Sermon: Gaudete (Advent 3) - 2020

13 December 2020

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

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

This week in the church year is called “Gaudete” – which means “rejoice.”  And even though we are in the penitential season of Advent, with our focus often being on our need to repent and on the end of the world, we open the window just a crack and let the sunshine of the joy of the coming feast of Christmas enter in.

The name of this week comes from the Introit we sang together at the beginning of the service, from St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians: “Rejoice in the Lord always.  Again, will I say, rejoice!”  Interestingly, our Old Testament reading comes from the time when God’s people had just been conquered by the Babylonians.  The temple had been destroyed and looted.  The city leveled and burned.  And the people had been taken captive as slaves in a new land.  And the prophet Isaiah speaks of God’s “comfort.”  And we sing together, “Rejoice!”

Our Gospel reading has John the Baptist locked away in a dungeon, a jail cell in which he will be beheaded.  John sends messengers to Jesus asking Him if he really is the Messiah, as things are looking pretty grim.  And we sing together, “Rejoice!”

And here we are at the end of a year that has been a time of trial and testing for pretty much everyone in the world.  We Christians light the pink candle on the Advent wreath.  The clergy wear rose colored vestments.  And we sing together, “Rejoice!”

This is the peculiarity of God’s kingdom, dear friends.  For when the world looks at itself and sees only dread, and when we poor miserable sinners look at ourselves and see only condemnation, the Lord looks upon us in light of His Son’s atoning sacrifice on the cross, and He sees us as forgiven and victorious.  And so we are!  And no matter if God’s people are captive in Babylon, no matter if the Lord’s preacher is in prison, no matter if we are enduring political unrest, and uncertainty regarding the Pandemic and the economy – we still sing together “Rejoice!”

For St. Paul’s admonition is to “Rejoice in the Lord always.”  He doesn’t tell us Christians to rejoice in the Lord in good times, or when we feel like it, or in those times when things are going so well that we forget about Him.  No, we are to rejoice “always,” – even when we are in exile, or in a dungeon, or when we have lost our jobs, when our test has come back positive, when we have family issues, when death comes to our household, when the enemies of the cross are emboldened and have power over us, when we are tempted to give up, when we are isolated, when we see evil all around us seemingly unchecked and ready to pounce on us. 

For it is in times like these that the prophet is called by God to “Comfort, comfort My people.  Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry 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 the Father is still in Heaven.  The Son has died and risen, has atoned for us, comes to us in Word and Sacrament, and is coming again at the end of time.  The Holy Spirit still guides us to the light of the Word of God and keeps us in the one true faith, the ark of the church, where the Lord Himself comforts us.

St. Paul understood this, and even as one who will die for the faith, one who was many times imprisoned and beaten for the sake of his confession, Paul encourages us to “Rejoice in the Lord always.” 

This is only possible by focusing on Christ.  Notice that John’s questions did not concern Himself.  He did not ask Jesus if he were going to get out of prison.  Rather his question had to do with the work and ministry of Jesus.  

Our Lord answered John’s messengers by pointing out to them that the things that were happening were the very things prophesied in the Scriptures that John knew so well: “The blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleaned and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.”

Indeed, this is all cause for rejoicing.  For it means that indeed, just as John had been preaching, the kingdom of God was at hand.  John preached Jesus as Messiah, and Jesus has proven Himself to be the Messiah.  And that is a cause for rejoicing, always.

And no matter how bad things get – in our lives, for the people of God, and for the world – we have every reason to rejoice.  Our Lord died on the cross for our atonement.  He was raised for our justification.  He is the victor over every evil that we see around us, evil that has been stalking us for six thousand years.  Our Lord Jesus Christ has defeated Satan.  He has conquered every kind of evil that causes us to suffer.  And He is coming again to rescue us and free us from our own exile in this fallen world, to liberate us from the stifling dungeon in which we temporarily find ourselves.

In less than two weeks, we will rejoice and feast yet again to celebrate His miraculous birth, His incarnation as a human being, His ministry of deliverance, of freeing us from the bondage of the devil, His reclaiming of the world that has been occupied by the forces of evil, and His final victory at the end of the age.  For Jesus has come to bring His people out of exile and to smash open not only the dungeon, but also the tomb. 

And the Lord called His apostles and those who came after them to be stewards of the mysteries, to serve you with the Good News and with the Body and Blood of Christ.  For the Lord  comes to us even in the exile and prison of this world.  And no matter your circumstances, when you hear this good news proclaimed, and when you eat and drink His body and blood, dear friends, you have every reason to rejoice.  And the darker your particular exile or prison, the greater the joy – for you are being freed. 

And so, with the window cracked open just a bit – even in our exile and our prison cell, the light shines from Him who created light itself in the beginning. 

And we sing together:

“Rejoice in the Lord always.  Again I will say, rejoice!....  You have forgiven the iniquity of Your people; You have covered all their sin.  Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You?  I will hear what God the Lord will speak, for He will speak peace to His people.”

Rejoice in the Lord always.  Again will I say, rejoice!”

Amen.

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