The Sermon— John 3:22-36

After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he remained there with them and was baptizing. John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because water was plentiful there, and people were coming and being baptized (for John had not yet been put in prison).

Now a discussion arose between some of John's disciples and a Jew over purification. And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness—look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him.” John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease.”

He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all. He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony. Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true. For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ, John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

We see John again in our text for today. Last week, you recall, he was preaching stunning Law to the people in the sermon text, breaking down their tendency toward self-righteousness so that he might comfort them with the news of God’s Anointed One who makes sinners righteous before God. He was baptizing them into the name of that Savior for the forgiveness of sins.

This morning, that same one’s (John’s) ministry intersects with Jesus’ ministry. Baptizing and preaching are being done in both their camps, which, evidently, brings about some envy among John’s disciples. They say to John, all are going to him (all are going to Jesus, they mean).

What greater report of success could be said of John’s work than that? All going to Jesus is exactly what his work has been about. He has been the one preparing the way of the Lord, making His paths straight (the prophet had spoken it long before John's birth). His work had always been about pointing anyone coming to him for baptism, to Jesus, to the One Whose righteousness gives the benefit in every baptism. That’s what John means when he says, I baptize you with water…He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. John’s baptism is real baptism, accomplishing all of the things we talk about with it; but it’s Jesus’ righteousness that the Spirit is bringing to a person through it. He’s the one the whole thing is about. John’s work is working if it can be said that all are going to Jesus.

Then the Spirit’s work through John’s preaching and baptism has been successful. It has convinced people that Jeremiah’s prophecy from our Old Testament lesson is being fulfilled. Then they’re convinced that God is fulfilling the promise He made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah, of a righteous Branch springing up for David to execute justice and righteousness in the land, to save Judah, to enable Jerusalem to dwell securely—The LORD our Righteousness, His name. Then they’re convinced that He is the One Who stands among them, coming after [John], preferred before [him], whose sandal strap [John is] not worthy to loose (these things John says in the Gospel lesson). What a ringing endorsement of the work that’s been done through John’s ministry if it is being said, all are going to Jesus.

But John’s disciples haven’t yet added themselves to that number, and they have exaggerated in saying that all are going to Jesus (in fact, John tells us toward the end of the text, that many of the people were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ). John has more work to do. And in his testimony to his own disciples this morning, we get a nice summary of his message that other of his listeners have already received.

He really focuses on Jesus’ divinity. You know, when we confess the Creed every Sunday we do the same. In addition to the things we confess about the Father and Spirit, we talk about our belief in Jesus Christ. In the words of the Nicene Creed: He is the only begotten Son of God, begotten of His Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by Whom all things were made. He is the eternal God. Very God of Very God means He is the genuine article (not some copy or representation of it; He is God). He isn’t a created being, like us. He isn’t less than the Father. It’s through Him that everything was made, in fact.

So, when John says to his disciples, A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven he is pointing out the difference between himself and Jesus. Jesus is the eternal One, the true God among them. He is the Christ, the one Whom John precedes as forerunner. Jesus is the One Who comes from above and is above all.

In fact, speaking in terms of earthly things they understand, Jesus can be compared to a bridegroom (He often refers to Himself that way, with His bride being the Church or believers), whereas John can be compared to the bridegroom’s friend. In this illustration John is a willing and joyful servant to the bridegroom who rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. It’s in pointing his disciples and others to Jesus that he can say, Therefore this joy of mine is now complete.

So, John’s response to his disciples’ concern that Jesus’ ministry is starting to, as they say, suck up all the oxygen, is to say, He must increase, but I must decrease. Everything about John that might in any way detract from sinners going to Jesus, their righteousness, their Savior, must now recede into the background so it doesn’t get in the way of what God has provided so that people can be with Him. John must not get in the way of Jesus.

Isn’t it true, dear Christians, that that must be able to be said of all of us: I must not get in the way of the One Who brings God’s righteousness, God’s grace to sinners. Certainly it’s obvious that if John’s disciples were to hinder Jesus’ ministry in some way because of their envy, they would be getting in His way. We aren’t necessarily in that situation.

But in the epistle lesson that is paired up with the others for today, we have St. Paul warning his readers about a hindering of Jesus’ ministry that is much more personal. The interference in Jesus’ ministry that he’s warning about is our tendency to wear the most shameful aspects of life in this world rather than our baptismal garment of Christ’s righteousness. We interfere with Jesus’ ministry in our own lives when we’re lulled to sleep, forgetting that He’s ever returning. He warns about it in so many of His parables.

Paul says, make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. As examples he talks about sexual desires that can certainly be an issue. He could also talk about our shameful lack of empathy for our neighbor, couldn’t he? He could talk about our tendency to want to build ourselves up by running others down—to their face, certainly, but also in our conversations they might not ever know about (not ever knowing about the damage done to their reputation). Those are the works of darkness that Paul is talking about too; that’s the gratifying of the fleshly desires for which he is warning us not to make provision. It’s an ugly picture of ourselves, and of another kind of envy that hinders the ministry among us of the One Who comes from above, and is above all.

But thanks be to God, His ministry is of God’s grace to us sinners. It is the ministry of forgiveness in the atoning blood of our Savior Jesus. He must increase in our hearts above anyone or anything else because only in Him is our joy complete. Only in His righteousness do we find our own righteousness before God, only in Him eternal life. May it ever be said that we are going to Jesus; and after it is said, let it be said again and again, that all others still questioning in their hearts about anyone else might hear the news and join us at the Savior’s side for forgiveness and eternal life. Amen.

Jeremiah 33:14-18

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: ‘The LORD our Righteousness.’ “For thus says the LORD: David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, and the Levitical priests shall never lack a man in my presence to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to make sacrifices forever.”

Romans 13:11-14

You know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

John 1:19-28

Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”

And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” Then they said to him, “Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?” He said: “I am ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Make straight the way of the LORD,” ’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”

Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees. And they asked him, saying, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

John answered them, saying, “I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know. It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.”

These things were done in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.”

Luke 12:35-48

“Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

Peter said, “Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for all?” And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful. And that servant who knew his master's will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.

We’re right in the middle of the Advent Season now. Our text answers a couple of important questions related to our theme. The theme is: Our Lord Will Come Again. To that, we might ask, What will He come again to do?—and, What would He want to find when He comes?

Jesus had just been making statements and telling parables, that encouraged his listeners to put their trust in the Lord, to value his kingdom more than anything else. He said, don’t worry about being without anything you might need; God will provide for your needs, just like he does for the sparrows, and all other creatures. He was saying the kinds of things someone would say who was getting his listeners ready for the end (though the end is always a mystery; we never know when it will be). We’re told over and over to always be ready, though. Certainly, that is Jesus’ message in this text. “Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks.”

They have so much to gain by being prepared like this. What Jesus goes on to tell them in this text represents an extraordinary exchange—a flipping on its ear of what would normally be the case in the relationship between master and servants. It would never be the case under normal circumstances, that the servants position themselves at the table, ready to eat, and that the master would come in and serve them; it would always be the opposite. But Jesus says this extraordinary thing: when this Master returns, He serves the servants.

Of course, the serving was happening already, without them fully realizing it. Jesus had been preparing them as His followers, preparing them as the ones who are citizens of God’s kingdom even while in this world, and who then inherit eternal life in that kingdom.

Part of the preparation is this call to readiness. He’s doing it in the Gospel lesson for today too, pointing out the signs of the kingdom’s coming, alerting them to dangers that exist for those who hope in it. Stay awake at all times, He says in the Gospel Lesson, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.” He serves them by preparing them for His coming in glory.

Also, He serves them simply by carrying out the eternal plan that God has to save sinners through the blood of His perfect Son. He knows that every day He spends with them—teaching them, comforting them—is a day closer to the eternally appointed time when He will be arrested, tried by Jews and Gentiles, mistreated in various ways, crucified, put in the grave—all of it for the benefit of these and all others who put their trust in Him for salvation (available to every single person in the world).

The Master serves the servants. Recognize that the LORD has served you to the same extent. He called you to be His follower through the Spirit’s work in the sacrament of Baptism (the water joined with God’s powerful Word)—or He called you through the Word itself. He called you out of the darkness of unbelief (your natural state), and into a knowledge of God’s grace that is yours through faith in this LORD and Savior, this Master who is the server of servants. In answer to the first of our questions: what He ultimately comes to do, is to bring you and all believers in Him to the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

Our second question: What would He want to find when He comes? Jesus uses the picture of a manager that has been left in charge of the master’s possessions in his absence. In one sense this message can be thought of as specifically pertaining to those who are Christ’s under-shepherds in this world, ones who go out to speak in His Name in the Church or elsewhere. Jesus’ disciples certainly were in that category. They were being prepared, not just for the kingdom, but to lead others to that kingdom in an official sense. They were managers in training who would be managing Christ’s flock—a specific and important type of stewardship. Great faithfulness was required of them (and of those who are so-called today).

But every Christian is Christ’s steward; you, too, of course. You are a steward of this faith with which you’ve been entrusted. It is your possession; you might look at it as the invitation you have received that you present at the gate of heaven. It must remain with you throughout this life, even though numerous challenges are put up to prevent it.

Jesus had recently said to His disciples, Everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, 9 but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God (12:8,9). This reminds us that remaining faithful even in the face of the world’s opposition is difficult. When the world is telling us to go ahead and do what God has forbidden, it’s difficult. Faith is engaged in a battle in a moment like that, isn’t it? What do I care more about; this faith, or the love and acceptance of the world? Will I acknowledge in this difficult moment, the Son of Man in Whom my faith is placed; or will I deny Him in favor of this world?

In some of Jesus’ other recent comments had been the parable of the rich fool, about a man who’d been so fortunate in his farming that he’d had to build bigger barns to store all of his vast crop. His foolishness was in thinking it was going to be some sort of salvation for him. He felt he was so rich, now, that he didn’t need to think about God. Again—challenges put up to prevent our faith from enduring unto eternal life. Wealth and success (though they can be great blessings too) can become snares that prevent the readiness, the preparedness that our Savior wants to find from us when He comes again.

When Jesus says in our text, Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, doesn’t He speak right to our hearts as stewards of the faith we possess by God’s grace? Doesn’t He stir your heart to consider how you have cared for this precious possession? Doesn’t He cause you to ask yourself, have I treasured up all these things, pondering them in my heart like Mary did with the angel’s announcement that she would the Savior’s mother (Luke 2:19); or have I been careless with it, leaving it unguarded, unprotected? When our Lord comes again, will He consider me to have been a good steward, or a wicked one? Will He find me to have been clinging to what opens heaven’s gate, or allowing it to drag along behind me as I pursued this world’s things? And these questions that the LORD stirs in your heart bring you to a difficult conclusion. You have been guilty in this matter of stewardship, as have I.

What joy it brings to our hearts, then, that our Lord who comes again, comes as the Master who serves the servants. So that you could be considered the perfect steward—and rewarded as such, He came to be considered the most wicked one. The prophet writes: And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth (Isaiah 53:9). He was made guilty of every instance in which you have fallen short of God’s requirements in your stewardship of the faith He’s given, and in every other matter. The innocent one invites the guilty ones to ready themselves at table that He might serve them, that He might lift them from guilt and punishment to the reward of His everlasting kingdom.

Recognize it happening as you recline at the Savior’s Table this morning to receive from Him what makes atonement for you sins: His true body and blood along with the bread and wine. He serves you through the hands of His servants. He takes all of your burdens, forgiving them in His perfect blood. He has provided for every one of your needs. When this Master returns, He serves the servants. God be praised. Amen.

Micah 4:1-7

It shall come to pass in the latter days
    that the mountain of the house of the Lord
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
    and it shall be lifted up above the hills;
and peoples shall flow to it,

    and many nations shall come, and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
    to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
    and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
    and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

He shall judge between many peoples,
    and shall decide disputes for strong nations far away;
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
    and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
    neither shall they learn war anymore;

but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree,
    and no one shall make them afraid,
    for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.

For all the peoples walk
    each in the name of its god,
but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God
    forever and ever.

In that day, declares the Lord,
    I will assemble the lame
and gather those who have been driven away
    and those whom I have afflicted;

and the lame I will make the remnant,
    and those who were cast off, a strong nation;
and the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion
    from this time forth and forevermore.
  

Romans 15:4-13

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.

For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written,

“Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles,
    and sing to your name.”

And again it is said,

“Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.”

And again,

“Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles,
    and let all the peoples extol him.”

And again Isaiah says,

“The root of Jesse will come,
    even he who arises to rule the Gentiles;
in him will the Gentiles hope.”

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

St. Luke 21:25-36

“And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

And he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree, and all the trees. As soon as they come out in leaf, you see for yourselves and know that the summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all has taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

“But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

St. Luke 17:20-25

Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, [Jesus] answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”

And he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. And they will say to you, ‘Look, there!’ or ‘Look, here!’ Do not go out or follow them. For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.”

1 Come, Thou long-expected Jesus,
Born to set Thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us,
Let us find our rest in thee.

The first verse of our hymn on this first Sunday of a brand new Church Year appeals to the one people’d been looking forward to since the first time somebody sinned. Come, Thou long-expected Jesus, it says. They were looking forward to this one who’d been prophesied, who would be the solution to that problem. He would be the one Who sets sinners free.

Without Him they remain in bondage to the one who’d come to own them—God’s enemy, Satan. He was the one who was able to accuse them—to say, this person has to belong to me, because he has transgressed God’s Law; he has made himself unfit to be with God in His eternal kingdom. He has been able to say, God, you have no right to have this person because he has failed to fulfill Your requirements. You can’t lower your standards in order to be accepting of someone who has fallen short. That isn’t something a perfect God can do. So, this person is mine. No wonder the hymn-writer talks about being released from fears and sins. What could make us more afraid than being at Satan’s mercy, without God’s protecting presence? Jesus was expressing it on the cross when He said, My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me? He was expressing what it is to considered a sinner in the Judgment.

When Jesus drew near to Jerusalem and sent disciples for a certain donkey and its colt, He was coming—the One long-expected, born to set His people free. His welcome by Jerusalemites was complicated. One could wish that God’s eternally-conceived solution for sinners would just be recognized by everyone, and received with joy and thanksgiving. Our text demonstrates that it was not to be. The Pharisees (who were always Jesus’ adversaries) ask, When will this kingdom of God be coming?

John the Baptist had sent his disciples to ask the same sort of question. They’d asked Him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another (Matthew 11:3)?” Jesus’ answer on that occasion had been, Look what I’m doing. It’s what the prophets said the Messiah would do: “…the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them (11:5).” To the Pharisees in our text, Jesus says, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” He means it isn’t something one needs to wait for. It is laid hold of through faith, through believing, through knowing God’s anointed One Who brings His grace to sinners—the one long-expected, the one our Old Testament lesson calls, ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’ The hymn writer says of Him,

2 Israel's strength and Consolation,
Hope of all the earth Thou art

It’s interesting in the text, that in the beginning, when Jesus is talking to Pharisees (who wouldn’t have been believers in Him), He indicates to them, that they should be recognizing God’s kingdom among them even now. But then to His disciples just after (who are believers in Him), He kind of says, don’t let anybody confuse you about what the kingdom is. You already see it because you know Me. There isn’t anything to wait for; you already have it!

St. Paul is talking in the same way to his readers in our epistle lesson. He’s also talking to believers in Jesus. And his message to them is the same sort of thing: they already have the kingdom; they’re citizens of it even now by faith. There isn’t anything to wonder about. Certainly, there is nothing to be afraid of. They know this long-expected Jesus, born to set [His] people free. They aren’t in darkness anymore. Through Jesus, they’re released from their fears and sins; in Him they already have their rest.

His instruction for them, then, is, put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Put on this One Who makes you righteous before God. Put on this One Who has answered all of the devil’s accusations against you, putting them all on Himself as the perfect substitutionary sacrifice. The accusations that had been directed at you came to be directed at Him on a cross, by God’s design. The Father’s forsaking, His removing of His protective presence; it came to be applied to Him instead of you. Our theme for this First Sunday of Advent can be summarized in Paul’s words to the Philippians: And being found in human form, [Christ] humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (2:8). That’s what He was riding into Jerusalem to do.

It’s important that we think about how a person comes to know Jesus, to have this kingdom—to be a citizen of it even now by faith. Jesus is specifically saying in this text, that it isn’t by some sort of amazing sight that someone could show you, someone saying, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’. He tells His disciples, if someone says something like that, Do not go out or follow them.

It was just before our text that Jesus had told the parable about the rich man and poor Lazarus. Remember that the point of view of the rich man (who’d been placed in hell upon his death) had been that he had no interest in God’s kingdom without some sign to prove it. His brothers would be of the same mind. But if there was the sign of a man appearing to them from the dead they would believe. But that isn’t how we lay hold of God’s kingdom. That isn’t how it becomes ours even now, how we come to be citizens of it even during our time in this world. It is through faith.

You are a possessor of this kingdom; you have this faith, either because you were baptized into Christ—the Spirit opening your heart through water and the Word so you came to lay hold of it, or, through the Spirit’s work in the Word itself. Regardless by which means it happened, you came to be one of the ones who perceives God’s kingdom. You don’t wait to see some sign of it before you’ll believe like Pharisees or like the rich man in Jesus’ parable. You know it as having come in the one Who rides into Jerusalem in our Gospel lesson—God’s anointed one, Jesus.

But Jesus doesn’t warn His disciples without any cause, that they not get drawn in to worldly ideas about the kingdom. Paul doesn’t warn his readers without any cause, to wake from sleep, to cast off the works of darkness. They do this because there is danger for those who have come to perceive the kingdom of God. There is danger that what one has today, he might not have tomorrow unless it is protected. The hymn writer implores:

4 By Thine own eternal Spirit
Rule in all our hearts alone

He means, don’t let this world’s ideas cloud what we have already come to possess through the Spirit’s leading. Don’t let us buy into false ideas about God’s kingdom. Don’t let us imagine like Pharisees, that we come to possess the kingdom through righteous things that we do. Don’t let us, like Paul warns, get entrenched in the sinfulness of this world that becomes a sort of sleep for us, an unreadiness for the kingdom. Instead, let this king who comes be the sole ruler in our hearts. Let our attention be on Him. Paul’s and Jesus’ warnings could just as well be called accusations, because Paul’s readers and Jesus’ disciples, and we—have hesitated sometimes to consider God’s Word and Baptism to be all-sufficient in bringing us the kingdom. We have wanted signs and wonders to further convince us. We have even wanted our godly actions to be considered important in bringing us the kingdom (as if anything we could do could outweigh our sins).

Instead, we pray with the hymn writer this morning:

By Thine all-sufficient merit
Raise us to Thy glorious throne.

Christ’s merit is all-sufficient. What else could we need if we have Him? He has answered our accuser with the merit of His perfect righteousness. He became for you the one who transgressed God’s Law, who made Himself unfit for the kingdom (He took it from you and suffered for it Himself). He made Himself the one God had no right to accept, who’d failed in His requirements, who’d fallen short. It’s true that the perfect God can’t lower His standards; so He punished Him instead of you. With Him standing in your place, for a moment the devil could say of Him, He’s mine. So then, Jesus cries out that He’s been forsaken by the Father. But this One is the Desire of every nation, the Joy of ev’ry longing heart. He rises from death, victorious over it. You are set free. From your fears and sins, you are released. You are raised to His glorious throne. You are no longer considered a sinner in the judgment, made righteous in the blood of Christ. God be praised. Amen.

Jeremiah 33:14-18

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’

“For thus says the Lord: David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, and the Levitical priests shall never lack a man in my presence to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to make sacrifices forever.”

Romans 13:11-14

You know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

St. Matthew 21:1-9

Now when [Jesus and his disciples] drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, “Say to the daughter of Zion ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’”

The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!

St. Matthew 1:18-25

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

The theme that’s printed on the cover of our bulletin on this Fourth Sunday of Advent is, Our Lord Comes to Save. 

This had been foretold in prophecies like the one in our Old Testament lesson from Isaiah, Chapter 40 (1-8): “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.” This means that sinners have received from Him a double portion of His blessing, though they deserved the opposite. That is a declaration of God’s mercy. It is a prophecy of a coming Savior, really (because no comfort, no tenderness from God toward people would be possible otherwise). It wouldn’t be possible for sinners to be comforted before God if a Savior weren’t coming. Iniquity can’t just be pardoned without a Savior. A perfect God can’t accept imperfection. The imperfection must be removed so that He is receiving to Himself perfection like He created. It can only be removed with a Savior.

And a Savior can’t be just anybody. Our epistle lesson from the book of Hebrews is included in our program for this morning because it discusses this person who is qualified to save sinners. This Savior is qualified as that because He is God’s Son, for one thing, and the one through Whom God created the world (we say these things in the Creed, don’t we, about the only-begotten Son of God…very God of very God…by Whom all things were made). 

And, in fact, the writer says of Him that He isn’t only God’s Son, but that He is God Himself. Calling Him the radiance of the glory of God, the writer means that to see Him in His fullness is the same as it is to see God in His fullness (because He is God). The writer says the same sort of thing in another way: that this person is the exact imprint of [God’s] nature. In fact, Jesus said one time, Whoever has seen me has seen the Father (John 14:9). And He didn’t mean by that that He is the Father; they’re two different persons. But He definitely meant that He is God.

So, in our text for today, it’s important business when the angel who appears to Joseph to explain Mary’s surprise pregnancy by the Holy Spirit says, you shall call his name Jesus, and, they shall call His Name Immanuel. 

Joseph is to call the child Jesus, [because] He will save His people from their sins (the angel says). Comfort, comfort My people. They need comfort because guilt brings us the opposite. We even can get to a point at which we doubt God’s love for us when we have become caught up in sinfulness. We get to where we can’t even believe that it would be possible. The fact that God would have to instruct someone to comfort His people demonstrates that they don’t know where they stand with Him anymore. They don’t know if they have in Him friend or a foe. The people Isaiah was originally writing to with those words had gone so far astray from God and had experienced so much of His resulting anger, that they really were in a vulnerable state. They needed this encouragement from Him. 

The devil can even come to a person in that situation and make things worse. You might have experienced this sort of feeling. He accuses, saying, “Who do you think you are, expecting God to be merciful to you when you have so willfully opposed Him like this? You really have some nerve, don’t you, thinking you still have access to Him? You think He still thinks of you as His dear child? You think He can just get past this? You knew what you were doing; and you still did it. Comfort, comfort My people, God says.

He will save His people from their sins. Joseph in our text, was one of His people, who was anticipating the coming of the Savior (though it’s very evident that he had no idea he would play a role, like this, in its story). He was an ordinary man who had found what he knew to be an ordinary young woman to be his wife. They were betrothed; so, as good as married (a divorce would be necessary if they wished to end it). Clearly, he had great affection for her considering that even apparent infidelity didn’t quell his desire to protect her like a husband. She hadn’t done anything wrong; but as far Joseph and the rest of the world would be concerned she had. What other explanation could there be?

In the Catechism, in the discussion of the Eighth Commandment: You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor, it says that, in that commandment God requires that we excuse [our neighbor] as far as the truth will permit. In other words, we don’t pretend like something that’s happened hasn’t happened. It’s important that we not speak ill of our neighbor; but we don’t make up stuff that isn’t true in order to falsely preserve our neighbor’s reputation. 

Of course, what happens in our text represents a real pickle. God knows that this solitary exception to this particular law of nature has occurred. He has done it. The Holy Spirit has brought about conception in Mary’s womb. But it’s completely beyond reason. It would have been unreasonable for Joseph or anyone else to try to explain a pregnancy by some other means than what we know. Still, we might imagine him wishing something (anything) else could explain it.

Joseph’s conclusion was that he would shield her from the worst of what could come to her as a result of this. He would act lovingly toward her. He would avoid publicly charging her with something that would ruin her - certainly, and maybe even end her life. 

It’s interesting that his evident love for her reflected the child she carried. What that child represents is God rescuing those who have done wrong, so that they are protected and preserved. It’s representative of Him loving those who have made themselves unlovable (I know that Mary didn’t do anything wrong; the illustration limps, as one seminary professor used to say. We leave the comparison at Joseph mercifully putting away her apparent sin as much as it was possible for him to do so). 

We said it’s important business that the angel directed Joseph to name the child Jesus because He would save His people from their sins. Also it was important that the angel said this child would be called Immanuel, which means God with us. We talked earlier about guilty sinners not knowing whether they have in God, friend or foe. Immanuel says friend, doesn’t it? Immanuel - God with us says God is not someone we must be afraid of, Who holds our sins against us, and Who desires our condemnation. Immanuel says God loves the unlovable. It says He puts away our sin by sending to us the One Who bears it in our place. It says He protects and preserves us like the ultimate husband whose love for His betrothed endures even her guilt and shame. 

The child conceived in Mary by a miracle of the Holy Spirit is God with you as well. He is your Lord Who has come to save. Not just anyone could be your Savior; but this one can, because He is uniquely qualified as the perfect God. He doesn’t have any guilt of His own, and can bear yours and mine so that it is put away and no longer condemns us. In Him, your iniquity is pardoned because He has made you perfect, so as to be accepted by God, received by Him like what He created.

Let us pray: Lord God, heavenly Father, the prophet foretold this child that would be called Immanuel, God with us. He is Jesus, your eternal Son through Whom all things are made. He saves us from our sins. Draw us to Him in this season, that we might cling to this One Who makes us perfect in His atoning blood. From every foe deliver them that trust Thy mighty power to save, and give them vict’ry o’er the grave. Amen.

Other Lessons for this Week:

Isaiah 40:1–8

“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.”

A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

A voice says, “Cry!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God will stand forever.

Hebrews 1:1–12 

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”? Or again, “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son”? And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.” Of the angels he says, “He makes his angels winds, and his ministers a flame of fire.” But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.” And, “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the begin-ning, and the heavens are the work of your hands; they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment, like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end.”

The Holy Gospel - St. Matthew 21:1-9

Now when [Jesus and his disciples] drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, “Say to the daughter of Zion ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’” 

The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

We begin a new Church Year today, on this First Sunday in Advent. It’s a whole new year in which your king comes to you. It's a new beginning, a new opportunity for you to consider what all of this is. You come into this place with its uniqueness. It looks different from the other places you go. It sounds different; not changing with the times so much as preserving a timelessness that connects it to people like you who did this throughout the history of this world. 

“Who did this,” we say. Well, some of them are in our text, aren’t they? 

They have come to receive the Lord Who has come to them. 

They have come praising His Name. 

They have made a clear path for Him. 

They have come recognizing that He brings God’s grace to them. 

They are in need of what He brings. 

They shout the things that people shout who recognize their guilt before God, and who believe His promise to send one Who will rescue them from the punishment their guilt deserves. That’s what “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” - is. 

It speaks of the promise [God] made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah of a righteous Branch to spring up for David. Our Old Testament lesson talks about this. God would be sending the one called: ‘The LORD our Righteousness.’ Our righteousness - in other words, the one who removes our sin from us, and presents us before God as those who are sinless and fit for His eternal kingdom. The prophet Zechariah had talked about this one as well (9:9), describing Him as righteous and having salvation…humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey (just as we see Jesus in our text). He is the one Zechariah was talking about; He is the righteous one, the one having salvation, the one, humble.

That He comes humble is important. What if we needed to wonder about God’s intentions toward us? What if we had to say to ourselves, “I don’t know how God feels about me. I don’t know how He intends to treat me.” How could we sleep at night, knowing ourselves, and knowing what Moses writes about God’s knowledge in Psalm 90: 

For we are brought to an end by your anger;
    by your wrath we are dismayed.

8  You have set our iniquities before you,
    our secret sins in the light of your presence.

What if God’s Anointed One were coming to us in God’s anger, in wrath, with it in mind to bring us to account for our sins? Wouldn’t this be a dour gathering to be a part of on Sunday mornings, then? How could there be any joy on our faces as we greet one another, or in our voices as we sing in this sanctuary, or in our prayers? It would be sheer terror. Every one of us has the secret sins that Moses mentions in that Psalm. 

One of the sins is our tendency not always to be so eager to meet the Lord like those did on Palm Sunday. We aren’t eager to pray to Him, for instance, when we have been entangled in some sin (Isn’t it true?), whether it’s thinking or speaking ill of some other person, or being ungrateful for whatever situation we find ourselves in, or some other thing. We haven’t always wanted to encounter the Lord when we have been interested in doing contrary to His will. We are deserving only of God’s anger, of His just punishment.

But Jesus is the King that comes to you, humble. In fact He humbles Himself to purchase and win you from all sin, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy precious blood, and with His innocent suffering and death - as Luther writes. He’s the One Who, though rich, becomes poor so that you through His poverty might become rich (2 Cor. 8:9). He comes to you, humble, in mercy, in love. He comes with forgiveness for you.

And when we think about the beginning of a new Church Year, it occurs to us also, through what means He comes. We aren’t among the crowd that gathered on the road in Jerusalem in the days of our text. We aren’t lining the street with palm branches so that our Lord’s path might be smooth and proper. We aren’t hearing the clip-clopping of the donkey’s hooves on the pavement as it carries our Lord. But we receive the same Lord for the same reason. And we receive Him in a place like this. He comes to you through Word, and through Baptism, and through Supper. Those are the Means through which He has determined to enable you to receive Him. He comes humble. He comes in mercy, drawing you to Himself through faith, and offering you full and free forgiveness for every sin. You need not ever wonder about God’s intentions toward you; He makes them plain in this text. He is the King Who comes to you, humble.

You are among the believers in God’s promise of salvation. You belong to a group of people that spans every generation in the history of this world. You come here to receive this Lord, praising His Name. Your heart is a clear path for Him, made so by the power of the Holy Spirit Who worked in your Baptism to give you faith, or in your hearing of God’s Word. He still does so. He fans your faith’s flame as you hear His Word even now, at this moment. 

He nourishes your faith in the mystery of Holy Communion, enabling you to put your trust in Christ’s own words, This is My body given for you; This is My blood shed for you for the remission of sins. Joined with bread and wine, these are what He says they are because He is capable of all things, and He cannot lie. So there isn’t any doubt left in our perception of the Supper, just the comfort of knowing that Christ gives us His true body and blood for our good as we anticipate His Second Coming in glory. Behold, your king comes to you. 

So, as this new year begins in the Church, think of yourself each week like those on Palm Sunday. You come to this unique place conscious of your guilt - eager to confess it before God, and to hear the absolution that is pronounced to you by God’s representative. God has forgiven your sins; that’s what your weary soul longs to hear. You come believing God’s promise of His mercy to be found in the One He has sent Who humbled Himself even to the point of death on a cross so that He might remove your sins and make you an inheritor of God’s kingdom. You come knowing that the Spirit is present in God’s Word that will be spoken, and sung, and preached so that hearing, you might have faith that perseveres unto eternal life. You come knowing that Christ is present for you here, also in the Supper to which He welcomes you to give you the heavenly food as a token of what you receive eternally in His kingdom. 

Let us pray:

Lord God, heavenly Father, as we begin this new Church Year, draw us to You in faith and to one another in Christian fellowship. Let this be a year of growth for all of us. Protect us from temptations that threaten our souls. Move us to confess our sins here in sincerity, and comfort us with the proclamation that you have forgiven our sins in the blood of our Savior, Jesus. We pray in His Name. Amen.