Luke 1:46-56

My Soul Magnifies the Lord

Fourth Sunday of Advent C

December 20, 2015

Mary did you know?  The answer to that question is “Yes!” Mary did know. She may not have fully understood what it meant, but she knew.

How do we know that she knows?  Mary doesn’t have the opportunity to hear the Christmas story year after year like we do. She hasn’t experienced giving birth to Jesus, watching Him grow up, watching Him die, and seeing Him alive again.  How do we know that she knows?

She knows by faith. She confesses this faith in one the greatest hymns in the Bible, one of the most recognizable, one of the most sung throughout Christian history – the Magnificat.  John the Baptist and Jesus, both in the wombs of their mothers Elizabeth and Mary, meet for the very first time. John leaps in his mother’s womb in the presence of His Lord. Elizabeth feeling this cries out, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb… And blessed is she would believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”

This young virgin, Mary, is the perfect example of a holy faith in Christ. The seed of Abraham rests in Mary’s womb, the fulfillment of the covenant that God had promised long ago, and she knows it!  Her blessedness is a state of faith that grasps the future promise of God that are already beginning to come to fulfillment for her and in her.  Mary’s song brings to culmination the various vocabularies of the Psalms, the Prophets, even the recorded history of ancient Israel, “as spoken to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.” (Luke 2:55). Mary’s faith is so sure that she can express this hope in the past tense, speaking of what God will yet do as something he has already accomplished.

And so she sings out, “My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.”  She knows she is blessed, not because of who she is, but because He who is mighty has done great things for her.  He shows His mercy to those who fear Him, He has scattered the proud, brought down the mighty, exalted the humble, filled the hungry, sent the rich away empty, and helped His people. She sings to God for His gracious gifts to the least of this world, whom He has lifted up out of despair because of His grace and mercy, looking to not her humility, but to God’s regard which is praised.  The Lord delivers His people amid all the suffering and disappointment of this world.

Mary’s blessedness is the result of divine grace which God gives to her as a gift.  She is blessed because of the presence of Christ in her just as the church is blessed because Christ dwells in her.  We too know by faith.  We have heard the Word of the Lord just as Mary. We have received His gracious favor and regard just as Mary. We have the promises of God fulfilled in Christ, just like Mary.  And we sing out our joy to magnify the Lord just like Mary.  For the baby in the womb of the virgin is indeed Immanuel – God with us. Through His ministry He has saved you from your sins. He has given you the living hope of the resurrection which will overcome death itself. His word – the word of the Gospel – makes you righteous, so that now you too can live in righteous ways. He sends you forth to do humble things that now have divine importance because you do them in Christ – things like caring for a mother and her baby (Pr. Mark Surburg). Things like raising up our children to hear the story of Christ and Christmas, and what’s more to proclaim that good news of great joy!  The truth of Christmas ought of the mouth of our children.  The Word of the Lord magnifying our faith through such means.

Brothers and sisters in Christ we, like John the Baptist, out to leap with joy in the presence of Christ, born of virgin Mary.  We, like the Blessed Virgin, ought to sing out our praise, rejoicing in God our Savior. We, like our Sunday School children, ought to praise the Lord by proclaiming our salvation in Christ to one another and to the world.  The Son of God, St. Mary’s Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ, visits us in this Word of His Gospel, no less so than He visited St. Elizabeth and the unborn John the Baptist in her womb.  For God in Christ is still present with us, His people. He comes in and with a body of His own, of the same flesh and blood as St. Mary and as all of you, in order to bear your sin and be your Savior.  He bears all of your iniquity, guilt, and shame in His Body to the Cross, where He sacrifices Himself once for all — the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.  His mercy is still for those who fear Him from generation to generation. He comes to visit you in great lowliness and meekness, wrapped up in frailty, and hidden in deep humility.  You cannot see Him with your eyes, nor do you discern the glory of His Resurrection in the present experience of your body and life on earth under the Cross.  But He comes, nonetheless, in this Holy Sacrament, in His body and blood, to help you, His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy. So you too, are blessed of the Lord, through faith in Christ Jesus, our Savior. Amen.

Philippians 4:4-7; Luke 7:18-28

Rejoice in the Lord

3rd Sunday in Advent

December 13, 2015

Today is the Sunday of the rose-colored candle. On the other Sundays in Advent, we light the blue candles on the Advent wreath. Advent is a penitential season, one of preparation for Christmas.  Just as John the Baptist came preaching repentance to prepare the way of the Lord, so Advent calls us to mourn our sinfulness and to repent of our sins and to bear fruit in keeping with repentance as we prepare for our Lord’s coming.  The world, and our sinful flesh feels as though this is an unhappy thing.  But it’s not.  Repentance is part of the Christian faith, and that faith in Christ is always joyful.  And so we light the rose colored candle today to reflect that joy, reminding ourselves that our Redeemer’s coming is near.

The Introit of the Day sets the tone for the day. It begins: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.” The Latin word for “Rejoice” here is “Gaudete,” and so this Sunday, the Third Sunday in Advent, is known as “Gaudete Sunday.” We focus on the joy of repentance and the joy of our Christ, even while recognizing the painful reality of living in a fallen and broken world.

Consider John the Baptist.  Here he was, the great forerunner of the Lord, the greatest man ever born of woman, the epitome of all the Old Testament prophets. John was raised up to proclaim, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”  He is the one who leaped inside his mother’s womb when first meeting Jesus, whose fiery sermon we heard last week about the axe being laid at the root of the trees. Here was a man who did the will of God with boldness and faithfulness and what kind of reward did he get for all that? He got thrown into prison and was about to get his head chopped off.  He has bewildered disciples, whom he sent to Jesus asking if He really was the One that has been promised of old.

In the first advent, Jesus reveals Himself primarily as a Messiah of mercy, compassion, and forgiveness.  Jesus doesn’t come to execute judgment in the way John thinks, nor in the way many still think today.  He has come to serve, to seek, and to save.  His first Advent was not to execute judgment, to take judgment upon Himself.  To receive the wrath of God upon the cross.  There is nothing more scandalous, nothing more offensive than this.

The progress of Jesus’s ministry has not been what many expected.  The call to repentance and faith in Christ is offensive.  It offends our pride to hear we aren’t good enough. It offends our skewed ideas of justice and fairness to hear that all our goodness isn’t good enough. The cross is a stumbling block that will cause people to be scandalized. Identity of Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah prophesied in the OT.  Not all are willing to acknowledge this, not all like what they see or hear in Jesus.

What they hear and see is this: “He healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits and on many who were blind He bestowed sight.” After John the Baptist’s disciples hear and see these things, which are simply the fulfillment of Old Testament promises, Jesus answers their questions telling them to go report back to John these things.  Notice that Jesus doesn’t just say, “I am.”  He directs people to the Word, to the promises of God that are fulfilled in Him. 

That is where we see Him working. In and through His Word. The benefits of Jesus’ first Advent are delivered to us through His Word and Sacrament. In His means of grace the Lord is present to gather His people and deliver forgiveness, life, and salvation. But make no mistake, judgment is coming with Christ’s final return.  Hebrews 9:26b-28 is clear, “But as it is, He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.  And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to beard the sins of many, will appear a second time, not deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him.”  Christ will return to judge the living and the dead.  But we sho have been called, gathered, and enlightened by the Gospel and kept in the true faith have no reason to fear, but to rejoice! On the last day, we are revealed as His people fully healed and free from reproach.

Never has there been a greater cause for joy. For God is, in Christ, rescuing the world from the grip of evil. Christ is the source of joy, even in the midst of our repentance, in the midst of our troubles, in the midst of our sin, in the face of death, and under attack by the devil. Our joy lies in the fact that our Lord is at hand.  He is not far off from His people, nor immune to the suffering of the world.  If ever there was unjust suffering, this is it. If ever it seemed like evil was triumphing, it was on that day when the sky turned black and God’s own Son cried out in agony on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Never has there been anything so unfair and unjust. Never has there been such a reason to rejoice.

Here is the only answer that works, ultimately. Jesus taking the evil upon Himself, and bearing the burden for us. Here is redemption for all your sins. Here is the only thing that will give you the strength and the comfort and the peace you need to rest your soul amid all the turmoil and trouble of this troubled life. This is the only reliable reason to rejoice in any and every circumstance. It is knowing, it is believing, it is the certain and eternal hope, that God has dealt with the problem of evil and sin in the most decisive way. For God has given Christ to be our Savior, and by trusting in Him, we share in His victory over sin and death and evil. 

In light of this reality, we have little reason to be anxious about anything. We are left with a peace under the cross of Christ, a peace that surpasses all understanding which remains despite affliction and tribulation. In the name of the Father and of the T Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

When I was growing up, one of my favorite foods was pie.  We always had fruit tress and bushes and would store enough for a family of five to have at least one pie each week throughout the year.  I distinctly remember all the work it took to get things ready.  Pruning took time.  Picking took time.  Cleaning up after them took time.  Some years were good and some were not as good.  But every once in a while, there would be a tree that wouldn’t produce any fruit.  No matter what we did, not fruit, or at least no good fruit, would come out of it.  Eventually then, we would take down that tree and use it for firewood or in a smoker.

This is the picture we have today from the greatest prophet ever born, John the Baptist.  There is no sugarcoating his message.  As he speaks to the unrepentant crowds fulfilling the prophecy of Malachi 3, “Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees.  Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Luke 3:9). The message is clear: God’s wrath is beginning to be poured out.  The sin, the rebellion, the rejection of the world is coming to a close as the unfruitful tree of faithlessness is about to cut down.

So what are we to do?  This is the same question that the crowds ask John, and it is the same question that St. Paul answers in Philippians. Bear the fruit of repentance, of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ.  To abound in love more and more, not just in quantity, but in quality with knowledge and discernment that comes from a repentant faith.

And that’s a big focus of this season of Advent.  We are prepared by heeding John’s message of repentance and faith in the Christ, which is the greatest fruit.  This preparation reaches its climax with Jesus death on the cross, where all of the Father’s wrath is laid on the Son.  The Messiah must come to Jerusalem to deal with this crookedness and sin.  It is a road that leads to Jerusalem and the cross, a road in which John the Baptist calls to make straight and level for the coming King and to prepare us to take that journey with Jesus.  The way of the Lord is a catechetical road, the way of life in the person and works Jesus.  Those who are called to bear this fruit of repentance are called to follow Jesus on this road and to undergo changes if they are to be fit for the kingdom of God.

No matter how hard we try, we cannot effect these changes.  A bad tree cannot bear good fruit by itself.   Which means for our lives here in this place and our preparations for the coming King is not about being a better person.  It’s not even about avoiding sin.  It’s about repentance and forgiveness.  This is both the purpose and the effect of John’s proclamation of God’s Word. 

To much of our modern sensibilities, this doesn’t seem like it’s enough for real change.  The world and our sinful pride says you can do it all by yourself if you just have the will, the tools, and the know-how. It is the New Year’s resolutions myth, the heresy that if you follow the rules better you will be more righteous.  The problem is this just doesn’t work.  This is way of the Pharisees and the crowds in which John calls a brood of vipers.  The road make crooked by brokenness of our sinful world can only be made straight through repentance, turning from sin and toward God, and forgiveness in Christ.

And this is where John the Baptist leads us this Advent. Where John directs, Jesus is there. What John prepares for, Jesus fulfills.  What John proclaims, Jesus delivers.  John preaches of a baptism of repentance and forgiveness, a preparation for the Messiah.  It didn’t initiate people into Jesus, the Trinity, or God’s kingdom.  It turned people to Jesus and sets them in motion on the way of the Lord, a journey by grace so that when the promised Messiah arrived the people would recognize Him as such by faith. The righteousness that God declares through faith in Christ produces a regenerate soul that actually thinks, speaks, and does what is right.

And we prepare for Christ in the same way.   We do not need that baptism of John to be prepared for Jesus, for we have been baptized into Christ. What we need in preparation for Christmas is not something new, something trendy, the latest and greatest.  What we need is a simple return to our baptism.  For it is in those blessed waters that Christ delivers His righteousness, His fruit, His death, His life to His people. It is the good work that He began in us, one that He will bring to completion at the day of His Advent.  In the meantime, He feeds and nourishes us through His body and blood.  And speaking to us His Word, a Word of repentance and faith, of forgiveness and life, to bear fruit in us unto eternal life. May be the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds on Christ Jesus. Amen. 

Advent begins and the excitement is already here.  In the world, Christmas is upon us already.  The decorations, the music, the sales, the controversy.  What is Christmas? What is about? Who is it about?  The world often tries to take Jesus out of the festivities and turn the month of December into another reason to party. 

But we know better.  There may be a sort of battle over the reason for Christmas, and the lack of acknowledgement concerning the existence of Advent, but we know what all this is about.  It’s all about Jesus.  The last couple of weeks we hear of Christ’s return, mostly of judgment upon the unbelieving and sinful world.  Today, we have a king coming with salvation, riding humbly upon a colt.  We joyfully sing with the crowds on Palm Sunday as the King of kings comes to us. “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!  Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” These words proclaimed as Jesus enters Jerusalem echo the angelic hymn of praise at Jesus’ birth, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased!” (Luke 2:14).  While at His birth, there is peace on earth, as Jesus enters Jerusalem for His passion and resurrection, there is peace in heaven.  Thus earth and heaven and joined in peace through the incarnation and atonement of Christ.

And this is the perfect place to begin our journey this Church Year. For the coming of the Son of God in the flesh of Jesus of Nazareth was for this very purpose, that He comes into Jerusalem as King of the Jews, and die there. Jesus came to die. You cannot understand Advent and Christmas without Holy Week and Good Friday. This is the grand mistake so many make who come to church only come around the holidays. Without Good Friday, without the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, without His suffering and death, Christmas is meaningless. It’s just the birth of another baby. If you only come to Church on Christmas, you’ve missed the point entirely. You’ve totally misunderstood Christianity, the Bible, and Jesus Himself.

Martin Luther wrote on this very thing in a sermon in 1521.  “This is what is meant by 'Thy king cometh.' You do not seek him, but he seeks you. You do not find him, he finds you. For preachers come from him, not from you; their sermons come from him, not from you; your faith comes from him, not from you; and where he does not come, you remain outside; and where there is no Gospel there is no God, but only sin and damnation, free will may do, suffer, work, and live as it may and can. Therefore you should not ask, where to begin to be godly; there is no beginning, except where the king enters and is proclaimed” (Martin Luther, Sermon for First Sunday in Advent, 1521).

As Christians, we do not have to win the battle being waged over the meaning of Christmas.  We have already won in Christ.  His victory over sin and death is our victory.  We do not have right all the wrongs of the world, repair every injustice, fix every broken thing, heal all wounded, or prove our relevance, worthiness, or might.  It is done.  Christ the king has done it.  He is all in all. 

All we have to do now is wait.  Not the absent waiting of a people who know not what or whom they await.  Not the empty waiting of a people who busy themselves with busy work.  No, our waiting is for Christ who has promised to come again and as we wait we focus on His promises that with us in the means of grace.  We wait as a people who have a purpose and a mission, the living out of the gift of our baptismal identity.  We are the called and set apart by grace, whose old lives have died in the drowning of the water, and whose new lives have risen from that watery grave in Christ and with Christ.  We know who we are and therefore we know what we are to do.  That is decidedly NOT winning the world.  Christ has already done that.  We tell the world He has won.  That is enough.

We face constant critics who decry the looming irrelevance of Christianity, its impending death, and the sins, weakness, and ineffectiveness of the Church and her ministers.  It would seem that we must constantly reinvent ourselves merely to survive.  But that is not true.  We have only to wait and we will win.  “Thy king cometh.”  He has promised to come again, that we will be where He is and we will be with Him.  This is most certainly true.  But He has also promised that the old will pass away and the new will come.  Heaven is not some sanitized version of today in which the horrors of the news are replaced with good and happy stories.  Heaven is the old done and the new begun, the today that becomes the eternal tomorrow, when the victory of Christ brings to culmination all things as He has promised.

We have not to win.  Only to wait.  Think about that.  The next time you think that we must fix worship or the Church will be empty... that we must entertain folks or we will lose them... that we must sacrifice doctrine and truth in Scripture to the relative truths only one person wide and deep.  The next time you hear a critic who says change or die... adapt or give up... reflect the present in order to be eternal... 

The Church has a long memory because we have a long future -- one not of our own creation but of the Lord's.  We are here to make known what He has done in the past, what He does in the present, and what He will do in the future. We tell the story of His death and resurrection, we wash those who hear in the water that gives new life, we gather those washed around the Word and Table of the Lord, we teach them the old song which is ever new -- the song of victory that is done and still coming.  And we wait on the coming King... the joyful wait of a people who are confident of our future and who neither are consumed with the present nor in love with the past. 

We have not to win... Christ has already done that.  We have only to wait.... on Him....

*Some of this was modified from a blogpost by Pr. Larry Peters.

Audio only

“The end is near!”  You can all picture a cardboard cutout with those words painted on it, a man or woman standing on a street corner holding up the sign and yelling it at the top of their lungs to all who would hear.  Not too long ago, in regards to the ISIS attacks in Paris, there was one such person in the background of a newscast. I don’t know if anyone really pays much attention to such people, maybe for the good and maybe for the bad.  But they do have a point.  The end is near, since Jesus’ death and resurrection we are living in the end times, and as Christians part of our prayer is that Jesus will come quickly and save us.

One of the things that Jesus made very clear is that no one will know when these things will happen until they happen.  In last week's Gospel, the disciples asked, "When will these things be?" Jesus begins to tell His disciples of the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple in the year 70.  As He continues to explain things to His disciples, He also speaks about these last days Jesus said, "But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."  Even Jesus, in His state of humiliation, didn't know the time of the end.

If it was not necessary for even Jesus to know the time of the end, it is certainly not necessary for anyone else to know the time either.  Nevertheless, many have been seduced by the mystery of it all and actually set dates and times for Christ's return.  What a waste of time and resources.

But here’s a novel idea (insert sarcasm here…). Instead of wearing ourselves out on useless diversions, why not listen to the Words of Christ.  Instead of trying to delve into the infinite mysteries of God, why don’t we spend some time on what He has revealed, on what He wants us to know.  His main teaching in today's Gospel runs in perfect parallel with the main theme of last weeks Gospel.  Last week the theme was, "The one who endures to the end will be saved."  This week Jesus tells us to "Be on guard, keep awake, stay awake, stay awake, Stay awake."

Notice how often Jesus repeated Himself.  Here Jesus tells us to be on guard or to stay awake five times.  Maybe this is an important thing that we ought to listen to!  Jesus tells a story of a servant waiting for his master to return from a trip.  The reason the servant must keep watch or stay awake is that he is to be ready when the master returns.  Thus "to stay awake" means to be ready for our master's return.  Since Christ is our master, how can we be ready for His return? How do you pay attention?  How do you keep focused?

Certainly our material wealth can't help us.  When the sun darkens, the moon fails to give light, and the stars fall from the heaven, our material wealth will be long gone.  Our stuff will disappear with the rest of the universe.

What about our good works?  Consider your life in the light of the Ten Commandments.  Have you loved God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength?  Has God's name always been holy to you and used only to call for help in times of trouble, for prayer, praise, and thanksgiving.  Have you gladly heard and learned God's Word or have you despised God's Word by making Sunday School and Divine Service a low priority in your life?  Have you loved your neighbor as yourself?  Have you always respected your parents and other authorities?  Have you respected other people's life, property, and reputation?  Have you kept your thoughts pure?

When we begin to pray the Small Catechism in the way it was meant to be prayed, focusing upon our sinfulness according to the Ten Commandments and our salvation according to the Creed, we confess the reality of living in a sinful world, that regardless of it’s splendor, will simply pass away. 

Look at the front of your bulletin cover for a moment.  Notice there is a cross and around it the letters VDMA.  This stands for the Latin phrase, Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum, or in English, “The Word of the Lord remains forever.” This was the motto of the Lutheran Reformation, a confident expression of the enduring power and authority of God’s Word. The motto is based on 1 Peter 1:24–25. It first appeared in the court of Frederick the Wise in 1522. He had it sewn onto the right sleeve of the court’s official clothing, which was worn by prince and servant alike. It was used by Frederick’s successors, his brother John the Steadfast, and his nephew John Frederick the Magnanimous. It became the official motto of the Smalcaldic League and was used on flags, banners, swords, and uniforms as a symbol of the unity of the Lutheran laity who struggled to defend their beliefs, communities, families, and lives against those who were intent on destroying them.^[1]

This is part of Zion Lutheran Church’s 100^th anniversary logo as well, for the same reason—the Word of the Lord remains here. We focus first and foremost upon God’s means of grace.  For our Lord meets His people in His Word and Sacrament.  And it here that the Word remains for us, for our salvation, for our life. Though buildings change and people move in and out. Pews rearranged and banners differ, the Word remains. Though our nation prosper or fall, though heaven and earth give way, the word of the Lord will never pass away.

God has created this time before Jesus’ final coming that we may come to faith and call others to faith and salvation. We are to focus on the work He has given us to do.  To be good stewards of His creation, to use the gifts God has given us for the glory of God and in service to others. Rather than wasting time on trying to figure out exactly when Jesus will return, we should focus on receiving the eternal Word of Christ and bringing the Gospel to those who need to hear it so that they too are ready, are awake for Jesus’ return!

Jesus will return on that Last Day to judge all humanity, fulfilling the Old Testament prophecies and His promises.  And while no one knows when this will happen, there will be no doubt when it does.  St John writes in Revelation, “Behold, Christ is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him…”  No one will enter the kingdom of God by His own works, but only through faith in Christ. Because of His death and resurrection and because the Holy Spirit creates and sustains faith in the lives of God’s people, we can be sure of our salvation no matter what befalls us in this life.

All because of Jesus.  The Word of the Lord endures forever, though heaven and earth pass away, through all the Bibles burned up in the ash, because the Word has died and been raised from the dead never to die again. Death, destruction has no power over the Word because He is the first and the final Word, the Alpha and Omega, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”