✠ Psalmody: Ps. 106:4–5;1b;145:18, 21a;Luke 1:28bc, 42c;Isaiah 7:14b
✠ Lection: Deuteronomy 18:15–19;Philippians 4:4–7;John 1:19b–28
In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
We pray for God to always bless us with His voice, for we need to constantly hear from Him. If we don’t hear from Him, our conscience becomes misinformed by what it soaks up from other sources, be it the media, atheistic moralism, or our emotions. A conscience that binds itself to feelings isn’t being rightly informed by the objective truth of God that comes to us through the Holy Scriptures. We are not saved by pleasure alone through emotion, but rather by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ.
There was a man, a voice of one, whose name was John, who was sent from God; no insignificant point as we continue to ponder upon our Lord Jesus coming to us, to be God with us in this season of His Advent. This man John came, calling us all to repentance that we might escape from the wrath to be revealed when Christ comes again in glory. This man spoke as God’s mouthpiece and many of the religious of his day did not know what to make of him. His life story wouldn’t be all that unknown or unheard of by them for many who lived in the region laid up in their hearts all the things surrounding his extraordinary birth.
It was just some 30 years earlier that John’s elderly parents, a righteous and blameless couple, the priest Zacharias and his wife, Elizabeth, who lived in the hill country of Judah, not too far from Jerusalem. The miraculous happened to them, for the centuries-silent voice of the Lord was heard once again when the Almighty sent forth His angel Gabriel to speak His Word to Zacharias. The priest was swerving in the temple when the angel appeared and told him that his prayer had been heard and would soon be answered. What prayer? His prayer for a son, and I tell you, more than a son, for John was filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. Yet, Zacharias doubted the word and did not trust what God was saying to him through Gabriel, because even if an angel from heaven foretold the blessing of a child, how could such a thing happen to an older couple beyond their child-bearing years? He did not believe that with God all things are possible, so such unbelief warranted the priest to be struck mute for the duration of Elizabeth’s pregnancy. The others waiting outside praying knew that something incredible had taken place when Zacharias took so long to burn and offer the incense, that he literally came out speechless, and that he miraculously ended up with a pregnant wife not too long afterward; a woman in old age who up till then had been called barren. The Lord’s voice was not only returning to His people, but was coming with an intensity so that the whole world would hear and rejoice forevermore.
This miracle child, John, whose very unlikely conception pointed to the One greater Who comes after him, was known by many people from birth onward, for neighbors and relatives came to celebrate with Elizabeth, to rejoice that the Lord had shown great mercy to her in giving her a son, a great prophet, a true voice that would grow to call out to all who would hear his words, “Make straight the way of the Lord.”
As John became a man, He became that once-silent, but now loud and clear voice of God that we need to hear in preparation for Jesus. Without having opened ears of sinners, the sound of the Savior’s voice will be lost in all the other noise of the world. John spoke so that our ears, our hearts, our minds, our bodies would be prepared for the Blessed One that comes in the Name of the Lord. When we, as Christians, seek to live as those baptized by God Himself, we do well to grasp John’s, and Luther’s, call for life to be characterized by daily contrition and repentance. We have the Catechism teaching to help us consider our place in life according to the Ten Commandments. And we have thousands of verses of other Scripture to use for our self-examination. We can even use the words of the priests and the Levites in John, chapter one, that open our eyes to see and our ears to hear the truths of God that time, idols, and other cares of this life have caused us to fail to notice.
Just as we asked ourselves upon hearing the Gospel last week, “Who did you go out to see,” when we come to church, similarly ask another question when you consider what takes the place of Christ in your life. Ask yourself about the things in your life that you look to for your good. Ask these speechless things the question, “Are you the Christ?” It sounds silly, at least until you sincerely consider whether the comfort of this life, the things, the earthly pleasures mean more to you than salvation and the One Who freely gives it. The Pharisees were waiting for and seeking the Messiah, much like us, or us much like them. If you say that you seek after God, then ask your hobbies, your favorite gadget, your fears, ask your decorated tree, ask the presents underneath it, ask your non-church Christmas Day traditions, “Who are you? Are you the Christ?” It may sound absurd to actually speak out loud such a question, but doing so may be the help you need to come to the realization of how you listen to such things as opposed to how you listen to God and how you place their importance above Him. Literally ask the things of this world if they are what deserve your time, your dedication, your worship. And though lifeless idols have no voice with which to respond, a conscience informed by God and His Word within you should speak and give a clear, but possibly hard-to-swallow answer of, “No,” they are not the Christ and are therefore not worthy of your following.
This does not mean that gifts from God, like wholesome hobbies, a beautifully decorated Christmas tree blessed by the means to put gifts under it, or precious time spent with family and friends on Christmas day are bad things in and of themselves. Every good gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights. The gift becomes a problem when such even good, created things replace the Creator.
Our dear Lord does not seek to take back the things that He has gifted to us by grace through Jesus Christ, for anything good that we do have is only on His account. He does not seek to take them back, unless they come to be what He never intended them to be to us. Upon discovery of anything in our lives that has been exalted into the place within us where only Christ belongs, we are to embrace the good words of John and repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Repentance isn’t a dirty, undesirable, loathsome matter, except in the eyes of our sinful pride, which can’t but help to bristle at the idea of turning away from what the sinful flesh desires to keep exalted upon our heart’s throne. Repentance came to the people in John’s baptism, and it comes full-force to us in ours. The very Sacrament of Holy Baptism, the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, is a life-long condition, which indicates that the Old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires. Putting ungodliness to death within is a true Christian virtue, in Advent, on Christmas day, and beyond unto the eternal day, rightfully fueled and strengthened by the precious Good News that all such sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake.
Since the celebration of the birth of God in the flesh, the Advent of the Lord in our lowly state, is now three days hence, let us examine what it has become of it and seek ourselves to reclaim it, for Santa, mammon, and saying “Happy Holidays” do not bear the blame. Go back nearly 2,000 years to see the origin of the day of Light shining in the darkest part of the year. John the Baptist had come, pointing to the One among the people Whom they did not know, the strap of Whose sandal He was not worthy to untie. It was none other than the Son of God become Man, Who grew in wisdom and stature so that He may be crucified for our sins, die, and be buried. He rose again from the dead, ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father. He sent forth His Holy Spirit, giving life to the Church, His own new creation. It is that same one holy, Christian and Apostolic Church that began annual feasts celebrating and remembering the life of Jesus Christ, its Rock of Salvation. The day of December 25th came to be the every-year event, no matter when in the week it fell, when those redeemed by the Incarnate Savior would gather around the Word for prayers and the breaking of the Bread to celebrate Him. They would attend Mass as it marks the day that unto us a Child is born; unto us a Son is given. The faithful would attend the Christ Mass, the Christ Divine Service, because the immortal meal being feasted upon in the house of the Lord is the only one able to answer definitively and affirmatively the questions “Who are you? Are you the Christ?”
Since those days, Christ Mass has been cast aside for the sake of consumer-mas, nostalgia-mas, fear-mas, and me-mas. It need not remain that way. Only the Church can reclaim her holy days from the idols we allow to lay siege to them. There is plenty of time after the Christ Mass here at 10:30 on ChristMas morning for enjoyment of presents and a Christmas meal, though such will always ring second to the Gift of Holy Communion that bestows forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation; a Gift brought to you here by God on Wednesday morning under the Tree of Life that is Christ our Lord. Jesus makes you Christian. Jesus keeps you Christian. It is the gift of Jesus, not of works, lest anyone should boast. Jesus is the One Gift that you need and He, Who was wrapped in swaddling cloths, will come to you on Christmas morning wrapped in bread and wine so that under the tree of the cross you may receive forgiveness, joy, peace, eternity.
It is that everlasting truth for which we gather regularly, and especially on the high holy days that Christ and His gifts in the midst of this chaotic place. For it is Him alone Who is, for our very life, able to respond with an eternal voice to the question, “Who are you?” by answering, “ I am the Alpha and the Omega, Who is and Who was, and Who is to come, the Almighty…I am the first and the last, and the living One. I died and behold I am alive forevermore.” He is the One to Whom we come to joyfully worship, to receive His gifts, and to praise His Name. He is the Christ; the only One. There is no other. Make straight the way of the Lord for He desires to bring to you His good and eternal gifts.
In ✠ Jesus’ Name. Amen.
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