Isaiah 52,7-10. 4th Sunday in Advent

In the Name of Jesus

Isaiah 52,7-10   0412
The 4. Sunday in Advent
Rorate Caeli
Wunibald, Abbot at Heidenheim, † 760
18. December 2011

     1. O Lord Jesus Christ, all Your holy Christendom rejoices this day to celebrate Your holy advent. We, poor, erring lambs, leap for joy that You, O Shepherd and Bishop of our lives, cause Your gracious presence to be realized among us in the blessed virgin Mary. O Lord do not depart from us with Your grace, but let us gratefully realize this gracious day of Your visitation, so that Your advent may always be salutary and full of grace unto us. With all Your pure Word, Your holy Sacraments, Your wisdom, support, favor, blessing and grace, visit us in our churches and our homes. We rejoice that You do not arrive as a Just Judge before whom we tremble, but rather You arrive as the Kind Redeemer with whom we will be co-heirs of the reign of heaven (Löhe 444-46). Amen.
     2. ⁷How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings the gospel, who preaches peace, who preaches the good gospel, who preaches salvation, who says to Zion: „Your God reigns.“ ⁸The voice of your watchmen, they lift up their voice; together they sing for joy; for eye to eye they see the return of the Lord to Zion. ⁹Break forth together into singing, you waste places of Jerusalem, for the Lord has comforted His people; He has redeemed Jerusalem. ¹⁰The Lord has bared His holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God. This is our text.
     3. We are on the cusp of Christ’s Nativity. The theme, therefore, this final Sunday in Advent is rorate caeli, pour down from heaven, O God, your gospel. The gospel is found from Genesis to Malachi. Yahweh had promised to redeem and save His people, and He did so in specific ways that were definite acts of salvation in human history, but which were also foretastes of His great gospel act of sending His very own Son upon this earth to rescue us.
     4. In the process of fulfilling His Heilsgeschichte (salvation history), Yahweh brings the gospel to two women: Elizabeth and Mary. Elizabeth is pregnant with John who will become the Baptizer. Mary has miraculously conceived Jesus who will become the Christ. The Baptizer prepared the way for the Christ, and the Christ saved the world from sin, death and the devil. The Lord is near!
     5. The world, however, is not attuned to this wonderful message. Many in the world are focused on Santa Claus, the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, and a host of other distractions. Now Santa, presents, Christmas movies, and holiday parties are well and good, but they are not the focus of Advent and Christmas. The devil is fine with a little attention focused on Jesus, say in a borough Nativity set, because the devil has effectively marginalized Jesus to the sidelines at Advent and Christmas in the public awareness.
     6. Even in the Church the devil has had success in marginalizing Jesus at this time of the year. In some churches, the focus is all on the virgin Mary so that she seems to take the center stage away from Jesus. Now Mary is a very important person, but she is not the focus of Advent and Christmas. Our devotion should be on Jesus. Elizabeth gives the proper response: »Blessed are you, Mary, among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!« (Luke 1,42). Notice what Elizabeth does: she rightly acknowledges Mary as the θεοτοκος (the bearer of God) and Jesus as the Son of God. When even the Infant Jesus comes into the midst of people, He elicits praise and devotion, even from the infant John in his mother’s womb.
     7. The Prophet Isaiah proclaims: »Your God reigns«, and Mary echoes his proclamation: »The Lord who is mighty has done great things for me«. Jesus does not resolve Himself to remain relegated to the sidelines. He is the Lord Almighty and the Son of God. He is a king maker and a king breaker. He lifts up the humble and pulls down the haughty. Advent is His season, and Christmas bears His Divine title. »The Lord has bared His holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God«. At this point in Luke 1, Jesus is a few days old or a few weeks old in Mary’s womb and nevertheless He is drawing faithful people unto Himself.
     8. The blessed virgin Mary is with child, and this Child will comfort and redeem His people. Jesus makes you righteous in His Father’s sight, and you have that righteousness by faith in Christ alone. The first Christians reported in the Holy Gospels are Mary, Elizabeth and the infant John. The gospel is a message of peace and salvation. The gospel has the power to create faith in Jesus the Christ. The gospel has the power to save you. The Author and Source of the gospel is before us this morning in Mary’s womb.
     9. The world sees this holiday season as a time of busy-ness, stress and generic holiday cheer. It is no surprise that many, perhaps even you, find themselves overwhelmed and depressed from Thanksgiving to the New Year. The Prophet Isaiah refocuses our attention on Christ Jesus and His gospel of peace and salvation. His gospel is very good, and on this 4. Sunday in Advent may your hearts also leap for joy at the sound of God’s Word, for „you can put on God’s gracious and beautiful joy“ (ELKB) that is given to you as a free gift in the Incarnate Jesus in Mary’s womb.
     10. Thus we sing with Mary and Elizabeth:

Let the world now thank the Lord,
Who constantly keeps His Word
And the sinners’ Advocate
Has now to us been sent (ELKG 11 § 1). Amen.

     11. O Holy Spirit, who creates a pleasing theme to overflow within or hearts, give us the joy in Christ so that we may be comforted in our salvation and respond with verses of praise sung to His Holy Name. Amen.

One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you!

     All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4^th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27^th 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.
     Held, Heinrich. „Gott sei Dank durch alle Welt“. (Let the Earth Now Praise the Lord). Evangelishc-Lutherisches Kirchengesangbuch. Copyright © 2005 Lutherischen Buchhandlung. The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind, Tr. © 2011.
     Löhe, Wilhelm. Seed-Grains of Prayer: A Manual for Evangelical Christians. Wartburg Publishing House, Chicago circa 1912. Concordia Publishing House; Concordia on Demand.