DEC 6, 2009  SERMON ARCHIVE

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ! Amen.

The text for our meditation today is the Gospel of the Day, Luke, 3:1-14. There we read these words:

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene,2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness.3 And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, " The voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'" He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. 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." And the crowds asked him, "What then shall we do?" And he answered them, "Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise." Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, "Teacher, what shall we do?" And he said to them, "Collect no more than you are authorized to do." Soldiers also asked him, "And we, what shall we do?" And he said to them, "Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages."

Dear Christian friends,

Maybe you remember-and maybe you don't-the Reformation sermon that was preached from this pulpit a little more than a year ago. In that sermon you heard that the Reformation can be reduced to one central question: How may I receive Holy Communion rightly? If your powers of recollection are REALLY extraordinary, you might even remember what that sermon said about receiving communion rightly, summarize by these words from Luther:

That person is worthy and well prepared who has faith in these words, "Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. But anyone who does not believe these words or doubts them is unworthy and unprepared, for the words "for you" require all hearts to believe (Small Catechism).

I repeat: the Lutheran Reformation in the sixteenth century can be reduced to one question, "How shall I receive Holy Communion rightly."

Well, guess what: the season of Advent is all about the same, single, central question of the Christian faith: "How shall I receive Holy Communion rightly?" St. John gives you his brutal answer in today's Gospel when he declares, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."

St. John speaks in a strange and foreign way for our American ears when he says, "the kingdom of heaven is near." When we think of the kingdom of heaven, we first think of that otherworldly place to which Christians go when they die. But St. John is not talking about the reward of the faithful when he speaks about "the kingdom of heaven."

Instead, he is speaking about that kingdom which belongs to the LORD of heaven and earth, that kingdom that has been established here on earth by the King of heaven coming to earth. When St. John uses the phrase "kingdom of heaven," he is speaking about that place where the King is, and he is speaking about that place where you go to receive the gifts that your King has for you, namely, the forgiveness and life that the crucified and resurrected King as won for you.

"Repent!" declares St. John to those crowds in the Judean desert, "for the kingdom of heaven is near. Repent, for your long awaited Messiah-promised in the Old Testament prophets-has now arrived and shall soon be revealed to you. Repent, because your Christ is coming!"

When your American ears hear such divine commands as "Repent," do you mistakenly tend to think of one-time actions that must be fulfilled and then forgotten. Do lines like "Take out the garbage," or "Stop talking," or "Turn left at the next street" all focus your attention on a single action in a single moment, which you must perform and then may forget. Well, here, St. John does not actually say "Repent" in this Gospel. He says, "Be repenting! Be continuously repentant! Undertake the ongoing, never-ceasing-until- you-die repentance that God commands!"

But expressions like "be repenting" do not very often find their way into our common speech, do they? Think about it. We Americans never want to be "locked in" to anything that will require our sustained participation for an extended period of time, do we. We have very short attention spans and very limited senses of commitment.

That is why it is so difficult to listen to long sermons; so difficult to regard your personal relationships with a "death do us part" obligation; and so difficult even to get people actively involved in the boards or committees of any organization. People do not want to maintain sustained commitments to anything except their own personal interests, and St. John audaciously demands, "Continue repenting: continue being sorrowful over your sinful estate, regularly cry out to God for His divine mercy, be unending in your supplications for His grace. Arise from your slumber and be in an on-going state of repentance, for that kingdom which is established for you by the coming of the promised Christ has now drawn near to you."

Notice also, beloved Christians, that you do not draw near to the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven draws near TO YOU!

Like the festival of the Reformation, the season of Advent is all about the question, "How shall I receive Holy Communion rightly?" St. John gives you your answer with his sermon, "Repent-be repenting-for the kingdom of heaven is near" (Matthew 3:2).

My friends, nothing happens here in this sanctuary every Sunday that did not already happen there in the Desert of Judea. The Word of God was preached according to the Scriptures, and this divine Word prepared the worshipers for the presence of the Promised Christ. Here also the Word of God is preached according to the Scriptures, and it is likewise preached for the singular purpose of preparing worshipers for the presence of the Promised Christ

You undoubtedly woke up this morning, got dressed and came to worship, just as the people in this Gospel when out "from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan" (Matthew 3:1) came out to hear the preaching of the Word. But you did not truly draw near to the kingdom of heaven this morning any more than those people drew near to the kingdom there in the desert.

Here in this place, as there in the wilderness of Judea, the kingdom of heaven drew near to you! The promised Christ, who won for you your forgiveness and salvation, also created your repentance for you by His drawing near to you.

For who among you- you who are but a brood of unrepentant and obstinate vipers, as I am-who would not sorrow over their sin in the presence of God? If God can indeed raise up from stones children for Abraham (Matthew 3:9), how will He not also raise us up from the death of our sins and give us the gift of true faith in Him?

Advent is all about the question, "How shall I receive Holy Communion rightly?" You receive Holy Communion rightly, dear friends, by the on-going repentance and sorrow over your sins that the living Word of God has created for you.

You receive Holy Communion rightly when you believe, by the power of the divine Word that is preached to you, that the kingdom of God truly has drawn near to you for the forgiveness of your sins and for your eternal life. When St. John declared, "the kingdom of heaven is near," he was "talking about the presence of the living Christ" (Augsburg Confession, Article X).

When the Church gathers around God's Word and His gifts of Baptism and Holy Communion, when she hears the divinely spoke words, "Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins," we are again talking about the presence of the living Christ. He is the Christ who draws near to you, the Christ who creates your repentance for you, and the Christ who answers your repentance with the promise forgiveness and life.

Jesus did not come to the Jordan as a symbol or sign or representation or a memory of God's love for you. Jesus came to the Jordan, fully embodying in flesh and blood the very substance of God's love for you, sacrificed on the cross. He comes to you this day in exactly the same way, clothed in bread and wine, bringing you the kingdom of heaven.

You see, dear friends, it really is near, the Kingdom of Heaven, that is.

You see, dear friends. This is Advent. The Kingdom of Heaven is near.

Because Christ Is Risen.

Amen.