Sunday, December 8, 2024

Second Sunday of Advent
Malachi 3:1-7b
Psalm 66:1-12
Philippians 1:2-11
Luke 3:1-14 (15-20)

This I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense to the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

We have an open house for family and friends every year on the second Saturday of December. The date of the party is very late this year, so you would think that I would be ahead of schedule, but it seems like I am far behind. We started the process of decorating before Thanksgiving, but I still have much to do. I’ve made some changes to my displays, some of my items are getting old and harder to set up, and replacing items is becoming more difficult because Christmas aisles in the stores are already empty. I get very distracted when I have a million things to do, so I jump from one task to another without really getting everything finished. I do this every year, so I know it will be fine, but it is still frustrating to see how much I have to do in the next ten days.

I just love to make my house look beautiful for the holiday. In the process of decorating, I also have to clean. Just as I think I have the clutter under control, I discover dust. When I clean up the dust, I realize that I need to vacuum. By the time I finish those tasks, clutter has accumulated again. It takes constant vigilance to complete the work that has to be done, but even then I am sure I will have to continue cleaning to keep it looking nice.

All of this is in preparation for a time of joy and friendship, of happy times and pleasant experiences. We do this in expectation of the Christ child. On top of all the preparation, we have parties to attend and programs starring our little ones who sing with great passion and gusto even if they are a little out of tune. We light our homes with Christmas lights to break up the darkness of the night and fill our kitchens with the most delightful smells of Christmas cookies, cakes, and other goodies. We listen to Christmas songs all day long. I can’t help humming to myself, “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas” as I go through my day.

Yet, what does Christmas look like? To the world it is Christmas trees and Santa Clause and perhaps even a nativity scene here or there. It is “Joy to the World” and “Silent Night” but how does that line up with scriptures like this one from Malachi?

In this week’s lectionary, we meet John the Baptist who does not portray a typical image found in Christmas cards or children’s stories. He is rough, wild, and harsh. He cries out in the wilderness for the world to repent because the Kingdom of God is at hand. Isn’t it funny how we prepare for Christmas by overspending, overdrinking, and overeating, but John brings us a message that is completely different.

Malachi foretells of John’s coming as a witness and messenger to prepare for the coming of the Lord. However, the messenger won’t bring a happy story or expectation of a silent night. Instead, Malachi warns that the coming of the Lord will be sudden and that He will come like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. Something is going to happen when the Lord comes and it will mean transformation, cleansing.

These are two very different images of cleansing, however. It takes a great and hot heat to refine metals, a heat that is almost unbearable even for the refiner. For the element being refined, it means destruction of everything that is impure, burned away by an unimaginable heat. This is not a typical image of Christmas for us. Neither is the launderer’s soap. Today is laundry day in my house. There is bound to be some garment that will need extra care. I will have to spray the item with a prewash solution and perhaps scrub it a little before throwing it in the washer to be cleaned.

One image, the refiner’s fire, is harsh and distant. Though the refiner must remain close enough to watch the metal while it refines, he does not become actively involved in the process.The fire does all the work. On the other hand, the launderer is thoroughly involved with the cleansing of a garment, handling each item with the special care necessary. We are reminded by these two images that our God is both distant, refining with fire, but also very near, intimately involved with our very souls. He cleanses out the impurities in ways that might seem harsh, but He also does so in ways that are gentle.

When the refiner and launderer are finished, the item is pure and clean. God’s grace makes us pure and clean, but we never seem to be complete. The reality is that even though Jesus finished the work of salvation, and that salvation is eternal from the moment we are baptized, we are also continually being refined and cleansed by our God until the day when He will come again. It is like my housework: there will always be something to do until it is really finished. During this time of Advent, we long for the peace and joy that comes with the child in the manger, but we should never forget that we are longing for something even greater: the Day when Christ will come again.

God has always had a plan for us, but we have not done well to stay on the right path. We need to hear the words of the Law and the cry of John calling us back to life in God’s kingdom. Adam and Eve failed in the Garden of Eden, and we fail today. Even then, however, God is faithful to His plan. He knew that human beings would need to be saved, and He promised to do so when the time was right.

Advent brings us to the moment when that plan became flesh and blood. The birth of Jesus was a carefully orchestrated series of events. God planned every detail long before the day Jesus was born. The story began hundreds, even thousands of years in the past as God foretold of His birth through the patriarchs and the prophets. The story includes not only Jesus, but families whose stories are woven throughout the history of Israel.

John was just one of many. John’s mother Elizabeth was very old, the wife of a Levite. Zechariah, John’s father, was a priest who served in the Temple. They had both almost lost hope in having a child, Elizabeth’s childbearing years had long since passed. Yet, they continued to pray for the blessing of a child. One day when Zechariah was serving in the Temple, an honor that came to him by God’s grace, an angel came to him. Zechariah trembled in fear, but the angel said, “Don’t be afraid, Zacharias, because your request has been heard, and your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.”

Zechariah was so taken aback by the statement that he responded, “How can I be sure of this?” We will hear similar words from Mary, but for Zechariah this was the wrong question. It showed doubt and a need for control. However, can we blame him? After all, he was elderly; he was so old that having a child would be a strain on both his wife and on him. Would they be around to see the child grow? Would they see him successful? Would they see him married? Would they see him even walk and talk and laugh?

When John was born, Elizabeth did as she had been told; she said that the child’s name would be John. The people who were there for the happy occasion were shocked. After all, it was customary to name the first born after the father, so the child should have been called Zechariah. Zechariah asked for a writing tablet, and he wrote, “He is to be called John.” And so, it was. Then Zechariah’s voice returned, and he sang the song of praise recorded by Luke. His words are a prophetic psalm of grace. He foretold the coming of the Messiah and blessed the child. The song tells of John’s place in the unfolding story of God’s salvation, as the one who would prepare the way of the Lord. For Zechariah, the Lord was God. We know that the Lord is manifest in the child for whom we are waiting and preparing: Jesus Christ.

Zechariah spoke these words by the power of the Holy Spirit, not his own, continuing the prophetic heritage that had been pointing toward the coming of the Christ for generations. The psalm reflects the promise found in the prophets, as we hear in the passage from Malachi. John came to cry out in the darkness to prepare for the coming of the light. Zechariah knew by faith that they were on the edge of a new day, the dawn of a new beginning. His doubts long since passed, Zechariah gave his beloved son to the Lord to do as had been planned so long ago.

The focus of the holiday season for many is stories and myths, parties and gift, yet they criticize Christians for believing the stories of Christmas, as if they were myths. There are characters that we love and characters that we hate. We wonder at the way things happen, but some of the details are so extraordinary that it is hard to believe them to be real. The nativity is story, His story, but in this particularly cynical world, it is just a story. Christians are criticized for their religious focus, but Luke thought it was essential to include historic references to place John in history, to put him in the context of people who lived at that time.

John’s story is ridiculous and hard to believe. John was born to elderly parents and was likely very young when they died. Though he may have been raised by family or friends, his adult lifestyle was so unusual it is reminiscent of stories of feral children or myths like Romulus and Remus. We might assume that John is little more than a myth, like the story of Romulus and Remus. Luke’s historic references in the life of John help us place Jesus in history, too. Luke’s nativity story is a report of an event that changed the world. Even though some of the details seem unbelievable, we can be assured that the birth of Christ is real and is worth our time to know and experience it in this world.

John the Baptist was the end of an era. He was the final prophet to live and die under the Old Covenant. He came, as was promised, to point the way to the One who would make all things new. All the prophets were tasked with the same message, “God will save His people.” Some of the earlier prophets spoke to the very real needs of their own people, but in doing so, God also revealed the ultimate promise, “A Messiah will come.” John was not really different than those who came before him, and yet he was much different. John met the Salvation of the world face to face. God gave the words of hope and warning about the coming of the Day of the Lord to the other prophets, but John saw the fulfillment of those promises in the flesh.

Advent is not just a time for warm fuzzies or getting ready for the festivities of the season; Advent is a time of repentance. Repentance means turning toward God, renewing our faith and hope and trust. When we get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the season, we forget that Jesus came to bring forgiveness and transformation. He came to cleanse us, to make us new. This is what those who see the Christian Christmas as nothing but nice stories miss. The do not see that Jesus is the fulfillment of thousands of years of promises.

Paul had an incredible ministry. His travels took him all over the ancient world and his preaching founded churches in many cities. Paul had a passion for the Gospel, and he wanted the world to know the love and mercy of God found in Christ Jesus. He wanted to save the world. Actually, he wanted the world saved by God’s grace. So, he traveled extensively, faced persecution, hardship, hunger, and even shipwrecks.

Paul’s concern was never about numbers. He did not preach the Gospel so that pews would be filled in churches. He did not teach about Jesus so that congregations would grow larger. He did not invent programs or focus on external appearance that would bring people through the door. Paul cared about the hearts of those who became Christian under his supervision. He cared about their souls. He cared about their eternal lives.

Paul did not preach the Gospel and take off for a new city. He stayed and helped the new Christians grow to understand their life of faith. He left only when he was forced to move on by those who sought to destroy his ministry and his life. However, even when we moved on, he was never far from his churches. Their well-being was always on his mind. That is why he wrote so many letters: to correct, rebuke, but especially to encourage the Christians into maturity of faith in the Gospel.

Paul’s flowery language in today’s epistle might seem overwhelming. Did he mean to be so gushy when he wrote to the church in Philippi? These verses are part of the formal greeting, which in Paul’s day would have included a word of thanksgiving and reassurance of continued relationship. For Paul, this was of utmost importance. He wanted to remind the Philippians that he was with them in spirit, bound by the Holy Spirit, and that he cared very much for them, he cared for their everyday lives.

One of the tasks I still need to accomplish is my annual Christmas letters and cards. The letter helps me keep my friends and family up to date with what’s happening in our lives. The letters are usually filled with good news, highlights, and remembrances of big events. Sometimes there is bad news to share, news of illness or death, difficulties and hardship. I try to keep the letters brief, so I only share the most important things. I’ve heard people complain about the yearly newsletters they get each holiday season because they think they sound boastful or depressing.

Paul’s letters weren’t always pleasant to hear because he did speak forcefully about living rightly and righteously. Like John, Paul called Christians to repentance. He corrected and rebuked the churches for their failures and failings. He demanded much from the Christians under his care. However, he cared very deeply for each and every one of them. He cared about their hearts, about their souls, and especially about their eternal life in Christ. He is not quite like John because he wrote encouraging words, calling them not just to repentance but to be all that God created and redeemed them to be, living in His grace. He worked to build up the church from the inside, so that the work that Christ began would be perfected and would flow out into the world.

Today’s psalm is one of praise and thanksgiving; it is a hymn of salvation. The psalmist shows us that God’s power is displayed in His deeds. The world sees what He has done and what He can do and they worship Him. We can see in the stories of God’s people that He uses our times of difficulty to make us stronger, healed, unified, and peaceful. After passing through trouble, abundance follows. The psalmist remembers God’s great acts of salvation, which were ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

I don’t know about you, but every year I promise myself that I am going to make this Advent and Christmas much simpler. I promise myself I won’t do too much. I promise myself - and God - that I’ll focus more closely on “the reason for the season.” I fail every year. This year is no exception. I am so busy trying to get everything prepared that I’m not spending as much devotional time as I intended. As I prepare for our party, it seems as though I will never get everything done that I need to do. I suppose that’s why it is good that we meet John the Baptist so early in the Church year. John reminds us of the reason for Advent.

Today’s chosen text is one of my favorites from Paul. In these words, we see the deep love he had for the Christians in his care. He was unconcerned with the incredible things that were happening to him and to the Church in that incredible time. Instead, he thought of the simple grace that was taking them through the everyday experiences of life, drawing them ever closer to the Day of the Lord. I see the same thing in those precious and excellent moments I try to create each year when I work so hard to make Christmas wonderful for those I love. Perhaps we want to try to make our Christmas simpler, but we do what we do to share God’s presence with the world in which we live, shining the Light that has been part of my life. It is what I wish for you, too.

On the second Sunday of Advent, we hear the story of John as he cries out in the wilderness for us to repent and turn to the Lord. His story is not the happy one we expect in a season of Rudolph and Frosty. The Gospel lesson ends with John’s imprisonment, but in John’s cry for repentance we hear the promise of forgiveness. Through his words we are called to return to the God who is faithful to His promise to make us new.

The world may think our traditions are ridiculous, but all that we do during Advent is a witness to God’s faithfulness. That nativity puts Christ in the center of our celebration. The tree is symbolic of life and growth and creation. The lights represent the Light of Christ. Baking cookies is a way of sharing hospitality. Gift giving is a way for us to reflect the generosity of God and to share our blessings with others. We may want to simplify our holiday celebrations, but these traditions are not bad unless we use them as a way to flee from the wrath to come.

During this Advent season we are waiting for the coming of the Lord, both in the manger and in His glory. What should we do? John calls us to live the life of repentance. Paul calls us to be all that we can be. This is not a time to run away and hide or try to find our own way of surviving the coming wrath. Now is the time to turn to God, to seek Him, to follow Him as He works on our hearts, cleansing us and transforming us into something new. By His grace we’ll respond with the psalmist by singing praise to the God of our salvation. We are to repent, but the Psalm invites us to praise the God who has done great things for us. So, let’s make a joyful noise of praise with all God’s people whose stories led to the coming of the Messiah and those who will believe in Him through the stories we tell about His great deeds.