Impossible - December 20, 2020 - Fourth Sunday in Advent - Text: Luke 1:26-38

Excitement is in the air. Can you feel it? We have lighted our fourth, and last, candle on the Advent wreath. There are only five days left until our celebration of the birth of God in human flesh, Emmanuel, Christ the Lord. It is only five days till Christmas. To anyone hearing the news which is being proclaimed for the first time this news must certainly sound unbelievable, even impossible. Think about it, angels announcing the births of children, John the Baptist and Jesus. An old man and an old woman, well past child bearing years, giving birth to a child. A virgin giving birth to a child and to a child who is to be God in flesh, no less. If this were the first time we were hearing this news we might say, “impossible.” But, as the angel told Mary, “nothing will be impossible with God” (v. 37).
 

This morning we are back in the Gospel of Luke. Luke you might remember is our faithful Doctor and Historian. Luke is very specific and precise in his account, wanting to make sure that we have the facts and the historic setting correct. Luke wants us to know that this is not just a story, a made up fable, a myth or just pretend. He wants us to know that these events actually happened in human history.
 

What Luke says about Mary is that she was chosen by God. The angels greeting was, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” (v.28). Notice, it was not Mary who greeted the angel, but the angel who greeted Mary. It was not that Mary had chosen God, but that God had chosen her. It was not because of some innate goodness that God chose her, but simply that she is the one He chose. Again, Luke is precise in his words, he tells us about Mary, “She was greatly troubled at [the angels] saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be” (v. 29). Mary was a sinner that is why she was afraid to be in the presence of an angel of the Lord. And it was the angel, again, who assured Mary, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God” (v. 30). I must confess, I get pretty perturbed when I see any kind of depiction, written or art work, depicting the angel in submission to Mary, down on bended knee, even kissing Mary’s hand. Or when I hear of Mary’s, supposed perfection or of her perpetual virginity. Notice, again, the words of our text, Mary was frightened. Certainly the Apostle Paul reminds us that perfection and perfect love casts out all fear, but in our text we read that Mary was afraid. She was afraid because she knew she was not perfect, but that she, too, was a sinful human being standing in the presence of this messenger of God, this angel. It was not Mary who was the catalyst in these events, but God who chose Mary.
 

Luke continues telling us about these events, the angels words to Mary continue, “You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus” (v. 31). Now Mary is pretty young, anywhere from thirteen to sixteen years old. She has reached puberty and she does know how babies are conceived and born. She also knows that she is betrothed and that she and her fiancee, literally her betrothed husband, have never had relations. She knows that she is a virgin and that it is physically impossible for her to have a baby, so she naively asks, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” Unlike Zechariah’s question of doubt concerning the birth of John the Baptist, Mary was not questioning God’s ability, she was merely questioning the procedure of the events. And so, the angel explains what will happen, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; Therefore the child to be born will be called holy–the Son of God” (v. 35). And to emphasis his point, the angel adds, “Your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren” (v. 36). Again, what Luke is telling us might, to the first time hearer, sound rather impossible and humanly speaking, it is impossible, but not so with God.
 

Luke goes on, he tells us more about Jesus. He tells us that about Jesus, “The Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end” (v. 32b-33). This baby, Jesus, will be truly human. He will be from the human line of David, the once mighty King of Israel. He will be truly human as He will be born of a woman, Mary. Jesus will be one hundred percent a human being, but He will be different from us because He will be born without sin. This fact will be accomplished because, not only is He human, but He is also one hundred percent God.
 

Again, Luke tells us about Jesus that He will be conceived in Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit, thus He will be true God. Jesus is, as Matthew tells us, “Immanuel, which means, God with us” (Mt.1:23).
 

This morning we continue to rejoice with the news that Luke brings to us. Luke tells us the facts. He puts them in their historic context. Luke tells us who Jesus is (v.32) and what He will do (v.33). He tells us who Jesus is and as he is telling us who Jesus is, he is also showing how this Jesus is the Jesus who was promised throughout the Old Testament. He tells us what Jesus will do and, again, as he tells us what Jesus will do, he is also showing how this Jesus is the Jesus who was promised throughout the Old Testament. Just check out the last verse from our Old Testament reading for today. God’s promise to David continues in Jesus. “And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever” (2 Samuel 7:16). Jesus, the human descendant of David, will reign and rule on His throne in heaven forever.
 

As I have said, someone who is hearing this account for the first time might exclaim, “impossible.” And, yes, we must admit that this account does sound a bit far fetched. Let me review. An angel comes to a young teenager who has never had any sexual relations with any man or boy and the angel says that she will become pregnant by the power of God and the child she will bear will be both God and human. That does not sound very scientific or realistic especially in our world today. Or, let us explain it this way, suppose Mary were to try to explain this to her parents. “Well, you see, mom and dad, there was this angel. And this angel came to me and said that I would become pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit. Really, I have never had sexual relations with anyone. Oh, yeah, the angel also said that this baby would be both human and divine.” I think you are getting the idea, this sounds impossible, at least, humanly impossible.
 

Let me add one more bit of discomfort. In Mary’s day, the penalty for sexual promiscuity, for adultery, that is, for sexual relations outside of marriage, was stoning, to death. Now, Mary needs to come up with an explanation, not only for her fiancee, and for her parents, but also for the general public. Again, who would believe such a story? It all sounds impossible.
 

But there is that one verse which we read earlier, the one where the angel reminds Mary and us, “For nothing will be impossible with God” (v. 37). Mary’s response to those words are words of faith, “‘I am the servant of the Lord,’ Mary answered. ‘Let it be to me according to your word’” (v. 38). The angels words are words which reminds us that the God we worship is not a wimpy God, but a great and all powerful God, a God with whom nothing is impossible. And Mary’s words remind us of what our attitude should be as she graciously submitted to the will of the Lord.
 

We live in a world in which many things happen, and in which many things that happen do seem rather unbelievable. As Christians, as believers in Jesus, we worship a God who is almighty, all knowing, everywhere present, and so on. We worship a God who is the one who gave us this world in the first place. He is the one who gives us life at conception and new life through Holy Baptism and faith. He is the one who gives us the faith to believe His Word and what He tells us in His Word. He is the one who made the first promise to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden to send a Savior to bring us back into a right relationship with Himself, a relationship which was broken because of the sin of Adam and Eve. We worship a God who gives us His Word which tells us of the many times in which He reiterated His promise to send a Savior. God’s Word is so full of many of the great deeds which our God has done for us. And our Bible does not have all of Jesus’ deeds recorded as John tells us, “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written” (John 21:25).
 

Our response is the response of Mary, to be the servants of the Lord, to spread the News of Salvation. The world says, “impossible,” we say, “with God, all things are possible.” Day in and day out we bear witness of the “impossible” things our Lord does. He gives faith, He strengthens faith, He keeps us in faith. He gives forgiveness of sins. He protects from sin, death and the power of the devil. What a great and almighty God we do have. We do not have a God who is powerless, but a God who can do all things. We worship a God for whom nothing is “impossible.”
 

It is so important that each year we rehear this “impossible” event. The same God who created all things, and the same all things which were created perfect and yet gave up that perfection through disobedience and sin, this same God promised to reconcile the world to Himself. Yes, we are, today, sinners living in an imperfect, sinful world. Left to ourselves it would be impossible for us to be saved. Left to ourselves we would follow after false gods and idols. Left to ourselves we would worship the creation instead of the Creator, we would worship the mother instead of the child. Thanks be to God that we are not left to ourselves. Thanks be to God that in order to save us He became one of us, He took on human flesh and blood. He humbled Himself and was born of a woman, Mary. He lived perfectly, for us, in our place. He took all our sins upon Himself and suffered and died so that we might have forgiveness of sins and so that we might be brought back into a right relationship with Himself. What is truly impossible for us is not impossible for God. For with God, all things are possible. Which leaves us simply to stand in awe of our great God and to say, to Him be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Hark! A Thrilling Voice Is Sounding - Advent Mid-week 3 - December 16, 2020 - Text: Sermon Hymn, Sermon Title: #345 - Hark! A Thrilling Voice Is Sounding; Scripture Readings: Luke 1:76-79; Is. 60:1-3, 19-20; Eph. 5:8-14; Is. 25:7-9

This week our hymn of the day for last Sunday was, of course, the hymn we just sang, Hark! A Thrilling Voice Is Sounding. As with the hymn from two weeks ago, so too, the author of this hymn is Ambrose of Milan. With this hymn we continue our preparations, our getting ready to celebrate the first coming of the Messiah.
 

Stanza one, “Hark! A thrilling voice is sounding! ‘Christ is near,’ we hear it say. ‘Cast away the works of darkness, All you children of the day!’” In this first stanza we hear a reference to the Gospel of Luke and the work of John the Baptist calling the people, in particular the Children of Israel, but even us today, to repent, to cast away the works of darkness, the deeds of sin. We also have a reference to Isaiah and the problem of the darkness of sin. In Jesus day, in our day, indeed throughout time every generation can see the works of darkness and every generation thinks theirs is the worst and that certainly God will return soon. Yes, we do live in a world where sin abounds, where the thick darkness of sin covers the earth so this hymn calls to us today as well, to repent for the kingdom of God is near.
 

Stanza two, “Startled at the solemn warning, Let the earthbound soul arise; Christ, its sun, all sloth dispelling, Shines upon the morning skies.” Here in stanza two we have a reference to Ephesians and the call to walk as children of the Light. Paul says, “Walk as children of light 9(for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), 10and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. 11Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. 13But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, 14for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, ‘Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you’” (Ephesians 5:8b-14).
 

In stanza two we also have a reference to Isaiah 25 and the veil of darkness and unbelief that covers the earth. Isaiah says, “7And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. 8He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken. 9It will be said on that day, ‘Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation’” (Isaiah 25:7-9).
 

Stanza three, “See, the Lamb, so long expected, Comes with pardon down from heav’n. Let us haste, with tears of sorrow, One and all, to be forgiv’n;” Here in stanza three we have another reference to John the Baptists and his call to repentance. It was John who pointed to Jesus and exclaimed, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” And we again have another reference to Isaiah 25 and God’s salvation, “He will swallow up death forever.”
 

Stanza four, “So, when next He comes in glory And the world is wrapped in fear, He will shield us with His mercy And with words of love draw near.” Here in stanza four not only are we called to get ready to celebrate Jesus’ first coming, but also we are called to focus our attention on the fact that as God kept His promise to send Jesus and as Jesus promised He would come again so we need to be ready for His second coming as well.
 

Here in stanza four we have another reference to Isaiah 25 and the promise that God will wipe away tears, the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces and the reproach of his people he will take away. And another reference to Ephesians and the promise of God’s love.
 

Stanza five, “Honor, glory, might, dominion To the Father and the Son With the ever-living Spirit While eternal ages run!” Here in stanza five we have a doxology of praise and a reference to Isaiah 60 and God’s promise that our days of mourning will end. Isaiah says, “19The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give you light; but the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. 20Your sun shall no more go down, nor your moon withdraw itself; for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your days of mourning shall be ended” (Isaiah 60:19-20). Indeed, as Isaiah speaks of the everlasting light of the Lord, so it is with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit while eternal ages run.
 

So it is fitting to sing a word of praise to our triune God. It is God who promised to send a Savior. Actually, we should be reminded that God in His eternal omniscience knew what was going to happen even before He began creating the world. He knew that Adam and Eve would sin. He knew that He would have to send His Son, God Himself in human flesh to fulfill the demands of Himself, God the Father that is to live in perfection. He knew all that was going to happen even before He began creating the world and yet, because of His great love for us He created the world anyway.
 

We sing a word of praise to our triune God who not only promised, but fulfilled His promise to send a Savior. We sing a word of praise to our triune God as we continue to prepare our hearts and minds to celebrate once again, as we do every year, Jesus birth. This season of Advent is the beginning of the Church Year because the journey of Jesus to bring us salvation begins with His birth. We sing a word of praise to our triune God because Jesus was born, true God in human flesh. He was born, shining the light of truth into the darkness of our sin filled world. Jesus is, as John points to Him and says, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Jesus lived in perfection. Jesus obeyed all God’s laws perfectly never sinning even once. Jesus fulfilled all the promises of God. Then, because of His great love for us He took our sins, all our sins, our sins of omission and sins of commission, our sins of thought, word and deed. He took all the sins of all people of all places of all times and suffered and died paying the price for those sins, eternal death and hell. His works of paying the price for sin was so complete that nothing more needs to be done.
 

We sing a word of praise to our triune God because of His great love for us as seen in Jesus. And as we prepare to celebrate His first coming, so we continue to prepare ourselves, our hearts and minds so that we are ready for His second coming when He will come in glory to gather us and all the saints and take us and all the saints to be with Himself in heaven for eternity.
 

What a fitting hymn for this third and last midweek Advent service. Next week we will celebrate. We do not celebrate yet, but we continue to prepare so that when we do celebrate it will be a great and grand celebration. What a great God we have. What a loving God we have. What a forgiving, gift giving God we have. Certainly our desire now and always is to give praise to our triune God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. To Him be the glory for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Getting Ready - December 13, 2020 - Third Sunday in Advent - Text: John 1:6-8, 19-28

This morning our count down to Christmas continues. We have lighted the third Advent Candle and we have only twelve days left until we once again celebrate the birth of the Savior of the world, Christ the Lord. Are we ready for Christmas? How do we get ready for Christmas? How do we prepare? And how do we get ready and how do we know we are ready for Jesus’ second coming? Those are the questions we have been asking over the past couple of weeks and the questions we continue to ask, and prayerfully answer today.
 

John the Baptist came to get the people ready for the work of the Messiah. John began his work some thirty years after Jesus’ birth on that first Christmas. John came to testify concerning the Messiah, the Christened One or the Christ, the Savior. Our text puts it these terms, “[John] 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” (John 1:7-8). Our Lord wanted to make sure that the world did not miss the coming of His Son, so He sent a messenger, John the Baptist, to prepare the people for His coming. John came, not to call attention to himself, but to point the people to the Messiah, or as he calls Him in our text, to the Light.
 

Jesus is the Light. He is the Light that shines bright in the darkness. He is the Light who draws all people to Himself. In much the same way as a very small light will brighten up a very dark room, so Jesus is a very bright light who came to brighten up the universe. In much the same way that we are drawn to a light in order to be able to see better, so we are drawn to Jesus who helps us to see clearly.
 

So John came to testify concerning the coming of the Light of the world. He came to call all people to faith so that all people might believe in the Messiah. John never speaks about himself, he only talks about the Light. He only points to Jesus.
 

When he was questioned by the priest and Levites John made his confession concerning Jesus. “He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, ‘I am not the Christ’” (John 1:20). John knew that he was not the one who came to give his life for the people. He knew that he was not the Christened or anointed one. He knew that he was not the Messiah and so he freely confessed that he was not the Savior.
 

Rather, John did confess that he came to prepare the way for the Messiah. John’s work and calling were simply to call the people to be ready for the coming Messiah. His work was to point, not to himself, but to Jesus. Notice how, when they asked him pointedly, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” (John 1:22b). John’s reply was to point to Christ. In the words of Isaiah the prophet John says, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord’” (John 1:23b).
 

And John knew his limitations. He tells the people, I baptize with water for the remission of sins. I am here to call you to turn from your ways of sin and unbelief, to forgiveness and faith. I am here to call you from following the gods and idols of this world, to believe the words of Holy Scripture concerning the coming of the Savior.
 

Again, he was questioned by the Pharisees who asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” (John 1:25b). Although we are told elsewhere that John came in the spirit of Elijah, he confesses that he himself is not Elijah. Many among the Jewish people expected the return of Elijah, whom you might remember did not die, but was bodily assumed into heaven, or they were expecting the return of a variety of persons in association with the coming of the Messiah, thus, the barrage of questions to John. John confesses, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even He who comes after me, the strap of  of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie” (John 1:26-27). Again, John knows his place. He knows his role. He came, not pointing to himself, but pointing to the coming of the Messiah.
 

In much the same way as John came to get the people of his day ready for Jesus’ first coming, so we read and hear his words still today to help us get ready to celebrate Jesus’ birth. At the same time, our getting ready for Christmas today is also much different than that of John’s day. Please bear with me as I bring to mind some of our customs today of getting ready for Christmas and as I attempt to put them into a Christian perspective. Today our getting ready for Christmas often includes putting up a Christmas tree. Our custom of putting up a Christmas tree, either real or artificial, reminds us of life. The green of the tree reminds us that we worship a living God. Very often our green tree is decorated with lights and with ornaments. The lights reminds us of the stars shining through the trees and in particular they might remind us of the star which lead the wise men to the house to see the newborn King. The tree is often topped with either a star or an angel. The star, again, reminding us of the star which lead the wise men to the house of the newborn King or the angel reminding us of all the work of the angels at this time of the year, making announcements to Zechariah and Mary, and to Joseph and the Shepherds.
 

Our Christmas preparations often include putting lights on the outside of our houses. Just as Jesus is the light of the world, so we would share our faith, not by hiding it under a bushel, but by letting our light shine before the world so that they might bear witness to the faith that is in our hearts.
 

A more recent custom is that of hanging a nail toward the center of the Christmas tree. This nail is quietly placed in remembrance of the reason for Christmas, that is that the reason the Child was born was to die, nailed to a cross. Most of the time we do not like to talk about death and dying, and especially during this season of celebrating the birth of a child death and dying talk seem so out of place. But for us Christians that is the reason for the season, the birth of this Child, God in flesh, who came to give His life, to die on the cross, to pay the price for our sins, for your sins and mine, so that we might have forgiveness and eternal life.
 

Our Christmas preparations often include putting a nativity set, either under the tree or out in the yard, or both. The nativity reminds us of that night on which Jesus was born. It reminds us of Jesus poor and lowly birth, his first bed being a manger, a feeding trough for animals. And very often, the manger, the feeding trough for the animals, is left empty until Christmas Eve or Christmas morning when the birth of the Christ child is celebrated at which time the baby is placed in the manger.
 

   Most of us include the custom of exchanging presents during the time of Christmas. Certainly this would remind us of the season of epiphany when the wise men came and brought gifts of gold, incense and myrrh to the baby Jesus.
 

For many the season of Christmas brings an anticipation of “getting” gifts. Children and adults alike anticipate “what they are going to get for Christmas.” In keeping with the eight commandment and in putting the best construction on everything, I pray this anticipation is also an anticipation of “getting” or begin given the greatest gift of all, the gift of God’s grace through His Son, Jesus.
 

For some there is the custom of baking a cake to celebrate the birth of the Savior of the world. Christmas is the day we celebrate the birth of the Savior, Jesus Himself. Just as we have a custom of baking and eating cake for our own birthdays, why not celebrate Jesus birthday with a birthday cake.
 

My intent this morning is not to exhaust all the customs that we Christians have or all the traditions each and every family has during the season of Christmas. I simply wanted to name a few in comparison and contrast to the preparation which happened at Jesus’ first coming. Sometimes it is good to take a look at the traditions we have in order to understand why we do what we do and that we are doing what we are doing not just for the sake of doing something. Some of you may have heard this story before. There was a young mother who cut off the ends of the ham before putting it into a pan and into the oven. When her child asked her why she did this, she did not know why. All she could say was, “that is the way my mother always did it.” So, she called her mother to ask her way she cut off the ends of the ham before cooking it and her mother did not know either, she simply said, “that is the way my mother always did it.” So, she called her mother (who happened to still be living) to ask her why she cut off the ends of the ham before cooking it and her mother told her, “because we did not have a pan large enough for the whole ham.” Why do we do the things we do? I can think of some positive reasons for many of the customs and traditions we have at this time of the year. If I cannot, then maybe it is time I think of a different custom or tradition.
 

Most important in getting ready for Christmas is the getting ready, not of the physical things of our lives, but of the preparing our hearts, minds and souls for our celebration of the newborn King. We prepare ourselves by making use of the means that God has of getting us ready, His means of grace, His Word, the Bible, as well as we do every Sunday morning, confession and absolution, and His sacraments, the Lord’s Supper and Holy Baptism. As we even quietly and unassumingly prepare our own lives for our celebration of Jesus’ birth we may also be a light for others, pointing them, through our actions and words, to Jesus whose birth we celebrate. And we may also reap the benefit of continuing to get ourselves ready for Jesus’ second coming.
 

Hindsight is twenty-twenty as the saying goes. What we are preparing to celebrate is a done deal, and yet at the same time we continue to prepare ourselves for Jesus; second coming, on the day of judgement, the day He returns or the day we go to Him, which as we have been saying will be sooner than we know and sooner than we might imagine. We are prepared, then, when we have our hearts, minds, and soul firmly secured in Jesus, who was born, who did live a perfect life, who did take our sins upon Himself, who did suffer and die, paying the price for our sins, eternal death and hell, who did rise from the dead, who has ascended into heaven where He is watching over us, ruling over us and interceding for us, and who is awaiting the day when He will return to robe us with His robes us righteousness and take us to be with Himself and all the saints who have gone on before us, to heaven to be with Himself for eternity.
 

As I have said from time to time, we do not know what might lay ahead of us in life, how much or how little time our Lord will give us in this present world and so it is so important to always be ready. It is important to be ready for when Jesus comes again, and it is important to be ready to give an answer for the hope that is in us. May the Lord work through the means that He has given us, as we make uses of those means, in order to get us ready, so that when He does come again we might stand with all the saints and say, to Him be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Prepare - December 6, 2020 - Second Sunday in Advent - Text: Mark 1:1-8

Only nineteen more days until Christmas. Are you ready? Someone once suggested that instead of our going through time, it is more like time is rushing toward us, maybe even like a freight train. Have you ever noticed how, when you are getting ready for something, that time does not stand still and wait on you, rather it just keeps coming at you, whether you are ready or not. Well, Christmas is coming, again, already and it will be here on December 25 whether we are ready or not.
 

This morning we focus our attention on the getting ready of the world for Jesus’ first coming. Interestingly enough, the world of Jesus’ day, that was waiting for His first coming, was probably a lot like our world today. The people of Jesus’ day were going about their lives not worrying about getting ready for anything, just living as if this world was all there was. As Jesus Himself said, “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days of the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man” (Matt. 24:37-39). So, today, as we get ready for Jesus’ second coming, and as we get ready to celebrate His first coming, we live in a world which is pretty much oblivious to Jesus and His coming again and will be oblivious until He does come again, at which time it will be too late. Just look around you at the people in our world. How often do you hear anyone express any interest in getting ready for Jesus’ coming. I am not talking about those who have a fanatical fascination about the end of this world and are looking for whatever god they have created in their own minds to appear. I am talking about how often do you hear your friends concerned about being ready either for their own death, at which time they will see God, or about getting ready for Jesus to come to take us to heaven. It is not something we dwell on. Let me assure you, it will happen. Either Christ will come again, during our own life, or we will go to Him. Either way, the question remains, are we ready? And if we are not ready, I think we need to be getting ready?
 

Getting to our text, I want you to keep in mind, that as we hear about the preparation and the first coming of Jesus, this all parallels with our preparation to celebrate Jesus’ first coming and our getting ready for His second coming. The people of Jesus day did have and we today do have the promise, God’s promise to send a Savior. In Jesus’ day the people had the Word of God which foretold that a messenger would come to prepare the way for the Messiah. In our Old Testament reading for this morning we heard the same words the people of Jesus’ day were hearing, that one would come calling to prepare the way for the Messiah.
 

And what would the messenger come calling. He would come to call all people to repentance. Repentance is defined as turning. Repentance is turning 180 degrees, that is to turn away from sin to go the opposite direction, the direction of not sinning. When we say we are sorry it means nothing unless we are determined, with the help of God, to turn from what we are doing wrong to do something different, what is right. Too often it happens in our world that we think that if we just say, “I’m sorry,” then we can go on and do whatever it is we have been doing, because we can always say, “I’m sorry,” again. Repentance means turning from the direction you were going and instead, going in the right direction.
 

In our text for this morning Mark begins by reminding us of the promises which were made and now he is laying out the fulfillment of those promises. John the Baptist is the one who came calling in the wilderness to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah. John came calling the people to repentance. He came calling them to turn from their ways of sin to a way of not sinning.
 

John came calling the people to be baptized. His baptism was a baptism for repentance. What you need to know and understand about John and the people of John’s day, and really, about many religious groups and organizations even today, as well as our own Christian church, is that baptism, that is religious washings were and are pretty important parts of religious activity. For John to call the people to be washed, to be baptized, was not an unusual calling for the people. They were used to such religious callings.
 

However, John’s calling was different in this respect, he came pointing not to himself and his own thoughts, feelings and ideas, but he came pointing to the Messiah, the One who was to come to be the Savior of the world. The One who was promised from of old. The One who would come to give His life for the lives of all people.
 

About the Messiah, John tells us that He will come baptizing with the Holy Spirit. You might recall that on the day of Pentecost Jesus sent the Holy Spirit, the counselor, to give the people the strength and the courage, even His authority and promise, to spread the news of Jesus to the rest of the World. Still, today, we are baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes into us at our Baptism in order to give us faith, forgiveness and life, even to strengthen us and give us the courage not only to live our lives to the glory of the Lord, but to share our faith with others.
 

About the Messiah, John tells us that He will come giving forgiveness. John refers to Jesus as the Lamb of God. In the same way that a lamb was sacrificed, that a lamb’s blood was shed, to remind the people that the cost of sin is death (someone’s life), so Jesus, God’s Son, came to give His life. Jesus came to shed His blood, to offer His life for ours. It is through His death that our sins are forgiven and that we have the promise of eternal life.
 

Again, John tells us that Jesus comes giving the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who gives faith, strengthens faith and keeps us in faith until Christ comes again. Notice John’s focus. Notice Mark’s focus. Their focus in not on themselves, it is not on us. Their focus and our focus is always a focus on the one who saves, Jesus Christ alone.
 

Which brings us to our preparation. Are we ready to celebrate Jesus’ first coming, that is Christmas? And are we ready for Jesus’ second coming? If we are not ready, then, now, more than ever, is the time to get ready. So how do we prepare our hearts, minds and souls for Jesus?
 

We prepare ourselves by recognizing that our time on this earth is short and is fading fast. Have you ever taken the time to look at the obituaries in the newspaper? The listings are sometimes two, three and four pages long. And the list includes people of any and all ages, any and all ethnic backgrounds, any and all religious persuasions. The list includes people who are a few days old all the way to people who are eighty, ninety and even a hundred years old. When will the Lord return? We do not know. When will we die? That we do not know either. How much time do we have on this earth? Again, we do not know. All we know is that we need to be ready at any time and at all times, because we will meet the Lord, either at His return or at our going to Him. It will happen, thus, we prepare ourselves by having an urgency about being ready.
 

We prepare ourselves by making use of the means that God has given us to get ready, His means of Grace, His Word, the Bible, confession and absolution, and His Sacraments, Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. These are the means that God uses to come to us to give us His good gifts and blessings. We go to Him in prayer. He comes to us through His means of grace. When we absent ourselves from these means we remove His usual means of coming to us to give us His gifts. It is very much like failing to go to the grocery story to purchase food for our bodies. When we do not go to the grocery store we have no food in the pantry and we starve physically. When we fail to go to God’s Word store, when we absent ourselves from divine service and Bible Class, when we fail to read His Word, we starve spiritually. To use an analogy appropriate for the season of Christmas, failing to make use of the means of grace is like waking up on Christmas morning and refusing the presents that have been purchased especially for you. It is like saying to God, “No gifts for me today Lord, I have plenty, maybe next week.”
 

We prepare ourselves by being on guard against the enemies that constantly attack; the devil, the world, and our own sinful nature. We live in a world which is trying to tear down your Christian faith. The world attacks you on every side. It brings false conclusions and expects that you accept them as truth. Such false conclusions as, “everyone else is doing it,” meaning that majority rule equals truth. But we know it does not. We hear such false conclusions as “it’s the twenty-first century,” as if newness equals truth, and that is not necessarily so. We hear false proclaimers misuse God’s name suggesting that there are things we need and must do in order to gain salvation. As I continually remind my confirmands and those in Bible class, watch who is doing what. You know what a verb is and you know what a noun is. Watch who is running the verbs. If someone is suggesting that you run the verbs, that there is something you need to do to be saved, then be wary. But if someone is telling you what Jesus is doing, how He is running the verbs, then you know that they are on the right track. Do not let the devil con you into believing anything except the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
 

Most importantly we prepare ourselves by letting God run the verbs, the show, by letting God prepare us. Remember, everything is a done deal. Jesus has already lived perfectly for us, in our place. Jesus has already suffered and died, paying the price for our sins. Jesus has already risen and ascended into heaven where He is seated at the right hand of the Father, watching over us, ruling over us and interceding for us. Jesus is getting ready to return when He will gather us and all the saints, robe us with His robes of righteousness and take us to be with Himself in heaven for eternity. Until that day we continue to get ready and be ready. We continue to be where the gifts are given out. We continue to revel in the gifts, rejoicing in being given to. My prayer for you is that the Lord will fill you with His Holy Spirit. That the Holy Spirit will guide you and prepare you so that you are ready, so that when Jesus comes again we might stand together with all the saints and proclaim, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.