This sermon was preached at Trinity Lutheran, Tailem Bend (9 am) and St. John's Luthera, Karoonda (11 am).
Okay, so the kingdom
of heaven stands near, and I'm supposed to repent? What does one
have to do with the other? Good question, just realize this is the
same question as the Pharisees and the Sadducees, which is never a
good thing. But John's preaching is a very good thing because he's
preparing the way for Jesus.
The
answer to “do I have to repent?” is yes because Jesus reigns by
the forgiveness of sins.
Repent is a word that has stopped having any use outside of the
Church, it seems. Sure, you may hear a news story about an
“unrepentant” criminal on trial, but that seems to be as far as
that goes. But that doesn't mean that John the Baptist was afraid to
take this very word on his lips. And when he does, he uses it to
mean “be converted from unbelief to faith”.
Now
what gives John the authority to stand up before the children of
Israel and say such a thing? He is, as Matthew shows, “The
voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord;
make his paths straight.”.
That's John, that's who he is – he's preparing the way for Jesus
by what he is doing, and fulfilling the word of the prophet Isaiah in
doing it. That means he's not going to be paying attention to the
opinion polls because he has to preach repentance to the very people
who have and believe the Old Testament.
And as this is the only thing that John the Baptist can do, the only
answer that people can give to “Repent!” is “Ok” (the only
good answer at any rate). “Repent, for the reign of heaven stands
near.” It's as though John were saying “stop believing in the
coming Messiah”, to which the people would reply, “what are you
saying, that we should abandon the promises that the Lord gave to our
forefathers for so long? How can you say such a thing?”, so that
he can say “believe in the Messiah who stands near”. . . “ok,
we're listening”.
See, this was an extremely important job that John had to do to
prepare the way of the Lord, and it all depended on what Jesus was
doing. Jesus had been born, had grown up, but he wasn't “on the
scene” yet. And when he comes on the scene, he does so by being
baptised by John (which is a sermon for later in the Church Year).
And when Jesus comes on the scene, he also says “Repent, for the
reign of heaven stands near” - because the reign of heaven is where
Jesus is. So John is preparing the way for all of this. He's
saying, “this is an important time of fulfillment of Holy
Scripture. So believe the Scripture.”
And for you, don't believe in a Savior who is far away from you, but
one who stands near where his Word and Sacraments are. This is
saying the same thing as John did: worship the Christ in truth. For
him, it was, “You can't trust in the coming Messiah anymore,
because he has now come.” For you, it's “Don't trust in a Savior
who isn't here, but trust in the Savior who comes to you as humbly as
he was born in Bethlehem and died on a cross – in the preaching and
hearing of his Word, in the washing with the Word that is Baptism,
and in the Word joined to the bread and wine so that they are his
body and blood. Seek him there or you won't find him.”
So
back to John. John says repent, and people did that. “Then
Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were
going out to him, 6
and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their
sins.”
They did that, except for those who didn't: “But
when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his
baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you
to flee from the wrath to come? 8
Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.”
Again, the answer to “Repent!” can only be “okay”. The
answers that say “no” fall into two types: one group says “we've
already done that” and the other says “we need no repentance”.
Yet both groups still need the forgiveness of sins. You can't say
“I've taken care of this and that sin/offense” (as if you could
do such a thing with works or anything), and you can't say “I don't
need this” because then John the Baptist thunders at you “who
told you that you will escape the wrath to come? How do you know
this is so, that you don't need to repent?” But the sinner says “I
have no righteousness apart from Christ. None. He is all in all for
me.”
And
don't say, “I don't want to go to the divine service today”, as
if that's a reason. This is saying I don't need to go to church
today. This is a different thing than saying “I can't make it to
church today because of illness or emergency or travel” or things
like that, but it's saying “I don't need to”. How far away from
that is saying “I don't need to repent”, which again is what the
Pharisees and Sadducees said?
John says repent because you too need to repent (and that shouldn't
be so offensive since the Law constantly does its work in leading us
to confess our sins (every Sunday) by the 10 commandments (learned in
the Small Catechism). He says this to you not because you don't know
that Jesus has indeed come but so that you may believe only in him
and in no other (because your heart doesn't want to believe in him
alone). To believe in him is to be converted by him from unbelief to
faith. To believe in him is to receive his righteousness alone as
that which counts before the Father. That's because all you can
manage is self-righteous, but that's not the reign of heaven.
You need to repent. Me? Yes, you. Otherwise, where does it lead
to say you don't need to repent? “But that's for bad people. I”m
good”. Either way it's a misunderstanding of what sin is.
We're angered by evil, but God isn't? We're angered by
self-righteous [jerks] but God isn't? The difference is that God is
righteously angered by the sins of sinners while at the same time
wanting them to be saved. And so repentance – to turn from sin and
unbelief and believe the promises of the free gift of forgiveness of
sins for Jesus' sake – this must be preached.
Part of the confusion with the word repentance is that “Repent!”
is something you say to someone outside of the Church. You say “Hey,
buddy, repent.” But it's also to be said to those who in the
Church. And that's because in the Church you have mighty enemies in
sin, death, and the devil (who don't want you to trust in the
promises of Christ). But do not despair, for
Jesus reigns by the forgiveness of sins. Let me explain why I've
been saying the reign of God instead of the kingdom of God. You say
“kingdom” and you think, okay that's a place. But this word in
the Bible has to do not with a place but with what the King does.
And a king reigns. So when John says “the reign of heaven stands
near”, this points you to Jesus, where the word kingdom doesn't
need automatically make you think Jesus.
And that explains why the reign of God must go with the preaching of
repentance. It all looks forward to, and brings you safely through
the Last Day. That's because Jesus reigns by the forgiveness of
sins. That's how he reigns. So if someone says to you, “How do I
see Jesus reigning?”, you don't say, “Go stick your head up in
heaven and see”. You say, “Look to the cross of Jesus Christ
where he has won the forgiveness of all sins. And, by the way, you
look to that cross by hearing his Word read and preached in faith and
by receiving the Sacraments.” And to do that, you first hear what
your sins are, why Christ your King went to the cross.
And all this is of great help to the Church together and
individually when your sins accuse you. All the anger for your sin
is poured on Jesus so none is left for you. All the claims that sin,
death, and the devil have on you are declared invalid by Christ's
cross which covers all your sin, rescues from death, and delivers
from the accusations of the devil. The reign of Christ is also
personal – as personal as the word of forgiveness that is spoken to
you for all your sins.
And since John baptised in a way that prepared for Christ and the
Baptism that he alone brings, this Christian Baptism must also be
preached to prepare for Christmas. Christmas gifts cause stress, but
the gift of Baptism doesn't and shouldn't, because it's a gift that
you can never be done getting use out of or done appreciating.
Christmas is part joy but because you live in a fallen creation,
there is always stress or sadness or all manner of things that are
wrong. Good thing your baptism delivers you from the fallen creation
and joins you to Christ's death and resurrection, joining you to the
Last Day and eternal life with Christ who has given you this Holy
Baptism.
Conclusion: Since the reign of heaven stands near because Christ
does, you repent. You repent because you have no righteousness of
your own, but Christ is the one who reigns by the forgiveness of
sins, and he reigns all the way to the Last Day, which he has joined
you to in your Baptism. Amen.
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