"A Voice and a Finger"
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Christianity is a religion of history. Events take place in time and space, just as they do today. There was a man named Noah who built an ark and he and his family were saved from the destructive waters of a worldwide flood. There was a man named Jonah who was swallowed by a large fish, whale, or some sea thing and remained in its belly three days and three nights and was spit back out alive. And today, Luke puts before us another man who comes in history.
This is no “once upon a time” story. Luke spends much ink placing him in a certain time and in a certain place. He painstakingly records each of the tetrarchs, the prefects, the Caesars, and the high priests when all this happened. He describes a man, who isn’t some character like Hercules, of whom we’ve heard many stories, but is a fictional character.
This man arrives on the scene when Tiberius was Caesar, Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and when Annas and Caiaphas were high priests. God places him in history at just the right time, at just the right moment, that he would prepare the way for the coming Messiah. And the man’s name is John, son of Zechariah and Elizabeth.
He’s a transitional prophet that bridges the Old and New Testaments. He’s sent to proclaim a sermon to all of Galilee, to the world, and to us, “Repent. Prepare the way for the coming Lord.”
He comes in a specific time, in a specific place, to preach a specific sermon. He’s the man of whom Isaiah writes, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”
He comes as, Matthew records wearing weird clothing and eating strange things, but don’t pay attention to his outer appearance, because he’s sent as a voice. A voice that bids the people to prepare the way of the Lord.
Isn’t that what Advent is about? Preparation? But the Advent preparation of which John sounds has nothing to do with stockings, garland, and lights. It’s easy to hang stockings above the fireplace, but very difficult to remove idols from our lives. It’s easy to decorate the house with garland, but very difficult to look into our sinful souls and repent. It’s very easy to string lights around the house, but very difficult to repent of the darkness of our sin. The preparation of the coming Christ has nothing to do with stockings, decorations, or lights, but has everything to do with the preparation of the heart.
And so, John the Baptist is sent as a voice to preach a sermon concerning this preparation. But his sermon isn’t a popular one. The Old Adam is repulsed at hearing of its own sinfulness. Yet, John gives no regard as to how the people will receive it. He whips out his long, boney finger and points it right in our chests and proclaims, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin 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.”
Wow! That’s quite a sermon. He strips away our excuse. He sticks that long, boney finger right into our face and tells us precisely who we are: a brood of vipers; sinners who have need to repent. He strips away any comfort we may find in our family tree. He tears down the idols of our own making. He rips off the fig leaves that we use to cover up our own sinfulness and shame.
The serpent dealt craftily with Adam and Eve and injected his poison into every child ever conceived and that includes you and me. We have the venom of that first bite coursing through our veins and this poison is constantly on our lips. We’re sinners, not just because of the bad things we do, but it’s who we are. A serpent poisons its victim, because it’s his nature. We sin, because our human nature has been sickened and corrupted by the sin of our first parents in the garden.
So, the axe is laid at our shins, ready to be chopped down by God and thrown into the fire. It does us no good to claim, “But Lord, my family has been Christian for generations and generations, in fact, my parents helped build this church,” for God can make for Himself children from stones. It does no good to say before the Almighty Holy God, “But I’ve been the best person that I could possibly be,” for both you and God know that it’s a lie.
And so, John comes to us with that stern voice and long finger. He looks you straight in the eye, places that boney finger right into your chest, and with his stern voice, bids you, “Repent. Repent. Prepare your heart for the coming Lord. Judgment is coming. And bear fruits in keeping with your repentance. That is, if you’re a thief, stop your stealing. If you’re an adulterer, stop your adultery. If you’re a murderer, stop your murdering. Christ is coming. Examine yourself in the mirror of God’s Law and see who you are. It won’t be pretty; if you take a good look, you’re not going to like what’s glaring back at you. Take a long look at the Ten Commandments. What sinfulness dwells in your heart? What evil have you done with your hands, eyes, and mouth? What idols have you made that compete with God for your trust? Have you gladly come and heard and learned God’s Word or is church and Bible Study just one more thing on the laundry list of things to do that can be put aside as easily as running an errand to the bank? Are there people you’ve failed to help, support, and love? Repent.”
John’s sermon is stern but it’s exactly what we need to hear especially now in our point in history. Repent and turn from your sin. Don’t act as if it’s no big deal. Don’t keep on sinning with a smile on your face, but live in the forgiveness that you’ve been given.
Repentance is the rhythm of the Christian life, it’s something we do each and every day, for we sin each and every day and we sin much. But, lest you think true repentance is only about telling God what you have done, Christian repentance has two parts, there are two sides to this coin. First, we dig up the blackened coal of our sin, offer them to God as a sacrifice of a broken heart in our confession, and then, the coin flips to the other side as faith receives what Christ has done about your sinfulness.
And that’s the second part of John’s Sermon. John doesn’t leave us to languish in the Law. He moves from the accusing voice of the Law to the sweet voice of the Gospel. Having confessed your sins in repentance and faith in Christ’s bleeding and dying for you sinfulness on the cross; living out the Baptismal life of a Christian, John removes that boney finger from your chest and points to He whose sandals even he’s not worth to stoop down and untie. He takes that long finger of accusation, having terrified you with the Law and points you to the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Where, as the text says, see our salvation. Who takes away your sinfulness. Every bit of it. He carries the sins of which you’re unaware, and the sins that seem to follow you like a shadow.
But Jesus comes into this world, not to heap a burden of God’s damning Law onto your back, but to remove it from you. He comes to take your sinfulness, your idolatry, your despising of God’s Word, your careless regard for your neighbor and heaps it upon His back. He caries the load, He bears your sin. He carries it to the cross, where the Lamb of God is sacrificed for you, for every venomous word you ever said, for every poisonous deed you ever committed, for the venomous bite that has corrupted your nature that we call original sin. Our Lord Jesus takes them as if they belong to Him, and wonder of wonders, if your sinfulness has been laid on the back of Jesus, then they’re not on you.
For you’re baptized and your head is still drenched with baptismal water, where your Old Adam was drowned. In the waters of baptism, a great gift exchange has taken place. Your sinfulness was taken from you and placed on Jesus and the very righteousness of Jesus was given to you. Everything that Jesus has suffered and died to win for the world is imputed, is given to you in your baptism.
Now, standing in the forgiveness of Jesus that He has won for you on the cross and gives to you in Baptism, you can stand before the Almighty Judge who is coming to judge the living and the dead without fear. For in Christ and His bloody sacrifice He has made for you on the cross, and only in crucified and risen Christ, not even God Himself can find guilt in you. For when He sees you, beloved in the Lord, He sees His Son.
This is also exactly what we need to hear in our day, in our time: that Jesus comes for sinners, so if you would rather hang onto your sin in unrepentance, then I have nothing for you; I’ll pray that God works repentance in your heart. But for those, like the crowds who come out to John, who are hurting, who are terrified of what God thinks of them, who look into that mirror and would rather have the mountains cover them than face the Almighty God, I have the greatest news such a burdened soul could hear: this Jesus, who bears the sins of the world, is the Jesus who bears your sin. The sacrifice that He has made, He did it for you. The burden of sin, shame, and guilt that He lifts, He lifts it off of you. Behold the Lamb of God who bears your sin to the cross and dies, all for you.
True repentance is confessing our sins and having faith in Christ who has removed our sins; these two parts of Christian repentance go together. We repent of our sins and sinfulness, but never in despair. For we also have been given faith that, as we live out our Christian Baptismal life, we have a God who suffers and dies for each and every drop of venom that infects you and has dripped from your lips.
Christianity is a religion of historical events. And these things that took place so long ago could not be more relevant in our day and time. John the Baptist’s boney finger still points directly at our chests, each and every day, and that stern voice still calls to us repentance; and that boney finger, still points to the One who has taken away your sin; and that soothing voice of the Gospel still rings out like a finely tuned bell. It sounds harsh and sweet at the same time, but that’s the way God’s Word is. It condemns with the Law and frees with the Gospel.
Let us ever live in that baptismal life, of repentance and faith; trusting in the Lamb of God who makes the crooked paths of our hearts straight, the valley of our sin filled with His righteousness, and the rough places of our soul a level way for His coming. Amen.
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life ever lasting. Amen.
Rev. Mark Chepulis
