Monday, December 19, 2016

3rd Advent Midweek Sermon: "Comfort in Christ Crucified"

+ Advent Midweek 3 – December 14th, 2016 +
Isaiah 40:1-11; Matthew 3:1-12

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

The rock n’ roll legend, Tom Petty was right, “The waiting is the hardest part”.

During this season, we spend a lot of time waiting: in lines at the store, for packages on our doorstep, or on the freeways in traffic. For some of us, this waiting is full of excitement and expectation, like a child who can’t fall asleep Christmas Eve because they’re so antsy waiting for Christmas morning. Still, there are many others who are waiting for the holidays to be over.

In the Lord’s House, Advent is a season of waiting as well. We wait to celebrate Christmas Day and sing with joy: “Glory to God in the highest!” We join the Psalmist in crying out: 

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
    and in his word I hope;
my soul waits for the Lord
    more than watchmen for the morning,
    more than watchmen for the morning.

And as we hear God’s Word taught and preached, as we live in the word and water of our Baptism, as we receive Jesus’ body and blood by his Word and promise in Holy Communion, we also wait for Christ to come again on the Last Day.

The people of Israel have a long history of waiting. Waiting on God’s promises is the story of the Old Testament. Israel waited for their exodus from slavery in Egypt to enter the promised land, waited for the glory of the Lord to fill the temple built by Solomon, waited for the promised Messiah to come and crush the serpent’s head once and for all.

YHWH sent Isaiah the prophet to Israel at a time of waiting. The kingdom of Israel, established through David, given the Lord’s splendor and glory through Solomon, was divided. Though a faithful remnant would remain, many did not wait on the Lord and chased the instant gratification of false worship to false gods. Meanwhile, the Babylonian and Assyrian empires waited for an opportune time lay waste to Jerusalem.


In the years after Isaiah, Israel would need the word of the Lord he delivered.

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
    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.

King Hezekiah foolishly put his trust in the Babylonians to protect Israel from the Assyrians. Isaiah warned of the coming Babylonian exile. But in 587, Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians. The Holy City was consumed in destruction. The land, promised by YHWH, was pillaged and devastated. Israel was taken into exile. Ezekiel’s chilling vision had come true. The glory of the Lord departed the temple. And the temple – the place where YHWH dwelled with his people and for his people - was in ruins. No temple, no sacrifice for sin, no liturgy, where YHWH was present for his people in mercy.  

And there in Babylon, far from home and the Lord’s house, Israel waited in lament:

By the waters of Babylon,
    there we sat down and wept,
    when we remembered Zion.

And in many ways, we’re a lot like Israel. Waiting is not something we excel at. If the busy-ness of the holiday season teaches us anything, it’s that we are far too easily frustrated, impatient, and quick to anger and abounding steadfast stubbornness.

Like Hezekiah, we put our hope and trust in the Babylons of this world, in people, places, and things that are temporal. All flesh is grass; it withers and fades away, says Isaiah.
Like Israel, we war with God, we are unfaithful as his bride, chasing our own passions, desires, lusts, and idols.

Like Israel, we live in exile in a fallen world, far from home; in bondage and slavery to sin, in the wilderness awaiting the Promised Land. And we cry out with Isaiah: Woe is me; I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell among a people of unclean lips.”

Like Israel, God sends us Isaiah and the prophets, all the way down to John the Baptist, to awaken us in our waiting. Repent. The Kingdom of God is at hand.

But Israel did not wait in vain for the Lord. For neither exile nor captivity could silence the Word of the Lord. After 70 years in captivity, Israel returned to Jerusalem. The walls and temple were rebuilt. The liturgy and sacrifices for sin was restored.

Into the destruction, despair, and desolation of Israel’s exile, the Lord sent his Word, his solemn promise.

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
    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.

Like Israel, we do not wait in vain. The Messiah that Isaiah foretold came for Israel and for you. The comfort Isaiah declared comes for you in the flesh of Jesus. The forgiveness and pardon promised by God comes for you in Jesus born for you, held captive to sin and death for you, crucified and risen for you.

Into our exile, into our lives broken by sin, into our lives of hopelessness, destruction, disease, and death, the Lord sends Jesus, the Word made flesh for you. For us who sit in exile in this fallen world, Jesus comes and frees you from captivity to sin. For us who are unfaithful in thought, word, and deed, Jesus comes as the faithful Son in your place, always fulfilling the Father’s will and desires for you. For us who were at war with God in our hearts and minds, Jesus wins victory and brings peace to you by his death on the cross. For us who deserved double punishment for our iniquity, Jesus comes and pardons you, gives you double forgiveness, double comfort.

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Comfort is a Gospel word, and once is never enough with the Gospel. You simply can’t hear, receive, eat and drink God’s comfort for you in Jesus too much.

So it is this Advent; we wait with Isaiah and Israel who longed for Jesus’ appearing, with Simeon who was awaiting the consolation of Israel, with Anna and all who were waiting the redemption of Jerusalem.

For the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
    and all flesh shall see it together,
    for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

The glory of the Lord has returned and is revealed for you in Jesus. From the tabernacle of Mary’s womb comes forth the temple of Jesus’ body. The glory of the Lord revealed to Moses in the burning bush now manifests his glory from the tree of the cross for you. The glory of the Lord who led Israel by a pillar of smoke and fire now leads us as the Good Shepherd, who laid down his life for you. The glory of the Lord that sat between the cherubim on the ark of the covenant, now dwells for you in the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper, the water of your Baptism, the double forgiveness of Absolution, and the Word of the Lord endures forever for you.


Here in the Lord's House, we have everything Israel had, only infinitely greater: the temple, the liturgy, sacrifice for sin,– it’s all here for us in Jesus, the glory of the Lord in human flesh. Yes, we wait, but not in vain.

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
    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.

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



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