In the Name of Jesus
John 1,19-23 [24-28] 413
4. Sonntag im Advent 04 Rorate Caeli
Servulus, beggar at Rome † 590
23. December 2012
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).
2. And this is the testimony of John the Baptizer, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him: „Who are you?“ He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed: „I am not the Christ.“ And they asked him: „What then? Are you Elijah?“ He said: „I am not.“ „Are you the Prophet?“ And he answered: „No.“ So they said to him: „Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?“ He said: „I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: »Make straight the way of Yahweh,« as the Prophet Isaiah said.“ Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. They asked him: „Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah nor the Prophet?“ John answered them: „I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even He who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.“ These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
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 in the pages of Holy Scripture from Genesis to Malachi and from Matthew to Revelation. 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. The Pharisees, who were the keepers of the Mosaic law and the traditions of the elders, had sent the priests and Levites, who were the keepers of the temple and the atoning sacrifices, to John, who himself was also a priest in the temple, but who is now an itinerant preacher of repentance and baptism. They posed three questions of identity to John: Are you the Christ, Elijah or the Prophet? The final question is a reference back to Deuteronomy 18,15.18, where Moses told the people of Israel: »Yahweh your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers and you shall listen to Him, for Yahweh will put His words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that Yahweh command Him.« John the Baptizer answers: no, he is not the Christ, nor Elijah nor the Prophet.
5. The Pharisees, priests and Levites are trying to fit John into the prophetic fulfillment of the Holy Scriptures. Who and what is John’s place in Yahweh’s Heilsgeschichte (salvation history)? John’s answer is: »I am the voice preaching in the wilderness to prepare Israel for the advent of Yahweh.«
6. In last week’s Holy Gospel, Jesus proclaimed of John: „You crowds went out to see a prophet, yes, and more than a prophet, for the Prophet Malachi wrote: »Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, who will prepare Your way before You« (3,1). John is this messenger who prepared the way for Jesus the Christ“ (Matthew 11, 9-10). The Prophet Malachi concludes his book with these words of Yahweh: »Behold, I will send you Elijah the Prophet before the great and awesome day of Yahweh arrives. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers« (4,5-6). Jesus later tells His apostles that the promised arrival of Elijah was fulfilled in the person and ministry of John the Baptizer (Matthew 17,13).
7. Usually, if one gets John the Baptizer right one also gets Jesus right. If John is the New Testament Elijah, then Jesus is the New Testament Elisha. Just as Elisha did greater things than Elijah, so too did Jesus do greater things than John. This is why John humbly says that he is unworthy to untie Jesus’ sandals. John preached: Repent, for the reign of heaven is at hand (Matthew 3,2). Jesus began His ministry likewise, preaching: Repent, for the reign of heaven is at hand (Matthew 4,17). Furthermore, Jesus revealed that He, the Word of God made flesh, is the very reign of heaven who is in our midst. Whereas John was not the Christ, Jesus is the Christ. Whereas John was not the Prophet, Jesus is the Prophet who would succeed Moses. »For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ« (John 1,17).
8. Therefore, the Prophet Isaiah proclaims: »How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings the gospel, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion: „Your God reigns.“« (Isaiah 52,7). This gospel was given to Elizabeth and then Mary. They were bearers of the gospel, and proclaimed the mercy of God with their hymns of praise. Thirty years later, first John and then Jesus preached this gospel to Israel and all the nations.
9. Mary sang: »for He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His Name« (Luke 1,49). Mary’s God is our God, and He has done great things for us, too. Mary conceived Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit, and Jesus became man and was born into this world as the Son of God who became flesh. Jesus was born to suffer, die and rise again for the justification of sinners.
10. An early 17. century Advent hymn puts it this way:
All Christians, now rejoicing,
at this time of mercy,
because our salvation is coming,
the Lord of glory,
without haughty grandeur,
still powerful, to completely
devastate and destroy
the devil’s reign and power (Schirmer 7,1).
11. So it is in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. By His kindness, love and service, Jesus has redeemed us from depravity, death and the devil. John prepared His way and preached His imminent advent. Jesus walked the way and paid for our redemption. Tomorrow we will celebrate His birth into this world and rejoice in God the Father’s great gift to us. Amen.
16. Let us pray. O Holy Spirit, who creates a pleasing theme to overflow within our 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.
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.
Schirmer, Michael. „Nun jauchzet, all ihr Frommen“ (All Christians, Now Rejoicing). Evangelisch-Lutherisches Kirchengesangbuch, 7. Edition. Copyright © 2005 Selbständige Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche (SELK). Translated by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind Copyright © 2012 The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind.
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