Second Sunday in Advent (A)
December 7, 2025
Text:
Matt. 3:1-12
So, what is crooked in your life
that must be straightened out? What is
twisted, perverted, and skewed? What messes
have you made that must be cleaned up? In
what filth have you wallowed that must now be rooted out? And what is lacking? What fruit ought you to bear once
again? And what chaff must be
blown away, that the pure kernel of wheat be gathered into the barn? St. John the Baptist, clad in the garb, and
eating the grub, of the Prophet Elijah, preaches to you and me that it’s time
to prepare. In the wilderness of
this fallen world, he cries to you and me, “Repent, for the kingdom of
heaven is at hand” (Matt. 3:2; ESV).
That is, Jesus is at
hand. He is coming. He is near.
And wherever Jesus is, there is His Kingdom, His rule,
He reign. Many of you will have
visitors to your home this holiday season.
People you love. People who are
important to you. What will you do in
preparation for their coming? You will
straighten up your home. You will remind
everyone to be on their best behavior (and you’ll try to be on your best
behavior, too). You will clean up the
messes. You will sweep, mop, and
scrub. You will root out the filth. Because those you love deserve a clean and
tidy, comfy and cozy home. And so also,
you fill your home with good things.
Good food, and that in abundance.
Pleasant smells. Festive
decoration. Maybe even gifts. That is what you do for those you love. That is what you do for those who are
important to you.
But here St. John the Baptist points
to One you love even more, who is more important… unimaginably
so… than anyone one else on earth.
He points, and he says, “Behold, the Lamb of
God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). He
points, and he declares to you, to me, and to all who have ears to hear,
“Behold, your King!”
So, Advent is the season of preparation. We prepare to celebrate our King who has
come to us as a Baby, in our flesh, born of the Virgin Mary, to be our
Savior. We look back at His incarnation,
His coming for us in the flesh, and the great salvation He accomplished, and we
order our lives accordingly. But so also,
we look forward. He is coming
again. He is coming to judge the
living and the dead. To give eternal
life to all believers in Christ, but to bid His enemies, those who do not
believe in Him, those who reject His forgiveness and salvation, and remain in
their sin, to depart into the eternal fire.
And we look to Him now, for He comes to us now. He is near. As near as the altar. We hear Him in His Word. He comes into us with His body and
blood. This King loves you. That is why you love Him. And He is at hand. So, beloved… prepare.
We call this preparation repentance. Out with all that is bad, evil, and
corrupt. In with Jesus Christ and
all the riches of His righteousness. Repentance
has two parts: Contrition and faith.
Contrition: Sorrow over sin.
Christ, your Lord, your loving King, is coming. And you don’t want to be filled with the
filth of sin. It grieves you, because
you know it grieves Him. You know it
killed Him. But then, faith: You know
that He comes precisely to forgive your sins, to cover them with His blood and
death, to wash them away in the flood that pours forth from His riven
side. Then, there is a third part,
resulting from the faith that grasps this salvation in Jesus. That is fruit in keeping with repentance. Walking in the Commandments. Good works.
Love for your neighbor. Love for
one another.
But you know that if you are to
repent in this way, you cannot do it on your own, by your own strength, with
your own resources. If you are to repent
in this way, God must do it in you.
Okay, how? Does He just
strike you with a lightening bolt from heaven?
Or does He gurgle it up from within you, from the pit of your stomach,
or the depths of your heart? No, that is
not how our God works. We see, rather,
how He works in the ministry of St. John the Baptist.
God sends a preacher. Now, the preacher is not to preach himself…
his own wisdom, his own morality, his own path of salvation. The preacher is never to be the focus
of attention, the star of the show.
Rather, the preacher is to uphold Jesus Christ. He is always to preach Christ, and the
Word of Christ. Christ is to
be the focus of attention, the Star of the show. The preacher is to preach the Law…
that you may know your sin. That you be
warned of sin’s wages: Death, and eternal damnation. That you know how desperate your plight, and
your great need for salvation, for the Savior.
And then the preacher is to preach the Gospel: The Kingdom of God
is at hand. Jesus is coming. He has arrived. He is for you. He is the Sacrifice for your sins. Behold, the altar of the cross, where the
Lamb of God is roasted in the fire of God’s wrath, atoning for all your sins. He is the cleansing. He is the cure. He is risen, and He is your life. And He reigns. He is your King. He rules your heart and your mind, and that
graciously. He sets a place for you at
His Table. He prepares a room for you as
a Child of God, and a member of God’s Family.
What else does John show us about
the way God works in us? “Then
Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to
him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins”
(Matt. 3:5-6).
Baptism. We saw it again this morning. The washing of water with the Word. Born anew of the Holy Spirit. The death of Old Adam, the sinful flesh. The emergence of the New Creation in the
resurrection of Jesus Christ. Out
with all that is bad, evil, and corrupt.
In with Jesus Christ and all the riches of His
righteousness. By the way, though this
Baptism takes place in water, and it is certainly for repentance, it is not merely
a Baptism in water, a Baptism for repentance.
John’s Baptism had those things, and it was wonderful. But it was only a shadow of the full
reality of Baptism as it is fulfilled in Christ. Christ’s Baptism delivers the goods, a
Baptism with the Holy Spirit, and fire (think Pentecost!). John’s Baptism prepares for the
coming. Jesus’ Baptism is the
coming! It is the coming of the Kingdom,
the coming of the King!
And then, what were the people doing
as they came to John to be baptized?
They were confessing their sins.
Oh, dear Lutherans, do not say to me that confession is too
Roman Catholic. You love the general
confession at the beginning of the Divine Service, and I’m glad we have it, but
the reason you love it is that you can hide behind the voices of others in that
confession, and you don’t have to get specific, and you don’t have to admit any
real sins (although you should… that is what the time of silence is for,
and that should also be a part of your preparation before you come to
Church. Take time to meditate on those
things, to pray to God, to name your sins before Him, and ask His forgiveness). But in any case, that isn’t what the people
were doing with John at the River Jordan.
They didn’t stand on the shore and speak some confessional formula in
unison. They came one by one to John
for Baptism, and said the actual things to him that needed straightening,
sweeping, scrubbing, mopping. You
can do the same thing in private confession with your pastor. At the very least you should do the same
thing, getting specific, confessing your actual sins of thought, word, and
deed, to the Lord Jesus Christ.
And see, it is always a return to
Baptism, this repentance, this confessing.
The drowning of the sinful nature.
Contrition. And then… well, John
did it by pointing to the Lamb, but we have this in all its fulness now that
Christ has come… the Absolution, the forgiveness of all your sins for
the sake of Jesus Christ who died for you, who is risen and lives for you, who
loves you and reigns for you. And the
Spirit, who comes to you in the Words of Absolution, and gives you faith in
Jesus Christ. And then the fruits of repentance,
the fruits of faith.
And then… here is Jesus. We don’t have it here in our text, but you
know that as John is baptizing in the wilderness, who should come along to be
baptized into us (that we may ever after be baptized into Him),
but the very One John is proclaiming, the very One for whom he is preparing
us. And John points… again, “the Lamb
of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” Well, where does that happen for us? At the altar.
In the Supper. He comes,
this Sacrificial Lamb. But He is living. He comes, to take away our sins. When you come to the Lord’s Supper, you leave
those sins behind at the altar. Out
with the bad, the evil, the corrupt. And
then He fills you. With Himself. In with Jesus Christ and all the
riches of His righteousness. “Given
and shed for you,” He says, as He gives you His body, His blood, “for
the forgiveness of all your sins.”
Now, be warned. Do not come to these gifts, to this
repentance, with any righteousness of your own, or with your own bona fides,
that you are children of Abraham, fine upstanding citizens, or good Missouri
Synod Lutherans. Do not come thinking
you can keep what is yours, your old nature, your old self, your autonomy, your
old identity… and have the new stuff, too, the good stuff from Jesus. If you do that, you will show yourself, in
reality, a brood of vipers, the offspring of Satan. No, this is a total cleansing. A total out with the old. It is not a sweeping under the rug. You don’t get to stuff everything away in
that one room where you just shut the door, as you often do when visitors come
to your home. Every corner is to be
cleansed. Every nook. Every crevice. And then filled with nothing but Christ. And, understand… He does it. He works His repentance in you. By His gifts, His means of grace. He burns the whole thing down, the whole
structure of your old life, with the fire of His Spirit.
And then, He builds you anew. He fills you.
And what is the result? Fruitful
trees. Works of love. Wholesome grain, and pure. Life.
For He lives. And He comes. He comes to you, and for you. Beloved, prepare for it. Which is to say, repent of your sins,
and rejoice. The Kingdom of
heaven is right here, for you. In
the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
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