YOU SAY YOU WANT A REVOLUTION?

SERMON FOR THE SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT

WYou Say You want a Revolution?W

 

Almighty Father, sanctify us in Your truth. Your Word is truth. Amen.

 

OUR READING FOR THIS MORNING THE HOLY SPIRIT HAS CAUSED TO BE WRITTEN IN THE GOSPEL OF ST. MATTHEW, THE THIRD CHAPTER:

 

I

n those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” For it was he of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke as “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord to make His paths straight.’”

Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair, and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. At that time Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

But when John saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume 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.

I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor and gather His wheat into the barn, but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.’”       

 

WThis is the Word of GodW

 

Dearly Beloved: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

 

I

t was the year 1542. In those days a young astronomer—well-educated, well-mannered, and self-reserved—published a book that would prove to be “revolutionary.” His name: Nicolas Copernicus. His book: On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres. With a sharp mind and a keen intellect, Copernicus argued against the prevailing view of that time which said that the earth stood at the center of the universe. This view—called geocentrism—had gone virtually unchallenged for nearly 2,000 years. So when Copernicus suggested in his book—quietly published before his death—that it was the sun, and not the earth, which stood at the center of the universe, it seemed to turn everything upside down and inside out. Suddenly and abruptly, the world was changed. The center was no longer ours to claim. We were found to be an orbiting planet—one among several others—in a strange new world. With his book, Copernicus had marked the end of an age.

It was the year 30. In those days a young preacher—wild-eyed, hairy, and unhygienic—proclaimed a word that would prove to be “revolutionary.” His name: John the Baptist. His word: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” With a bony finger and a fat mouth he preached against the prevailing view of every time which says that I the sinner stand at the center of the universe. This view—called egocentrism—had gone virtually unchallenged since Adam and Eve bit the apple—and, consequently, the dust. So when John declared in his sermon—loudly published before his head was placed on a silver platter—that it was the Son (of God), and not I the sinner, who stood at the center of the universe, it seemed to turn everything upside down and inside out. Suddenly and abruptly, the world was changed. The center was no longer ours to claim. We were found to be wandering sheep—among a countless fold of others—in a strange new world. With his sermon, John had not only brought an end to an age—but he was bearing witness to a new one altogether.

The church year has now moved into the season of Advent. The word “advent” is an Anglicized version of the Latin word adventus, which means “coming.” So the season of Advent is the period of time in which we the church wait in joyful hope to celebrate the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ into the world.

And John the Baptist is only too eager to teach us the proper way to observe this Advent season: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near!” To repent means to be changed—suddenly and abruptly. It means to be turned upside down and inside out. It means to no longer be able to claim the center as “mine”—but to confess that the center belongs to the Son alone. And this Son does not rise daily, but rose—once and for all; never to set again—in order that we might daily die and be raised to live before Him in righteousness and purity forever.

Christ does the arriving—we do the waiting. Christ does the increasing—we do the decreasing. Christ does the raising—we do the dying. Christ is the center. We are not.

It is the year 2013. In these days an old bride—uncertain of her future, irrelevant to the world, and wondering why on earth she can’t honeymoon in sunny Cancun instead of bloody Calvary—is in a desperate search for something—anything!—that will prove to be “revolutionary.” Her name: the church. Her groom: the Son of God made flesh. And the questions she is so used to asking herself, such as “What will I say?” or “What will I do?” are only chaff to be burned, because they get it all wrong. They are not merely pre-Copernican—they are pre-Christian! They do not know that the center does not belong to us anymore—that it never really did—that it belongs to the Light shining in the darkness, whom the darkness has not overcome. For it is no longer I the sinner who lives, but the one who is mightier than I—Jesus Christ—who lives in me.  

God be praised! We the church have not been commissioned to become “something” before the world’s teetering, tattered—and soon to be toppled—throne. Instead, we have been called to become nothing but a voice—crying out in the wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord and make His paths straight. To become nothing but a finger—pointing to the Lamb of God who takes the sin of the world away. To become nothing but an ax—laid to the fruitless trees of this dying age. To become nothing but a hand—planting the promised Seed from which alone will sprout the new creation, the new kingdom, where the wolf shall dwell with the lamb; and the little child shall lead them.  

Whereas the Copernican revolution boasted in its discovery that the sun does not orbit around us, but we around it, the Christian revolution boasts in its proclamation that the sinner does not come to God, but God to the sinner. The proclamation is the Advent—the coming of the Lord. The revolution is the absolution—the word of forgiveness in which you can be sure that the old has passed away and the new has come near. As Dr. Luke once put it: “The law and the prophets were until John, and since then the good news of the kingdom is being preached—and everyone enters it violently” (Lk. 16:16).

You say you want a revolution? Well, you know, we all want to change the world. So let’s stop talking about it, and let’s start actually doing it, proclaiming the revolutionary word that turns everything upside down and inside out; that marks the end of one age and the beginning of another; that prepares the way of the One who baptizes with Spirit and fire—whose sandals we are not worthy to carry.

Never mind that there are several unlit candles on the Advent wreath. Never mind that Mary’s due date isn’t up for a few weeks yet. Never mind that you haven’t even had time to get the nativity set down from the attic. Never mind that the paths you’ve spent all your life preparing and making straight will, in the brilliant light of the Son, be revealed as nothing but a crooked, cluttered, meandering mess. Because whether or not your heart has prepared Him room, heaven and nature will sing! For Christ has come today—FOR YOU—to “revolutionize” you; to clear His threshing floor and gather you up like wheat into the storehouse of heaven. So ready or not, here He comes—with His winnowing fork in His hand! ALL YOUR SINS—EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM, FROM HERE TO ETERNITY—ARE FORGIVEN IN THE NAME OF GOD ALMIGHTY: THE FATHER, THE SON, AND THE HOLY SPIRIT. AMEN!

What is there left for you “to do” now? Join the revolution! And let the ruling classes—the devil, the world, and your own sinful flesh—tremble! Because now that Christ has come, there is nothing but chains to loose and a world to win! Preachers of the world unite—and make way for Christ! AMENW