Rev’d Mark B. Stirdivant, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yucaipa, California
✝ sdg ✝

No shepherd would choose to lead his flock of sheep into a barren wilderness. That is because at least a good and faithful shepherd is continually concerned about their health and safety. They are his sheep, they are precious to him, and he would not for all the world want anything to happen to them. If sheep were ever led into the desert, it would be almost certain that they would starve to death. Even if they were able to get by on the sparse wilderness plants for their food, then their lives could be claimed by the heat of the sun, or they might fall prey to wild animals and robbers lurking in the wasteland. If you were going to feed sheep, you wouldn’t want to do it in the wilderness.

The Bible attaches a deeper, spiritual meaning to the wilderness. It is the place where the devil lives, the place of sin and of temptation. We’re talking about a place that is obviously not the land of milk and honey. People who live out there include the man who was possessed by several demons, and he was clearly a menace to peace-loving society. After Jesus was baptized, He was sent starving into the wilderness so that He would do battle against Satan himself. It is the exact opposite of the Garden of Eden. Instead of the tree of life and streams coming up from the ground, it is a tree-less place of dryness and death. It stands as a reminder not of God’s rich goodness, but rather of what sin and unbelief has brought into the beautiful world that God created. The desert was where God’s people, led by Moses, wandered for 40 years because of their unbelief against God, and if they could have taken the direct route instead, they would have gotten to Canaan in less than two weeks! The wilderness is a harsh reminder of sin and rebellion against God. You would be hard-pressed to find God’s children living for very long apart from His Word in the wilderness.

Yet God, like the psalms say, is the Shepherd of Israel, even as the Lord is your shepherd, and to the amazement of all, God decided to place a shepherd to do His work of preparation in none other than the wilderness, of all places. Our readings from God’s Holy Word today tell us this shepherd is the famous prophet John the Baptist, and his title Baptist simply means “one who baptizes.” Everyone seems to think that the strange thing about John is his wardrobe and diet. Yes, he wore camel-hair clothes and ate locusts and wild honey, that’s the vivid picture we have of him. Yet the prophet Isaiah, who lived 6 centuries before, and the holy Gospel itself both tell us that John was, above all things, a “voice crying out in the wilderness.” Through this eccentric man, God was feeding His sheep in the desert with His Word. John’s preaching was actually the voice of God Himself, and God’s people of all times and places hear His voice and follow Him, even, strange enough to say, into the wilderness.

This faithful shepherd in the wilderness preaches “a baptism of repentance,” not a religious sounding speech, but real preaching dripping wet with forgiveness. This preaching of his really does something. It leads people to turn away from their sins and receive God’s forgiveness that is freely given in the waters of Holy Baptism. All who listen to this preaching are pointed to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. John preaches to you, too. Repent, be ready to receive Jesus. This is why the season of Advent prepares you for Christmas. The world around you is nothing but wilderness, and your own sinful nature within you is likewise a spiritual wasteland, full of unbelief and despair inside. If you let that sin within you have its way, and we often do, then you also deserve John’s rebuke, “You brood of vipers. You must repent!” Because the word of God coming from the mouth of John is the food and drink of forgiveness and salvation that you need to live in the wilderness of this world, the desert of your struggle against sin. And so, repent, confess your sins and receive Jesus who comes to you today, and who will come again at the Last Day.

Remember, John does not only have bad things to say. Isaiah informs you that this preacher in the wilderness has a wonderful Gospel word for you: “Comfort, comfort, ye My people” God says through His appointed servant. Be comforted, you who mourn. Be comforted, you who are anxious and in need of our Lord’s loving hand. For you cannot deceive yourself into thinking that things will get better all on their own. You cannot imagine that you can pull yourself up, dust yourself off and start all over again. You are attacked daily by the devil’s sharp arrows accusing you of your sins and trying to convince you that God does not care. By yourself you could not withstand such a barrage. Be comforted, God does care for you, and not because you now finally do what God wants you to do, but because He has reached out in mercy to you, poor miserable sinner that you are.

God will comfort you, this you can know for certain. However, be aware that you will not in this earthly wilderness of life feel comfortable. Remember, it is the Lord’s comfort, not the comfort you expect from this world; Jesus the Prince of Peace, brings a true peace that the world despises and cannot give you. You can work and struggle to achieve a comfortable way of life for you and your family. You could plan ahead on everything so that you could get through this hectic holiday season or you could look for comfort in all sorts of things that you think will make your life more fulfilling, but in the end it’s all an illusion. You won’t reach lasting comfort in these things—only God out of His undeserved mercy and love—only He gives you true comfort in His Word.

But consider the comfort that He proclaims to you—it sounds strange falling on human ears. He talks about iniquity, that’s the guilt that accompanies or is left over from sin. It is the sense of God’s judgment hanging over you, it produces that nagging heaviness in your heart because the Almighty Lord is righteous and holy and you are sinful and unclean. Talking about your sin surely doesn’t give you any comfort. Who wants to be reminded of the wrongs they have done in the past? God’s call to repentance sounds harsh, too. Turn away from your sins, you haven’t lived with the constant attitude that God is first in your life. Too often, other things have taken His place, but your complete trust needs to be in Him alone. At first hearing, the comfort of God doesn’t sound comforting at all.

In all this talk of sin and iniquity and the need to repent, God is making a straight, level road in the rocky, forbidding wilderness where you are. The reason why you need to hear and admit that you are by nature sinful and unclean is so that you would be truly comforted with these words: Your sins are forgiven. Your iniquity is pardoned. You are the spiritual inhabitants of the New Jerusalem, the holy mountain where this poetic scene comes true: the animals that once ate each other up for dinner now lie down together, the lion and the lamb, leopard and goat, all of them eating plants just like they did in Eden. No one will harm or destroy; the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord. Believe me, there is no government around that will be able to make this world perfect like that. But then again, they don’t have to. You have the promise from Jesus, the shoot that sprouted from the stump of Jesse, father of King David, ancestor of your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That image means that although the glorious tree God had planted was cut down because of sin and the sheep rejecting their shepherd, the merciful Father’s promise will still spring up like a shoot or sucker from a stump. And that promise came true when Jesus came to this earth and was planted in the womb of the Virgin Mary to be born as the sacrifice for your forgiveness, and to be your King for all ages.

And so you have found food in the comforting words of God’s forgiveness given to you through Jesus Christ. The Lord is your shepherd; he is feeding you in the wilderness, just as He fed His people of old. The same baptism of repentance that John preached, the baptism that forgives your sins, this is what you can claim for your very own inheritance. This baptism is none other than the Lord’s comfort to you that sins are forgiven and you as God’s people are rescued from the devil’s wilderness, saved from the deadly snare of unbelief.

Your Lord Jesus gives you real food and drink every time you kneel at this altar and eat His Body and drink His true blood. This is not spiritual “comfort food” or merely a fine reminder that everything will be all right. This food brings true comfort, the comfort that comes from sins that are forgiven and a heart that is turned so that you love and trust in God above all things. This is the food that sustains you in the wilderness, and prepares you for the coming of your Savior. Though you may find yourself at times in a spiritually barren wasteland, attacked by the constant temptations of the devil and plagued with worry and despair, you will not starve, you will not be harmed. The Lord is your shepherd and you shall not want—you shall lack no good thing. You are His sheep, and you are precious to Him because He has washed you in the saving waters of Baptism and made you His own. God is constantly concerned over the health and safety of your soul and body. He will not let go of you. And He will guide you with His Word and promises in the paths of righteousness, through the wilderness of this life, that you may dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

In the Name of the Father and of the ✝ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Readings:
Is. 11:1–10 A Rod from the stem of Jesse … the wolf will dwell with the lamb
Psalm 72:1–7 He will bring justice to the poor of the people
Rom. 15:4–13 whatever things were written before were written for our learning
Matt. 3:1–12 the voice of one crying in the wilderness