Brent Kuhlman

+ Jesu Juva +

Your congregation is vacant.  Needs a new pastor.  One name among many shows up on the call list.  Someone must have been asleep at the wheel for this man’s name to appear on the list.  His name is John.  He’s young.  That’s nice.  Should be good with the youth.  Son of Zechariah.  His dad was a pastor too.  So far so good.  But then the district official at the call meeting says:  “Not so fast my friends.  Better read what the district supervisor says about this Pastor John.”  Are you nervous yet?

The district supervisor’s remarks go like this:  “Too rigid.  Inflexible.  Expects people to repent.  Expects people to confess their sins.  A loner and not a team player.  Thinks he’s the voice of Isaiah incarnate calling out in the desert.  Preparing people for the Lord’s coming.  His camel hair suit wardrobe is unconventional.  His locust and wild honey diet is idiosyncratic.  Personal hygiene is horrific.  Refuses to cut his hair.  Doesn’t shave.  No one knows that last time he took a shower.  Shows no joy in ministry.  Too serious.  Too outspoken.  He had the gall to call King Herod an adulterer for marrying his brother Philip’s wife.  And to top it all off, Pastor John preaches like a Johnny One Note.  Same old sermon week after week.  He preaches about the salvation of the world in a stronger one coming after him.  He thinks the church is only about the forgiveness of sins.  Such preaching is too simplistic and it causes too much discord.  I cannot recommend Pastor John.  You can not consider him for a call.”

And so Pastor John’s name is dropped from the call list like a hot potato.  No call to preach the Law and the Gospel.  No call to baptize and to confirm your children, marry them or then bury your dead.  I think that it is very likely that John the Baptist would never be called to serve in any congregation in the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod.

So before there ever was a Missouri Synod God gave John the Baptist a pulpit:  the desert of Judea.  God gave him a baptismal font:  the Jordan River.  And John did what God called him to do.  No matter who would hear.  No matter who wouldn’t hear.  No matter what people impolitely promised to do to him if he wouldn’t stop.

And now that there is a Missouri Synod we get John’s sermons in the lectionary.  Thanks be to God.  And John’s advent sermon today is:  “Prepare!”

Prepare the way for the Lord.  Straighten out the paths.  Fill in the valleys.  Flatten out the hills and mountains.  Fill in the potholes.  The Lord is coming.  And He’s coming with salvation.

And so we prayed in the Collect for today:  “Stir up our hearts, O Lord, to make ready the way of your only-begotten Son so that at his second coming we may worship him in purity.”  God’s always busy preparing His people.  He used John the Baptist to prepare Israel for the Lord’s first coming.  Today He prepares us for His second coming through John’s words again.

Jesus has come.  He will come again.  And in Him and only in Him is there salvation.  “All mankind will see God’s salvation,” John preached some 2,000 years ago.  God’s salvation.  Where did people see it?  In Jesus.  At the crib.  On the Cross.  In the empty tomb.  Salvation for all in that Jesus.  All sin forgiven only in Him.

So why wait to worship Jesus in purity on the Last Day?  Might as well do it now.  How do you do that?

Believe in Him.  Trust only in Him for salvation.  Receive His good gifts with the hearty “Amen” of faith.

Go ahead.  Confess your sins to God, to your neighbor, or to your pastor.  You can do that freely because you know that Jesus, the one stronger than John and all of us, won for you a total and free forgiveness in His death.  And such confessing and believing is the life of Holy Baptism.  Now that’s quite a repentance -- a faith that rejoices in such a Lord who buried you into His death at the font.  Worship Jesus now in purity.  Eat and drink His body and blood.  The meal of His promise that you are fully forgiven with no strings attached.  Worship Jesus in purity now by saying:  “Thanks Jesus.  You’re a wonderful Savior.  So glad you love me and have forgiven me.”

Oh, and let’s give thanks to God for calling and sending a preacher like John the Baptist without our help or advice.  “All mankind will see God’s salvation,” he proclaimed.  And you have.  Jesus to whom He pointed.  In the Crib.  On the Cross.  In your Baptism.  At the Supper.  And the same Jesus you’ll see on the Last Day with salvation for you.  In the Name of Jesus.  Amen.