Sermon for 12.17.2023 Advent 03
Isaiah 61:1-3,10,11
The Spirit of the LORD God is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the afflicted. He sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release for those who are bound, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance for our God, to comfort all who mourn,3to provide for those who mourn in Zion, to give them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, a cloak of praise instead of a faint spirit, so that they will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD to display his beauty. I will rejoice greatly in the LORD. My soul will celebrate because of my God, for he has clothed me in garments of salvation. With a robe of righteousness he covered me, like a bridegroom who wears a beautiful headdress like a priest, and like a bride who adorns herself with her jewelry. 11 For as the earth produces its growth, and as a garden causes what has been sown to sprout up, so God the LORD will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up in the presence of all the nations.
The Christmas songs are blaring. Aside from the occasional religious carol, which usually is only the tune not the words, and the occasional kids’ song, have you listened to many of the themes? “All I want for Christmas is my two Front teeth.” “All I want for Christmas is You.” “It’ll be a Blue Christmas Without You.” “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas.” The list could go on, but I think you see the reoccurring theme. It’s what I want for Christmas. The way Christmas is promoted and thought of is that it is a time of joy based on getting what you want. Most people have a long list of what they want -toys, clothes, cars, a happy family gathering and the like. And if they don’t get it? Or get the wrong color, size, or style? Well, it’s gonna be a blue Christmas.
God promised a Savior King who would come and the people filled out their wish lists of what they wanted this king to do for them. But was God’s plan what they wanted? Is it what you want?
In Isaiah’s day the people had their idea of what would bring them joy. Freedom from the Babylonian invasion. A return to the glory of David’s kingdom. So when they heard Isaiah’s message, which had nothing to do with their wish lists, their response was “So what? That’s not what wewant.” 700 years later, the people of Israel hadn’t changed their list much, except the Babylonians were replaced with the Romans. And their response to Jesus was the same.
This section is quoted by Jesus both in the synagogue of Nazareth and when he answered John the Baptist’s disciples. When John the Baptizer was put into prison, he sent a few of his disciples to ask Jesus whether or not he truly was one who was to come, or whether they should wait for someone else. John had preached about the coming Messiah using the Old Testament pictures of his coming judgment saying that the Messiah would clear his threshing floor and burn the chaff with unquenchable fire. John had his expectations of what Jesus would do. But that wasn’t happening. Jesus told those disciples, “Go and tell John what you see and hear. Then he gives a clear reference to Isaiah 61.
The people of Isaiah’s day missed it. The people of Jesus’ day missed it. John missed it. Can we be in danger of missing it?
You may be someone who agrees with the Christmas song: "It's the most wonderful time of the year!" But I've been a pastor long enough to know that this season isn't always the most wonderful time of year for many. They, maybe even you, wouldn’t use the word joy to describe this time of year at all. You might use the word dread. Or grief. Or stress. Unhappy memories are brought to the surface and toxic relatives are seated next to us at the table. An untold number of Americans will wash down their antidepressants with eggnog this Christmas.
So many problems throw a big bucket of water on the yule log. Death, divorce, children spending Christmas without a parent, mom or dad spending Christmas without their kids. That’s Christmas in the real world, ripped out of the Hallmark movies where everything works out in the end. It’s Christmas in a corrupted and fallen creation where heartache and grief don’t take time off for the holidays.
Sometimes, just like John the Baptist, we miss the joy in knowing that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world because we are wrapped up in what we think he should be doing. It is amazing how many don’t want a Savior from sin. They want a Savior from their earthly problems.
Perhaps part of the mistake we make is forgetting that the first Christmas, started out as the worst of times. Mary and Joseph were in Bethlehem because the Roman overlords had forced them to undertake this journey to pay their taxes when no pregnant woman should be on the road. No warm, sanitized room awaited them after their trip. When this young mother went into labor, where was she supposed to lay down to give birth? On rough hay littered with cow manure? It’s a wonder both mother and child didn’t die that night. This is not the way any baby, least of all Jesus, should have been born.
And yet in the dark, the cold, in the mess God was born. It’s a story that gives meaning and hope to our own dark, cold, messy stories of Christmases that seem anything but joyful. For it was on this night that God began to teach us that we don’t need to have a Hallmark Christmas to find peace and joy.
Shepherds were out in the fields doing their shepherd thing that night, when an angel of the Lord shows up to bring a message from God: “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
If the sentence, “A Savior has been born to you,” is no longer a life-changing sentence, if it no longer causes you joy, than it’s time for each of us to take a moment with ourselves and remember the facts.
Fact 1) I am a sinner. You are a sinner. It’s a short painful sentence, but it cuts through a whole bunch of the devil’s lies spooking around in your head, like these: “I’m not that bad, not any worse than anybody else, in fact, probably even a little bit better.” Recognize what you are by looking into God’s holy law! You are a sinner, from the souls of your feet to the hair on your head, in total need of saving or you will die forever. You need saving.
Fact 2) A Savior has been born! There’s hardly ever been a more theologically packed sentence. God saw of world of you’s and me’s, who were going to die because of their sin, and though deeply hurt by a world lashing out against him, he didn’t lash back! Instead, his heart was moved to give. His heart was moved to save, and he gave a Savior. And not just some measly pawn as a sacrifice in the game, but the King of it all, his Son, all the fullness of God in bodily form.
Fact 3) A Savior has been born to you! It’s time to get your pointer finger out and lay it softly on your heart (come on, let’s do it together), and say these words: “For Me, a Savior is born for me. The Savior I didn’t even always want, but the one I would die without. He came for me. He left heaven for me. He suffered hell for me. He saved me.” Let those truths sink in until your heart melts.
When the angels sang of the Savior's birth, God was bringing His Christmas present to this world. When Jesus defeated the devil in the desert of temptation, he was proclaiming victory to those afflicted by temptation. When the Son of God healed the sick and spoke words of forgiveness to the repentant, He was binding up the brokenhearted. When Jesus cried out on the cross, "It is finished" he was proclaiming freedom for all held captive by sin. And when He rose from the dead, overcoming every obstacle that would try to steal away hope and joy, He was proclaiming the eternal year of the Lord’s favor.
Christmas is a delightful disruption of the way things normally go. Christmas is not about what I want or what you want. It’s about what we need. It’s about God taking on our flesh and blood, being born as one of us, to share our griefs, to bear our sorrows, and to unite us to himself. You do not have a Savior unable to sympathize with your weaknesses, but one who has experienced them all, so that no matter what your hurt is, he redeems it, and carries you through it. Joy is not the absence of suffering but the presence of God. And born for you is “Emmanuel” God with us. God with you -ever, always.
Maybe for you this is the happiest time of year. Rejoice, God’s joy is for you. Joy is your enjoyment of God and the good things that come from God.
But even if it isn’t a happy time for you, God's joy for you still holds. You are right with Him and He will bring you perfect joy in a glory that overshadows all trouble. Count on it. With His living Word as comfort for your heart right now and with the assurance that all will be well one day with Him in eternity, Jesus gives you the strength and the faith to hope for holiday joy.
For unto you is born a Savior who brings a joy that lasts past Christmas and in all circumstances.
I pray that all of us will keep him at the top of our Christmas lists. Amen.