Christmas Day [John 1:1-14] (25-Dec-2010)

This sermon was preached at St Paul's Lutheran Church, Darnum, 9am, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Traralgon, 11am, and St John's Lutheran Church, Sale (26-Dec-2010) 2pm.

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

Text (John 1:14):

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Prayer: Come, Lord Jesus, and dwell among us in the flesh today, and send us the Holy Spirit as we hear your word. Amen.

The message of Christmas hits the core of what it means to be human being!

The message of Christmas is not something for “Christians” only, but is a message for all people. I bring you good news of great joy to all people. Peace on earth and good will to all people. All people everywhere are called to listen to the message of angels, and join the wise-men and the shepherds, and all people are called to come and worship the baby Jesus in Bethlehem, who is their Lord, their God, and their King. All people everywhere are called to take up their cross and follow the baby Jesus from the manger to the cross, and from the cross to the resurrection of the body and to everlasting life.

That’s what we’re here to celebrate today. It’s a great day to celebrate, as we remember and commemorate the birth of our Lord and God Jesus Christ in a small stable in Bethlehem.

And in our reading today from the Gospel of John, we read the following words:

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

 In the beginning of the bible, in the second chapter of the book of Genesis, we read about when God created the first man, Adam. And we read, that the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

He came out of the dust, he had the breath of life breathed into him, and he became a living creature. Actually the word there is literally, a living soul. Notice that it doesn’t say that God put a soul into the man, but that he became a living soul.

It’s a common thing for people to think that we are split into body and soul in such a way that our body is just a shell for the soul, and that our body is worth nothing. It’s just a bit of dust.

But that’s not what the bible says about us. It says that God made him out of the dust, breathed into him the breath of life, and he became a living soul.

A living soul means that he is one unified human being. One person – not two. Sure, he has a body and a soul, but the bible talks about him as a body who is a living soul. He doesn’t have a body and he doesn’t have a soul. He is a body and he is a soul.

But when Adam and Eve fell into sin, God pronounces his word of judgment on him. He says, “You are dust and to dust you shall return.”

And so here we all are, made from dust, and destined once again to go to the dust. We often say this at funerals, “ashes to ashes, dust to dust.”

That’s what the world is like without Christmas. That’s what the world is like without the birth of the baby Jesus.

Listen to what Solomon says about the world in Ecclesiastes. He says:

I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind. (1:13-14). The dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity. (12:7-8) All is a breath of air, a puff of wind, a bit of dust.

And now at Christmas we read that opposite thing comes about.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Here now, we see the Word. The Word of God. The Word of God who was in the beginning. The Word of God who was with God. The Word of God who is God.

This is such a strange way of speaking for us. And the bible has many strange ways of speaking. But in Hebrew, the word for “a word” can also mean “an event”. A word and an event are the same thing. This is incredibly powerful, because we know that when God speaks, things happen. God said, “Let there be light” and there was light.

And so when God speaks, things happen. But also, this word which he speaks, is not just a word, it’s not just a thing, or an event, but it’s a person, it’s the Son of God.

Our Christmas Day reading today starts with these powerful and mysterious words: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

And now we learn: The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

We see here the opposite of what happened to Adam. Adam was formed out of the dust, and God breathed into him and he became a living soul.

But at Christmas time, we see that that Jesus Christ was true God, God of God, Light of Light, True God from True God, and he became flesh. He was already a living soul – he didn’t need to become a living soul like Adam. But now the true God, the God who made heaven and earth, the Word of God, who was in the beginning with God, who was with God, and is God, became flesh.

Notice that it says, he didn’t become a human being. He did become a human being, but to make sure that we know in what way he became a human being, the text says, “The Word became flesh.”

Christians believe in the Holy Trinity. We believe in the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Father is God, the Son is God and the Holy Spirit is God, but there are not three Gods but one God.

And the Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity, became a man. He took on human body. He became a man, he became a human being, he became flesh.

The Son of God who didn’t have a human body, became flesh, just like the rest of us, he was born of a mother, and was grew up as a child, and into a grown man.

And just to make sure that we don’t think that he wasn’t a real human being, the text says to us, flesh, flesh, flesh.

The Word became flesh, and he dwelt among us. And we have seen his glory. And he is full of grace and truth.

Jesus is true God, but he is also a true man, a true human being.

And now, I don’t know if you have ever thought about this, but when you worship God, and when you worship Jesus, you are worshipping a human being like yourself! You are worshipping a man Jesus, who is true God and true man. You can’t worship one without the other, because they are the same person.

When you look at the baby Jesus in the manger, who is there? God or a baby? Both!

When you see Jesus on the cross dying for your sins, who is there? God or a man? Both!

When you see Jesus sitting at the right hand of God ruling over heaven and earth, who is there? God or a man? Both!

And what on earth, do you think, is God doing, lying in a manger?

What on earth do you think is God doing becoming a baby?

What on earth do you think is God doing being cradled in the arms of a young woman, the Virgin Mary?

What on earth do you think is God doing having his nappy changed? Having a drink of his mother’s milk? What on earth is God doing getting nailed to a cross?

Well, have a look where he ends up: sitting at the right hand of God the Father.

Look where he ends up!

And he’s not ashamed to begin his life just like you! He’s not ashamed to live a life like yours!

The Word of God is not ashamed to become flesh, and live among us.

Because he knows that all this stuff, all this Christmas stuff means, that for those who do not reject him as their Lord and God, will worship the Lamb seated on the throne, with all the angels forever.

You see, when the Son of God became a baby, when the Word of God became flesh, he brought heaven with him. All the angels went to sing and rejoice with the shepherds in their fields.

And when the same Son of God, Jesus Christ ascended into heaven, he brings all of the earth with him too. So that the angels are almost scratching their heads when they see that a real human being, human flesh, is seated on the throne of God, and is being worshipped by all creation. This is such a mysterious things, that the angels don’t even dare to look, but they cover their faces!

And here we are this Christmas in the presence of this same Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ has been born for us! For us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

To you this day is born a Saviour who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.

What wonderful news! What a wonderful message! Such news brings great joy!

But remember whenever the word of God is spoken, things happen. The word of God is an event, and more than that, the Word of God is a person! The Word of God has become flesh! He is Jesus Christ our Lord!

And when we hear these words, we know that Jesus Christ is the one who is here speaking them! He is the one who is standing here in the flesh speaking to us, breathing out on us his Holy Spirit. When he does this, he makes little humble churches cities on hills which cannot be hidden. When Jesus Christ comes and joins us in our worship, the church becomes the light of the world, just as he is the Light of the World. When Jesus Christ comes to earth, he makes little stables at the back of hotels, smelly old places where people put their animals before they stay for the night – he makes those places the centre of the universe. Stables shine like stars! Churches shine like the sun! And flesh, human flesh, real human bodies, with all their sin and all the shame, shine with the forgiveness of sins, and shine with the glory of God! He makes us citizens of heaven because he has baptised us. Think about what that means!

And so what a wonder it is, what a miracle it is to be with Jesus, to be with the same baby, and to sing with the same angels: Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth to those with whom he is pleased! Think what it means to sing with the same angels and archangels and all the company of heaven and sing: Holy! Holy! Holy!

Think what it means that the word of God made a woman pregnant! And you are listening to the same word!

Think what it means that the word of God became flesh, and dwelt among us! And you will eat the same body and drink the same blood, so that he will dwell within you and change your decaying body, into his own glorious body! The bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper are the swaddling clothes, they are the manger where you will find your Lord Jesus. He is called Jesus because he saves us from our sins!

And he does save us from our sins, because he is full of grace! Grace means that he saves us and forgives us even though he knows that we are sinners! And we can be sure of this and we can build our lives on this, because he is full of truth!

And so this Christmas day, we come to the stand in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, who was born of the virgin Mary, and say with confidence, and with joy, and with faith:

The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and full of truth! Amen.

You are the king of glory, O Christ, you are the everlasting Son of the Father. When You became man to set us free, you did not spurn the virgin’s womb. You overcame the sting of death and opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers. You are seated at the right hand of God in the glory of the Father. We believe that you will come to be our judge. We therefore ask to help us, your servants, whom you have redeemed with your precious blood. Let us be numbered with your saints in glory everlasting. Amen.

Christmas Eve [Luke 2:10,11] (24-Dec-2010)

This sermon was preached at St Paul's Lutheran Church, Darnum (19-Dec-2010) 7pm, Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Bairnsdale (20-Dec-2010) 1pm, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yarram (23-Dec-2010) 6.30pm, and Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Traralgon (24-Dec-2010), 7pm.

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

Text (Luke 2:10-11):

And the angel sad to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.

Prayer: Lord God, our heavenly Father, enlighten our darkness with the light of your Holy Spirit, so that I may preach well and we all may hear well, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

I read a slogan about Christmas this week which goes like this:

“Christmas is… capturing the magic forever.”

Fools write that stuff, and only fools believe it.

Christmas is not capturing the magic forever, whatever the magic might be. It is God our heavenly Father capturing you forever, by sending his Son to be born into the world.

The reality of Christmas is another story. It isn’t very magical!

Shepherds seeing angels and they were filled with fear.

A weary journey for a young pregnant woman.

A baby being born amongst all the animals, and amongst all the animal smells.

And then we read the family became refugees, and had to flee to Egypt, because they were worried about King Herod trying to kill the baby. And in actual fact, to make he sure he did the job he killed every baby in Bethlehem.

This is the reality of Christmas.

Christmas took place in a time of great mess. The Jewish people were ruled by a foreign power – the Romans. People were madly running around trying to register themselves for the census.

This is the reality of Christmas.

And there are elements to this in our own time too. Christmas is a time of a great mess. People madly running around, visiting people, buying people presents, finishing off the year, getting things done, and all that sort of thing.

But there’s also a side of things where Christmas is a time of great sadness for some people. It can be lonely for people who have no one to celebrate Christmas with. It can be difficult for people who have lost a loved one to death during the previous year who won’t be there this year. It can be an utterly fearful time for people who just have no hope in life, when everyone around them seems happy.

Now I don’t want to make you feel miserable at Christmas time! That’s not the point of why I’m saying these things. But let’s take a reality check – let’s look at the sort of things we see around us, because I’m sure you know that the things I’ve said are true. There are so many people suffering around you, and so Christmas is a time for you to be generous to them, and to learn once again what it means to be generous.

Let’s never forget that the baby who was born on Christmas night those many years ago grew up into the man whom the bible calls “The man of sorrows”. The man who was “despised and rejected by people”. Just as Jesus was born in a manger made of out wood, he was also nailed to a cross made out of wood.

And God has called all of us into a certain situation. He has put us in certain families, certain households, certain towns, certain streets. And all of this may seem to you to be insignificant. But so are stables in the back streets of Bethlehem. And if you help those around you, where God has placed you, if you serve them, if you show kindness to people, if you open yourself in generosity to people for the sake of Jesus Christ who serves you and shows kindness and friendliness to you, and is generous to you, that you will also become a person who endures great suffering. You will also become a person who will be treated like the animals in a stable. And it won’t just be people who will be the problem, but this will be a great internal battle for you. It will be easy to you to take the wide path, and turn a blind to people, and to joke at them.

And so it’s time for you to stand up as a citizen of God’s holy church on earth to fight the good fight, to stand up for those who have no one to stand up for them (and I mean, no-one), and to be human beings who were worth having lived, who changed the not-so-inevitable-after-all course of history, and who took up their crosses and followed Jesus. You are called to do nothing on this earth as a Christian, but fight: dripping in the waters of your baptism, with the words of Scripture marinading your mind, and the body and blood of your Lord tasted upon your tongue, and with love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control as your disposition. And so St Paul raises up the war-cry: “We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.”

Don’t be a person who says, I will not visit the baby Jesus in the stable in Bethlehem, because I am afraid of what I might step in.

This is precisely why the angels of God came tearing out to insignificant places like paddocks, and spoke to insignificant people like shepherds, and made them the example of our faith.

We read: And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.”

“Fear not.” If the shepherds weren’t afraid, they wouldn’t have said this. And there is nothing for us to fear either.

The news of Christmas is good news. The joy of Christmas is a great joy. And the good news of great joy is for all people.

“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.”

There’s nothing glamorous about it. There he is: a baby Jesus, helpless like any other baby. In the stable with the animals, wrapped in cloths, cradled by his mother.

And when you visit this baby Jesus, and when you find him, and he becomes yours, we realise a strange thing: that in fact, he is the one who visited us, he is the one who found us, and we became his.

And then there is nothing to lose, and everything to gain.

He was born, dead, risen for you and for the forgiveness of your sins. Every weakness and sin in you has become his, and everything strong and pure that is his has become yours, even if you can’t see it in yourself, but purely because our heavenly Father has forgiven you. And just in case you think that everybody else’s sin is forgiven except yours, God sends an angel to say: Fear not, I bring you good news of great joy that will be all, all, all people.

It’s the shepherds – who find their Jesus in the insignificant church, in the insignificant stable, among the insignificant animals, in the insignificant bible, in the insignificant water of baptism, in the insignificant bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper – its shepherds with their feet planted firmly on the ground, who sing with the angels and the archangels and all the company of heaven, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will to all people.”

So do not fear, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people.

Amen.

Lord Jesus Christ, you are our Lord and God, who was not afraid to become a human being like us, into to deepest and darkest parts of our world, our lives and our hearts. Capture us this Christmas and send us the Holy Spirit, so that we may keep the faith, and be yours forever. Amen.

Mid-week Advent Service 4 (22-Dec-2010)

This sermon was preached at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Traralgon, 7pm.

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

Text (Isaiah 7:14)

The Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive a bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Prayer: O come, O come, Immanuel, and ransom captive Israel, that mourns in lonely exile here, until the Son of God appear. Amen.

So here we are for our last Wednesday nigh in our Advent series, and the final of our four sermons on the well-known Advent hymn: O come, O come, Emmanuel.

The first week we looked at verse 4, O come, Key of David.

The second week we looked at verse 3, O Come, Dayspring.

The third week we looked at verse 2, O come, Rod of Jesse.

And now we come to verse 1, O come, Immanuel. And the verse goes like this:

O come, O come, Immanuel, and ransom captive Israel, that mourns in lonely exile here, until the Son of God appear.

Rejoice, rejoice! Immanuel Shall come to Thee, O Israel.

The original verse, on which this hymn is based goes like this:

O Emmanuel, our King and Lawgiver, the Desire of all nations and their Salvation: Come and save us, O Lord our God.

Now of all the titles of Christ that we have looked at so far, the title of Christ, Immanuel, is probably the one which is most familiar to us.

Key of David, Dayspring, and Rod of Jesse are a bit more cryptic and foreign, but Immanuel is something that we’re bit more used to.

And the word Immanuel, comes from two words:

One word is Im: which means “with”. Now in Hebrew if you put “manu” on the end of the word “im” it means, “with us”. And then the word “El”, is word which means God. So literally it means, “With us God” or as we usually say “God with us”.

There are a lot of Hebrew names that end with the word “El”, like Michael, Samuel, Joel, Ezekiel. This “El” bit means “God.” Also a lot of Hebrew names end with “Jah” with means “the Lord”, like Elijah, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Zechariah. So the “Jah” bit on the end of the name means “the Lord”, from God’s holy name “Yahweh”.

The first place where this expression comes up is in Isaiah 7. Last week, we were reading Isaiah 11, which referred to the time of the evil king Ahaz. Isaiah 7 also refers to the time of the same king. Remember we learnt last week, that king Ahaz had sacrificed his children to the demons. To sacrifice children was something that was often done in ancient religions, but never in the Jewish religion. The only person who ever sacrifices his own son is God the Father himself. In Genesis 22, Abraham thinks of it as quite a normal thing to go off and sacrifice his son Isaac, but God sends an angel to stop him at the last moment. God never requires child sacrifices.

And so in the midst of all this corruption and idolatry, God comes and speaks to Ahaz, and asks him to choose a sign. But Ahaz puts on a bit of a show of false religion, and says, “I would never presume to dare to ask God to give me a sign.” This is an absolutely ridiculous thing, because God has already said he would give one. Ahaz doesn’t want a sign, even though God says that he’s going to give him one. And God then decides to give him one anyway, even though he knows that Ahaz won’t take any notice of it.

This is what we read:

Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz, “Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test.” And Isaiah said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose good. For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted.”

Now we all recognise the middle bit.

Just a couple of little notes: The word “virgin” is not the explicit word for virgin, but is a word which means a young, marriageable woman, whom we would assume to be a virgin. (The word in Hebrew is ‘almah). Now, when they translated the Old Testament they used the word “parthenos” which is the explicit word for a virgin, that is, a woman, whether she were young or old, who had never had intimate relations with a man.

The Hebrew word implies a young woman.

In Isaiah 8, we also read this:

And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the Lord said to me, “Call his name Maher-shalal-hashbaz; for before the boy knows how to cry “My father” or “My mother,” the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.

The name of the boy, “Maher-shalal-hashbaz”, means “The spoil speeds, the prey hastens.”

Now some people have thought that this is a little fulfilment of the prophecy that we just heard.

But there’s some problems with saying this: There are some similarities between the two passages. Isaiah 7 says, “The virgin shall conceive and bear a son…before the boy knows how to refuse evil and choose good, the land whose two kings you dread shall be deserted.” Isaiah 8 says, “I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son… Before the boy knows how to cry “My mother” and “My father” the wealth of Damascus shall be carried away.”

But the problem is, first of all, the prophetess, Isaiah’s wife, already had a son, called Shear-jashub, who we read bout in Isaiah 7:3, which means she probably doesn’t qualify to be a virgin or a young marriageable woman. She doesn’t qualify because she’s not a virgin or young, probably. Also, we notice that the prophecy in Isaiah 7 about the virgin conceiving and bearing a son, implies something extraordinary or miraculous. There’s nothing all that special about the birth of Maher-Shalal-Hashbaz.

It’s a little bit of a fulfilment of this prophecy, but at the same time, it’s not. And in the Old Testament it’s not really fulfilled, until Matthew says at the beginning of his Gospel where it says that the Virgin Mary and Jesus are the fulfilment of the prophecy. Now we could say, but the sign was given to king Ahaz, and King Ahaz was dead for many years! But really, the sign is given for the house of David, and Ahaz is a descendent and member of the family of David. In a sense, the sign is not just given to Ahaz, but to the whole family of David.

And in the beginning of Matthew we read that the angel came to Joseph and said,

“Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew here not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

Matthew makes a special point also to mention that Joseph, “knew her not”, to emphasise the fact that Mary was in fact a virgin, and therefore, the fact that she was a virgin and mother at the same time was the fulfilment of the prophecy, and also a great miracle.

But there’s also something very special about the word “God with us”, Immanuel.

In one sense it’s a scary thing for God to be with us. The verse says, “O Immanuel, our King and Lawgiver.”

We see when Jesus taught people he was Law-Giver. Even though it wasn’t the main purpose of his life, he still gave Law, as God in our midst, God with us.

He says, “You heard it said, “You shall not murder”. But I say to you…

You have heard it was said, “You shall not commit adultery”. But I say to you…

In the sermon on the mount, he comes as Law-giver. But as Moses came saying, “You shall not…”, Jesus came saying, “Blessed… Blessed… Blessed.” Blessed are the poor in spirit, for there is the kingdom of heaven.”

But at the same time, Jesus is not just a law-giver to raise the bar that Moses set. He interpreted the law in such a way that people couldn’t escape from it. Many people thought, and still think today, that as long as you don’t do anything wrong, their all right. They think that they are a sinner, because they sin. But Jesus turns that all around, and shows them that the law doesn’t have to do first of all with your actions, but with your heart. Instead, you sin, because you are a sinner. Being a sinner means you have a condition, a disease, you are corrupted.

The verse also says, “O Immanuel, our king and Law-giver, the desire of all nations and their Salvation.”

Here we see the other side of Jesus’ work. Sinners have desire for an end of sin. People who know that they are sinners desire salvation. And so Jesus is called, Desire of Nations and their Salvation.

And this desire is something that we speak everytime we say, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins”. When Jesus teaches the Lord’s prayer, he teaches you to desire the Father, and to desire him, Jesus, and to desire the Holy Spirit. And Jesus does fulfil your desire, he does save you. He did die for you and rise for you. He does accomplish the Father’s will, he does send you the Father’s kingdom. He does give you your daily bread.

Now Matthew’s gospel, begins and ends with “God with us” Immanuel.

In Chapter 1, we see the birth of Jesus. But in Matthew 28, we read the following passage:

“All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Listen to those words, “I am with you”.

And the funny thing about Matthew’s gospel, is that we don’t read about Jesus ascending into heaven. It just ends with him saying, “I am with you always to the end of the age.”

And this shows us something special, because Jesus has already left a legacy. He’s said, Baptise. He’s said, Take and eat, this is my body. And now he says, I am with you always.

Christ is still here. He is God with us. He is not God with us in our hearts, or God looking after us. But he is God with us in the flesh. St Paul says, the fullness of God dwelt in Christ bodily.

So God is with us, because the flesh, the risen body of Jesus is here. We don’t say God is with us, because the Holy Spirit is here. But we say that God is with us, because God has taken on human flesh, and God in the flesh is here, and he sends us the Holy Spirit.

A lot of churches, and especially most protestant churches, don’t believe that Jesus in here. They believe that he ascended into heaven, and he’s stuck there. We as Lutherans believe that he ascended into heaven in such a way that he could be with us always until the end of the age. It doesn’t say, my spirit will be with you always. It says, “I will be with you always.” And if Jesus says, “I” he means, “I”. And because of the ascension, his human body is able to be wherever he wants it to be, like when he visited St Paul on the road to Damascus and when he comforted St Stephen when he was being stoned to death. But also his human body is able to be present wherever he promises it to be, wherever his word is preached in its truth and purity and wherever the sacraments are administered according to his institution, according to what he said they were and what he said about them. The day of Pentecost was not a day where Jesus was up in the clouds doing his own thing, but he was there, in their midst, giving them the Holy Spirit.

Notice that the words say, “The virgin will conceive and bear a son.” A real human son, not a fake son. A real human boy! A real flesh and blood son. And his name will be called: God with us. Immanuel! It is a human being, Jesus Christ, who died and bled, who we call God. Thomas saw the wounds in Christ’s hands and feet and side, and he didn’t look up at the sky and say, “My Lord and my God”. He bowed down at the feet of Jesus and said, “My Lord and my God.”

And it’s no wonder that Jesus then says, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

The Lord bless you for the last remaining days of Advent season, the time of desire, of longing, of hope, and may God bless you this Christmas as we commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ our Lord, our Saviour from Sin, our desire, the Word who became flesh, and the man, the human being, who is God with us, Immanuel.

Amen.

Lord Jesus Christ, we know that you have promised to be with us in the body, and to walk through our closed doors and stand in our midst, praying with us, and blessing us, preaching to us and giving us your Holy Spirit through your word and sacraments. We know you have promised these things and so we believe it. Send us the Holy Spirit, living and resurrected Jesus, born of the Virgin Mary, our Lord, our God, our Immanuel, our Jesus, you who stand and pray with us. Amen.

Advent 4 [John 1:19-28] (19-Dec-2010)

This sermon was preached at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Traralgon, 11am.

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

Text (John 1:19-28):

And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”

Prayer: Lord God, our heavenly Father, enlighten our darkness with the light of your Holy Spirit, so that I may preach well and we all may hear well, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

There is many a pastor who has had someone say to them, “Who do you think you are?”

Now as yet, I’ve never had anyone say this to me! But I’ve heard many a story about people who have asked this question to their pastor… Normally, this happens when a pastor tells someone that they should do something, and they don’t like what he says. (…which I suppose has a positive side to it, in that “at least you know they’re listening!”)

I knew once some people who had this problem with every pastor they met. “Who do they think they are, prancing around up there?” “Who do they think they are, wearing their white robes, and forgiving people’s sins?” “What right do they have to do such things?”

This sort of thing has been happening in a sense for centuries. And every pastor worries about this sort of thing to a degree. Even in the bible, we see that the young pastor Timothy must have been worried about people taking him to task about his office. And St Paul writes to him, “Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believes an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.” So if anyone were to challenge Timothy with the words, “Who do think you are?” he could simply and confidently say, “I am called and ordained.”

The same goes for the Isaiah, when he was sent to be a prophet, when he said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

The same goes for Moses, when he was sent to the people of Israel. We read that he says, “But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The LORD did not appear to you.’” But then God gives him three signs as a proof of his unique position and authority – the first, to make his staff a snake, the second, to make his hand covered in leprosy, and the third, to turn the water from the Nile into blood.

Now Moses went and performed the miracles, and they believed. But then, when the task-masters and foremen made the Israelites work under harder conditions, so that they had to make bricks without straw, they said, “The LORD look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.”

And then we read that Moses said, “O LORD, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me?”

When God sends people to do his work, people always challenge them, and say, “Who sent you?” “Who are you to do that?” “Who do you think you are?”

But often it’s the people who say this who deserve to have the question asked of them. A lot of the time, when people say to anyone in some position of authority, “Who do you think you are?”, they are often the people out of line.

It’s a bit like when the serpent says to Eve in the garden of Eden, “You will not die. For God knows that when you eat the fruit, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

“Come on! You’re not going to die! Who does God think he is to threaten you with death?”

+++

In our reading today, John the Baptist gets the same treatment. Some Jews from Jerusalem come to John and say, “Who are you?”

Now they already know who he is. They’re not asking him to tell him his name, or his who his father and mother were, or where he grew up.

They already knew that: after all, John’s father was a priest in the temple, and there was a special miracle when he was born. His mother was old, and past her child-bearing years, and she still gave birth to John. When the angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah, John’s father, Zechariah wasn’t able to speak, and he couldn’t give people the blessing at the end of service.

This was a big deal – rumours must have spread all around Jerusalem about this. John the Baptist must have been a bit famous. Everyone knew who he was.

But we read in our reading today that the Jews come up to him and say to him, “Who are you?” In other words, “Who do you think you are?” “By what authority do you do these things?” To use an old word, “What is your office?”

Now, when we say “office”, we normally talk about a place where someone works. But in older times, “office” meant a person’s job description, their duties, their role, and also the fact they personally were doing these things and were authorised to do these things. So we might talk about the “Office of the Prime Minister” or the “Office of the Ministry” or about a person holding “Public Office”.

An “office” is more than a person’s job description. It has to do with their whole person, and the fact that they were appointed to do those things as a person specially for the job.

So a pastor holds office. And pastors have a list of things they have to do. But on top of that, if they do certain things which are wrong morally, they sin against the office. So when we hear about the bad conduct of certain clergy with respect to sexual abuse, they not only sin personally, but they sin against their office, and bring every priest and pastor, everyone who holds the same office, into disrepute.

Also, the prime-minister, and politicians hold office. And when politicians and leaders do things that is against good morals, they bring a certain shame to their office, because it causes people to make fun and disrespect the office that they hold.

 But back to John: They say to him, “Who are you?” In other words, “What is your office?”

And John answers the question that they all want to know, and says, “I am not the Christ.”

In other words, “If you thought that I was the Christ, if you think that I am the Messiah, you’re wrong.”

John’s very careful to make sure that they all know that he’s not pretending to hold an office which doesn’t belong to him.

So they try again. “What then? Are you Elijah?”

And John says, “No.”

Now in another place, Jesus says that he is the Elijah that is to come. And also when John was born, the angel said that he will go in the spirit and the power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children. This was to fulfil the prophecy at the end of Malachi which says that before the Messiah comes, Elijah will come.

Now, Jesus says, that John is in actual fact that Elijah.

But when the Jews say to him, “Are you Elijah?” John says, “No.”

But the Jews thought that the same Elijah from the Old Testament was going to rise from the dead. Now even though John fulfilled the prophecy, he wasn’t actually the same person as Elijah in the Old Testament. If then the Jews were asking him, “Are you Elijah risen from the dead?” Then John was right to answer, “No”.

So the Jews give John another question: “Are you the Prophet?”

In our Old Testament reading today, we heard that God was going to raise up another prophet like Moses. Now Moses was the great prophet of the Old Testament. God established the Old Covenant through him, when Moses sprinkled the blood of the lamb on the people. Now in the New Testament, the great new prophet is Jesus, who established a new covenant through his death on the cross and through the Lord Supper. “This is my blood of the new covenant.” Jesus sprinkled his blood on people through Holy Baptism, and pours out his blood for us in the Lord’s Supper.

Now John isn’t that type of prophet. So he says, “No.”

And he says, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, “Make straight the way of the Lord.”

Then we see that the Jews really started to question his authority.

Then why are you baptising, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?

In other words, “Who on earth do you think you are?”

And he says, “I baptise with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.”

Every pastor is a bit like John the Baptist. And every pastor has to make sure that they know who they are, and what they’re there for.

So no. 1: Every pastor has to know that they are not Jesus. That’s the first thing John says, “I am not the Christ.”

Pastors can’t actually save people. They can preach the saving word, but the saving belongs to Jesus, as he sends the Holy Spirit.

And some lay-people don’t always understand this. I remember there was a congregation who had their mind set on calling a certain pastor in the LCA: One pastor! They treated him like he was the Angel Gabriel, or even the Messiah themselves. What a shock it was to them when the Messiah decided not to accept their call!

Also, pastors are not Elijah! They are not the great prophet of the New Testament!

It’s not a pastor’s job to speak new revelations. Everything is already written in the bible. I’m never telling you as a pastor what’s not already written in the bible. And pastors don’t pour out their blood for people – Jesus does that.

But pastors baptise with water. They wash people with the water and the word, as it says in Ephesians. And Jesus promises to be there also, as this happens, to baptise people with the Holy Spirit. Baptism with water and the Holy Spirit are not two different things. Jesus promises that when people are baptised with water, the Holy Spirit is poured out.

Pastors speak the forgiveness of sins. But the forgiveness doesn’t belong to them. Jesus says, Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. If you forgive anyone their sins, they are forgiven.

Pastors consecrate the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper. They don’t make the body and blood of Jesus be there. Jesus does that. He promises to give us his body and blood in the Lord’s Supper. Pastors are not the creators, or the doers here. They are just the servants, the ministers, the instruments through which Jesus does these things.

But every Christian has to bear this in mind too. You are not Christ! You are not Elijah! And you are not the prophet!

All you do is give the cup of cold water to the person who might be an angel in disguise. All you do is carry out your God-given work and tasks, clothe the naked, feed the hungry, comfort the lonely, befriend the person who has no friends, and Jesus promises, when you do it to the least of these my brothers, you have done it to me.

It’s the serpent, the Devil, in the Garden of Eden who doesn’t own up to Eve and say, “I am not God.” Instead, he pretends to be God.

And so there’s a great comfort in the fact that you know that you aren’t God. It means that you can’t fix everything. It means that can’t save anyone.

But God calls you to carry out your work as a son, daughter, mother, father, husband, wife, employee or employer, or in whatever situation he has placed you, faithfully. And he knows that you’re not Jesus.

And when he knows that you’re not Jesus, he forgives you. And thank God for that! And Jesus is not afraid, he is not ashamed to call you his brother and sister. And God the Father is not ashamed to call you his child. And the Holy Spirit is not ashamed to be breathed upon you.

Amen.

Lord God, heavenly Father, we are not Jesus. We cannot save ourselves form our sins. But we thank you for sending him to come and die for us, and rise again from the dead, and to pray for us and to encourage us, and to be a saviour for us. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.