3rd Sunday in Advent
Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
John 1:6-8, 19-28
"Who Is Coming?"
Isaiah 61:
1 ¶ The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good tidings to the afflicted; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;
3 to grant to those who mourn in Zion--to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified.
8 For I the LORD love justice, I hate robbery and wrong; I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
9 Their descendants shall be known among the nations, and their offspring in the midst of the peoples; all who see them shall acknowledge them, that they are a people whom the LORD has blessed.
10 ¶ I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall exult in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
11 For as the earth brings forth its shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.RSV
John 1:
6 ¶ There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
7 He came for testimony, to bear witness to the light, that all might believe through him.
8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness to the light.
19 ¶ And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?"
20 He confessed, he did not deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ."
21 And they asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the prophet?" And he answered, "No."
22 They said to him then, "Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?"
23 He said, "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ’Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said."
24 Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.
25 They asked him, "Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?"
26 John answered them, "I baptize with water; but among you stands one whom you do not know,
27 even he who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie."
28 This took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.RSV
Grace and Peace to you from our Lord and Saviour, Jesus who is the Christ. Amen
"Imagine yourself looking out over a landscape of thousands and thousands of people. People who seem happy, playing, dancing, laughing and celebration. As you focus in on their faces, they look just like you, you even see friends, neighbors, relatives and one who looks exactly like you. As you continue to watch these people, you notice that some don’t move as free as others. You see they are linked by invisible chains, to huge weights.
Weight of resentment, or bitterness, or unforgiving, or self-control, or loneliness, or deep guilt, or a broken spirit or unfaithfulness, or mistrust, or petty complaints, or worry, or gossip or wanting to be number one, or pride, or weights of knowing what is best for everyone, or self-righteousness or religious bigotry, or weights of piety. You see all these weights, some people walking with balls & chains some huge, some medium size, some small but everyone you see is chained to some kind of weight.
Some carry their weights with ease, disguising the fact they have to carry a weight, others are struggling, it affects their lives the way they move, dance, interact with others.
You look around and you see the one who looks like you, you see the weights or weights attached, they say....
Everyone is smiling, even the one who looks like you, but you can see their burdens, you can see their struggles, you can see how their lives their every movement is affected by the weights they carry. You long to free them, you long to find some way to release them from those weights, but at last you know you cannot, as they know they can’t free themselves.
Then you see one moving among the people who has no weight, only a key which says FREEDOM,RELEASE and he is moving about unlocking, releasing the people from their weights and chains. Releasing people and giving them the chance to move freely--releasing them to move uninhibited, but sadly some don’t let him, they move away from him, they continue to dance their own dance weighted down by their weight and chain.....
You see others, who are given the strength and courage to carry their weights, because even this one can not free them in this land, but he gives them a promise they will be free in another land. He promises to bring them to that land when their walk through this land is finished. You even see this man reach out to help carry as many of those weights as he can.
Some are freed, some are given strength and courage some are given help in carrying their weight, and some move away from him in self pride, still disguising their weights, still pretending they have no weights what so ever to carry.
Then you focus on the one who looks like you, this person, this man, this Christ moves toward you and you.........
what will you let Him do with your weights?
How will you answer that question? What will you say to the one with the key?
John the Baptizer says in our gospel lesson this morning that one is coming who is the Christ.
John was called into the office of the scribes and Pharisees and they demanded to know what he was doing. They ask him a series of questions as it says in the text:
19 ¶ And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?"
20 He confessed, he did not deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ."
21 And they asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the prophet?" And he answered, "No."
22 They said to him then, "Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?"
23 He said, "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ’Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said."
John was not the Christ, but he was announcing the coming of the Christ. It is interesting that it is only in John’s gospel that we find the I am Saying of Jesus, and John is using the negative of those sayings by stating that he is not the Christ, I am not He.
Then if John is not the Christ, who is it?
Our first lesson sheds some light on that. Isaiah says:
because the LORD has anointed me to bring good tidings to the afflicted; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;
3 to grant to those who mourn in Zion--to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified.
The Christ is the one who is going to bring hope into this world.
Hope which will allow us to live with our burdens and to allow the Christ to free us from those that He can.
The Advent season is the season of hope. Hope that you and I don’t have to walk the paths of this world alone, we have Christ with us. Hope that we have a Saviour who will free us from death and the power of the devil and grant us salvation.
John came to give hope to the people that one was coming who was greater than he and who would baptize with the power of the Spirit and transform people’s lives.
Many people live a life of quiet despair like the man in the following:
A pastor once had the following dream:
The auto magical elevator stops with a jolt. The doors slide open, but instead of the accustomed exit, the passenger faces only a blank wall. His fingers stab at the buttons: nothing happens.
Finally he presses the alarm signal and a starter’s gruff voice inquires from below: "What’s the matter?"
The passenger explains that he wants to get off on the 25th floor.
"There is no 25 floor in this building," comes the voice over the loudspeaker.
The passenger explains that he has worked on that floor for years. He gives his name.
"Never heard of you," says the loudspeaker. "
Easy," the passenger tells himself, "they are just trying to frighten me."
But time passes and nothing changes. In that endless moment, the variously pleading and angry exchanges over the loudspeaker are the passenger’s only communication with the outside world. Finally even that ceases. The man-below says he cannot waste any more time.
"Wait—please!" cries the passenger in panic. "Keep talking to me!"
But the loudspeaker only clicks into silence. Hours, days, ages go by the passenger cowers in a corner of his steel box staring at the shining metal grille through which the voice once spoke—perhaps the voice will be heard again.. "
Many of us are like that man, shackled by our sins and our desperate lives with no hope, nothing but a once whispered voice in our past.
But the voice of the past is here today in this Advent season. We are in a season of hope, hope that your life can take on more meaning and purpose. We hope for delieverance from our sins, we hope for release from all that is making us less than God wants us to be.
God through Jesus is coming into our lives.
He comes now through the word and sacraments, he comes through the touch of a stanger, and He gives us hope of His coming in the new age when we will truly be free.
Advent is a season of hope, a season of waiting, a season of joy knowing that one day all will be made new through Christ.
A closing story sums it up well:
Carolyn Self tells how she and her husband Bill and son Bryan took advantage of a school holiday and went to a secluded spot in the North Georgia mountains. It started out as a beautiful weekend. Bill returned to Atlanta on Saturday night to preach in his church on Sunday. He would return on Sunday evening.
On Sunday afternoon, it began to rain. It poured—seven inches in five hours. A tornado hit a nearby town. Thunder and lightning crackled all around Carolyn and Bryan. They had no car. They were alone. They were stranded. It was frightening.
On Sunday evening, about midnight, Carolyn and Bryan saw Bill’s car lights starting up the mountain road toward them. They watched through the flashes of lightning. The road had become a river. Suddenly the front car lights went down and under water and then the tail lights went out.
Carolyn’s heart stopped beating. Had Bill drowned?
Finally, she saw the figure of a man moving around. She saw the beam of his flashlight moving through the storm. "My heart nearly burst with joy," she said, to hear Bill’s voice calling to me."
We watch, we wait, we respond to Christ’s coming with joy and hope.
Amen
Written by Pastor Tim Zingale, December 9, 2002
