God’s
grace, peace and mercy be with you. My sermon title is Voice, Message and
Meaning. My focus is our Gospel (Luke 3:1-6). Let us pray.
Heavenly Father, the psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to
me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” Now that our feet are
within your gates, we rejoice to hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit
enlighten our minds and move our hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we
pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.
If
you search for voice on the internet, you will first discover an app and a TV
show. My search also listed a recorder, translator and a changer. The last one
allows your voice to sound like a robot or a girl, like you’re in a cave or at
a busy airport.
Webster
offers two meanings for voice – a noun and a verb. The noun defines voice as a
sound produced by vertebrates by means of lungs or larynx. The verb means to
express in words, as in to voice a complaint. The origin of voice is the
Latin word vox. In Latin voice is a word, sentence or language. The term
vox populi means voice of the people or the opinion of the majority.
Some
voices we know immediately. We recognize the voices of our parents, siblings
and loved ones. Many of us grew up listening to the voices of Bob Prince, Myron
Cope, Bill and Patti Burns. We can identify the voices of James Earl Jones,
Morgan Freeman or Queen Elizabeth when we hear it.
The
word voice appears in the Bible over 650 times. The phrase voice of God
appears seven times in the Old Testament. In Exodus, we read, “As the
sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and the voice of God
answered him.”[1] In Deuteronomy, Moses
asked, “Has a people ever heard the voice of God speaking out of the
fire, as you have and lived?”[2] And the Psalmist reminds
us that, “Nations rage! Kingdoms fall! But at the voice of God the earth
itself melts.”[3]
Two
thousand years ago, in the land of Jerusalem, the voices that seemed to matter more
than that of God were those of Caesar, Pontius Pilate, King Herod, Philip the
Tetrarch and Caiaphas the High Priest. Yet, a solitary voice heralding the
coming of One above all powers and principalities resided not in the halls of political
or religious power but in the wilderness of the desert … and the people
flocked to hear that lone voice! Hence, our Advent journey takes us from Voice
to Message, my second point.
In
today’s reading, Luke included many pastoral preoccupations and literary themes
important to Christians of the 1st century’s 9th decade.
While chapter three introduced readers to John the Baptist, he is not Luke’s
main concern. Luke’s focus is Jesus’ divine mission in relation to John’s
message – the word he proclaimed. “Word” was a significant term for the
proclamation of the Gospel’s events,[4] and Luke showed that the Word came
to John politically, religiously, chronologically and geographically.[5]
In
verse 2, we read, “the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in
the wilderness.”[6] “The
word of God came to John” is the main clause of the sentence. The word
of God that came to John, he proclaimed to the people who followed him into the
wilderness. Geographically, the desert wilderness, far from the political and
religious centers of power, recalled Israel’s formation as God’s covenant
people and their return to God. As a place and a theme, the desert wilderness
was an appropriate setting for repentance.
The
wilderness served John well in his call as one of the old-style prophets, but
the content of his preaching placed him in the new.[7] For Luke, “to
preach,” meant to proclaim or declare that a new era of salvation was
present and active through John the Baptist or Jesus or the disciples.[8] John’s preaching extended beyond
Pharisees and Sadducees to all people seeking to escape God’s wrath like snakes
scurrying before a fire.
In
addition to his fiery preaching, John’s baptism was a ministry of preparing the
way of the Lord, making hearts ready for the one soon to come “who is
mightier than I.”[9] A
baptism of repentance was an abandonment of the old way of life and a
conversion that included faith that the era of salvation was dawning.[10]
His
ministry was a continuation of salvation history, the tradition of how God
dealt with His covenant people.[11] By recalling Isaiah and
Elijah, Luke showed that God’s embrace of all nations was not a new theme but
one embedded in the tradition all along.[12] As the Gospel made
its way in the world, it interacted within the world’s political and religious
arenas. From its expansion from Jerusalem to Rome, the Gospel encountered not
only the poor, lame and blind, but also high priests, imperial guards,
governors and the emperor himself. In this sense, Luke’s universality is
geographical, social, political and economic.[13]
People
responded to John’s call to repent and prepare the way for the Christ.
Unfortunately, some responded by appealing to a physical relationship to
Abraham. John retorted that this was an ineffectual effort to escape God’s
wrath. Every tree that did not bear good fruit, that is, the fruit of
repentance, would be cut down and thrown into the fire. A true son of Abraham
bore the fruit of repentance. Human origins were of no consequence. What
mattered was that one respond to the life that God brought forth through the
Holy Spirit.
John
offered practical advice to members of three groups – crowds, tax collectors
and soldiers – who asked him, “What should we do?” The advice in each
case is a central Lukan concern: nothing so hinders relationship to God, dehumanizes
human beings and ruins life in community as attachment to wealth and
possessions. To accept and live in the hospitality of God always means
detachment to things.[14]
John’s
answers addressed the injustices and inequities of that society. His words echoed
Luke’s convictions about the social implications of the gospel.[15] The Church built
these social and economic concerns into its common life. We read in the second
and fourth chapters of Acts how all who believed lived together and held all
things in common. John answered their question. People who had food and
clothing shared with people who had none. Taxes were not to be calculated
according to the greed of the people in power. The military were to cease
victimizing occupied peasants with threats and intimidation.
John’s
baptism turned people to the Lord and set them in motion on the way of the
Lord, a journey by grace and a way of new life, so that when holiness arrived
in the person of Jesus Christ, they would be prepared to meet him.
Repentance
expressed itself in daily life. Each instruction from John dealt with people’s
attachments to things in this world. Repentance and baptism for the forgiveness
of sins is Good News. Our Gospel reminds us that not only is repentance an
appropriate spirit during Advent but also that the way to Christ leads through
the wilderness where John is preaching. That leads me to my final point,
Meaning.
As
Lutherans, we are all familiar with the question asked so frequently in
Luther’s Small Catechism: What does this mean? Unfortunately, some
Christians never delve beyond the 16th century and familiarize
themselves with the Church Fathers and the Ancient Church. If you are familiar
with the history of the Ancient Church, you likely know about Eusebius of
Caesarea. As the 4th century bishop of Caesarea in Palestine, he
wrote a ten-volume history of the Church, works of apology and exegetical studies
explaining the Scriptures. In writing how John the Baptist fulfilled the
prophecy of Isaiah, Eusebius wrote this:
It
was in the wilderness that God’s saving presence was proclaimed by John the
Baptist, and there that God’s salvation was seen. The words of this prophecy
were fulfilled when Christ and his glory were made manifest to all: after his
baptism the heavens opened, and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove rested on
him, and the Father’s voice was heard, bearing witness to the Son: This is my
beloved Son, listen to him.
The
prophecy meant that God was to come to a deserted place, inaccessible from the
beginning. None of the pagans had any knowledge of God, since his holy servants
and prophets were kept from approaching them. The voice commands that a way be
prepared for the Word of God: the rough and trackless ground is to be made
level, so that our God may find a highway when he comes. Prepare the way of the
Lord: the way is the preaching of the Gospel, the new message of consolation,
ready to bring to all mankind the knowledge of God’s saving power.[16]
Folks,
I read this to you because of its importance 1600 years after Eusebius wrote
it. Today, more than ever, people need the new message of consolation. Mankind needs
to know God’s saving power. We need to listen to the voice of God over all
others.
Multitudes
believe that their voices matter. Some even believe that their voices matter
even more than God’s. Many people listen to elected politicians and appointed
bureaucrats. Millions follow the tweets of actors and athletes. Audiences
listen attentively to talk show hosts and podcasters. You can say I'm old fashioned,
say I'm over the hill, but I don’t listen to those voices. I hear them and
their messages, but they do not influence my life the way the voice of John the
Baptist did. They don’t guide my life like the words of Jesus, the Word of God.
God’s
voice has the power to silence all the other voices in our lives. The devil may
accuse us. Our own flesh may croon words of self-indulgence and self-pity. Even
the world may offer us an unremitting barrage of “wisdom” and woe and
invitations to the next best thing. But God’s voice can still them all … if
only we would listen to it.
What
is God’s voice saying to you today? Do you listen for it? Do you pay attention
to it and treasure it? Do you recognize God’s voice every time you hear it? Do
you heed the voice of Jesus drawing you closer? Are His promises real to you?
Is His power believable?
My
friends, I encourage you to turn to God’s voice. Absorb His words of love and encouragement
and hope. Through this season of Advent, follow God’s gentle leading. God’s
still, small voice has the power to silence all others! Each day, pray these
words: Father, I want to hear your voice today. Open my ears, so that I can
hear you; open my heart, so that I can embrace you. When
you do may the peace of God that surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts
and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
[1]
Exodus 19:19.
[2] Deuteronomy
4:43.
[3]
Psalm 46:6.
[4] Arthur
A. Just, Jr., Luke 1:1 – 9:50. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House (1996),
148.
5 Eugene
LaVerdiere, Luke. Wilmington, DE: Michael Glazier, Inc. (1986), 47.
[6] Luke
3:2.
[7] Just,
148.
[8] Just,
149. See Luke 3:3.
[9] Fred
B. Craddock, Luke. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press (2009), 47. Luke
3:16.
[10]
Just, 149.
[11]
Craddock, 47.
[12]
Craddock, 48.
[13]
Craddock, 47.
[14] Brendan
Byrne, The Hospitality of God: A Reading of Luke’s Gospel. Collegeville, MN:
Liturgical Press (2000), 40.
[15]
Craddock, 48.
[16] From
a commentary on Isaiah by Eusebius of Caesarea, bishop.
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