Advent 3
Dear friends in Christ. In today’s Gospel we meet one of the great figures of the Advent season—St. John the Baptiser. He was the one specifically sent by God to announce the coming of the Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ. St. John had a very unique and blessed position. First of all, his coming and work were specifically prophesied in the OT. Jesus tells us in today’s Gospel: I tell you, [John is] more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, “‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’” All of the OT prophets only saw Jesus at a distance, in their prophecies. They could only point at Jesus from a distance and tell the faithful that the Savior is/ would be coming—sometime in the future. But it was different with St. John the Baptizer. He is more than a prophet because he could literally, as he did, point His finger at Jesus and say [John 1.29]: Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! He was there, announcing the long awaited Messiah’s / Jesus’ presence. [By the way, we do the same thing in the communion liturgy as we sing these words, pointing to Jesus who is bodily present in the sacrament giving us His body and blood.]
Not only was St. John the last of the OT prophets, the one who would literally point to Jesus/ the long promised Savior, but so vital was he, that his coming and work were also prophesied by other OT prophets—like St. Isaiah [Mt. 3.3/ Is. 40.3]: "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the LORD; Make His paths straight.'" And 400 years earlier by the last OT prophet before St. John, St. Malachi—and this is the one Jesus refers to in today’s Gospel: This is he of whom it is written, “‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’” Such a grand and exalted position and personage—the messenger to prepare Jesus’ way.
1. But how do we meet St. John the Baptizer in today’s Gospel? Now when John [the Baptizer] heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ… That’s certainly not how we would expect such a vital person in the history of salvation—one who was prophesied about and the one to prepare the way of the Messiah—to end up, in prison. That’s not the way we think God should operate—but that’s the way He works. There’s always that part of us—although we as Christians should know better—that thinks that if we’re Christians everything should go well for us; that we should be healthy, wealthy and wise. The reality is different. We are often in trial and troubles, anguish and sorrow. The devil plays up on that and tries to lead us into doubting and despair of God. But let us look at the example of St. John the Baptizer: Now when John [the Baptizer] heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ… dare we expect anything different than this great hero of the faith? Do we think we deserve to be free of sorrow, trial or trouble? In fact, though, the experience of the Christian down through the ages has been one of affliction.
That’s why our text from Isaiah is so vital: Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.” The state/ condition of the believer is one of trial and affliction. Think back to the people that the holy prophet, St. Isaiah, first preached to. They were threatened by their enemies. Isaiah himself was prophesying a time of exile. The good/ the ones faithful to the Lord would suffer along with the wicked. On top of that, the faithful were further afflicted in that they were looking for/ fervently longing for the Messiah and He was far from coming. For their comfort, the Lord gave them the promises and prophecies of the Messiah, but it’s not the same as being able to say and point like St. John did—and like we can in the Blessed Sacrament-- Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! The OT faithful needed the comfort and encouragement, just like we need it. With the OT saints, we Christians today share the weak hands…the feeble knees…an anxious heart. That’s why Advent’s message—the Savior has come; the Savior is coming—is a message of desperately needed hope.
The normal condition of the Christian is that yes, we have joy in the Lord—symbolized with the pink candle on the advent wreath. We are joyful that in baptism we have become God’s dear children and heirs of heaven. We rejoice in the forgiveness of sins that is ours. We have that joy of faith. But we also are surrounded by much wretchedness the devil has worked in and around us. That inward joy of the spirit fights with the griefs we endure as we live exposed to cross and suffering. The devil is always working to cast us suddenly from joy and faith to fear and despair. He does that as he directs our attention to get us to focus on the present wretchedness, whatever they may be that have suddenly come upon us—a set back at work, a troubled/ destroyed relationship, sickness or death, etc. As we focus on that, fear and despair reign: the weak hands…the feeble knees…an anxious heart.
On top of the sudden things the devil throws our way, there are also the long lasting torments and their pressures that tire us out: that strife in the family or the workplace, the uncertainty of the job, long suffering symptoms but no diagnosis, etc. Then, for good measure, for the Christian the devil throws in all the sin and guilt he can point to dreg up and torment the conscience to try to lead us to think that we are no Christian, that our sins are too great to be forgiven, etc. How easy for us to be marked by the weak hands…the feeble knees…an anxious heart.
That heart is really the devil’s Trojan horse within us. Our heart easily becomes anxious. Even as Christians we are so often dissatisfied with God’s will and the way He is carrying out His gracious will toward us; we are so often discontent with His guidance; we are so often impatient with the way that God is seemingly delaying His help. Here is a call this Advent season for us to examine our hearts and to repent where we see our hearts are anxious because we lack that trust in the Lord; when we take our eyes off Him and focus on our dissatisfaction; where we see our hearts are anxious because of disbelief/ unbelief.
This anxiety of heart, this dissatisfaction, this unbelief is sin that is to be repented of. But will the Lord hear our prayer of sorrow and confession? Will He grant me forgiveness/ absolution? Absolutely. What does the Lord say later [Is 40.2] through St. Isaiah? "Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and cry out to her, That her warfare is ended, That her guilt is pardoned; that she has received from the LORD'S hand Double for all her sins." As much sin as we have, there is more than enough forgiveness to go around—Double for all her sins. That’s the hope of Advent’s proclamation—our Savior has come; and because He has come, we have forgiveness of sins and things are right between us and Him.
With this proclamation of Advent—hope—weak hands are strengthened and feeble knees are made firm. The Lord did not want His OT faithful to be sad and in despair; He does not want us fearful and anxious. He wants us strong and firm. Weak hands cannot do what they are supposed to do—hold firmly to God’s word and promise in spite of how it all looks and seems to us; we need the firm grasp to hold to the hope of our calling; there dare not be any weak/ idle hands against the devil’s deceptions. Feeble knees that shake can’t do what they’re supposed to do—stand firm in God’s word and promise; they can’t stand ground against our spiritual enemies. Anxious hearts are not steady and firm but will run and give the devil the victory.
2. The glorious thing is that Advent’s message of hope does precisely that—it gives the hope and comfort the afflicted believer needs. Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. That is, the faithful are always in need of encouragement and always to be encouraging their fellow believers. What does the Lord say through St. Isaiah in the holy word of our text? Say to those who have an anxious heart… “Say,” speak, encourage your fellow Christian with the Gospel. Don’t be afraid to speak God’s word. If you’re timid about speaking God’s word to an unbeliever, then speak it more boldly with your fellow Christian. Encourage him/ her in the faith. Elsewhere St. Paul writes [1 Th 4. 18]: Comfort one another with these words. Our true consolation and comfort—our hope as we live lives as the afflicted here on earth, with dangers around us on every side—is the word. When we are weak, we need to hear that word from our fellow Christian; when we see our fellow Christian weak they need to hear that word from us. As we encourage and comfort one another, we are doing nothing but boasting of the Lord—reminding what He has promised and what He has done.
How much more blessed are we than the people of St. Isaiah’s day? –We live in the time after Jesus the Savior has come; all of the work for our salvation is finished; our spiritual enemies are all conquered. How much more so should we find comfort and hope? Our text: Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you. The very reason that Jesus came the first time was to inflict punishment—not on us but the devil. Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God, and that for our salvation: He will come and save you. St. John puts it this way in his epistle [1 John 3.8]: For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. It is interesting to note that when in today’s Gospel Jesus points St. John the Baptizer’s disciples to the works/ miracles He was doing—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—that those words come right after our text. The point? When Jesus came the first time with vengeance, with the recompense of God, He was destroying/ undoing the wretchedness and works of the devil. That’s why Advent’s message is a message of hope—the devil and all his host, all our spiritual enemies have been conquered. Jesus conquered. Jesus’ coming/ Advent was not some unexciting coming, rather He came with vengeance against the devil who hurls the human race into damnation; He came to revenge His children against their enemy—the devil and his allies.
This is Advent’s message of hope—it is a message of salvation. But again, Jesus came with vengeance, with the recompense of God not how we would expect Him to. Like with the example from St. John the Baptizer in our text, like in our own lives—God doesn’t act how we expect Him to. So when Jesus came with vengeance, with the recompense of God He came as the little Baby born of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He came of His own will and in extreme humility, placed Himself under the Law of God to keep it for us, giving God what we owe Him but can’t do, and finally suffered and died for the sins of the world. By that He paid the price of the sins of all and reconciled us sinners to the holy God. In punishing the enemies of His people, by coming with vengeance, with the recompense of God He saves us.
Advent’s message: He will come and save you. Jesus did! He saved us from sin, the power of the devil and hell. We are in Christ forgiven, dear children of God, and heirs of heaven. And now we look forward to the final coming of our Lord when He will again come with vengeance, with the recompense of God on our spiritual enemies punishing them eternally in hell according to their just deserts and in grace and mercy bringing His dear Christians soul and body into heaven eternally in joy and bliss. What a glorious message of Advent hope: He will come and save you. INJ