TITLE: “The Coming One”

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Our text for today is the Gospel lesson just read.

What a character, John the Baptist is. No one really knows what to do with him. Eating locusts and honey, living in the wilderness, wearing camel’s hair. He’s no Santa Claus, that’s for sure. He would seem to fit better as a character in a Lord of the Rings movie than as the forerunner of Christ And yet there is something about him that draws us. There is something in his character that says, PAY ATTENTION! I have something to say to you that matters! And so every year, we spend one or two Sundays looking at the preaching of this man of God, whom Jesus said was the greatest of all men, which is no small praise coming from the very Son of God.

In our text, John the Baptist is sitting in jail, waiting to be executed. He is sitting in jail because he dared to claim that living together outside of marriage is a sin and breaking the Sixth Commandment against adultery. Of course, he also made this basic claim of God’s Word to King Herod. So there John sits, in prison because he has preached God’s Law to the wrong person.

God’s Law, of course, has a way of doing that. It is always accusing us and pointing the finger in all the wrong places. Why can’t God’s Law, which John preached so well, be a little more, well, civilized? Doesn’t God’s Law know that sometimes you have to compromise in order to keep peace? Doesn’t God’s Law know that I really know what is better for my well being more than some commandments written thousands of years ago?

So God’s Law, which John personifies, sits in prison. While he sits in prison, John sends his disciples to Jesus with a question: are you the One who is to come or should we wait for someone else? For you see, just like God’s Law, John isn’t the end of the story. John is the forerunner and the preparer. He prepares the way for the coming of the Messiah by raising up the valleys and lowering the mountains. He prepares the way by preaching the exact same message to everyone: repent. That is the message of John the Baptist, repent and believe the Gospel. But this message of repentance, of turning away from sin and being turned to the Messiah, that message landed him in prison just about to die. And he wants to know, as we want to know, how do we get out of prison?

I think that is why the Law is a stumbling block for so many. If you were caught, and I mean really caught, in an addiction like drugs or alcohol or whatever, you can’t imagine that there is anything better. Give it up! This is what I live for! What could possibly be more than that? That is why it is so hard, nigh impossible I would say, for someone to kick a serious addiction by themselves. They get so stuck on what they will be giving up that they can’t ever get to the point of coming to know what is really better, namely freedom and life.

That, dear friends, is very much how the Law works for you and I, and that is why it is so hard for us to understand a man like John the Baptist. What he does in his preaching is the first step of this great and wonderful thing we call faith in Jesus Christ. He does it by preaching the Law.

But this is exactly what the world does not want to see or understand about Advent and about John the Baptist. Advent is a season of repentance. That’s why we don’t sing the Gloria during these Sundays. Yet for the world, and if we were honest for ourselves, too, we don’t want repentance. We don’t want to reflect on the cost of the gift. We want the gift, and we want to think about the cost another time. It’s kind of like what almost all of us do anymore when it comes to gifts. I don’t stress about how much Christmas presents cost in December. I stress about it in January. Why? You know why. Because I put them on my credit card, like I expect most of you do as well. That’s why we don’t like the Law. It reminds us of the cost. I would frankly rather forget and pretend that there is no cost for my sin.

So now that we’ve begun to understand John and his message, let’s get back to his question for Jesus. Are you the One who is to come or should we wait for someone else? Come for what? That’s really the question, isn’t it? Why does Jesus come? Jesus answers the question: The blind see and the lame walk, the dead get up and the poor have the Gospel preached to them; and blessed the one who does not become angry over me. In other words, Jesus is coming to fix what was wrong. Jesus comes into the world to bring sight to the blind and health to the ailing. He is here to raise the dead. But most importantly, he is here to preach the Gospel, the Good News that He has paid the price for all of their sins. All of that Law and reminders of the cost? The Law is fulfilled, paid in full by the blood of that one sacrifice for sin.

Fortunately for us, we have a textbook object lesson of Jesus’ work right here, this morning, in the baptism of Edwin Paul Brieman. What did Jesus come and do for Eddie this morning? He raised him from the dead, preached the Gospel to him, brought him into the light of faith, and poured life into his bones in a way that no one or thing else ever could. That’s baptism, dear friends. That’s Jesus’ work all wrapped up into one little package. This is for Eddie the beginning of not just life, but eternal life, for he is no longer caught in the prison of sin, death and the power of the devil. God has freed Eddie from his shackles of sin and death by the power of Jesus’ death and resurrection. As St. Paul wrote in Romans chapter six, We were therefore buried with Him through Baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

John asks the question of Jesus, are you the Coming One, but he really knows the answer. Isaiah foretold it in chapter forty of his prophecy:

“Comfort, yes, comfort My people!”

Says your God.

“Speak comfort to Jerusalem,

and cry out to her,

That her warfare is ended,

That her iniquity is pardoned;

For she has received from the LORD's hand

Double for all her sins.” (Isaiah 40:1-2 NKJV)

John’s question is for us a very good one, and it explains for us why this Sunday is Gaudete, rejoicing Sunday. We rejoice this day because we know the answer to the question. Yes! Jesus is the Coming One! Yes! He has come to set you free from the shackles of sin and death which bind you. That is the message of Advent. That is the message of the Christian Church. That is the message for you this day and every day. Believe it for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

And now the peace of God, which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus to life everlasting. Amen.