ago in a country so far away, directed to a specific group of people, so as it has little or no significance in our lives today. Thus, it would create an excuse for our thoughts to wander during this rhythmic delivery of sentences that are linked together for this brief period of time, or for these words to enter your ears and not alter your mind or to take root in your heart. You need to understand that the Lord has preserved these words, his revealed word on this day through the centuries for you to hear, for you to take home, for you to read them again, for you to ponder them, for you to meditate upon them, and to inwardly digest them by memorizing portions of them so that the Holy Spirit can recall them for you and for those that are in your lives.
So here now, listen, there is one who is to come. His arrival could be at any time. For a man appeared in a desolate region near the Jordan River by the name of John and began to preach the things of God. Like the messengers of God before him, he spoke the words that were given to him. His desired audience, like today, they were consumed in their daily routines of making an income, caring for their families, enjoying the pleasures of life, and the list it can go on and on, but this man’s message was different from the other teachers. Since the beginning of all things, the Creator has been communicating with his creation and particularly to his chosen people, to his chosen people, through his prophets and preparing them for the arrival of the Messiah.
The message of the prophets has varied. They have varied from comfort to warning, based on their circumstances and their activities, but the main focus was always, always to point them to the one who was to come as the Savior who would deliver them from their enemies and to reign over them as their King. But with the passing of each generation clinging to more of the specific details, they were to wait for that glorious day. They were to wait for that glorious day.
Then life happened and time passes. Many continue to gather in the synagogues for times of instruction concerning God’s Word along with the encouragement and fellowship, but others excluded themselves. Many continue to gather at the temple in Jerusalem during the calendar year to engage in the defined festivals and to participate in the worship life in the sacrificial system as commanded by God, while others set these activities lower on their list of priorities, thus filling those days with other activities, filling their days with other things. And what comes to your mind with this is the parable that Jesus told about the invitation to the wedding banquet.
At the same time, many of those individuals who were walking the walk and talking the talk, they knew, they knew in their guts, they knew in their conscience as they hear God’s Word that they too struggled, knowing that they also fall short in thought, words, and deeds. As John preached, this preaching rippled out farther and farther as people told others how he had impacted their lives. Everyone was excited to listen to him because it had been 400 hundred years since the last prophet, the prophet Malachi, had he who had walked upon the earth and delivered God’s message to his people.
The power of God’s word through John was causing this multiplying response which gave evident as the crowds kept coming in waves and waves and willing to walk from near and to see and to hear John. No matter the inconvenience, no matter the danger, no matter the distance, they came. But what made his message so unique and magnetizing? He was preaching the Word of God in truth and in purity. He didn’t hold back anything at all. The wait was over. In one of the other Gospels, John is heralding, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. It was time for the Messiah, the Anointed One, the Christ, to arrive and to begin His reign and to establish His kingdom, which His people will live in security and in service.
He was preparing the people who knew the Word. It was time to assess the situation. John was telling the people that things are not right and ready. This repentance is initiated with the law which accuses. John gets to the root of the problem. The law does not save you. It is the Word of God that moves and enables the act of changing one’s mind. For in its full sense, repentance is a term for complete change in the orientation involving a judgment upon one in the past and a deliberate redirection in the future.
The law is a gift, and it is good, but it is preparatory. If a person does not believe that he is a lost sinner, that he is the object of God’s wrath, why would he see the need for a Savior? Speaking the truth, it can be tough. It can be tough for both the proclaimer and the hearer, but it is necessary for God’s means of grace. As some of the people were coming out to John, he said, you brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. These individuals thought that they were right with God through their own merit, and this baptism in the Jordan was only like another act of obedience that would add to their works.
He even confronted Herod, the ruler of Israel, who was under the control of Rome concerning his acts with his brother’s wife. God’s words against Herod eventually cost him his freedom with prison time that would lead to him being killed. Why? For proclaiming the truth of God’s Word. But the temptation, the temptation for both the Old Testament and the New Church proclaimers is to hold back from the proclamation of God’s Word, to preach portions of it while avoiding or twisting the other parts.
The reason that seems to be invoked today is that we don’t want to cause offense. We are supposed to be tolerant. We’re supposed to be non-judgmental, for God loves everyone, and one of the examples that I hear quite often in reference to this is that Jesus dined with tax collectors and sinners but the full story is that Jesus did not fellowship with them to condone them in their sinful lives but to call them to repentance which is in agreement with all the scriptures.
And it is because of this love, this going to and speaking the truth, we are called to go and to speak as God has revealed it for all people inside and outside the church. It is true. And I have seen it. It is true. Some will reject, turn, and walk away in unbelief, but it is also true that many came to John, heard his proclamation about the coming Christ, the Messiah, and believed.
And having the presence of faith, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. As according to Matthew chapter 3, Luke also writes, he was proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. So he came to be known as John the Baptist or John the Baptizer. Even though they had not seen the arrival of the promised Messiah with their own eyes, they believed God’s word through the proclamation given by John about the Messiah and all the gifts that belonged to them.
Many of the baptized sought greater clarification. As they would wait, as they would wait for the Messiah’s arrival, what are they to do? John’s response is this: whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise. This is God’s love extended to others and the motivation is not to utilize one’s resources to be saved but because one is saved, the resources given to him by God are utilized to serve others.
The Jewish priests and the Levites came from Jerusalem on a mission to identify who John is and to verify by whose authority he is speaking these words and officiating these activities. They finally said to John, who are you? We need to give answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself? He said, I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord.
With those words, John was telling them that he is the fulfillment of the prophecy that was spoken by Isaiah 600 years earlier as recorded in this morning’s gospel lesson. And this being true, then John’s message is from God and it is truth. Meaning that the time of waiting was over and the Messiah has arrived and is near. John was telling them, you think I’m powerful? You just wait, wait for the Messiah to arrive, for I am only a mere messenger. The straps on his sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.
John is only a herald in the service of the coming King. John is not only the last Old Testament prophet, but he is also the first New Testament evangelist, for the scripture tells us that in a matter of days Jesus of Nazareth would walk toward John, and at that moment John would raise his arm, point his finger, and say, behold. Translated into Texan, it means, hey y’all, look over there. And with an excitement in the voice, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
This is the beginning of the first half of the church calendar, which points to the public ministry of the words and works of Christ Jesus. You yourself who are gathered here on this day know that he has completed his mission and he has departed from this earth after his crucifixion, his resurrection, and ascension, where he now sits upon his throne as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He did it all for you. He did it all for me. He did it all for the world. Through faith in him and his blood shed on the cross, you have the forgiveness of your sins, salvation from God’s wrath, and life now and into eternity.
With the eyes of faith, we believe, you believe, I believe that Jesus is the fulfillment of the promised Messiah, a true God and true man as foretold by all the prophecies as recorded in the sacred scriptures as we prepare to celebrate his first coming with the day in the season of Christmas.
What does all this mean for us here and now? We are privileged to look back and to believe in this greatest event in the history of the world and to personally know, to personally know that God’s promised Savior as he has come to each of us through his word and the waters of holy baptism. But what now? As we remember the past, we live in the present looking to the future when our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ returns the second time as he foretold in the scriptures. At that point, he will reveal his new established kingdom and he will gather his people from the four corners of the earth unto himself where they will live under his kingship forever and ever without end.
Until that day, like many in the crowd coming to John, what do we do? What do we do? We continue in steadfastness, stand firm, keep the faith, fight the fight. But what does this mean? Our Lord Jesus found us lost in the wilderness, blemished with sin. He carried us to a place of peace and comfort. He cares for our wounds. He feeds our body and souls. He paid the cost for you and me to be healed. He provides for us the caregiver, and He promises, and He promises. In sign language, it’s from the word full. He promises to you and me to return in all glory and to take us to his mansion to live with him forever.
So for now we wait. We wait heeding the words of the writer of Hebrews in chapter 10 as he writes, let us not give up meeting together as are the habits some do, but let us encourage one another, and all the more as you see the day approaching. We continue in his word and sacrament as we live as forgiven sinners in Christ Jesus, extending his love of words and actions to those to whom he brings into our lives.
Beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish and at peace. You are without blemish and you are at peace with God because you have been washed in the blood of the Lamb and are covered with his robe of righteousness. In Christ you have peace with God and as he promised he came the first time he will also come again to sit as judge, and then he will draw unto himself those who are his own so to bless them with their reward, a place in his eternal kingdom.
I can’t wait to see it. I will. I will wait and I will see it. Amen. The peace which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.
