✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠
Isaiah 40,1-8 (9-11) 313
3. Sonntag im Advent 03 Gaudete
Adelheid, Empress, † 999
16. December 2012
1. O Heavenly Father, grant unto Your beloved Church so that, remembering her own unrighteousness and corruption, she may take no offense at the lowly presence and the despised word of her only King, the Just, the Helper, Jesus Christ; but always rejoice in His wonderful advent, and receive and accept Him in pure and ready hearts, gladly rejoicing in Him, and rendering all praise and glory to You forevermore. Amen. (Löhe 414).
2. 1Comfort, comfort My people, says your God. 2Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. 3A voice cries: „In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4Every valley will be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground will become level, and the rough places a plain. 5And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all flesh will see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.“ 6A voice says: „Cry!“ And I said: „What shall I cry?“ All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. 7The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass. 8The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. 9Get up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of gospel; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of gospel; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah: „Behold your God!“ 10Behold, the Lord who is the Lord comes with might, and His arm rules for Him; behold, His reward is with Him, and His recompense before Him. 11He will tend His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs in His arms; He will carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.
3. Before Yahweh’s Christ arrived He had sent a messenger to prepare His way. John was the forerunner to Jesus. John was a prophet. He preached a scathing message of the law: »Repent, for the reign of heaven is at hand« (Matthew 3,2). »Flee God’s wrath and bear fruit worthy of repentance« (Matthew 3,7-8). John exhorts us to examine our lives with the lens of the law. The law focuses on our sin and reveals it. We fail to fear, love and trust God. We fail to love and serve our neighbors. The Prophet Isaiah compares our sinful lives to the grass and the flowers of the field. Just as they whither and fade, so too do we, so much so that we will one day die.
4. John exhorted his hearers in 1. century Judea to repent and be baptized. In doing so, they prepared themselves for the imminent advent of the Christ. The Pharisees, the Sadducees, Jewish men and women, tax collectors and Roman soldiers were among the crowds who heard John proclamation to repent (Matthew 3,7; Luke 3,10-14). John urged them to repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of their sins (Luke 3,3).
5. What does John’s law preaching mean to us who have already been baptized in the Triune Name of God? First, we should not fall into the opinion imagining that our Baptism is something past, which we can no longer use after we have fallen again into sin, for our Baptism is not to be regarded only according to the external act once performed and completed (80). Second, Holy Baptism is the ordinance of God, and not a work of ours. Every time we sin let us firmly cling to our Holy Baptism and live in it (82). Third, Holy Baptism is a great, excellent Sacrament, which delivers us from the jaws of the devil and makes us God’s own, suppresses and takes away sin and then daily strengthens the new man; Holy Baptism is and remains ever efficacious until we pass from this life of sorrow to eternal glory (83). For this reason we esteem Holy Baptism as a daily dress in which we are to walk constantly, so that we may ever be found in the faith and its fruits, that we suppress the old man and grow up in the new (84). But if any one fall away from it, let him again come into it. For just as Christ, the Mercy-seat, does not recede from us or forbid us to come to Him again, even though we sin, so all His treasure and gifts also remain. If, therefore, we have once in Holy Baptism obtained forgiveness of sin, it will remain every day, as long as we live, that is, as long as we carry the old man about our neck (86).
6. The 3. Sunday in Advent is historically known as Gaudete, that is, Rejoice! The 40. Chapter of the Prophet Isaiah is overflowing with the theme of rejoicing. The Prophet Isaiah proclaims: »The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.« This eternal word of God is given to us in our Holy Baptism. Although we wither and fade like the grass and the flower, yet in Christ Jesus we live.
7. The 3. Sunday in Advent gives us an odd juxtaposition: John the Baptizer’s ministry is fading while Jesus’ is flourishing. We experienced the same this past Friday: Christmas is a time of joy, but one man turned it into a holiday of sorrow for dozens of families in Connecticut. For us, our lives have been shaken and for others their lives have been shattered. In the midst of this heartache and national tragedy, the promise of Gaudete Sunday rings out: Rejoice!
8. The Prophet Isaiah proclaims that those who wither will be refreshed, those who fade will be restored and those who die will live again. The Word of Yahweh promises it and that same Word will bring it to pass. Those who were brutally murdered in Newbury will live again, for on the last day their bodies will be raised up and they will be healthy and whole once again. The Word of Yahweh endures forever. The Word of Yahweh became flesh and dwelt among us. The Word, Jesus Christ, is risen and by His life we also live forever.
9. In this wicked world we will suffer agonizing struggles [Anfechtungen] and experience horrendous events. We will question why God allows such tribulations to afflict us. We will not receive the answers to such questions in this earthly life, so we will rely upon the very Word of God for our consolation and comfort. The gospel of the Holy Scriptures declares: The devil is defeated; death is mortally wounded; your sins are washed clean; hell’s gates are closed to you; God the Father has pronounced you „innocent“. You know this through what Christ has done. Behold your God: Christ Jesus who suffered on the cross, died and rose from the dead in victory over sin, death and the devil. Behold your God: who washed away your sins in the waters of Holy Baptism in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Behold your God: whose absolution was pronounced upon you with these pastoral words „Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, has had mercy upon us and has given His only Son to die for us and for His sake forgive us all our sins …“. Behold your God: who blesses you with His very Benediction which proclaims: „The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and ✠ give you peace“. Behold your God: Jesus Christ who is in in your midst in every struggle, tribulation or horrible experience.
10. We rejoice in Jesus, for St. Matthew reminds us: »Then children were brought to Jesus so that He might lay His hands on them, bless them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, but Jesus said: „Let the little children come to Me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the reign of heaven.“ And He blessed the children and went away« (Matthew 19,13-15). Jesus left to prepare our place with Him in heaven. On Friday Jesus called some of His little children to come unto Him and one day He will do the same for us where we will enjoy life eternal in His presence. Amen.
16. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in His faithfulness, draw our attention to Your glorious advent with Your grace and righteousness so that we are comforted and consoled in the justification You won for us at Your first advent. Amen.
To God alone be the Glory
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All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.
ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern.
Löhe, Wilhelm. Seed-Grains of Prayer: A Manual for Evangelical Christians. Wartburg Publishing House, Chicago circa 1912. Concordia Publishing House; Concordia on Demand.
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