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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
As many of you know, last night was the annual Kilgore Christmas Parade, and, as Pilgrim has for a decade or so now, we had a float in that Parade. Thanks go to everyone who in any way helped with that float! As the float made its way through the not‑always‑smooth streets of downtown Kilgore—through the staging area and parade route, to the disassembly area and back to Pilgrim—we wondered if some of the potholes and bumps in the road might not cause parts of the float to fall over or off. Thankfully the float survived the trip, but the experience can give us some insight into why roads that dignitaries, kings and others were going to travel were to be put into good condition before such people traveled those roads. In tonight’s First Reading, God calls for His people to be comforted, and a voice calls for the way (or, highway) of the Lord to be prepared, and, in tonight’s Second Reading, the angel Gabriel tells Zechariah that his and Elizabeth’s son John the Baptizer would make ready for the Lord a people prepared. Tonight, considering those Readings, we realize that by God’s grace we are both “Prepared and Comforted”.
The people of Israel held captive first by the Babylonians and later by the Medes and Persians needed God’s comfort during their warfare (or, hard service [NIV]) in that foreign land, and there arguably was a lot to be done to prepare for them to come back to Judah and its capital city of Jerusalem. Their ancestors’ and their own unfaithfulness had prompted God to have them taken away; they had sinned, and they had been punished for their sins. Yet, they really had done nothing to deserve the tender speech that God tells His prophet to speak to them, but, as an act of Divine mercy, without any merit or worthiness on their part, God pardons their iniquity and has His messenger speak about the Lord’s coming through the wilderness (or, desert) in order to reveal His glory, as He had done when earlier delivering the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt.
Tonight’s Psalm (Psalm 24; antiphon: v.3) asks, who shall ascend the hill of the Lord and who shall stand in His holy place? And, the Psalm answers, He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. Do those phrases describe us? Are we not unclean and impure by nature? Can we not think of countless other sins that we commit? Like the people of Israel captive in Babylon turned Persia, we have sinned and done nothing to deserve God’s tenderness. Yet, in the midst of God’s righteous wrath directed toward His people, God remains God. God shows His love for us in that, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).
The angel Gabriel described for Zechariah his and Elizabeth’s son John the Baptizer’s work as turning many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, putting, as it were, the hearts of the faithful fathers into their unfaithful children, turning the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, and so making ready for the Lord a people prepared. That John the Baptizer would be the voice mentioned by Isaiah as crying, in the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, seems clear. Yet, while we, with either hand tools or heavier equipment, might fill Kilgore’s potholes and level its bumps, and lift up other valleys and make low other mountains and hills, leveling our uneven spiritual ground and planing our spiritual rough places are another matter. God has to do those things, He has to prepare us, and at least one commentator thinks that, in fact, the voice mentioned by Isaiah is calling upon the heavenly powers to construct in the desert the highway for God’s coming (Schreiner, TDOT XI:584; confer/compare Isaiah 57:14 and 62:10).
God’s faithful people knew from prophets like Isaiah that God was coming, and, yet, easily overlookable in the angel Gabriel’s birth announcement to Zechariah is that the Messianic age was dawning then, that the Savior was on the threshold. And, Gabriel makes clear that the Savior, to whom God would turn people through John the Baptizer’s work, was in fact the Lord their God in human flesh. He is the King of glory, the Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle. But, He would humble Himself to be born of a virgin and, with clean hands and a pure heart and after living the perfect life that we fail to live, He would die on the cross in our place, the death that we deserved, so that our iniquity could be pardoned. Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous before God by grace through faith in that Savior yet to come, and we can be righteous before God by grace through faith in that same Savior Who now has come.
The identity of the voice mentioned by Isaiah is concealed, one commentator says, “his person vanishes in the splendour of his calling” (Keil-Delitzsch, ad loc Isaiah 40:3, p.141). Yet, Gabriel reveals that identity of the voice to Zechariah. And still, there is no undue focus on John but an emphasis on his work! Through John the Baptizer, Jesus, Jesus’s apostles, and all who are placed into the Office of the Holy Ministry, the Lord makes ready for Himself a people prepared. God’s Word read and preached to groups such as this call and enable people both to turn from their sin and to trust God to forgive their sin for Jesus’s sake. God’s Word connected with water in Holy Baptism, with the pastor’s touch in Holy Absolution, and with bread and wine that are the Body and Blood of Christ in the Sacrament of the Altar apply the Gospel to individuals and in concrete ways give the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. In all of these ways we are filled with the Holy Spirit.
When we are particularly stressed, we might gasp and hold our breath, until we are able to breathe again. The idea of causing someone to breathe again apparently is behind the Hebrew word for the comfort that God wants His prophets to give to His people (Keil-Delitzsch, ad loc Isaiah 40:1, p.139; confer/compare TWOT #1344, pp.570-571). We might think of needing such comfort for any number of things, perhaps especially after the death of a child, parent, or spouse. But, among the reasons for the comfort of the people that God lists through Isaiah are pardon for iniquity and the end of warfare (or, hard service [NIV]). When God’s law has convicted us of our sin and we recognize our need for the Savior, then God comforts us with His Gospel—a Gospel not only of pardon for our iniquity but also a Gospel of the eventual end of whatever warfare, hard service, or afflictions we are experiencing. Even Zechariah’s questioning of Gabriel was met by an affliction that nine months later came to an end but also itself can be said to have served as a gracious sign, answering his question of how he was to know the truth of what God had said through Gabriel (Arndt, ad loc Luke 1:18‑25, p.47). As the psalmist puts it, God’s rod and staff comfort us (Psalm 23:4). And, we at least try to live as Zechariah and Elizabeth did, blameless in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord, with both inward and outward piety (Arndt, ad loc Luke 1:5-17, p.43).
Kilgore’s streets may not have been prepared physically as well as they might have been for a more comfortable parade last night, but by God’s grace we are spiritually both “Prepared and Comforted”. God’s words through Isaiah serve us well this Advent and always, humbling the self‑righteous and self‑secure but encouraging the downcast who repent and trust in God. We who so recognize the importance of our Lord’s past coming at Christmas are ready for both His present coming to us now in Word and Sacrament and His future coming to us on the Last Day with glory to judge both the living and the dead. As the voice mentioned by Isaiah says, the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +