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THE SECOND SUNDAY IN ADVENT Dec. 8, 2024 Pastor Tom Steers Christ the Saviour Lutheran Church, Toronto Our Bible readings: Old Testament – Malachi 3:1-7b Psalm 66:1-12 Epistle – Philippians 1:2-11 Gospel – Luke 3:1-20 Brothers & sisters, here is my sermon for today based on our Gospel reading. May this time of Advent be a blessing to you. Pastor Tom As in all the Word of God, there’s a divine symmetry, or a design, in the Apostle Luke’s Gospel. Luke begins with the account of Zechariah, John the Baptist’s father, serving in the temple. Luke’s Gospel ends with the disciples of Jesus in the temple. The next event Luke describes in the beginning of his Gospel is the descent of the Son of God into the womb of the Virgin Mary. The second last event in Luke’s Gospel is the ascent of the Son of God back into heaven. In today’s reading from Luke, we hear that John the Baptist went into all the regions around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. (Luke 3:3) On the day of His resurrection, Jesus appeared to the disciples and said, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. So, we have Zechariah in the temple as a mirror to the future event of the disciples in the temple; we have the descent of the Son of God matching the ascent of the Son of God; and a proclamation of baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins by John the Baptist matching the proclamation of repentance and forgiveness of sins by Christ, our Saviour. There are many reasons for this symmetry, these pairings, but one of the reasons is that neither John nor Jesus invent anything new in their teachings. Both John and Jesus place their authority in Holy Scripture. This is especially interesting in Jesus’ case, since Jesus actually is God in human flesh and could base His teaching on His own power and authority. Nevertheless, Jesus constantly based His teachings on Holy Scripture using phrases such as “Have you not read,” and “It is written” on a regular basis. John’s authority comes straight out of the prophet Isaiah where it was written, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” John’s calling from God is the calling of preparation. He’s to prepare people for the coming of the Lord. . . and, as our Lord instructed His apostles after He rose from the dead, preparation begins in repentance. The Lutheran Augsburg confession, written at the beginning of the Reformation of the Christian Church 500 years ago describes repentance in this way. Strictly speaking, repentance consists of two parts. One part is ‘contrition,’ that is, terror striking our conscience through the knowledge of sin. The other part is faith in Christ, which is born of the Gospel [Romans 10:17] and faith as well in the Absolution the Church gives on behalf of Jesus and believes that for Christ’s sake, sins are forgiven. This faith comforts the conscience and delivers it from terror. The Augsburg Confession, which is taken from the Bible, teaches us that good works are bound to follow faith, and that those good works are the fruit, the result and evidence of repentance [Galatians 5:22–23]. (AC: I, art. xii, par. 3–6) Before repentance, a human being makes his or her way through life pretty well pleased with themselves. They may not think of themselves as perfect, but they believe they’re really not that bad -- there are certainly people around who are way worse than they are. This person reasons that the ‘good’ they do outweighs the bad and they’ll be OK in the end. But such a person is in complete denial of their true status before God. John the Baptist had a startling way of shocking people out of their complacent self-deception. He said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers!” (Luke 3:7) This condemnation comes directly from the fall of Adam and Eve where the devil appeared as a serpent. So, by calling these people a brood of vipers, John the Baptist was calling them children of the devil. It’s something Christ will say to people in the Jerusalem Temple who doubt Him and challenge Him. John the Baptist continued by saying, “Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? (Luke 3:7) John was warning them that, if nothing changed, they were destined for the punishment of hell. Although today’s Gospel text from Luke doesn’t describe the reaction to John the Baptist’s condemnation, John’s next words give us a clue. He said, “Don’t 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.” (Luke 3:8) Apparently, some in the crowd objected to John’s condemnation saying something like, 'You can’t say that to me, I’m a descendent of Abraham.' But John informs these folks that there’s no claim to salvation based on biology even if you are descended from Abraham. The proper preparation for the coming judgment is repentance. John said, “Bear fruits in keeping with repentance.” (Luke 3:8) Acknowledge your sin, own up to it. Admit that you’ve earned punishment both now, and for eternity. Confess that you’d be lost forever unless delivered from sin and death. Admit that you would have remained under the power of your father the devil if it weren’t for the promise of God to send the Messiah, the Christ, to come and rescue you. John’s judgment is still valid today. We still suffer from the sin passed down to us through the generations from Adam and Eve. The Word of God teaches that we’re all conceived and born sinful and are under the power of the devil until Christ claims us as His own. We’re still lost forever unless delivered from sin, death, and everlasting condemnation. As we said earlier in the Confession in the service, we are poor, miserable sinners who have offended God and earned both temporal and eternal punishment. We live in the days after Christ came to save us from sin, but, at this time of year, we try to imagine what it was like for the Old Testament Christians to look forward to the fulfillment of God’s promise of a Saviour. Today’s Gospel text tells us that the people were in a state of expectation. By the power of the Holy Spirit some people responded to John’s warning with an eager desire for the arrival of Christ. And some wondered if John himself might be the Christ. John answered them clearly, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I’m not worthy to untie. He’ll baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire." (Luke 3:16) John made it clear He wasn’t the Christ. He also made it clear that the Christ was coming, and soon. John pointed out the difference between His baptism and the baptism of the Christ who’s to come. John baptized with water in preparation for the arrival of Jesus. Christ participated in that baptism and went on to His own bloody baptism on the cross. When John baptized Jesus, the Holy Spirit descended on Christ like a dove. When Christ hung on that cross, He endured the fire of God’s wrath against our sin. He had undergone this baptism of water, Spirit, blood, and fire as a substitute for us all. Those who’ve received Holy Baptism according to Christ’s command become joined to Christ. The Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle Paul to write in Romans, Chapter 6: “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.” Paul was explaining that through baptism, we’re united to Christ. If you’re a baptized Christian God considers you baptized in the Holy Spirit and fire. Christ has taken our sins away and replaced them with His righteousness. During the season of Advent, we think of Christ’s three ‘comings.’ In His incarnation Christ came to pay for our sins on the cross. Christ comes to us today in His Church through the means of grace, His Word properly taught as Law and Gospel, and the two Sacraments Jesus commanded and instituted, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Christ has yet to come in order to judge the living and the dead on the Last Day. Repentance and faith are also the way to prepare for this future coming. In the Divine Service we confess our sins, repent of them, and receive absolution, the forgiveness that Christ alone earned for us at Calvary. Repentance and faith prepare us this day, for the day He will come again to each and every one of us. To Christ alone be all praise, glory, and honour. Amen.