Advent 3
Third Sunday in Advent - Gaudete Sunday
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (December 16, 2012)
Third Sunday in Advent - Gaudete Sunday
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (December 16, 2012)
Readings: Is. 40:1–11
Psalm
851 Cor. 4:1-5
Matthew 11:2-11
(with some text of Higher Things article dated December 14, 2012)
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Grace,
mercy and peace be to you from the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen
Today in the church year is the Third Sunday in Advent, it is known as
Gaudete, which means Rejoice. That is
the Latin words for the hymn we sing “Rejoice, Rejoice, Immanuel.” But rather
than desiring to sing rejoice, rejoice, we take a moment to pause. For in our Christmas rush to find the right
gift to make a special someone smile, we now think of those who will find no
simple way to rejoice on this day, nor this season nor for many seasons to
come. For those students, and parents,
friends, and families, in a sleepy Connecticut town, are no longer laboring
over the thoughts of just the right Christmas gift, but now their chests heave
with labor over loved ones lost.
St.
Paul tells us that we “as servants
of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God...are to be found faithful.” Be
faithful, that is a pure Law statement.
How can we continue in faith, when our faith wanes, in the darkness of this
great human tragedy? The Advent of our Lord is advancing, Christmas is drawing
near. We look outside and see the hours
of day-light are waning. Our world tells
us that darkness has stretched a little further this year. Beyond that which we
could ever expect, just to slip in the long shadow of the incarnation of pure evil,
just before the incarnation of our Lord.
It
is not hard today to think of those parents and families grieving for their
children as people who are certainly today dwelling in a darkness which may
never seem to offer light. Our first
reaction is to point this way and that as to what could have been done, should
have been, done, what needs to be done.
But those grieving parents only hear words spoken by, “Jeremiah
the prophet, saying: "A voice was heard in Ramah, Lamentation, weeping,
and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, Refusing to be comforted,
Because they are no more." (St. Matthew 2:16-18) We want someone to
blame, we want something to blame, something we can do to make it all right, to
bring back innocent children to the bosom of their weeping mothers, to the
strong hug of their fathers. But the
evil one spites us once more, the killer is dead, who can we judge? St. Paul tells us, “do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes,
who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the
purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.”
But
we ask if God’s commendations answer the question why? Commendations do not live. Commendations do
not breathe. Commendations do not bring
home squiggly crayon marked pages, commendations cannot be read to, and
commendations do not fall asleep in your arms.
Commendations for us are too much like transactions, like a purple heart
and a flag, they are indeed honorable but they do not replace the person who
earned them.
The
darkness drives us to despair, it drives us to why, it would seem there is no
answer. Thank God that we are no longer
people of darkness for we, “have
seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death,
on them a light has dawned.” Mt. 4:16
Yet we who are with sin point at others to point out their sin. Oh we deny that we sin, at least not like all
these crazy people in the world. We’re certainly not as bad as them. We say, I’ve never murdered anyone… but, I
have called a few people an SOB, I have talked behind their back, I have set them up to get embarrassed, but no not me,
I have never murdered. We proclaim; “Take away the guns that will
stop the evil…Take away the booze and that will end evil…. Send all the evil
people off to jail and that will end all evil.
If we just got our acts together we could do it…” But, in our proclamations, we left out; Let
us rip out our tongues which speak evil too.
Take away our hands which commit evil.
Now we must admit…the list of evil does not end, and no one is exempted,
for “all have sinned and fallen short of
the glory of God.”
But
before the darkness totally overcomes us, just one more crazy thing. Have your heard? There is One child who escaped the slaughter
of all those innocent children. In fact, a baby survived the slaughter of all
those innocents. Jesus Christ got away.
He got away so that He could grow up and be the Savior of those children who
died. Christ is the Savior of the
children in Connecticut, He is the One who died and is the Savior of everyone. In
fact, Jesus even died as the Savior of the man who did this. No? St. John tells us, “[Jesus] is
the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of
the whole world.” 1 John 2:2. Propitiation, that is to say, Jesus was there
in the holy of holies, above the ark holding the ten commandments, and offering
himself as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
But
how could Jesus die for man like that? Because,
after all, it’s a person who did this. It is Evil. It is Sin. Sin in people who
do horrible things. Let’s remember that. God didn’t do this. Sin did this.
We’ll weep for the children and their families. We should weep for the shooter
and whatever it was that led him to do it whether it be anger, rage, or maybe
mental illness. Only God knows his final
dispensation. We weep now because He
reminded us what the fallen world really looks like, and now we see the evil.
We have met the enemy, and he is us.
What
does God have to say those to parents who are cradling their dead children in
their arms? Or what of the first
responders who have to clean up the mess? Or the parents of the children who
will never be the same ? What does God have to say to us?
Jesus
says, “In this world you will have tribulation.
Take heart. I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33). Jesus doesn’t save us
by fixing this world. He saves us out of this world and into eternal life. We
stare stunned at the incarnation of evil killing children right before we
celebrate the incarnation, the birth of the Son of God, as a child!
Do
not weep Rachel. See what God has done.
God came as a child. To be born. To grow up. To suffer and to die. Jesus was
murdered by the sins of us evil men. Forsaken
by the Father. Nailed to the cross. Hanging there bleeding and dying because of
what we’ve done. What sin has done. What sin has made us.
But,
by the blood and water that flows from His side, into the font, and flows into
the cup. He makes us His children. We
die with Him. We rise with Him. To have such a promise that there is nothing in
this world that can happen to us that can ever take us away. Jesus has overcome
school shootings and the horrors inflicted upon children and others. He has
overcome such things not in the way we would like, not by simply punishing them
and keeping us safe.
He
has overcome the world by actually taking on sin and destroying its power
forever. And there’s more. He rose. His resurrection is the promise and
guarantee that death never, ever gets the last word.
When
some terrible disasters happened in His day, Jesus said, “do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt
in Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise
perish." (Luke 13:4-5). These words remind us that when we see
tragedies like this, there is no blaming and finger-pointing and name-calling
and wondering. There is only repentance. Repentance is recognizing that it can
only be Christ who delivers us from such evil.
Things
have changed forever for the people involved in this recent tragedy and for all
the tragedies of the past, present, and future. Yet, Jesus Christ is the same
yesterday, today and forever.
The
Lord grant them and us His mercy and the healing that Christ alone can bring us
through our bitter tears. God’s
children, “shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall
not strike them, nor any heat; for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne
will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will
wipe away every tear from their eyes." (Revelation 7:16-17).
Gaudete. Rejoice.
Rejoice, Immanuel. The darkness
wanes, the Light has come into the world.
Amen.
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