Third Sunday in Advent

Third Sunday in Advent (A)

December 15, 2019

Text: Matt. 11:2-15

            One can hardly blame John for his question.  He had preached Jesus as Righteous Judge, One who came with His winnowing fork in His hand, to clear His threshing floor, the One who would lay the ax at the roots of the tree, the One who would baptize with fire and the Holy Spirit.  Now John sits in the dungeon (for his intolerance of sexual perversity, of course… Herod should not have his brother’s wife), and there does not appear to be any threshing or chopping down or fire going on.  Where is the judgment?  Where is the justice?  John has given his whole life to this endeavor of preparing the way, preaching repentance, hearing confession, baptizing in the River Jordan, wilderness survival, locusts and wild honey, camel’s hair and leather.  Now, chains and darkness and filth, and soon, the ax laid not at the root of the trees, but upon John’s neck.  All for what?  Faithful preaching, that’s what.  So are you the One?  Did I bet on the right horse, here?  Has all of this been worth it?  Or is there someone else to come, another hope?  Is someone else the Messiah? 

            John is not the first prophet to ask these questions.  Elijah, whose office John now occupies, thinking he was the last Christian on earth, sat down under a broom tree and begged God that he might die (1 Kings 19).  All the prophets suffered for their preaching.  They all had their crises of faith.  They all longed for deliverance and the day of Messiah.  Every pastor has these moments, too.  Even those of us whose suffering is not even in the same universe as that of the prophets.  We’ve all wondered if we’ve devoted our lives to this for nothing, if it’s all worth it.  If God will be faithful to His Promises.  And now it’s time for you to be honest.  You’ve wondered about such things, too.  Like John’s disciples, sent by him to ask Jesus.  You’ve doubted.  You’ve questioned.  Where are you, Lord?  Why is this happening to me?  I’ve been faithful, but the wicked seem to prosper while I suffer.  How long, O Lord, how long?  Will you not hear?  Will you not deliver?  Are you the One, or shall I look for another? 

            Jesus does not rebuke John or his disciples for their question.  Nor does He rebuke you.  Instead, He points to His Words, His works, and to the Holy Scriptures.  Tell John what you have heard and seen.  You’ve been witness to the Gospel in action.  The blind receive their sight.  The lame walk.  Lepers are cleansed.  The deaf hear.  The dead are raised up.  Are these not the messianic signs proclaimed by the prophets of old, recorded in the Sacred Writings?  Are these not enough to show you that the Creator has broken in to His creation to heal it of its brokenness?  And miracle of miracles, the poor… you know, the despised, the wretches, the rejects, the sinners… those who have no resources of their own, helpless beggars in need of a savior… That’s you, John.  That’s you, disciples.  That’s you, dear Christian… the poor have the Good News preached to them.  You hear the Gospel.  You hear that your sins are forgiven.  Your salvation has arrived.  From outside of you.  From heaven.  God in the flesh.  Messiah.  Your Redeemer.  Your Hope.  Your Joy.  The One has come. 

            And John’s preaching is precisely what you need to prepare you for this Good News.  After all, what good is the preaching of salvation when you don’t realize you need to be saved?  What good is the preaching of forgiveness when you don’t know you have sins to be forgiven?  John comes preaching and baptizing for repentance and the forgiveness of sins.  And he calls a spade a spade.  He leaves no hearer with the sham comfort of self-righteousness.  He exposes all.  He convicts all.  And that means you.  And then he points you, and all, to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).  He is the One, says John.  I am not.  I am not even worthy to stoop down and untie His sandals.  But He… He must increase.  I must decrease.  I baptize you with water.  He will baptize you with fire and the Holy Spirit.  My baptism is a baptism of repentance.  His Baptism saves you.  He is the One.  Listen to Him.  Follow Him. 

            This, by the way, is the kind of preaching you should demand of your pastor.  A dear saint in Michigan, now with the Lord, used to say, “I like my religion like I like my whiskey… give it to me straight!”  He was absolutely right.  You want a preacher who will call you to repentance like St. John would.  You want a preacher who won’t give you any wiggle room, no excuses, no prospect for self-justification.  Now, you won’t like it, of course, but that’s not the point.  The preacher must nail you with God’s very real Law for your very real sins.  The actual things you don’t like to name, that you don’t want to admit.  Not just a general, “Yes, yes, you’re a sinner, you have your weaknesses, you’re not perfect,” wink, wink, nod, nod.  But the Ten Commandments.  The actual things God says to do and not do.  Stop gossiping.  Don’t be so stingy.  Herod should not have his brother’s wife.  You should not commit adultery.  Love your spouse and your children.  Stop looking at illicit things on the internet.  You must not live together with your boyfriend or girlfriend or have sex before marriage.  I know you don’t want to hear it, but homosexuality is sin.  Abortion is sin.  Stop hating your neighbor.  Stop holding other sinner’s sins against them.  Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.  Turn.  Return to the Lord your God, for like a wandering sheep, you have gone astray.  That is the winnowing.  That is the ax laid at the roots of unfruitful trees.  Any preacher who won’t tell you the truth unvarnished is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.  Flee him.  John is no reed shaken by the wind, and your pastor shouldn’t be either.  He should not scratch itching ears.  He should not tickle fancies.  He’s not in it for the soft clothing and the luxury.  He’s not in it to be liked.  If he is, he’s a fraud.  

            But so also, the preacher must take the sinner under his load of sin to the place of encounter with the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, with Jesus who takes away your sin.  And that is the water of Holy Baptism, the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.  That is the Absolution, the forgiveness of sins.  The preaching of the Gospel always points away from the preacher to the Sacrifice for sin, to the Lamb, to the cross, to Christ, and Him crucified.  The preacher should never preach himself.  Only Christ.  Christ must increase.  The preacher must decrease.  In this way the eyes of the blind are still opened.  Which is to say, those born spiritually blind are given faith to see the Lord Jesus and His redemption.  The lame still walk.  You are raised up to walk in the light of Christ and do good works of love for your neighbor.  Lepers are still cleansed.  Your sins are forgiven.  The deaf hear.  Your ears are opened by the Word of Christ, to hear the Word of Christ.  The dead are raised up.  Spiritually now.  Fully, bodily, when Jesus, the Risen One, comes again.  The miracles Jesus performed in His earthly ministry are ever and always signs pointing to this reality.  So also the Scriptures.  All the Law and the Prophets pointed to this.  This One.  Jesus.  John is the greatest of the Old Testament preachers, in fact, the greatest of all those born of women.  But the least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he.  Which is to say Jesus, who became the least and the last for John and for you. 

            Which brings us back to the question.  Are you, dear Jesus, the One who is to come, or should we look for another?  It’s a serious thing.  How can you know that this is all worth it?  That you are right to believe in Jesus Christ, to trust Him in all things, to live in Him, to suffer for Him, to die in Him?  How do you know that God has not forsaken you when you are weak and sinful and suffering, when the Church is despised and rejected, when the Kingdom suffers violence and the violent take it by force?  When John is beheaded?  When the martyrs are tortured and killed?  How do you know God loves you when you suffer in body, mind, and spirit?

            The proof of God’s love for you, and of your salvation, is hanging on the tree.  The violent took Jesus by force and nailed Him there.  Where all your sins were put to death.  Where your death was suffered by Another.  Where the very devil lies crushed under His feet.  Do you see that corpse hanging there?  That is God’s body, crucified for you.  So that when you suffer, He is in it with you, because when He suffered, He was in it for you.  That is the price of your redemption.  That is the payment for your sin.  And blessed is the one who is not offended by Him.  That is why we celebrate Christmas.  Not just because a baby is born, but because this Baby is God, who is born to die.  And this Man is risen from the dead.  That is God’s answer to the question.  That is Jesus’ answer to John and his disciples, and to us all.  He dies.  He rises.  He raises you.

            So your deliverance is certain, your salvation assured.  And in the midst of your afflictions, like St. John in the dungeon, you wait upon the Lord.  You know He has defeated your enemies.  He lives and He reigns.  And He is coming back for you, with justice and righteousness and eternal life.  In the meantime, where is He when you need Him (as you always do)?  You know.  What do you hear and see?  The Words.  The water.  The bread and wine.  He’s in the preaching and the Baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.  He’s in that which is given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.  Which is to say, He is with you, bodily, to the end of the age.  Are you the One, dear Jesus, the One for whom we’re waiting?  I AM, says Jesus.  There is no other.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son (+), and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.