Revelation 3,1-6. The 3. Sunday in Advent

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The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

Revelation 3,1-6 0314

3.  Sonntag im Advent  03, Gaudete

Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, Turkey and student of the Apostle John, Martyr 108 

15. Dezember 2013

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 One, 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 (Löhe 414).  Amen. 

2. Now when John the Baptizer heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to Jesus: „Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?“ And Jesus answered them: „Go, and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have the  gospel preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by Me.“ As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: „What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written: »Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, who will prepare Your way before You.« (Isaiah 40,3) Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptizer. Yet the one who is least in the reign of heaven is greater than he.“ 

3. The 3. Sunday in Advent is called Gaudete (Gow DAY teh), and has as its theme: Rejoice! The 3. Sunday in Advent focuses on John the Baptizer who is the six-month older cousin of Jesus. Mary and Elizabeth were relatives, and that makes John and Jesus cousins. John prepares the way for the Christ. Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist tells us: »In those days John the Baptizer arrived in the wilderness of Judea preaching: „Repent, for the reign of heaven is at hand!“« (Matthew 3,1-2). Therefore, Jesus says that John is a prophet and the Messianic messenger. 

4. Repent, for the advent of the Christ is at hand! John prepared the way, and like all the prophets of old he ruffled feathers. He proclaimed a baptism for the repentance of sins (Luke 3,3). He called those who went out to hear him „vipers“ and refused to let them rely on their pedigree as sons of Abraham (Luke 3,7-8) as a guarantee of life in the Messianic reign. He call everyone sinners and told them to repent and live a righteous life: help your neighbor, don’t steal and be content with your vocation (Luke 3,10-14). This is harsh law for us sinners who are comfortable in our sinfulness. Such exhortation to repentance is to own up to our sins and accept Yahweh’s justice. 

5. Calling sinners to repentance is the right and moral action to take, but if you convict powerful people of their sin, then there may be serious consequences. John told his king, Herod, a son of Herod the Great, that it was sinful to marry his brother’s wife (Mark 6,17-18). Herod then put John in prison to silence the one who irritated his conscience. Truth be told, each of us would like to silence those who call us to account for our sins. 

6. John prepared the way for Jesus, and this preparation is repentance. Jesus did not arrive breathing threats of judgment and condemnation, but rather speaking words of  mercy and showing compassion to downtrodden sinners convicted by His law and prophet. 

7. Jesus told John’s disciples: »Go, and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by Me.« The words spoken and the deeds done by Jesus are words and deeds of the Messianic reign promised in the Prophets. Blindness, crippleness, leprousy, deafness, death and poverty are all effects of sinfulness and the curse on fallen mankind. Jesus arrived to reverse those effects by dealing with their cause, which is original sin. Each sick person cured by Jesus, each person raised to life and every time Jesus preached the gospel were events where He temporarily reversed the effects. He did not deal with the cause until He suffered on the cross as world’s vicarious sacrifice and rose from the grave as the First-fruit of the resurrected life. On the cross, God died for His fallen creation, paid mankind’s debt and then rose in resurrection victory giving His gift of everlasting life to men and women. 

8. The Apostle John heard in his revelation Jesus say to the church in Sardis: »Those who conquer will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot their names out of the book of life. I will confess their names before My Father and before His angels« (Revelation 3,5). On this 3. Sunday in Advent we rejoice for Jesus has dealt with the cause of mankind’s sin. The old cause was sinfulness with its effect of death and separation from God. The new cause is righteousness with its effect of life and fellowship with God. Jesus Himself is this new cause, and He gives us forgiveness and righteousness as a free gift ... a fitting theme as us as we are two weeks out from Christmas and its attending gifts and presents lovingly placed under the evergreen fir trees. 

9. Jesus has conquered death and the grave. He went down to Hades and returned again to the world of the living. Jesus has done this for us so that in His Name we conquer. 

10. Jesus sends today His messengers before Him, who prepare the heart through the preaching of repentance, so His gospel, His absolution and His Sacrament will fall on fertile ground, so that we are not offended in Him, but rather He keeps vigil though Advent with us, so that we will also arrive with Him. That alone is necessary [1] (Wenz 35). 

11. Jesus proclaims that John the Baptizer is the greatest of those born of women. John was the last and greatest prophet of the old testament. John preached and prepared the world for the fulfillment of that old testament, but John was a transition figure. Jesus followed John and ushered in the new testament through His very own person. Those who believe in Jesus are now greater than John, for they are living in the new testament. 

12. 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 

Soli Deo Gloria

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All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27. Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.  

Book of Common Prayer, The. Copyright © 1990 Oxford University Press.

ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © 2013 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. 

Nagel, Norman. Selected Sermons of Norman Nagel: From Valparaiso to St. Louis. Frederick W. Baue, Ed. Copyright © 2004 Concordia Publishing House. 

VELKD. Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. www.velkd.de. Copyright © 2013 Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. 

Wenz, Armin. A sermon preached on 14. December 2008 (3. Advent) in Oberursel, Germany on Matthew 11,2-10. Copyright © 2008 The Rev. Dr. Armin Wenz. The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind, Tr. © 2010. 

[1] Er sendet bis heute seine Boten vor sich her, die durch die Predigt der Buße die Herzen bereiten sollen, damit dann sein Evangelium, seine Absolution und sein Sakrament auf fruchtbaren Boden fallen, damit wir uns also nicht an ihm ärgern, wenn er auch bei uns Advent halten, auch bei uns ankommen will. Das allein tut not. Amen.