Sermon: Gaudete (Advent 3) - 2018

16 December 2018

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Text: Matt 11:2-10 (Isa 40:1-11, 1 Cor 4:1-5)

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

This third Sunday in Advent is named “Gaudete” – which is Latin for “rejoice.”  It reads like a command, like something God is ordering you to do: “Gaudete!  Rejoice!”  But rejoicing isn’t something you can do under compulsion, dear friends.  Rejoicing is a response to something that causes joy.  And so when our Lord calls upon us to rejoice, it’s not an imperious  command, but rather a gracious invitation!  “Let us rejoice!” we might say in English.

And we are indeed invited because the Lord has opened the door and He bids us to enter: enter the kingdom of heaven, enter the place prepared for you before the foundation of the world, enter into a place of shelter and celebration and perfection and peace and joy.

And we have all the more reason to rejoice, dear friends, because without God’s invitation, we are without hope, lost in our sins, condemned to death, and stuck in a trap of decay and dysfunction.  But in the midst of the gloom shines a light.  The door to our prison opens suddenly, our chains are struck from our wrists and ankles, and we are brought into the palace to feast with the king.

And this is a great mystery, because we still live here in space and time in a broken world and in our sinful flesh.  We struggle with broken families, with temptations, with disappointments, with lack of money, with aches and pains and health crises, with the deaths of loved ones and with our own mortality.  John the Baptist suffered greatly in Herod’s prison cell, because it seemed that his triumphant preaching of the kingdom, of Jesus, and the call to repent, was all in vain.  For John literally sat shackled in a dark prison, while the evil, unrepentant king, the pretender to the Messiah’s throne – rejoiced in the palace.  

And so we also might be tempted to wonder: is it true at all?  Are we just fooling ourselves?  Is Jesus the one to come, or “shall we look for another?”  The imprisoned John sent his disciples to Jesus to put that very question to Him.  

Our Lord does not scold them or John for asking the question.  Rather, He brings them comfort.  He brings them good news.  He gives them reason to rejoice.

“Go and tell,” He invites, “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 good news preached to them.”

John the Baptist knew the Word of God, and he himself was sent to direct Israel to the living Word in the person of his cousin Jesus.  John the Baptist knew the prophets, and he was himself the last prophet.  John the Baptist knew the invitation from Isaiah that was given to him to: “Comfort, comfort My people… and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.”  For John knew that he was that voice: “A voice cries: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God…. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.’”

Our Lord Jesus Christ calls John the Baptist “a prophet” and indeed “more than a prophet.”  John is the messenger, the prophet foretold by the prophets, “of whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send My messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’”  Our Lord knows who John is, and John knows who Jesus is.

John knew that the Messiah, the Christ, would indeed give sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf; He would indeed make the lame walk, the dead live, and preach good news to the poor, miserable sinner: good news of redemption and life.  And as our Lord points out to John’s disciples, this is exactly what Jesus does.  The kingdom has come upon the earth just as the prophets of old, and the last of the prophets, have spoken.

For like all the prophets, like the apostles, and like all of the Lord’s servants to come until the Lord returns, John has been tasked to speak comfort to the people of God, to be a servant of Christ, and a “steward of the mysteries of God.” 

And even with this prophetic knowledge and this revelation of the Word, John asks Jesus, “Are you the one?” and Jesus answers:  “Go and tell.”  Our Lord speaks comfort to John, preaching to the preacher, prophesying to the prophet, and inviting him into the real palace of the real King, unshackling him from sin, death, and the devil, and even honoring him for his prophetic voice: “Among those born of women,” says our Lord, “there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist.”

For indeed, dear friends, indeed, dear brothers and sisters, “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.”  The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.  This is why we “rejoice in the Lord always, and again, I will say, Rejoice.”

This is how Christians have been able to rejoice in dire circumstances: in prison, in the arena, at the stake, scorned and hated, marginalized, and tortured, and put to death.  This is how John could rejoice even in prison, for even there, he heard “about the deeds of Christ.”  And the Word of Christ brought him comfort and joy, for John knew the hope of life, eternal life, life that nothing and no-one could take from him – not even the wicked king Herod, not even the sword, not even death itself.

For no matter what happens in this fallen world, our Lord Jesus Christ is the king and He has triumphed over sin, death, and the devil.  And “He will tend His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs in His arms; He will carry them in His bosom.”

So, dear friends, let us rejoice!  Let us receive our Lord’s gracious invitation!  Gaudete!  Rejoice!  Even unto eternity.  Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.