“Rejoice in the Lord always, again, I will say Rejoice!”
That’s how our Epistle reading for this morning begins. In fact, the traditional Latin name for this Sunday in Advent is Gaudete, meaning, Joy, based on that verse, which was for years a portion of the Introit for the day. Yet, joy is kind of hard to find. For starters, just look at our Gospel reading for this morning, in which we hear John the Baptist say to those on the banks of the Jordan River and to us today “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” That’s not exactly a message that on the surface brings out thoughts of great joy, is it? To be honest, it was rather intimidating for me to come here tonight to preach to you folks for the first time, and have one of the readings start out by saying “You brood of vipers!” It might leave you wondering “who is this guy, and what in the world is he doing here? I didn’t come out in the middle of winter to hear him call me a snake!” John goes on to talk a lot about sin and repentance, and there doesn’t seem to be much of a connection there with the theme of joy or rejoicing. In fact, that thought of Rejoicing in Repentance makes for a curious sermon theme, doesn’t it? One that doesn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense on the surface.
But then, we go into our daily lives, and there’s a lot of reasons to be robbed of our joy this season. Earlier this week, we endured a major snowstorm and blizzard in west-central Iowa the day before Lindsay and I were to fly out here, and while the children in Audubon had a lot of joy over a couple of snow days, there wasn’t a lot of joy for road crews who had to work long hours trying to keep the roads clear, and for anyone trying to get anywhere. I sure didn’t have much joy when I tried to shovel my truck out of our driveway and the snow blower wouldn’t start! How many of you here have done any sort of shopping lately? Have you seen how parking lots and shopping malls get to be this time of the year? Not a lot of joy to be found there, trying to make sure you get your shopping done, or your Christmas baking done, or if you’re hosting a party of some sort, to get all the arrangements completed. For many, instead of joy, there’s anxiety over the economy, wondering if they will still have a job in the next few months, or if they have already lost a job, how will they find another one? There’s a lot of reasons out there to not find any joy, to not find a reason to rejoice.
And yet, today’s Gospel reading, as strange as this is going to sound, gives us a reason to “Rejoice in the Lord always”. It’s because in his preaching along the Jordan, John had a message to proclaim, a message that would give his hearers a reason to rejoice. To put it in Lutheran terms, John’s message was one of Law and gospel. And because of that, it is a message that has great joy to offer us this Advent season!
First, John preaches to them the law. John doesn’t pull any punches, after all, calling people a “Brood of Vipers”, or poisonous snakes, is certainly going to get someone’s attention. He then encourages his hearers to “Bear fruits in keeping with repentance.” It appears that people were interested. They wanted to know how this message applied to their daily lives, lives that were, no doubt, full of stress, instead of joy. Much like ours today. That’s why they asked John, “What shall we do?”
And John gave them some concrete examples. Listen again to what he said:, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Collect no more than you are authorized to do.” Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.” John pointed out specific examples to these people how they had broken God’s commandments and sinned in their daily lives. To tax collectors, he told them “God says, you shall not steal, and yet, you are using your vocation to steal from others to line your own pockets!” To soldiers, he warned them “your vocation as soldier is a God given vocation, a means for providing your daily bread through your wages. And yet, you abuse this gift by abusing your power and authority to take whatever you want from others, causing them physical harm, emotional distress, and sealing from them.” John got specific with those people. And in a way, he gets specific with us today. If you think that the world is all about you, all about making yourself happy in this life, even at the expense of others to get ahead, you’re wrong. God calls us to live lives in service to Him and to others, and when we use the gifts He gives us in service to ourselves, we are part of that brood of vipers. For anytime we sin, it’s a declaration that “I know you said this, God, but I don’t care, I am going to do it anyway!”
You see, John wasn’t pointing out these people’s sins to make him feel good about himself, or to make them depressed. John pointed out these sins because they were at the root of the problem. We lack the kind of joy God created us to have because of sin. Sins of thought, word, and deed. Sins that we cling to that in the end, separate us from God. It’s something we need to hear yet today. At creation, God intended for mankind to live, but sin separates us from God and from each other, and the wages of sin is death; eternal separation from God and His good gifts. And if we are left on our own, we’re in trouble. That’s why John said “Do not begin to say to yourselves ‘We have Abraham as our father’…Every tree that does not bear good fruit is to be cut down and thrown into the fire.” Left in our sin, left to ourselves we are a tree that is not bearing good fruit, just waiting to be cut down. That’s what we all face if we continue to look away from our good and gracious God, and focus on ourselves. The reality of 1 John 1:8 hits home for all of us: “If we say we have no sin, we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us.”
Now if that were the only part of John’s message, it would be depressing. But, this is where we can rejoice. Because that’s not the end of the story. You see, John had one other part to his message: what we would call the Gospel.
The crowds saw quite a sight out there along the Jordan. They see this strange man, in a strange place, dressed in strange clothes, eating strange foods proclaiming a baptism of what? Repentance for the forgiveness of sins. So they had to wonder, who is this guy? Is he the Christ? Is he the promised Messiah? So they ask John if that’s the case. But instead of pointing in on himself, John points them to the One who is to follow him: “The one whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.” That’s quite a statement there because to do such a thing in Biblical times was the job of a slave. John is saying he’s not even worthy of that.
John wasn’t the Christ, he was merely called to point people to him. In Luke 1, while still in his mother, Elizabeth’s womb, baby John lept for Joy when Mary, who had that promised Messiah in her womb, came into Elizabeth’s presence. Later, when Jesus Himself comes to the banks of the Jordan, John is the one who points to Him and says “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!” (John 1:29) Jesus Himself said of John in Luke 7: “I tell you, among those born of women, none is greater than John.” (v. 28) What made John great is not anything about himself, but Who John pointed people to: the fact that John pointed repentant sinners to the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ, who would go from the manger, to the banks of the Jordan, into the wilderness, and eventually, to the cross, to suffer and die for the sins of the world. To take the punishment that was rightly ours because of our sin. Jesus Christ, the one who would break the power of sin, death, and the devil by His own death and resurrection, so that repentant sinners could be drowned of their sinfulness, and rise again to new life. Where we couldn’t do it on our own, Christ did it for us.
Today, faithful Pastors continue in the role that John had, in that they point to us our sin, and once we are convicted of our sin, our cry is “What shall we do?” And then, the faithful Pastor points us to the One who came, who paid the price for our sins, and offers us new life. The one who puts our focus on Christ and what He does for us. Christ, the one who promises “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Who is present with us through the Word and the Sacraments. That’s why you see your Pastors dressed in strange clothing. These vestments aren’t something you would see anyone wear out in the street, but they point out the fact that the message I proclaim to you every time I step into a pulpit isn’t to point you to me, it’s to point you to Christ. These vestments cover me up, yet leave my head free so that I may speak God’s Word of Law and Gospel to you, and my hands free so that I may administer that Word connected to the sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion. With this being Advent, my responsibility today is to point you to the promise of a Savior who was born in Bethlehem, who took on flesh and blood just like you, so that flesh and blood could be nailed to the cross in your place. So that you can see that promise is fulfilled in that baby. And so that you know that Christ has promised to be here, to forgive you all of your sins, to strengthen your faith, and to remind you that one day, He will deliver you out of this sinful, fallen world into the eternal joys of paradise.
That’s why there is “Good news of great joy that will be unto all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.” That Savior will deliver us from sin, death, and the devil one day. So when you have to endure trials in this world, you know that they are only temporary. For those of you facing the reality of celebrating Christmas without a loved one who has died in the faith, you can rejoice because you know that your loved one is freed from their sadness and pain, and is now enjoying the eternal joy of paradise with God, and you will be reunited with them one day, your separation is only temporary. For those who worry about financial matters, who wonder what will happen tomorrow, or next month, you know that God hears your prayer of “Give us this day our daily bread” and will respond to it by giving you your needs for this body and life, even if you don’t know where it will come from, but more importantly, that He has already taken care of your needs for eternal life by forgiving your sins. For those of us who wonder about what we will give our family and friends for Christmas, today we are reminded that things of the world will always disappoint us. The new toy will break, the sweater you will get at Christmas will get caught on the filing cabinet and become unraveled, that new car will eventually need to be repaired or replaced, but the gift of sins forgiven will never get old, it will never break, and it will keep on giving.
That’s why during this season of Advent and always, we can rejoice in repentance. Truly sorry over our sins, we confess them, with the confidence that Christ was born, Christ has died, and Christ has risen to forgive all of our sins, and give us eternal life. What more wonderful, joyful message could we hear during this season of Advent than that! Thanks be to God that today and always, we can join with St, Paul in saying “Rejoice in the Lord always, again, I will say, Rejoice!’ Amen.
