Advent 3 – 13 December 2020 – Year B

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

The text for this meditation is written in the 1^st Chapter of the Gospel according to St John: Verses 6 – 8 and 19 – 28

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷ He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. ⁸ He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.

¹⁹ This is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” ²⁰ He confessed and did not deny it, but confessed, “I am not the Messiah.” ²¹ And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the prophet?” He answered, “No.” ²² Then they said to him, “Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” ²³ He said,

“I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness,
‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’”

as the prophet Isaiah said.

²⁴ Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. ²⁵ They asked him, “Why then are you baptising if you are neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?” ²⁶ John answered them, “I baptise with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, ²⁷ the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.” ²⁸ This took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptising.

Today’s Gospel is sort of a repeat of what we heard in last week’s Gospel.  Last week we heard about John the Baptist from the Gospel according to Mark.  Today, we hear about John the Baptist from the Gospel according to John.  Now, this can get a little bit confusing if we do not remember that John the Evangelist and John the Baptist are two different men.  The Holy Spirit inspired John the Evangelist, the author of the Gospel from which we read today, to include John the Baptist in his account of the Gospel.

 

The reading that we heard today from John’s Gospel is a fine example of something that literary scholars call step parallelism.  Parallelism compares two people or things that have similar characteristics.  Step parallelism uses this comparison to show that the second person or object has similar characteristics but in a way that is far beyond those of the first.  Probably the most famous quote using step parallelism came from the mouth of the astronaut Neil Armstrong as he lowered his foot down on to the surface of the moon “That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” 

 Basically, we build up someone or something and then we show that a second someone or something is even greater.  Let’s see how this works in today’s Gospel.

 

John the Baptist was the last prophet to point forward to the coming Messiah.  John the Evangelist described John the Baptist as an honest, faithful prophet who preached the words that the Holy Spirit gave him to preach.  He was even important enough to have his own prophecies.  John the Baptist described his calling with the words of Isaiah, ^{[Isaiah 40:3]} “A voice cries: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.’”  These words were his identity.  He described himself as that voice.

 

John the Evangelist makes it very clear that John the Baptist is important.  He is faithful, honest, driven, and fearless.  John the Evangelist has made it very clear that John the Baptist is a great man.  John the Baptist is a force of history.

 

Now comes the step parallelism.  When John had the opportunity to describe the one who came after him, He said, “I am not worthy to untie the strap of His sandal.”  We can easily make the case that John the Baptist was the last and greatest of the Old Testament prophets.  Regardless, he is not worthy to care for the footwear of the one who follows him.  The step parallelism says that John the Baptist is great, but the one who follows him is several orders of magnitude greater.

 

There is one three letter word that describes the difference between John the Baptist and the one who followed him.  That word is “NOT.”  When the Jewish authorities came to investigate John, they asked, ^{(John 1:20)“}Who are you?” ²⁰ He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”  John’s three word answer, “I am not,” is the great difference between him and the one who followed him. 

 

There are many instances in the Bible where Jesus revealed His character and purpose. …. So, the  one who followed him would say, ^{[John 8:58]} “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”  He would also say,^{[John 6:35].}  “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” ^{[John 8:12]} “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” ^{[John 10:11]} “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life  for the sheep.” ^{[John 11:25–26]} “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, ²⁶ and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” ^{[John 14:6]} “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”  The one who followed John is the one who spoke to Moses from the burning bush and said, ^{[Exodus 3:14]} “I am who I am.”  The great prophet John could proclaim the blessings, but the blessings became reality in the even greater one who followed him … the great “I AM.”  

 

There is something unusual hidden in John’s proclamation of the one who follows him.  John began his proclamation of the one who follows him with the words: “Among you stands one you do not know.”  The people were used to the idea that the Messiah would come … someday.  John’s message was different in that he said that the one who followed him was already there.  The one who followed John … the great “I AM” stood among them and they did not know him.  This fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah. ^{[Isaiah 53:2b]} “He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him”.  The one who followed John … the GREAT I AM … looked like an ordinary man.  Even though He appeared to Moses in the burning bush, He is also 100% human.  He was so human that you could not pick Him out of a crowd.

 

The one who followed John did not come in the expected way.  We expect important people to come in important ways.  We expect servants.  We expect wealth.  Important people demand service, and they get it.  However, this one who followed John … who was more important than John said, ^{[Mark 10:45]} “[I] came not to be served but to serve, and to give [My] life as a ransom for many.”  The one whose sandal John was not worthy to untie came to serve us. ^{[Philippians 2:8]} “He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross”.  He came to die for us.  He came to ransom us.  He came to earn eternal life for us. 

 

The delegation that came from Jerusalem to check on John had its answers.  The sad thing in today’s Gospel is that the men in the delegation wanted to know who John was, but they didn’t want to hear his message. When John told them about the Greater One who was already in the crowd standing among the people, they weren’t impressed.  As far as they were concerned, no one in the crowd looked especially Messianic.

 

The problem is that the men in the delegations had preconceived notions about the coming Messiah and His messenger.  John didn’t match up.  He was not what they expected.  They expected the Messiah to reveal Himself in worldly glory and power.  They expected the Messiah’s messenger to be a splendid reflection of that glory and power.  This shaggy haired, eccentric did not fit their preconceived notion of the prophet of the Messiah.

 

Their preconceived notions blinded them to the blessings that God wanted to give them through His servant John the Baptiser.  John the Evangelist, his brother James and all the other disciples of the Baptiser would soon meet the Christ, but the men in these delegations would miss out.  They passed up the opportunity of a lifetime because the Baptiser didn’t meet their expectations.

 

Nothing has changed in two thousand years.  We still tend to let our expectations block our relationship with God.  We expect our religious affiliation will mean that we automatically get along with others even though thousands of years of human history show us that it can’t be done.  We expect our religious affiliation means that we will automatically live an honourable life even though we have inherited the curse of sin from our parents as we grew in our mother’s womb.  We expect our religious affiliation to make us happy, healthy, wealthy, and wise.  In short, for so many, being part of a Christian religion is the “Golden Ticket” that they have earned to get into heaven when they leave this world.  

 

It is sad for many that these expectations distract them from God’s wonderful means of grace, His Word and Sacrament. They distract them from the gifts of forgiveness and eternal life. From our daily relationship of trust and faith in Jesus that He will get us through all challenges with peace and joy in our hearts. The only realistic expectation of eternal salvation is achieved by humbly submitting to God’s gracious will for us. You know the fact is that the Bible clearly teaches us that trying to make it on our own preconceived ideas is totally impossible.

 

The salvation God gives us is unexpected.  The true God is the Almighty Lord of this and every other universe.  Who would expect such a high and exalted God to pay the price of salvation for such lowly people?  Who would expect Him to give it to us for free?  Who would expect God to leave His high throne of glory to take on human nature and live under the authority of the law?  Who would expect a saviour to hide His divinity in the womb of a virgin?  Who would expect a saviour that was so poor that even in His death He laid in a borrowed tomb?  Who would expect salvation to come out of the blood and bone and sweat and pain of a grisly execution on a cross?  Who would expect the dead author of this salvation to rise from the dead or ascend into heaven?  Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is the salvation provided by the Great One who followed John the Baptist.

The Great One who followed John the Baptist earned salvation for us when He sacrificed Himself on the cross. This is not the salvation that we would expect.  But miraculously, it is the salvation freely given to us through Jesus free gift of grace. 

 

The salvation of our God is so unexpected that, as written in the Gospel according to Mark, it is not until the one who followed John hangs dead on a cross that a Gentile Roman Centurion becomes the first human to properly identify the one whose sandals John is not worthy to untie. ^{[Mark 15:39]} “When the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”” So it is that we learn that the Jesus who died on the cross for our sin and rose from the dead is the Son of God … the GREAT I AM … the one whose sandals John was not worthy to untie.  It is He who is our salvation.  Amen.

The love and peace of our Great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen

Advent 2 – 6 December 2020 – Year B

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

 

The text for this meditation is written in the 1^st Chapter of the Gospel according to St Mark: Verses 1–8:

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

² As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,

                “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, 

who will prepare your way, 

³ the voice of one crying in the wilderness: 

     ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, 

make his paths straight,’ ” 

⁴ John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ⁵ And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. ⁶ Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. ⁷ And he preached, saying,  “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. ⁸ I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” 

 

 

In our modern daily lives we are continually being exposed to an age old technique of delivering a message, it is called ‘Repetition for effect’. Television advertising and political speeches are two prime examples.  ‘Repetition for Effect’ is a subtle technique that repeats the same message over and over again using different words with the purpose of implanting that message in our sub conscious thinking. It is not all about cunning manipulation; the very same method has been used positively by famous orators and authors; even the authors of the Holy Bible.

 

Isaiah used this repetition effect in today’s Old Testament reading: “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.”  “Make straight,” “Lift up the valley,” “lower the mountains and hills,” “Level the uneven ground,” “make the rough places plain,” – how many ways are there to prepare a way?  Isaiah really wants us to know that preparing the way for the Lord is vitally important.  He used the repetition effect to make his point.

 

As powerful as ‘Repetition for effect’ is, in our Gospel reading we see Mark taking it one step further.  He builds up one idea using the repetition effect method and then simply goes on to say that there is a second idea that is even greater than the first.  Today’s Gospel tells us that John is really great, but Jesus is even better.

 

Mark begins his account of the Gospel by talking about John.  He begins to build up John by showing us that here is a prophet who fulfils prophecy.  As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’ ” This already makes John important, but Mark isn’t finished describing John yet.

 

Mark intensified John’s greatness by saying, “All the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptised by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.”  So John is not only the fulfilment of prophecy, but he is also the instrument of the Holy Spirit to bring repentance and baptism to the Jordan River.  Mark makes it very clear that John was a key player in God’s plan for salvation.

 

Then, as we are pretty much convinced that Mark’s account in the Gospel is really about John, we hear John himself say, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.  I have baptised you with water, but he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit.”  Mark has told us that John is important – that he is great, but even that is not enough to make John worthy to untie the sandal strap of the one who follows him.  As great as John is, he is still a sinner.  Even as John baptised in the wilderness and proclaimed a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, he himself needed that forgiveness.

 

Every time I read this passage from Mark I get a total reality check on the state of my humanity: “If someone as great as John can’t even reach Jesus’ sandal straps, what chance do I have?”  Think about it.  John is the last of the Old Testament prophets.  He is also the greatest of the Old Testament prophets.  There are even prophecies written about him.  If he is too sinful to even untie the sandals of Jesus, then my guilt is even worse.  If John is nothing compared to Jesus, then I haven’t got a chance.

 

This whole human logic thinking totally emphasises the reason that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is such good news.  It tells us that God knows we can’t reach up to Him and therefore, He reaches down to us.  We can’t come to Him, so He comes to us.

 

Yet it is not feasible for God to simply come to us.  If He did that, His holiness would destroy our sin and us along with it.  God must come to us in a way that takes our sin away from us so that His justice can punish the sin without destroying us.  Mark’s Gospel account tells us that Jesus, the Son of God comes in that special way.  He comes as the Christ.

 

Jesus Himself tells us what it means to come as the Christ.  He said, ^{[Luke 24:46]} “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead.”  When Mark tells us that his writing is “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,” he is already telling us that Jesus is the one who will suffer and rise on the third day.  In fact, as you hear the Christmas story, you will constantly hear of the Christ who is born of Mary.  This is the same as saying that the one who will suffer and rise from the dead who is born of Mary.

 

God comes to us in a totally unexpected way.  Even though we are not worthy to touch His sandal straps, He comes to us in ordinary human flesh.  Even though we are not worthy to touch His sandal straps, He walked a lifetime in our sandals and He did it without sin.  He comes in this way so that He could take our sin up from us into Himself.    He comes in this way so that He could take the punishment for our sin into Himself.

 

Even though we are not worthy to touch His sandals straps, He allowed mere men to nail Him to a cross.  It was from the apparent weakness of that cross that Jesus demonstrated His greatest might.  In the apparent defeat of death, Christ conquered death.  He became the solution for sin by taking our sin onto Himself and paying the price for it.  As He walked in our sandals on the way of death He took away our sin and covered us in His holy righteousness.  Now God can come to us without condemnation.  Now God can come to us in joy.

 

John, the greatest of the Old Testament prophets baptised with water.  Jesus baptises with the Holy Spirit.  By that Holy Spirit we receive the gift of faith in Jesus.  It is by that faith that we receive all the gifts that Christ comes to give us.  It is through that gift of faith in Jesus that we receive forgiveness, life, and salvation.  Through that gift of faith God comes to us in joy.

 

During Advent we contemplate the ways that God prepares us for His coming and no one was more into that preparation than John the Baptist.  John was the last and greatest of the Old Testament prophets.  He is the hinge between the Old Testament and the New Testament.  He is so important that God inspired prophets such as Isaiah, Malachi, and others to foretell his coming.  The Holy Spirit inspired Mark to quote from Isaiah.  John the Baptist is “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord and so forth.  Even Jesus had words of praise for John.  He said, ^{[Matthew 11:11]} “Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist.”

 

Never the less, John had to confess that he was not worthy to enter God’s presence.  He fully understood that he was a sinner who deserved nothing but punishment from God.

In light of that, we too must confess that we are sinful and unclean, that we have sinned against God in thought, word, and deed.  We, like John, deserve nothing but punishment from God.

 

As a key player in God’s plan for our salvation, John pointed to the one who followed him, Jesus.  The Holy Spirit inspired Mark to begin his account of the Gospel with a clear confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.  As we learn what it means to be the Christ, we learn that Jesus is the one who lives for us, who suffers for us, who dies for us, and who returns to life for us. ^{(John 10:10)} We learn that Jesus is the way that God comes so that we can have life and have it abundantly 

 

In this season of Advent, this season of coming and preparing, God reminds us that it is He who comes and He who prepares.  He came once to prepare the way of salvation for all mankind.  He still comes to prepare that way in us.  He will come to take those whom He has prepared to live with Him forever. Let us all earnestly pray this Advent Season that all would hear God as He comes so that He would prepare them for His Last Coming.  Amen

 

The love and peace of our Great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen

 

 

Advent 1 – 29 November 2020 – Year B

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

The text for this meditation is written in the 13^th Chapter of the Gospel according to St Mark: Verses 24 –37:

“But in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light,
²⁵ and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.

²⁶ Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory. ²⁷ Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

²⁸ “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. ²⁹ So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. ³⁰ Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. ³¹ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

³² “But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. ³³ Beware, keep alert, for you do not know when the time will come. ³⁴ It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. ³⁵ Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, ³⁶ or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. ³⁷ And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.”

Today’s Gospel is part of the same conversation that we heard last week.  As Jesus and the disciples left the temple area, Jesus told them that sometime in the future, someone or something will destroy the temple.  When He and the disciples reached their camp ground on the Mount of Olives, the disciples asked for more details, and Jesus began to teach.  He warned them to keep their doctrine pure so that false prophets would not deceive them.  He told them to expect persecution for their faith and encouraged them to remain faithful even in the face of persecution.  He gave them warning signs so that they knew to get out of Jerusalem before the Roman army destroyed it.  As His teaching continues in today’s Gospel, He talks about the end of all things.

 

Jesus’ description of the end of time is literally universal.  That is, He gave the disciples and us a visual image of an entire universe going out of existence.  It is as though someone had a switch that controlled all the laws of physics and turned them off.  The sun going out is not an eclipse.  It is the sun no longer existing.  The moon will no longer exist.  Modern astronomy tells us that many of the stars massively large.  Jesus states that they will all go away.  One moment everything will be absolutely normal.  The next moment EVERYTHING, and by EVERYTHING I mean THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE, will be gone.  The three hours of darkness as Jesus hung on the cross foreshadow this utter darkness.

 

One of the things that Jesus emphasises is that this will all be a surprise.  No one will have any idea when this will happen.  He said, ^{(Mark 13:32)} “Concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”  He restated this thought just a few words later, ^{(Mark 13:33)} “You do not know when the time will come”. Then He included this teaching in a short parable, ^{(Mark 13:35)} “You do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning.” When Jesus rephrases a teaching in three different ways … one right after the other … this is important.  One of the teachings that Jesus is emphasising in today’s Gospel is, ‘do not try to work out timelines and dates for the end times because you cannot do it’.

 

Never the less, there are hundreds, perhaps even thousands of authors and teachers who are making a lot of money by telling people that Jesus lied.  You can figure out timelines and dates for the end times.  I typed the phrase “end times prophecy books” into Amazon’s search engine and got over 3,000 hits.  A few of these books are good, solid, Biblically accurate studies, but the far larger majority of them are a waste of ink and paper.  Authors are becoming wealthy by telling confused, searching readers that they are smarter than Jesus.  Even though Jesus said that even He did not know the day or the hour, somehow, these people through grandiose ruminations have worked out some secret code of Daniel or Revelation or some other random text, and they claim to know something that even Jesus did not know.

 

The very sad thing is that these self-proclaimed contemporary prophets and their followers publicly cast doubt and irony on name of Christ and Christianity as a whole.  There are so many who have drawn in a significant following and make prophecies about of the end of the Mayan calendar, or the Bible code, or some ancient writing, or phenomenon.  They predict the end of the world on some date.  The date comes and passes and we are still here.  The result is that many in the unbelieving world link all this to Christianity and Christians are painted as gullible and wanton.  These end-times false prophets not only say that Jesus lied, but they also drag the name of Jesus through the mud.

 

All of this speculation and the very seriously urgent message of today’s reading creates confusion and doubt that only diverts people away from the main message of the Bible.  If you review today’s Gospel, you will see that there is a concept that Jesus repeated even more than the warning against trying to figure out timelines and dates.  Instead of trying to calculate times and dates, Jesus said, ^{(Mark 13:33)} “Be aware, keep alert.” ^{(Mark 13:34)} “be on the watch” ^{(Mark 13:35)} “keep awake”. ^{(Mark 13:37)} “keep awake.”  Five times Jesus encourages us to be ready for the Last Day whenever it comes.

 

In today’s reading from the Gospel account, Jesus is very specifically telling us to stay away from any speculation on timelines and dates for the Last Day.  Instead, we are to be ready for the Last Day no matter when it comes. But how do we come to be ready?  What qualifies us to be one of the elect that the angels gather to the Son of Man when He comes?  The answer to these questions is the main message of the Bible.

 

The main message of the Bible is the forgiveness of sins that Jesus earned for us with His perfect life, His suffering, and His death on the cross.  You see, Jesus didn’t die on the cross so that we could know the details of all the events on the Last Day.  He died so that we could be prepared for the Last Day.

 

Preparation for the Last Day means that we must be holy in God’s eyes.  For only those people who are holy will enter the Kingdom of God.  The Bible gives us two ways to be holy.  One way depends on us.  The other way depends on God.

 

The way that depends on us is easy to say, but impossible to do.  If you wish to save yourself, all you must do is be perfect in every way.  There can be no mistakes, no slip-ups, no “oops” no “sorry-about-that’s.”  We must be as perfect as God is.  The slightest blemish, spot, wrinkle, or blot on our record, and we fail.  It is all over.  The test is a pass-fail exam, and only 100% passes.  Anything else is a fail, done, over, next stop eternal torment.  There are no appeals or re-sits.  In all of time and space, there has been one and only one human being who has ever pulled this off.  Every other human being fails this test at the moment of conception.  As King David said, ^{(Psalm 51:5)}  “In sin did my mother conceive me.” So although God makes this way available, one and only one human being has ever been able to do it.  It just isn’t possible for the ordinary person.

 

The way that depends on God involves God the Father sending His only begotten Son into the world to take our place as a human being under the law.  God’s Son Jesus is perfect.  With Him there are no mistakes, slip-ups, “oops,” or “sorry-about-that.”  Jesus has no blemish, spot, wrinkle, or blot.  Jesus is the one and only human being who passed the test with a score of 100%.  As the Apostle Peter said, ^{(1 Peter 2:22–23)} “He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. ²³When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.” So God the Father sent His Son Jesus into the world and Jesus became the perfect human being for us.

 

On top of that, Jesus submitted to His Father and took up all our sins.  He took up everything from the sins that we consider the worst to the sins that we don’t even notice.  As the Apostle Paul said, ^{(2 Corinthians 5:21)} “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”Jesus then took those sins to the cross where He suffered and died for us.  As the Apostle Peter said, ^{(1 Peter 2:24)} “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” This is the way that God makes us holy.  This is the only way to be ready for the Last Day when it comes.  Jesus Christ, God’s Son must give His holiness to us and He offers that holiness to us from the cross.

 

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus promised to ^{(Mark 13:27)} “send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven”. He can make this promise because even though He died on the cross, He did not stay dead.  In His death, He conquered death so that the grave could not hold Him.  If He can keep His promise to rise from the dead, He can certainly keep His promise to raise us from the dead and gather us to Himself.

 

Jesus spoke about the Last Day.  He taught that no one knows when it will be.  Therefore, He taught that we are to be ready for the Last Day at any time.  It could happen today.  It could be another thousand years.  Be ready.

 

It is the Holy Spirit who makes us ready by creating faith that believes in Christ crucified for the forgiveness of sins.  The Holy Spirit uses God’s Word to build and sustain that faith in Jesus Christ.  It is the Word that we hear with our ears, the word combined with water according to Christ’s command, and the Word that comes with the body and blood of Christ as we eat and drink the bread and wine.  It is by that faith that we are on guard, awake and watchful.  It is the Holy Spirit’s gift of faith in Jesus Christ that keeps us ready for the return of the Son of Man who comes in power and glory.

 

This faith not only prepares us, this Advent, for the coming of the Son of Man in glory, but, if the Lord waits to return, it also prepares us for that day when we shall leave this world through the door of death.  Just as no one knows the day that the world will end, so none of us knows if we will be around when it comes.  The same faith in Jesus Christ that keeps us watchful and ready for the one, also keeps us watchful for the other.  Whether we leave this world at the end of our own lives or at the end of the world, the same readiness saves us.  No matter which way our end comes, it is God who saves us by the Father’s grace, for the Son’s sake, through the Holy Spirit’s gift of faith.  Amen.

 

The love and peace of our Great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen

 

 

Christ the King Sunday – 22 November 2020 – Year A

(Last Sunday after Pentecost - Year A)

 

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

 

The text for this meditation is written in the 25^th Chapter of the Gospel according to St Matthew: Verses 31 – 46:

 

³¹ When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. ³² Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. ³⁴ Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ³⁶ I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me,  I was in prison and you came to me.’ ³⁷ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? ³⁸ And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? ³⁹ And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ ⁴⁰ And the King will answer them, Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

⁴¹ “Then he will say to those on his left,  ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴² For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ ⁴⁴ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ ⁴⁵ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ ⁴⁶ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

 

In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught us to pray, “Your Kingdom come.”  We pray this so often that we don’t even really think about how big and important this prayer is.  What we are asking for is that the reign of God the Father to come to us! - And we say it in a routine manner.  The point is, how often do we give thanks to God that His reign does come among us as a comforting thing and not as a cause of terror?

 

Consider Adam and Eve’s response when God came to them. ^{[Genesis 3:8–10]} “They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” ¹⁰ And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”  Adam and Eve were terrified of God because they had sinned.  They feared His judgment.  After all, the Psalmist reminds us, ^{[Psalm 5:4]} “You are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you.”  For Adam and Eve, the coming of God’s kingdom was the last thing they wanted.

 

When we examine ourselves in light of the Ten Commandments, we learn that we sin daily and deserve punishment here on this earth and forever in hell.  It seems as though we should be terrified to pray the words, “Your Kingdom come.” -  Why then, did Jesus teach us to pray in such a way if the coming of the Kingdom of God means the coming of judgment?

 

God’s actions in the Bible teaches that there is another way that He can come … a way that brings comfort and confidence … a way that removes fear and despair.

God came to Jacob in a dream.  He came down a ladder and promised, ^{[Genesis 28:15]} “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”  He appeared to Moses in the burning bush and said, ^{[Exodus 3:12]} “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”  Later on, Moses comforted the people of Israel with these words, ^{[Deuteronomy 31:8]} “It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”  God spoke words of comfort to His people through the Prophet Ezekiel, ^{[Ezekiel 37:27]} “My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”

 

So it seems that the coming of the Kingdom of God can cause two completely different reactions.  The first reaction is one of terror.  I am a wretched sinner and deserve God’s righteous, eternal wrath.  The second reaction is one of comfort, reassurance, and confidence.  God is with me.  Now I am safe.

 

We see these two reactions in today’s Gospel reading.  The Gospel texts for these past few Sundays have been working their way through Jesus’ teaching concerning the Last Day.  There was the “Parable of the Five Wise and Five Foolish Virgins.”  Then there was the “Parable of the Talents.”  Today, we heard about sheep and goats.  In each case, there are those who rejoice that the reign of God has come, and there are those who despair at its coming. 

 

The difference is that our Lord Jesus Christ has an ability that we do not have.  He can look into the human heart.  It is as He spoke through His prophet Jeremiah, ^{[Jeremiah 17:10]} “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”  In today’s Gospel Jesus teaches that it is as easy for Him to judge the heart as it is for a shepherd to tell the difference between a sheep and a goat.  In fact, today’s Gospel teaches us that Jesus knows us better than we know ourselves. The parables for the past few weeks tells us that Jesus will hand out two verdicts on the Last Day.  

 

In today’s Gospel, Jesus said that He would place some people to His right and others to His left.  Since Jesus already knows the heart, there is no questioning, no testimony, no presenting of evidence.  There is only the verdict and the sentence.

 

The first verdict is for those on His right.  The King will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”  Those on the right enter the Judges home with a verdict of … forgiven.  

 

There are a few important things about the judge’s statement worth noting:

First of all, note that the blessing flows from the Father.  It is not something that these people work up for themselves. 

 

Second of all, note that this is an inheritance.  You don’t work for an inheritance.  You receive an inheritance because someone put you in the will.  You cannot earn an inheritance. 

Finally, note that God prepared this outcome before any of us were even born.  The kingdom is prepared from the foundation of the world.  This tells us that this eternal kingdom was God’s will for these people from the very beginning.

 

The second verdict is for those on His left.  “Then he will say to those on his left, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”  Those on the left receive the verdict of guilty.  The sentence is eternal punishment.

In this instance the reason of the curse remains un-named.  The cursed condition is simply a characteristic of these people.

 

Secondly, notice that this condemnation was not in God’s plan for His people. People end up in eternal fire only because they ignore the teachings of God’s prophets; they turn their back on our Saviour Jesus Christ and reject God’s salvation.  If they are arrogant enough to judge God and find Him offensive, then the eternal punishment is the only alternative.  There is no other place to spend eternity.

 

As the judge welcomes those on His right into eternal bliss, he recalls the work that His salvation has produced in their lives.  Now here is the important point of the story.  The sheep don’t remember any of it.  The list of the works is a total surprise to the sheep.  “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?  And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?  And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?”  They haven’t got a clue. Their good works came naturally from the presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives. It was not a deliberate effort to earn salvation.

 

On the other hand, those on the left are angry that Jesus gives a similar list of things that they have NOT done.  You see, they have kept a careful record of their good works and they know for a fact that their efforts were meant for their own moral bank account – Jesus was not part of that.  Even as they stand before the judge of all things, they maintained that they have lived a life of good works and high moral character and are therefore entitled to a place in the Kingdom.

 

The point is that those who inherit the eternal kingdom do not look to their own good works for their salvation.  Instead, through Holy Baptism and the Sacrament of the Alter, the Holy Spirit finds dead souls and brings them to life through the proclamation of Christ crucified for the forgiveness of sins. The Holy Spirit keeps those souls alive through that same proclamation of Christ crucified for the forgiveness of sins.  The proclamation of our crucified and risen Lord and Saviour leads the Christian, carries the Christian, and follows the Christian.  The Holy Spirit causes us to relax in Christ.

 

Good works are the result of the salvation that we already have.  The Holy Spirit inspired the Prophet Isaiah to write, [Isaiah 64:6] “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.  We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”  So even our best most righteous deeds are still sinful before God, but Jesus Christ redeemed our deeds with His suffering and death on the cross.  It is Christ on the cross who makes our deeds righteous.  Those who have had their good deeds sanctified by Jesus, focus on Jesus and not on their works.  Therefore, they notice their good works about as much as they notice that their fingernails are growing.

 

Jesus warned us and said, ^{[Matthew 6:1–2]} “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.  Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.”  “They have received their reward.”  That is one of the saddest statements in the Sermon on the Mount.  They have traded away their eternal joy for the temporary praise of man.

 

We are pleasing to God, not because of what we do or don’t do.  We are pleasing to God because of what Jesus did for us.  Jesus lived a life that met God’s perfect standard.  He died a death that paid our sin debt in full.  He rose from the dead as a sign that our Father in Heaven accepted His work for us.  Our salvation has been paid in full: We can rest in the Lord.

 

As we rest in the Lord, we will be among those who can pray, “Your kingdom come,” and look forward to the day.  We can take comfort in the promise of Jesus, ^{[Matthew 28:20b]} “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”  We can look forward in eager expectation to the day when we hear ^{[Revelation 21:3]} a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.”

 

While we wait for that day, we will produce good works.  These works do us absolutely no good, but they are precious to our neighbour.  God will accomplish His will in this world through our works.  We will fail often, but if we confess our sins in repentance, we receive the forgiveness of Jesus.  Our Lords calls for us to live for our neighbour, and not to waste time trying to measure our good works, because we don’t need them.  We are heirs to the kingdom prepared for us from the foundation of the world.  We can rejoice that God wants to dwell with us.  Amen

 

The peace and love of our Great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen