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Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the text for this morning comes from the Old Testament reading, the prophet Isaiah. You may be seated. It is hard not to miss that this is John the Baptist’s Sunday because the hymns and even the gospel reading are about Christ’s preparer for him being John the Baptist.
John the Baptist has a lot in common with Isaiah the prophet. And what they have in common is this: that the people unto whom they preached, both Isaiah and John the Baptist, were people that were in pretty comfortable places. Now, everything in their life didn’t go according to all of their expectations, but there were laws in place and a power in place that kept things from becoming chaotic. It allowed business to be ran. It allowed money to be bought and sold for goods. And it allowed commerce to grow.
Even if in the Old Testament reading, Isaiah’s people were about to be taken over by the Babylonians, and in the Gospel reading, the people who were being overwhelmed by the Romans would finally be crushed in 70 A.D. when the temple was destroyed and the people dispersed. But at this time, when this was being preached, most of the people, most of the people didn’t believe. They heard these words and said, oh, come on, you’re a bunch of whiners and naysayers. It’s not going to be that bad. It’s not going to get that bad. We don’t need to worry because my belly’s full. I’ve got a house. I’ve got children. I see my friends. I can walk fairly safe in my city. Things are good.
Sounds a lot like our own nation, doesn’t it? I can watch my TV. I can go to my HEB. I can see my family and friends. I can easily travel, not only here within motoring distance, but get on a plane easily and fly to and from and expect to be there within a reasonable amount of time. Surely this world’s not going to end, is it? Surely Jesus isn’t coming tomorrow, is he? Or even today?
The prophet Isaiah proclaimed to the people of Israel, Babylon was coming. And when Babylon came and the people of Israel were deported to Babylon for those 70 long years, the people that got deported never saw their promised land again. They died away from their land. They died away from their home. They died away from their HEB. It was the same with the people of Jesus’ time whom John the Baptist preached to. Even though Christ died and rose again, yet within a few years the Romans came and completely crushed the people, slaughtering many, burning and breaking down all buildings.
But while they preached, only a few listened and believed. And part of that is because it’s a natural human tendency to find comfort in the tangible things. If my belly’s full, I’m comforted. If my belly’s not full, I’m not comforted. If there’s strife or contention in my house, I’m not comforted. If things are going fairly smoothly, I’m comforted. If my health is good and I can move about and perambulate, I’m comforted. If my health goes south and I cannot get up and move around, I’m not so comforted.
But that kind of comfort is a very fleeting comfort. It does not last, does it? Because your belly is going to get hungry again. Your life is going to have sin erupt again, either in yourself or in your loved ones. This society is not going to always be what it is. Comfort is only found one place. That’s here, where Jesus meets you, greets you, embraces you, forgives you, and loves you.
But you live kind of a dual existence, don’t you? You live a counter-cultural reality, don’t you? You live in this world that has all kinds of things accosting you and your faith. And it’s trying to tell you to kind of take note but stay comfortable. Be aware of it, but stay comfortable. Two men were slaughtered recently—one from America, one from South Africa. We watched. We regretted that such a thing would happen. Change the channel. Let’s see what’s going on with K-State and Baylor. We hear about eruptions in other parts of the world. We watch them. We’re concerned. Change the channel. How are the Texans doing and the Cowboys?
The distractions that lie in this world aren’t new. They’ve always been distractions in the world. And just as the people of Israel had to realize that they would not be saved because they were just God’s people, so we have to realize that technology, no matter how advanced it has become, just in your short lifetime, if you’re young, or in our lifetime as older people, will not bring true comfort. In fact, if anything, it raises a whole bunch of other issues.
And yet you are continually accosted by comfort found out there and not here. And lulled into a state of pseudo-comfort, we could say. Meaning, I’m going to find some comfort because it’s close and I can see it and feel it and taste it. But abstract comfort beyond me, I’m not going to think about or worry about until everything comes crashing down upon you.
Isn’t it interesting, and haven’t you noticed, that when the world falls apart in your life—in your marriage, with your children, with your parents—all of a sudden you begin to see comfort. This comfort fleeting from you that was found to be so close at hand before. And then all of a sudden the sweetness of the comfort that’s here becomes all the more sweet and rich.
Well, don’t you worry. You’re just like me. And like every other Tom, Dick, and Harry and Jane and Judy in this congregation, we’re all the same. And we need to hear again and again the message of John the Baptist, the message of Isaiah that says, “Here is where comfort is to be found. In sins being forgiven, in peace being restored, but not peace you can see, peace you know by faith.”
For what Isaiah revealed about all flesh shall see the glory of the Lord, the birth of Christ, the one born in that stable in Bethlehem. But not everybody believes it, do they? All flesh have seen the glory of God, the crucifixion of that same one, but not everybody believes it. Because of what we’re accosted with by out there.
Oh yeah, let’s not forget what we carry around within our bosom—our own sinfulness that’s so appealing to that. It’s interesting that the glory of the Lord really was revealed in this frail infant who was born of an even more frail mother. And yet, that infant born of that frail mother ruled the universe. Yes. And allows all things to happen to you and to Mary and Joseph, his own mother and father—stepfather, you could say, or half-father, or whatever you want to call him, a guardian at best.
This is the one who tends his flock like a shepherd. Isn’t it interesting? The lost lamb doesn’t give a care about his shepherd until he realizes he is lost. You’re not really comforted unless you realize everything else that brings pseudo-comfort has been taken from you. Then true comfort seeps in and is relished by you. That is the way of our flesh. And that is the relevance of Isaiah’s message. This Christ for you, this Christus pro nobis.
It’s interesting; we think that the message should make a difference that’s perceptible. If this message is all about the comfort of our Lord, then why doesn’t it make a difference in what I see and experience every day? Why doesn’t it change this person? Why doesn’t it change my existence? Why doesn’t it make a difference out there in this world that is harassing you?
It is. It has. You’re the living testimony of it because it has in you. And God works to bring it to the world today through you. It is the will of the Lord that this message, which the world sees as complete foolishness, is continued among us.
When you go over to the old-fashioned Christmas after this service, you will see youth doing what you did when you were little. You’ll see the little dresses, the tights, the patent leather shoes. You’ll see the ties and the little jackets that the boys wore. You’ll hear the same message that you said when you were that age and your mother primped over your hair so that you would look so good. Because that is what God’s will is for us here at St. Paul.
Is that this message that brings true comfort is for those babies that sit in your lap and when you sit in your mommy and daddy’s lap before you. That is God’s will here among us at St. Paul. And he wishes to continue that message through no other means than faulty and frail human beings like you and me. Whether we think we’re vibrant and full of life or whether we think we’ve outlived our usefulness, God wishes to accomplish that through you.
The prophet said, “Stand up on the mountaintop, shout loud.” Well, I don’t want to see you out there on top of the UT Tower doing that, or otherwise the police might be coming for you and we’ll have a brand new situation. But it is the people that God has placed in your life that you will make a difference. You may not perceive it, and it may not be always so relevant in your mind as if, but by faith you know that.
The prophet said, “All flesh is like grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of your Lord stands forever.” That is what you and I were born and baptized into. That is what you and I will die in. And that is what our children and grandchildren will continue to be born and baptized into. And the message will continue, regardless of what happens outside these walls. Because God is doing it through you. Your living testimony of his mercy and his forgiveness. Your living testimony and your family is of grace and what grace really is—undeserved kindness, goodness, and mercy.
In the name of Jesus, amen. The peace of God which passes all understanding. Keep your hearts and your minds on Christ Jesus to life everlasting, amen.
