This sermon was preached at Bridlington Priory Church on 23rd December 2007, 4th Sunday of Advent at 8 a.m. Holy Communion, by Rev. Roy Shaw, Assistant Curate of Hunmanby and Muston parishes
| Epistle | Philippians ch. 4 vv 4-7 |
|---|---|
| Gospel | John ch. 1, vv19-26 |
O Lord, raise up (we pray thee) thy power, and come among us, and with great might succour us; that whereas, through our sins and wickedness, were are sore let and hindered in running the race that is set before us, thy bountiful grace and mercy may speedily help and deliver us; through the satisfaction of thy Son our Lord, to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be honour and glory, world without end, Amen
Two days to go- so it seems appropriate to ask you, in the words of the epistle, to ‘Rejoice!’ Why? Because, as St. Paul tells us, ‘the Lord is at hand’. Wonderful words, and words and truth in which we as Christians do indeed rejoice. The truth for us is that Christ is always near, at hand, among us, and we are always seeking to identify him in those we meet, those who are at hand, those among us, those near to us. That is what the light of Christ in us is all about; to respond to, to encourage, the highest and best, the divine spark, in all around us. But for some among us, some near us, and some at hand, the light of Christ, the person of Christ and the ministry of Christ is not so easy to discern, and we see evidence of that in the gospel reading for this morning.
In that reading, the religious establishment came down from Jerusalem to see John in the wilderness, and by the Jordan river. They pressed him hard- when it says ‘they asked him’, that could just as easily be translated ‘they demanded of him’. So, they press him as to who he was, what he was doing, what his authority was, why he was baptising. Six questions about his very essence, his very reason for being. I have some sympathy for these priests and Levites. John was sending out what careless listeners could construe as ‘mixed messages’; he never claimed to be the one who was to come- the Messiah- but he did things and said things which might lead some who didn’t listen carefully to his message, to think he might be the Messiah. Or to think he might be Elijah. Or the Prophet foretold by Moses in Deuteronomy. All sorts of questions about John’s identity rise up then, and the religious establishment try hard to pin him down. John takes refuge in some words of Isaiah where he discerned his own portrait and identity ‘I am a voice crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord’.
The religious ones then attempt to push him further into a corner. ‘Since you say you’re not the Messiah, why are you baptising?’ Baptism was not unknown in those days, but it was something reserved for Gentiles who were converting to Judaism. But John was here baptising those who were already Jews, who had been born Jews, and this sort of baptism was new and shocking. It was treating the people of God as if they were no better than Gentiles- so the question arises ‘why are you baptising?’
John points away from himself, in answering the question about baptism. Everything he says magnifies the one for whom he is a voice; ‘I baptise with water; the coming one will baptise with fire. I am not worthy to be even a servant of the one who is to come. He stands among you, and you do not recognise him.’
And in this Advent season, in the coming Christmas season, indeed all through our lives, we know that we in our time are not worthy to be the servants of the coming one, and yet we gladly point to Christ and seek to magnify him. We recognise that he stands among us, is near at hand, and that we must make him visible to those who cannot see him.
How do we do that? How do we make this coming one visible? By prayer, of course, that God will raise up among us, as the collect says, his power, and with great might succour us. Succour us so that we are not just pray-ers, but doers also, doing, living the sort of lives the Apostle Paul exhorts us to live as he writes to the Philippians; in unfailing gentleness to others, in having anxiety for nothing, in giving thanksgiving, and making prayer about everything, in having an undisturbed peace of mind which is beyond human comprehension. What a lovely life that is, and it points to Jesus. The qualities in that list from the epistle are authentic marks, showing that the kingdom has made its home in us. With these as our hallmarks, we are in a strong position to answer the questions put to us about our faith, our identity in Christ, our ministry for him, for words will follow from authentic lifestyle.
Yes, we are ‘sinful and wicked’, as the collect says, yes we are ‘sore let and hindered in running the race that is set before us’ in trying to be authentic witnesses in word and deed for our Lord, but we are ever mindful of God’s bountiful grace. Our faith is one of God-given grace, God-given grace, and even more God-given grace. It is that grace of God, so clearly seen in the Christmas story - I remind you of the comfortable words, the words of grace, you will hear later in this service- ‘So God loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, to the end that all that believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life’, and ‘This is a true saying, and worthy of all men to be receive, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners’- it is that grace of God which enables us to pray, enables us to live as the Apostle Paul exhorts us to, enables us to speak for Jesus and about Jesus.
Let us rejoice. The Lord is at hand, the bringer of the peace which passes all human comprehension, the Prince of peace himself. He will enable us.