St Luke 1:57-80/Isaiah 40:1-5/Acts 13:13-26
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.
St John the Baptist is an odd character. He is a man on the edge of time, caught between two worlds: the foreshadowing, prophetic, demonstrative sacrifices of the Temple and the world of the fulfilled, once-for-all Sacrifice outside the gate.
He stands in the wilderness, calling us to repentance, to die to ourselves; leveling our mountains of pride with his unyielding Law, but also raising us from our valley of despair by his tender Gospel. He goes before the Lord to prepare His way. He is a Prophet of the Most High God, that is to say, of Jesus.
And everything about this guy preaches Christ! His conception and birth, his naming and circumcision, his time in the wilderness, his fiery proclamation, his call to repentance, his baptism for the forgiveness of sins, his persecution, suffering, and martyrdom – as great and miraculous as all these are (and they are!), they point to the Greater One, the Horn of Salvation, the Lord God of Israel, who has visited and redeemed His people. They preach Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
For the coming of the Savior of Israel, promised to Abraham, foretold by the Prophets, as Paul preached in Antioch, is the cause for our joy – even as John leaped in his mother’s womb in the presence of his Savior. For He comes that we should be saved from our enemies – from sin, death, and the devil.
But how shall we receive Him?
For of yourself you cannot receive Him. Your sin cuts you off and separates you from God; prevents you from receiving Him and His salvation in faith. Not only that, but for your sin you deserve condemnation from the coming Lord, punishment and death. We are by nature sinful and unclean. We cannot stand in His judgment or abide in His presence.
Still, for all of that, it is with tender mercy and divine compassion that He comes. It is by His grace, according to His covenant, that He does not cast you off. Rather He comes to you with Life and Light and Love.
And so it is, that in order to prepare you for His coming, the Lord raises up and calls and sends a messenger before His face – a preacher – to preach repentance and forgiveness of sins. This is why John had come, why the hand of the Lord was with him. He is called the Baptizer, but truly he was a preacher, giving knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of sins.
It is only by such preaching of the Word that you are prepared for Christ Jesus; that you are able to receive Him. For the way of the Lord is made straight in the desert, the barren wasteland of your heart through contrition and repentance. Isaiah writes, Comfort, comfort My people, speak tenderly to them. And John comes preaching, Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. He preaches the Truth to make Way for Life. He preaches the Truth so that all who hear his sermon will receive salvation by the forgiveness of their sins.
But there is still a problem.
You can no more receive or respond to this preaching of the Word than you can or could receive the Word-made-Flesh Himself. Your sin still gets in the way and prevents you. For His Law, by whomever it is preached, still condemns you and puts you to death. This is the Truth that John preaches. The Truth that bears the Holy Spirit and convicts of us our sins.
And the truth hurts. The truth exposes us for who we really are inside and out. The Truth does not lie. It is the two-edged sword that cuts and slices, lays waste every sorry excuse and justification for our lies and perversions; cuts us to the quick and leaves us mortally wounded, puts us to death.
Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. To us has been sent the message of salvation – the Lord God of Israel has come to His people and redeemed them. He who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, has come for you. He who with uplifted arm led His people out of Egypt, who gave them Canaan as an inheritance, who gave judges until Samuel the prophet, King Saul and the David, a man after His own heart – this God, who swore an oath to Abraham – He took up flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary for you; to deliver you from the hand of your enemies.
The One to whom John’s preaching pointed, comes, and submits to John’s preaching! He receives the condemnation of the Law in His own flesh! St John preaches a Baptism of repentance, to which Christ submits Himself, so that His death, on your behalf, then fills your Baptism with His life. St John preaches a dying to oneself, which is repentance, and Christ undergoes such repentance by His death and resurrection, in order that the way of repentance might be opened for you.
Zechariah sings that coming Christ shall guide our feet into the way of peace, and it is in fact, the way of the Cross, that is, the way of repentance. A way that Christ Himself has walked for you; that He has fulfilled for you. And having completed His course, having been raised from the dead for your justification, He comes to you now. And it is precisely in His Word! For the preaching of the Word of Christ given to you is a living and active and powerful Word. This is so because it is a Word already fulfilled in Christ.
The preaching of repentance puts you to death, but you do not remain in your grave. For the preaching of forgiveness of sins raises you to life again. They go together, even as Jesus Himself commanded, that repentance and the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His Name to all nations (Lk 24:47).
This is the purpose of St John. Indeed this is the purpose of the Church, standing like he did in the wilderness of this world, calling men to repentance and forgiving their sins by the blood of the Lamb. The Church is, after all, a mouth house – a place for preaching. And this preaching causes the Light to shine upon you who were once in darkness.
And so it is that by this preaching of the Word of Christ you are prepared for His coming. And it is precisely in this way – by His Word – that He does come to you in love and visits you with tender mercy and compassion. Thus the preaching of repentance and the forgiveness of sins does and gives exactly what it proclaims!
My dear Christians, this is how your Lord Jesus Christ remembers you and His holy covenant – in preaching. He prepares you for Him and then gives you Himself. He washes you with His Holy Word in the Jordan of your Baptism. He raises you up from this valley of sorrow to His Holy Mountain, that is, to His Feast prepared for you. For His Holy Covenant in His Blood shed for your for the forgiveness of sins is given to you here. Your warfare has ended. Your iniquity is pardoned. You have received from the Lord’s hand double for all your sins.
And it is this preaching of the Word of Christ which has opened your ears and your heart to receive Him and has released you from all your sins, and now opens your lips, as it did Zechariah, that you may show forth His praise. Your tongues are loosed to confess His holy Name, and serve Him without fear, holy and righteous in His sight, all the days of our life. Amen.
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.
St John the Baptist is an odd character. He is a man on the edge of time, caught between two worlds: the foreshadowing, prophetic, demonstrative sacrifices of the Temple and the world of the fulfilled, once-for-all Sacrifice outside the gate.
He stands in the wilderness, calling us to repentance, to die to ourselves; leveling our mountains of pride with his unyielding Law, but also raising us from our valley of despair by his tender Gospel. He goes before the Lord to prepare His way. He is a Prophet of the Most High God, that is to say, of Jesus.
And everything about this guy preaches Christ! His conception and birth, his naming and circumcision, his time in the wilderness, his fiery proclamation, his call to repentance, his baptism for the forgiveness of sins, his persecution, suffering, and martyrdom – as great and miraculous as all these are (and they are!), they point to the Greater One, the Horn of Salvation, the Lord God of Israel, who has visited and redeemed His people. They preach Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
For the coming of the Savior of Israel, promised to Abraham, foretold by the Prophets, as Paul preached in Antioch, is the cause for our joy – even as John leaped in his mother’s womb in the presence of his Savior. For He comes that we should be saved from our enemies – from sin, death, and the devil.
But how shall we receive Him?
For of yourself you cannot receive Him. Your sin cuts you off and separates you from God; prevents you from receiving Him and His salvation in faith. Not only that, but for your sin you deserve condemnation from the coming Lord, punishment and death. We are by nature sinful and unclean. We cannot stand in His judgment or abide in His presence.
Still, for all of that, it is with tender mercy and divine compassion that He comes. It is by His grace, according to His covenant, that He does not cast you off. Rather He comes to you with Life and Light and Love.
And so it is, that in order to prepare you for His coming, the Lord raises up and calls and sends a messenger before His face – a preacher – to preach repentance and forgiveness of sins. This is why John had come, why the hand of the Lord was with him. He is called the Baptizer, but truly he was a preacher, giving knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of sins.
It is only by such preaching of the Word that you are prepared for Christ Jesus; that you are able to receive Him. For the way of the Lord is made straight in the desert, the barren wasteland of your heart through contrition and repentance. Isaiah writes, Comfort, comfort My people, speak tenderly to them. And John comes preaching, Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. He preaches the Truth to make Way for Life. He preaches the Truth so that all who hear his sermon will receive salvation by the forgiveness of their sins.
But there is still a problem.
You can no more receive or respond to this preaching of the Word than you can or could receive the Word-made-Flesh Himself. Your sin still gets in the way and prevents you. For His Law, by whomever it is preached, still condemns you and puts you to death. This is the Truth that John preaches. The Truth that bears the Holy Spirit and convicts of us our sins.
And the truth hurts. The truth exposes us for who we really are inside and out. The Truth does not lie. It is the two-edged sword that cuts and slices, lays waste every sorry excuse and justification for our lies and perversions; cuts us to the quick and leaves us mortally wounded, puts us to death.
Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. To us has been sent the message of salvation – the Lord God of Israel has come to His people and redeemed them. He who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, has come for you. He who with uplifted arm led His people out of Egypt, who gave them Canaan as an inheritance, who gave judges until Samuel the prophet, King Saul and the David, a man after His own heart – this God, who swore an oath to Abraham – He took up flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary for you; to deliver you from the hand of your enemies.
The One to whom John’s preaching pointed, comes, and submits to John’s preaching! He receives the condemnation of the Law in His own flesh! St John preaches a Baptism of repentance, to which Christ submits Himself, so that His death, on your behalf, then fills your Baptism with His life. St John preaches a dying to oneself, which is repentance, and Christ undergoes such repentance by His death and resurrection, in order that the way of repentance might be opened for you.
Zechariah sings that coming Christ shall guide our feet into the way of peace, and it is in fact, the way of the Cross, that is, the way of repentance. A way that Christ Himself has walked for you; that He has fulfilled for you. And having completed His course, having been raised from the dead for your justification, He comes to you now. And it is precisely in His Word! For the preaching of the Word of Christ given to you is a living and active and powerful Word. This is so because it is a Word already fulfilled in Christ.
The preaching of repentance puts you to death, but you do not remain in your grave. For the preaching of forgiveness of sins raises you to life again. They go together, even as Jesus Himself commanded, that repentance and the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His Name to all nations (Lk 24:47).
This is the purpose of St John. Indeed this is the purpose of the Church, standing like he did in the wilderness of this world, calling men to repentance and forgiving their sins by the blood of the Lamb. The Church is, after all, a mouth house – a place for preaching. And this preaching causes the Light to shine upon you who were once in darkness.
And so it is that by this preaching of the Word of Christ you are prepared for His coming. And it is precisely in this way – by His Word – that He does come to you in love and visits you with tender mercy and compassion. Thus the preaching of repentance and the forgiveness of sins does and gives exactly what it proclaims!
My dear Christians, this is how your Lord Jesus Christ remembers you and His holy covenant – in preaching. He prepares you for Him and then gives you Himself. He washes you with His Holy Word in the Jordan of your Baptism. He raises you up from this valley of sorrow to His Holy Mountain, that is, to His Feast prepared for you. For His Holy Covenant in His Blood shed for your for the forgiveness of sins is given to you here. Your warfare has ended. Your iniquity is pardoned. You have received from the Lord’s hand double for all your sins.
And it is this preaching of the Word of Christ which has opened your ears and your heart to receive Him and has released you from all your sins, and now opens your lips, as it did Zechariah, that you may show forth His praise. Your tongues are loosed to confess His holy Name, and serve Him without fear, holy and righteous in His sight, all the days of our life. Amen.
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