Second Sunday in
Advent (B)
December 6, 2020
Text: Mark 1:1-8
“The
beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Mark 1:1;
ESV). That is to say, this is how the
salvation of God breaks into the wilderness of this fallen world, into the
minds and hearts of sinful men, to raise them, raise you, from the
dead. It happens by a voice sent
from God into the wilderness, into the place of emptiness and death, the haunt
of demons. A voice, the voice,
sent, not to whisper or hint, but to cry: “The Lord is coming! The time has arrived! Prepare the way! Make the path straight! Repent of your sins and believe this Good
News! The Lord is coming! He is coming for you!”
The
voice is sent out, and the voice cries.
But he does not cry out in the capital city or the halls of the powerful
and learned elite. He appears in the
wilderness, on the far side of the Jordan, in the waterless places where
the demons seek rest (Matt. 12:45; Luke 11:26).
It is Ezekiel’s valley, full of dry bones (Ez. 37). That is where he meets the people, Israel
wandering in the wilderness.
Parched. Thirsting. Dry and dead.
John brings Water! The Water of
Life. He preaches a Baptism of
repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
And it is life to the dead. By
this preaching, John calls the people out!
Or
maybe better, he leads the people in… Into the Jordan. Into the Promised Land. Into the saving presence of God. It is no accident that this is where John
appears. This is the River Israel
crossed on dry ground. This is the River
Elijah parted with his rolled up prophet’s mantel. This is the River into which our Lord Himself
would step, our new and greater Joshua, to be baptized by John. He steps in, Jesus, the Savior, and fills the
water with Himself and all His gifts. He
leads His people through the water and into the Land of joy and rest. John calls the people out of the wilderness
and the valley of death, into the water, where Christ is, for the forgiveness
of sins. They are called out of the
brokenness and the place of the demons, into the place wholeness and life. They confess their sins, leaving the old behind
in the water. It is the death of Old
Adam, of the sinful flesh. And they
receive what Jesus leaves in His wake, to fulfill all righteousness:
forgiveness of sins and eternal life.
Our Lord here institutes all waters to be “A blessed flood and a lavish
washing away of sin” (LSB 269). A
washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5). The drowning death of the Old and a whole new
life in Christ (Rom. 6:4). John’s
Baptism contains it as Promise. Jesus’
Baptism imparts it as fulfillment. “I
have baptized you with water,” John says, “but he,” Jesus,
“will baptize you with the Holy Spirit” (Mark 1:8).
So
repent. Be baptized. Confess.
Believe. That is how you prepare
for the coming of the Lord. That is how
you make His paths straight. This is the
whole order. God sends the preacher to
cry out in the wilderness, to call you out of this world of death and sin. Preaching leads to Baptism and repentance and
forgiveness. That is, preaching and
Baptism lead to Confession and Absolution, which is a continual return to your
Baptism, which leads to more and more preaching. And it is all to point you to the coming of
the Lord. Which of course means His
coming as your Savior in flesh born of Mary, and His coming again on the Last
Day. But what does it mean for you right
now, in this moment? How does He come to
you, here in the wilderness, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the
world? At the Altar. In the flesh.
As surely as He arrived on the scene in the wilderness for John to point
Him out. Follow John’s bony finger there,
to the place that is the antithesis of the wilderness… to the place that
is full of righteousness and life, the place full of feasting and of Christ
Himself: His true Body, His true Blood, the fruits of His cross, given and shed
for you. His resurrection life placed in
your mouth and filling your body, now coursing through your veins.
What
John gave as Promise you have as Gift Delivered. Jesus has baptized you with the Holy Spirit
and fills you with Himself and all His saving benefits here in His Church and
at His Altar. See, this is not just
empty ritualism, what happens in this place.
It is full… of Christ, who comes.
This is where you receive Him, in His holy Word and Sacraments. So prepare the way of the Lord. Prepare to celebrate His birth in our flesh
at Christmas. Prepare for His coming
again on the Last Day. And prepare for
His coming to you here and now in the Supper.
Preparation
for the Supper is something we don’t talk about enough in the Church these days. It is unfortunately true that so often we
come to the Supper almost unthinking. It
used to be the tradition in the Missouri Synod that you would visit with the
pastor the night before Communion, to announce your intention to commune, and
he would lead you in a little preparation.
Now we don’t do anything like that.
I’m sure we believe what we are receiving here, Christ’s true
Body and Blood under the bread and wine, and we know why we receive it,
for the forgiveness of sins. So I’m not
saying we commune to our judgment. But
that is the danger of failing to prepare.
If you don’t know what it is you are receiving, or why, or don’t believe
it, then by all means, do not come to the Supper. You are unworthy and unprepared, and will
receive the Supper, not your salvation, but to your spiritual and physical
harm, as St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11.
But your run of the mill Lutheran believes all of the right things, and I
am sure you do, because that is what you confess, and I take you at your word. But what I’m suggesting is that we could
stand a little more intentionality in our preparation. But how?
How do you prepare for Christ’s coming to you in the Supper?
Luther
says that “Fasting and bodily preparation are certainly fine outward training,”
so you might give those things some consideration, though they are not
commanded. “But that person is truly
worthy and well prepared who has faith in these words: ‘Given and shed for you
for the forgiveness of sins.”[1] So examine yourself in this way in
preparation for Communion. Is that what
I believe? That this is the Body of
Christ, given into death for me? That
this is His true Blood, shed for me? And
do I believe that I receive this, not because I’m worthy of it, or have a right
to it by my own merit, but because I’m a sinner, in need of the forgiveness of
sins? And that Jesus gives me these
gifts by grace alone, out of His undeserved love for me? The Catechism will be helpful here, both the
section on the Sacrament of the Altar, as well as the appendix of Christian
Questions and Their Answers.
And
then, to make sure you know and understand in your mind and heart that this is
not just a formality, this confession that you are a poor, miserable sinner in
need of Christ’s mercy and forgiveness, examine yourself according to your
station in life in light of the Ten Commandments? This is the preparation for Christ’s coming
John is really getting at this morning.
Repentance. Where have I
sinned? Where have I broken faith? And such repentance is not just being really
sorry or feeling really bad about your sins.
Nor is it simply a change in behavior.
It includes all of that, certainly.
But it is more. It is a
recognition of where you are without the Christ John preaches. That you are wandering aimlessly in
the wilderness. That you are empty. That you are afflicted by demons and
in bondage to Satan and hell.
That you are the dead, dry bones that litter the dust of the desert’s
floor. Recognize this, and confess
it! That is repentance in the narrow
sense. It is confession of your sin and
helplessness and death and condemnation, which is all you can bring to the
table before God. Not good works. Not a good attitude or a positive self-image. No excuses, and none of the rubbish by which
you continually seek to justify yourself.
It is a turning from all of that, a rejection of all that is yours and
is you.
And
then it is a turning to Christ for forgiveness and salvation. That is repentance in the wider sense, which
is really the repentance John is looking for.
It is to hear the preaching of the Good News and believe it. It is to know and trust that the Lord Jesus
has come to be your Lord. He has
come to save you from your sins, from yourself.
That is to say, repentance in the wide sense is to believe the
Absolution. Confession is never for its
own sake. It must be followed by the
Holy Absolution. The repentant sinner
receives the Absolution, “that is forgiveness, from the pastor as from God
Himself, not doubting, but firmly believing that by it our sins are forgiven
before God in heaven."
And
then follows the fruit of repentance. You
may think of the preparation for the Lord’s coming in this sense, as a great
sweeping out of all that is you, and not Him.
It is the sweeping out of the old and evil leaven. It is fighting against your sins, resisting
them, and killing them by naming them aloud, to be swallowed up by the ocean
roar of Christ’s Absolution. That is
really to fill in the valleys and flatten the hills, to level and smooth what
is rough and uneven. It is the turning
out of yourself in faith toward Christ, and in fervent love toward the
neighbor. This is accomplished by the
Holy Spirit, whom the Lord has poured out upon you.
And
that is what the voice is sent to proclaim.
Christ is coming. He is breaking
in. At Christmas, in the Sacrament, and
at the Last. Beloved, repent and believe
the Good News. Christ is coming. He is coming for you! In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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