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Sermon for Advent 4 – Rorate Coeli
Isaiah 40:1-8 + Philippians 4:4-7 + John 1:19-28
The fourth Advent candle is lit. The four Sundays of Advent have passed, like the four thousand years of the Old Testament, the four thousand years between God’s first promise to Adam and Eve of the offspring of the woman who would crush the serpent’s head and the birth of Christ. The four themes of the Advent season have been set before your eyes again this year: (1) Christ came in humility to give His life in payment for our sins. (2) He will come again in glory to judge the earth. (3) He sustains His Church in joy under the cross until He comes in glory. And today, in the words of Isaiah and of John the Baptist, (4) “Make straight the way of the LORD!”
How do you make His way straight? How do you finish preparing for His coming? Listen to His messenger. Listen to John the Baptist as he cries from Jordan’s banks announcing that the Lord is nigh.
John, remember, was about six months older than Jesus, and he likely started his ministry about six months before Jesus started His. But we don’t know many details about John’s ministry, because John’s ministry wasn’t about John. His ministry was about Jesus. Only go to John if you want to hear about Jesus.
A delegation from the Pharisees came to John in the wilderness where he was preaching, wanting to learn more about John. “Who are you?” they asked.
But rather than tell them about himself, John told them who he wasn’t, so that they could focus on the one they should be focusing on, which was Christ. He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” I’m not the one you should be focused on. Who I am will not determine where you spend eternity. Don’t worry about me. Worry about Christ.
Now, how opposite that is of the modern-day popular preacher, where it is all about who the preacher is, his charisma, his personality, his charm, his sense of humor, his engaging style of preaching, his cool clothing. But it’s not supposed to be that way. The true preacher sent from God minimizes himself and emphasizes Christ.
John’s whole ministry was about who he was not. He lived out in the wilderness and wore camel hair clothing and lived on the wild, because he was not a king, not a prince, not a ruler or a rich man. He was not a man who lived for honor or comfort in this world. Nor was he a man who made the people around him feel comfortable. He was, after all, a preacher of repentance. He told the people, you may not go on living as you are. You may not go on ignoring your sin, ignoring your soul, ignoring God’s Word and God’s kingdom, and ignoring, or even mistreating your neighbor. You may not. You cannot. Not because, I, John, am making up rules for you. Not because I, John, tell you so. But for one reason: For the kingdom of heaven is near! The Lord is coming! Wake up from your slumber, from your apathy, from your self-security. This “church-stuff” is serious business. Christ is coming!
But who was John to preach such things? The delegation prodded John. “Who are you, then? Elijah? I am not. Are you the Prophet? No.” See, the people of this world cannot comprehend a preacher who is not seeking fame and fortune. They cannot grasp a preacher who actually points away from himself to Christ. He must be claiming something greater for himself. And surely, if John had claimed to be Elijah, that would have made him great. During Elijah’s time, some 800 years before Christ, there was no greater prophet. If the people wanted to hear from God, they had to go to Elijah and listen to him. If someone wanted to hear from God, Elijah was the destination. Elijah was God’s voice on earth at that time. Not so with John. John was not the destination, but a mere road sign pointing to the destination, because there was a greater prophet on earth at the time of John—far greater. The voice of God on earth at that time was the Son of God Himself.
And if John had claimed to be the Prophet—the one referred to by Moses in Deuteronomy 18, then he would have been claiming greatness for himself, because Moses told the Israelites that when that Prophet comes, “You must listen to Him!” But that’s not John. If nobody ever heard of John the Baptist, that would be perfectly OK. But the Prophet—the Christ—if a person doesn’t hear about Him and listen to Him, then he or she will be lost eternally.
“Who are you, then?”, the delegation asked John. But notice, he still doesn’t give them an autobiography. Once again, he defers their question away from himself to talk about Jesus, quoting from the prophet Isaiah: I am ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Make straight the way of the Lord,” ’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”
Yes, they were to listen to John, but only as an arrow, as a road sign pointing them away from their sin and toward the coming Savior from sin. As he points away from himself to the coming Lord, he says, “Make straight the way!” That’s repentance. Stop worrying about yourselves. Stop living for yourselves. Stop trusting in yourselves and in your good works, which aren’t good at all if they are judged by God’s holy law. Stop making up your own right and wrong. Stop making God into an afterthought in your heart. Put away your pride. Recognize your sin and turn from it. Seek mercy from the Lord, for He is merciful! He brings with Him comfort and mercy and peace for the penitent. He comes with healing. He comes to pay for your sins and give you eternal life. Here He comes! Here He comes!
The Pharisees were unimpressed with John’s quote from the prophet Isaiah. They obviously didn’t believe that he was the prophesied voice crying in the wilderness. They didn’t see any need to repent. They were already living according to God’s law, so they thought. They weren’t interested in who John was pointing to. Notice that? They didn’t ask, “The way of the Lord? Where is He coming? When is He coming? Where do we find Him? Is He here? How do we make straight His way?” No. They don’t ask that. They don’t want to hear about Christ.
Why do baptize, then, John, if you’re nobody? He replied, I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know. It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. John even points away from his baptism, because for as important as his God-given baptism was, it was still a pre-Christian baptism. It wasn’t yet the baptism in the name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It wasn’t yet the baptism that unites a person to the death and resurrection of Christ. So, he says, don’t worry about my baptism. Worry about Christ. He comes after, and He comes before, and I am not worthy to untie His sandals. In other words, He is a Man who comes after me—He is younger than I am and hasn’t even begun His ministry yet. And yet, He comes before me. He is God, far older than I, and infinitely greater and more important than I. He is the one you should be looking for. He stands among you! You don’t know, you don’t realize. Your God is already here.
Such is the ministry of the Word still today. Christ is already here among us. The world doesn’t know, the world doesn’t realize, Christ has truly come and stood among men in this world. God’s Son has been born in Bethlehem. And that changes everything. Who would go on living in their sin and ignorance and apathy toward God and their neighbor if they realized that the Lord has come to earth, if they realized that God is with us?
And yet, the ministry today does not point to the One standing in your midst, but to the One who already stood among us, who was born, who lived and died and rose again and is coming again, and gave this ministry to the Church until He returns. This is the ministry that points to Christ. God still calls on all men to repent, to recognize and turn from sin, and to seek the forgiveness of sins through faith in the name of Christ. Christ now stands in your midst differently than He did at the time of John. He stands in your midst now by giving you His body and blood in the Holy Sacrament. And the best thing—the only thing a faithful preacher will do until Christ comes again in glory is to point you away from sin and toward the body and blood of Christ, given and shed for you for the remission of your sins. Look there. Go there. Find Him there today. And celebrate Christmas by coming to where Christ will be on Christmas, at the Christ-Mass, where He will give you the greatest Christmas present of all—His own body and blood. Amen.
