Sermon for Advent 3: "Advent Longing"

 + 3^rd Sunday of Advent – December 15^th, 2024 +

Series C: Zephaniah 3:14-20; Philippians 4:4-7; Luke 7:18-28

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA 

 

 

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

 

I have climbed the highest mountains
I have run through the fields
Only to be with you
Only to be with you.

I have run, I have crawled
I have scaled these city walls
These city walls
Only to be with you.

But I still haven't found
What I'm looking for.

 

Bono of the band U2 probably didn’t have the season of Advent in mind when he wrote that song. But it’s a very Advent song all the same. If Advent is a season of waiting and expectation that also means is a season of searching, seeking, and longing…and with that longing a restlessness.

 

Think about how much time we spend (in and out of this season) searching. Looking for that perfect gift on Amazon. Scrolling through your social media for the 10^th time in an hour just in case something. Checking the news headlines you just looked at five minutes ago. Tapping our phones to see if anyone has sent a text or left a voicemail. 

 

One way or another, we live Advent lives spent searching, seeking, longing, yearning. 

 

We have that in common with John the Baptist. Here in Luke 7, John is doing a little searching of his own. Looking for answers and explanations. Wondering what this all means. Being locked in prison can do that to a guy, even the fiery wilderness preacher still needs a preacher.

 

So John calls two of disciples and says. I’m stuck here in prison. I’ve a mission for you guys. Go ask Jesus, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” ²⁰ And when the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?’”

 

Put yourself in John’s camel hair clothing for a moment and imagine how his mind is spinning as he sits in prison. “I just don’t get it. I mean, the Anointed One is supposed to come with a winnowing fork in his hand, not carpenter’s tools. He’s supposed to mighty, not meek. He’s supposed to deal with the oppressors and save the lame and outcast. And the Romans are still in charge, there’s still plenty of poverty, and the Lord sent me out into the wilderness to preach and baptize and for what? Here I am in prison. Maybe this isn’t the Messiah I was looking for after all.”  

 

“Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” 

 

John may have sat alone in Herod’s dungeon, but he’s not alone in his searching. We’re right there with him. So, what is it you’re looking so hard to find? What are you searching and longing and yearning for this Advent? 

 

Meaning or purpose? Belonging or connection? Comfort and hope? Wisdom, peace, or joy? We grow restless searching answers from the doctors. We grow restless seeking reconciliation with those who’ve hurt us, or those we’ve hurt. We grow restless in our search for employment. We grow restless as we pray for God to heal that cancer…to take away the pain of losing a child...to do what he has promised: to heal the lame, gather the outcast, and take away our shame. 

 

If there’s one thing our restless searching reveals it’s that there is within each of us a hunger that we cannot quite satisfy. A thirst we cannot slake. A problem we can’t solve. An illness we cannot cure. A longing that we can’t quite grasp. St. Augustine captured this reality centuries ago in a prayer: “ Thou hast made us for Thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in Thee.”

 

And that’s another thing our searching reveals. When it comes to our seeking, longing, and yearning what we’re looking for isn’t found in us. Just as what John was looking for wasn’t found in him. On our own we still haven’t found what we’re looking for.

 

So it’s a good thing for John and for you, that there’s One who has found what he’s looking for. It’s a good thing for John and for you that the One John proclaimed in the wilderness is in fact the long-expected Messiah foretold by prophets and the One who is fulfilling their very words in his birth for you, his life lived for you, his dying on the cross for you, and his rising again for you. It’s a good thing for John and for you that Jesus is the One who came to seek and to save the lost. John. The crowds. The disciples. And yes, you.

 

“Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them.

 

The poor have good news preached to them. That’s John. That’s you. That’s me. We’re the poor and weak and lame and blind and broken and lost whom Jesus has come to seek and to save. God seeks you out. God finds you. God rescues you. And he gives you what you long for but what only he can give: the wisdom of his word and the fruits of the Spirit. Peace in his pardon. Joy because of his suffering for you. Belonging and connection in the communion of saints here in his church. A holy rest in his body and blood which heals and forgives our restlessness. Comfort and hope in his promise never to leave nor forsake you no matter how dark it gets or what kind of prison you find yourself locked in. Jesus is always the one who seeks and saves the lost…and that’s good news for you. And for your neighbor.

 

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