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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. (Amen.)
As you likely know, on December 4th, 50‑year‑old UnitedHealthcare Chief Executive Officer Brian Thompson was said to be “assassinated” on the street outside a New York City hotel, where his company was holding its annual investor conference, and, December 9th—this past Monday, five days later—police arrested 26‑year‑old former computer‑programmer Luigi Mangione, who since has been charged with the murder. The victim, apparently a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, left behind a widow and two teen‑aged sons, while the alleged shooter, an Ivy‑League graduate who one year ago underwent spinal surgery for chronic back‑pain, comes from a large family with both considerable wealth and interests in the healthcare industry. What prompted me to mention the shooting and arrest this morning are what I would call some people’s “wrong” reactions—their celebrating the shooting, and their grieving the arrest—reactions that are the very opposite of what we should expect. The case seemed similar to Jesus’s figure of speech in today’s Gospel Reading, in which one group of children says it played the flute and another group did not dance; the one group sang a dirge, and the other group did not weep. That figure of speech arguably is one of the places in today’s Gospel Reading that we find implicit the “joy” that is characteristic of this Third Sunday in Advent, with “rejoice” explicit in its Introit (Psalm 146:5-8; antiphon: Philippians 4:4), Old Testament Reading (Zephaniah 3:14‑20), Gradual (Zechariah 9:9; Psalm 118:26, altered), and Epistle Reading (Philippians 4:4‑7), as well as reflected in its rose‑colored candle on the Advent Wreath and the rose‑colored bulletin‑covers. This morning, we consider primarily today’s Gospel Reading, directing our thoughts to the theme, “Rejoicing for the right reason”.
In last Sunday’s Gospel Reading (Luke 3:1-14), John the Baptizer was out in the region around the Jordan River, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as prophesied by God through Isaiah. But later, Herod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by John for Herod’s taking his brother’s wife and for other evil things, locked up John in prison (Luke 3:19‑20). So, in today’s Gospel Reading, after hearing reports about what Jesus was saying and doing, John sent two of his disciples to the Lord, asking if He was the One Who was to come, or if they should look for another. Perhaps the best way to understand those two questions is that John, who had baptized Jesus and both seen the Holy Spirit descend on Him in bodily form like a dove and heard the Father’s voice from heaven identifying Jesus as His beloved Son with Whom He was well‑pleased (Luke 3:21-22; confer John 1:29-34)—that John had come to have his doubts about Jesus, likely because John had his own expectations about what Jesus should be doing and saying, not to mention how and when Jesus should be doing and saying those things. So, Jesus essentially sent John’s disciples back to John to point out how what Jesus was doing and saying was fulfilling prophecy about the One Who was to come, the Messiah (for example, Isaiah 35:5-6), and Jesus spoke a blessing on the one who is not offended by Jesus but who rather puts his or her faith in Jesus. Then Jesus largely praised John to the crowds, many of whom had been baptized with the baptism of John, but Jesus criticized the Jewish leaders who rejected the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by John. Those Jewish leaders either did not have the “right” reaction to John and Jesus, or those Jewish leaders were trying to conform John and Jesus to their own expectations, either of which Jesus could be suggesting with the figure of speech about the one group of children’s playing a flute or singing a dirge and the other group’s not dancing or weeping accordingly. Of course, the Jewish leaders are not the only “people”, or “men”, who act like such “children”, trying to conform even Jesus to their own expectations and not reacting as they should—John the Baptizer arguably was guilty of those sins, and so are we.
UnitedHealthcare’s C‑E‑O had been accused of insider trading, but executing him for that charge, even if guilty, hardly was the responsibility of his alleged shooter, whose own past includes at least a citation for his failing to observe a posted closed‑area sign in Hawaii. Even if the alleged shooter were to be convicted of first-degree murder in this case, he would not face the Biblically‑defensible death penalty in the state of New York, where it reportedly has been effectively abolished for years. Yet, the victim and the alleged shooter are, like you and I are, and like John the Baptizer was, among those born of women—so, weak and frail—and, of this generation—usually characterized by Jesus as evil and adulterous (Matthew 12:39), sinful (Mark 8:38), faithless and twisted (Luke 9:41). We may wrongly think that the only moral absolutes are that we are always right, that those who disagree with us are always wrong, and that we are somehow harmed by their disagreement (Williamson). In fact, only God’s Word establishes what is absolutely morally right and wrong, including such wrong things as abortion, homosexuality, and same‑sex marriage. On those issues or others, we sinfully try to conform even Jesus to our own expectations, and we sinfully do not always react as we should, whether not weeping over our sin or not dancing, or not rejoicing, over our forgiveness.
On account of our sinful nature and all of our sinful thoughts, sinful words, and sinful deeds, we deserve nothing but both death here and now and torment in hell for eternity. But, out of His great love and mercy, God calls and so enables us to repent: that is, to turn in sorrow from our sin and to trust God to forgive our sin. When we so repent, then God does forgive us. God forgives our trying to conform Him to our expectations; God forgives our wrong reactions. God forgives our sinful nature and all our sin, whatever our sin might be. God forgives us through faith by grace on account of His Son, Jesus, Who came once to die for our sin, comes now to forgive our sin, and will come a final time to judge the living and the dead—in the case of the dead, making known His previous judgment, since they are already judged at the moment of their death (Hebrews 9:27).
In today’s Gospel Reading, as the Divinely‑inspired St. Luke describes what was happening when John’s disciples came to Jesus, the text more‑literally says that Jesus “showed favor” or “gave freely” for the blind to see. Of course, all of those miracles, like those mentioned in today’s Introit and Old Testament Reading, showed that the man Jesus was God in human flesh, the Savior, Who acted only because of God’s love, mercy, and grace. For that same love, mercy, and grace Jesus took on Himself the sins of the whole world, including your sins and my sins, and He died on the cross for us, in our place, the death that we deserved, and then He rose from the dead. When Jesus spoke to the crowd about John, Jesus referred to prophecy that God had spoken through Malachi, which we heard as last week’s Old Testament Reading (Malachi 3:1‑7b), with Jesus’s identifying John as the messenger who would come before the Lord, and thereby with Jesus’s identifying Himself as the Lord. By virtue of John’s office as that messenger, John was the greatest among those born of women, but Jesus, the Son of God, in His state of humiliation least in the kingdom of God, was still greater than John. Those who recognize the identities of John and Jesus in effect, the Gospel Reading says, declare God just, even as God declares us just, or righteous.
God declares us just, or righteous, through His Word in all of its forms. In today’s Gospel Reading, Jesus said the poor had the good news preached to them, and also today, God’s Word of law and Gospel are read and preached to groups such as this group, and His Gospel is applied to individuals with water in Holy Baptism, with a pastor’s touch in Holy Absolution, and with bread and wine that are Christ’s Body and Blood in the Holy Supper. God wants all people to be saved, and we do not reject His purpose for us by rejecting any of His Means of Grace. Especially at this Altar and its Rail, the Son of Man is a friend to and has table fellowship with us sinners. And, as Jesus makes clear later in St. Luke’s Gospel account, with three parables told when Jewish leaders grumbled about Jesus’s eating with sinners, such table fellowship is a part of our rejoicing with and over sinners who repent, those who were dead but are now alive, those who were lost but are now found (Luke 15:1-32). Especially here, we are “Rejoicing for the right reason”.
Any number of things might threaten to diminish our joy. I imagine the alleged shooter in the UnitedHealthcare case is not so joyful now in prison as he was moments before his arrest, eating his hashbrowns at an Altoona, Pennsylvania, McDonalds. Prison likely had something to do with John the Baptizer’s doubts in today’s Gospel Reading, but, in today’s Epistle Reading, an imprisoned St. Paul (for example, Philippians 1:12-14) could still call the Philippians and us to rejoice always, exhorting us not to be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving to let our requests be made known to God, assuring us that the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. In this lifetime, our loved ones and we ourselves may not experience the kind of healing that those in the Gospel Reading experienced, but even they later still suffered and died. Far better, all who repent will receive the greatest healing with the resurrection and glorification of the body on the Last Day. Truly, another right reason for us to rejoice!
Amid those wrongly reacting to the UnitedHealthcare case by both rejoicing over the victim’s death and grieving over the alleged shooter’s arrest, we rightly grieve over our sins and rejoice over our forgiveness. We are “Rejoicing for the right reason”. May God grant that we always so rejoice, now and for eternity.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +