{"id":3436,"date":"2017-12-17T21:14:21","date_gmt":"2017-12-18T04:14:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/?p=3436"},"modified":"2017-12-17T21:14:21","modified_gmt":"2017-12-18T04:14:21","slug":"advent-3-good-times-cometh-john-16-8-19-28","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/?p=3436","title":{"rendered":"Advent 3 – “Good Times Cometh” (John 1:6-8, 19-28)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon is the Gospel, which was read earlier.<\/p>\n

Nostalgia, resignation, and fear. That pretty much sums up how people generally tend to view their lives. How often, in talking about the past, do we hear people long for \u201cthe good old days\u201d or lament that \u201cthey don\u2019t make things the way they used to.\u201d When it comes to the present, there\u2019s often a general feeling of resignation. As we look at the world around us and our own situation, many generally respond with the well-worn clich\u00e9 \u201cit is what it is.\u201d As far as the future goes? Most of us don\u2019t want to think about it. Who knows what is going to happen in the political and economic sphere. Who knows whether another war will happen in our generation. Who is to say what the world will look like for our grandchildren.<\/p>\n

As we come to the Third Sunday in Advent, the emphasis is on rejoicing, and so our texts tell us of the work and witness of John the Baptist. If you were paying attention last week, the focus was on John the Baptist. In fact, this is John\u2019s parallel account to that found in Mark. So why focus on John the Baptist again? It is because of the message that John proclaims. In the midst of a people who longed for the glory of their past under rulers like David and Solomon, who resented their present situation of being subdued and ruled by the Romans, and who had grave concerns about their future if things didn\u2019t change, John brings God\u2019s message of greater things to come. His message, as one sent from God, was a message of hope and a promise of greater things to come in the coming Savior, which would be cause for great rejoicing.<\/p>\n

Things have not played out well for the people of God. While everything was at first perfect, it didn\u2019t last. Sin entered into the equation and God\u2019s creation was thrown for a loop that would have more twists and turns than a roller coaster. There would be good times and there would be bad times. There would be times where God\u2019s people treasured the Word of God and would follow His commands, while at other times God\u2019s Word was despised and God\u2019s people paid the price for their disobedience. But in all of this, God had a made a promise long ago that would make things right again. In fact, it would set creation in a restored relationship with God. But when would it happen? That was the million-dollar question.<\/p>\n

God\u2019s people had waited and waited for the promise to be fulfilled. And now, the time was near. A prophet appeared named John the Baptist. Great, another prophet with a message of how God would fulfill His promise in a time that is unknown, a time that is likely far away. But that\u2019s not quite how things played out. John records, \u201cHe came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

That sounds like any other prophet, right? The prophet comes with a message about God\u2019s promise, of how it would be fulfilled. But here\u2019s the difference between John and all the other prophets: John has had contact with the Messiah already and that Messiah is around the corner.<\/p>\n

In Luke\u2019s Gospel, we hear of Mary visiting her relative Elizabeth, who also happened to be pregnant. When Mary and Elizabeth greet one another, something happened. \u201cAnd when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb.\u201d<\/em><\/span> That baby was John. Elizabeth said, \u201cFor behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.\u201d<\/em><\/span> John, meet Jesus, the Savior of the world, the One to whom you will be the herald.<\/p>\n

There were those who thought that John the Baptist was the promised Messiah. They went to him to be baptized, seeking something more than he could provide. They expected him to be more than who he was; they expected him to do more than he was capable of doing.\u00a0 John had one mission: \u201cto bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Many times, we often confuse the messenger with the message. If we receive bad news from a doctor, we blame the doctor for our illness, though he has nothing to do with it. John clearly understood that his purpose was not bearing witness to himself and his own greatness, but glorifying the Savior. The spiritual gifts of faith, humility, selflessness, and faithfulness to the great privilege of his calling were expressed in the life of John, for he was true to his conviction: \u201cHe must become greater; I must become less.\u201d<\/span> <\/em>John\u2019s appearance on the scene, his manner of life, and other features of his ministry were extraordinary. His work had provoked sensational comment and had attracted unusual attention. Curiosity and concern for their own welfare as subjects of Rome prompted the sending of an official fact-finding delegation from Jerusalem.\u00a0 Their question was simple, \u201cWho do you claim to be, and what place do you aspire to?\u201d<\/p>\n

The Messiah was coming, everyone knew that. But for John to appear and speak so intimately about the Messiah, well, that was different. The only way he could speak so intimately about the Messiah was if he was the Messiah. But that\u2019s not John, that\u2019s not what he\u2019s about. He is all about Jesus.<\/p>\n

For the Jews, they needed an answer to who this John was. They sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him who he was. John took no pleasure in pretending to be someone whom he was not. He very easily could have said that he was the promised Messiah and no one would have been the wiser, at least for a while. John did what he was called to do: proclaim Christ. He\u2019s not the Christ. He\u2019s not Elijah. He\u2019s not the prophet Moses promised back in Deuteronomy 18, the prophet who would, in fact, be one and the same as the Christ. John was content simply to announce the coming Lamb of God.<\/p>\n

In the Church, the talk isn\u2019t about us \u2013 it can\u2019t be about us. If it were about us, then there wouldn\u2019t be much to say other than, \u201cI\u2019m a sinner. I deserve death and damnation\u201d; it\u2019s always about another. In the Church, the talk is always about the One who is \u201cthe Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!\u201d<\/em> <\/span>It\u2019s about the One who\u2019s infinitely greater than we, because He was before us all, for we are the work of His hands, even as we are also the creatures of His own redeeming. He came among us as one of us precisely so that He could serve all of us. He shouldered our sins as He carried His cross, and He died our death and shattered our hell, and by overcoming the sharpness of death He opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers. Truly, the Son of Man did not come among us to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as the ransom for many.<\/p>\n

As the season of Advent approaches its midway point, John the Baptist does the Church the service of focusing all the joy of the Church entirely on Christ. John\u2019s words remind us that the joy of the coming days isn\u2019t found in presents, parties, and eggnog, but they are found in the One who came into this world through a manger to meager parents, to be our Immanuel, God with us. In the name of Jesus, amen. Now the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon is the Gospel, which was read earlier. Nostalgia, resignation, and fear. That pretty much sums up how people generally tend to view their lives. How often, in talking about the past, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17942,9016],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-advent","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3436"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3436\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3438,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3436\/revisions\/3438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}