Sermon for the Third Sunday in Advent: December 12, 2021 jj
Rev’d Mark B. Stirdivant, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yucaipa, California
✝ sdg ✝

Have you ever had two Christmases happen in the same year? It happens more often than we tend to realize. The first Christmas is the one we visualize in our mind’s eye, the one we expect to happen, and the second one is the Christmas that actually transpires. Some years there is quite a difference that occurs between the expectation and the reality. For many people, the disappointment is so great that they would just rather not celebrate Christmas at all. The pain is too heavy, whether it was a loved one who died around Christmas time, or a tragic crisis, or an unreconciled hurt in a relationship, it just makes the holidays unbearable.

Multiply that by 10 and you’ll be able to feel some empathy toward John the Baptist. Today’s Gospel pictures him not as the bold prophet preaching with conviction, baptizing thousands in the Jordan River, nor as the fearless critic of the royal family’s marital shenanigans. No, the adulterous King Herod threw John in a miserable prison, to await a certain death by execution, and he had nothing but time to think about how things actually turned out. Instead of two Christmases, John the Baptist was thinking he was witnessing two vastly different Messiahs, and the difference was threatening to debilitate him in his spirit.

On the one hand, John proclaimed a mighty Messiah wielding the utter wrath of God, with winnowing fork in His hand to separate wheat from chaff, whose sandals he was unworthy to untie. On the other hand, the Messiah John heard about in prison was disappointingly gentle in comparison. Sure, he had pointed his finger to Jesus and announced Him to be the “Lamb of God,” knowing full well what happens to any lamb that takes away anyone’s sin, let alone the One who takes away the sin of the whole world. John was clearly aware that Jesus would suffer and die, but it wasn’t exactly looking like what he had imagined. So, he sent his messengers to make their way to Jesus.

Are you the One who is to come, or shall we look for another? John speaks for all of us in the Church. Is Jesus worth all of this trouble? Will it really make a difference in our lives if we were loyal Christian believers or not? Before you know it, we’ve placed ourselves right alongside John the Baptist sitting in that dungeon, feeling disconnected from the joy of knowing Christ our Savior, and disappointed at how short our actual has fallen from the expected.

You’ll be relieved to hear that Jesus did not reprimand John for his brief bout of weak faith. I would suppose that our Lord was even able to keep that look off his face, you know, the look we can’t put away but it always gives us and our true feelings away whenever we’re disappointed in someone. Instead, Jesus praised John for his utter faithfulness to his given ministry as the prophet sent to go before the Lord to prepare His way. Among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. He is anything but a reed swayed by the wind, or a metrosexual man of dandy fashion. And John was indeed a faithful preacher of the Word, even while in prison, because just as he had throughout his baptizing ministry shifted all focus to Christ, saying “He must increase, I must decrease,” so he continues to refer his disciples to the Lord, preferring to hang on every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God Himself.

And Jesus doesn’t disappoint with the answer John is eager to hear. He reassures His saddened prophet with the signs that Jesus is accomplishing His work: “Go and tell John what you hear and see.” Creation is beginning to be restored, sin and its curse are being put to flight, even death itself is fleeing at the good news that Our Lord preaches. And this in particular for John, and it is also for you and me today: “Blessed is the one who is not offended by Me.” Offended? How can we be offended? For us, it often happens in a more subtle way. You and I can all too easily let the disappointments we face take over our attitude, and then before you know it, you end up offended that you have to suffer so much, that life is too difficult, and the hurt and the pain seem to be too much to bear.

When you’re in a prison such as this, you can recall the signs that Jesus is accomplishing His work among us, too. You can believe the servant of Christ, the steward of God’s mysteries when he tells you, In the stead and by the command of my Lord, I forgive you all your sins. You can remember that you’ve been baptized into the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, not only for the forgiveness of your sins, but for your guarantee that you are a child of God, with an inheritance that no principality or power can ever take away from you. You can also feast upon the body and blood of Christ, the delivery into your very own flesh and blood of the price your Savior paid for your eternal salvation. These are your miracles that lift up your head and give you encouragement while you wait for the full experience of this salvation that you already possess.

Finally, you can share His encouragement with others who are disappointed, not merely with their Christmas expectations, but they say, if not in words, at least in their actions and attitudes they wonder, Are you, Jesus, the One we are waiting for, or should we look for another Savior? Tell them what you hear and see in God’s house today: You can assure them, as you yourself are assured, that no matter what loss or trial you have suffered, you have all of it restored and even more in the promise of forgiveness, resurrection, and the life of the world to come. That is more than enough to drown out the offense to Jesus that tries to sway us with doubt. With a steadfast faith in Jesus, a faith like John the Baptist had, you and your loved ones possess instead a true Advent joy.

You can trust that even though the wait until Christ comes again is hard and long, and your life’s disappointments, whether they’re over differences in the two Christmases, or they’re of a more significant nature, you have true cause to rejoice. You have right now everything that Jesus paid for with His blood on the cross. You have right now the power of His resurrection from the dead, which conquers all discouragement, anxiety, sin and sin’s curse, and that power is handed to you. You’ve been reconciled to God, and He reconciles you to your neighbor, the one you know who needs to hear a forgiving word from you.

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God! Relieve your heavy load of pain, and let your heart rest in pure Advent joy, knowing that although the grass withers and the flower fades, still the Word of our God endures forever, the Word that promises and delivers the one thing that will truly remove all disappointment. Look no further for any other deliverer, for here in God’s house is where Jesus gives you all you need for you to rejoice.

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

Readings:
Is. 40:1–11 Comfort, yes, comfort My people! …
Psalm 85 Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him.
1 Cor. 4:1–5 judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes
Matt. 11:2–11 Are you the Coming One, or do we look for another?