Advent 3
Preaching
Preaching Luke's Gospel
A Narrative Approach
This week's text presents us with the preaching of John the Baptist. John is a preacher in the tradition of the Old Testament prophets, so the narrative connections with respect to the content of his preaching are primarily Old Testament connections. This sermon begins with a call to repentance (3:8) which is part of John's fundamental message as we explored in Chapter 4. John's call for repentance would brook no simple answers. The people of Israel would be tempted to say to John, "We are the children of Abraham." This would not do! A new age is dawning. Answers which draw upon God's action in the past are insufficient. Other places in this Gospel, however, Luke treats the Old Testament promises of God with more seriousness (Luke 13:10-17, 16; 19:1-10, 9).
There are references to Isaiah and Malachi in vv.15-17. Malachi 3:2 speaks of "the refiner's fire." Isaiah 4:4-5 mentions "purifying with water and fire," and Isaiah 41:15-16 uses the metaphor of threshing and winnowing to speak of God's judgment upon Israel's enemies. John is cast in prophetic mold! As God's prophet he points to the age which is to come. He himself, of course, will not be part of that age.
The work of the Holy Spirit is given fuller expression in the Gospel of Luke than in any of our Gospels. At one level John the Baptist casts the difference between his forerunning work and the work of the Mightier One as a difference of Spirit. John has bap-tized with water. The Mighty One will baptize with the Holy Spirit. Luke's Gospel paints for us a wonderful picture of what it means that Jesus is the Spirit Bearer.
In the Old Testament the work of God's spirit is most funda-mentally the work of life-giving. In Genesis 1:2 we hear: "... a wind from God swept over the face of the waters." Footnotes in most Bibles note that the word for "wind" could also be translated as "spirit." The root word in Hebrew is ruach. With this word we are in the "wind family." Biblical talk about the "spirit" is "wind" talk. It is talk about the air we breathe that gives life to us and to all creation. (Cf. Psalm 33:6; Psalm 104:27-30.)
In Genesis 2:7 we hear that humans have life only when God breathes (Hebrew: nephesh) upon them. (Cf. Job 27:3; 33:4; 34:14-15; Ezekiel 37:1-10; Ecclesiastes 12:7.) Life is animated dust ac-cording to this passage. God breathes and we are alive. When God takes breath away, we die. We have our life as a gift of God's spirit/breath.
In a very important book on the subject by Michael Welker (God the Spirit, Fortress Press, 1994), the author notes that the earliest figures in the Old Testament to be "charismatic," filled with God's Spirit, were the judges. As we might expect, their ministry was primarily the ministry of preservation of the life of God's people. (Cf. Judges 3:7-11; 6:33-35; 11:6-7.) Later in Israel, as the prophets saw God's future with God's people, they spoke of a Spirit resting on the Messiah in such a way that the Messiah would usher in the dawn of universal peace, justice, mercy, and the knowledge of God. The promised Spirit Bearer would bring human life to its fullest flower. (Cf. Isaiah 11:1-10; 42:1-4; 61:1-4.)
From the Old Testament we learn, therefore, that talk of the work of the Holy Spirit is talk about life-giving. As Luke tells the story of Jesus he clearly presents Jesus as the promised Spirit Bearer in whom the life of God is incarnate. Jesus is first of all the child of the Spirit. His birth is wrought by the Spirit of God: Luke 1:34-35. In his baptism the Spirit of God descends upon him as a dove: 3:21-22. Clearly, Jesus is the child of the Spirit!
As Luke tells the story, Jesus understands himself as the Spirit Bearer promised by the prophets. One of the most central Lukan texts is the story of Jesus in his hometown synagogue. Jesus is asked to read from the Scripture. Jesus reads to them from Isaiah 61:1ff., one of the passages we noted above. "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me ..." Jesus reads. When he finishes reading he sits down and the eyes of all the hometown folk are fixed upon him. We can read their minds. "Isn't this Joseph's son?" they think. "No," says Jesus. "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing" (4:21). "I am the Spirit Bearer." That's Jesus' an-nouncement of his identity to those closest to him. Unfortunately, those closest to such a person, then and now, usually don't get the point.
The ministry of the Spirit Bearer is to be a life-giving ministry. Good news to the poor. Release to captives. Sight to the blind. Liberty to the oppressed (4:18-19). That's just what one might expect from the Spirit Bearer, from the One in whom God's Spirit of life is incarnate. Luke uses a title for Jesus in Acts 3:15 that fits this description perfectly. It's a title for Jesus that never got very far. Too bad. It's of vital importance if we are to grasp the depths of Luke's story of Jesus. In this passage the writer simply refers to Jesus as the Author of Life. What a perfect title for the ministry of the One filled with the Spirit!
In his resurrection Jesus becomes more than Spirit Bearer. He becomes the One who sends life, who gives life, for the world. Jesus gives life to the world by sending the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the ongoing ministry of Jesus among us. The Holy Spirit is the active presence, the present activity of Christ. Jesus' last words to the disciples in the book of Luke are his call to his disciples to wait in Jerusalem to receive that which the Father promised. "And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high" (Luke 24:49).
This promise is clearly fulfilled in the story of the day of Pentecost as told in Acts 2:1-38. Peter's sermon plays a crucial role in the strange events of that day. We would expect that Peter's sermon on the first Pentecost would be a sermon about the Holy Spirit. Wrong. Peter's sermon is about Jesus. The climax of his sermon tells us why this is so. Peter's sermon reaches its climax as he talks of the resurrection of Jesus. The resurrected Jesus is the author of Pentecost. That's the conclusion of Peter's sermon. "Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he (Jesus) has poured out this that you both see and hear" (Acts 2:33).
Jesus sends the Spirit. Jesus sends forth the Holy Spirit upon us so that his life-giving ministry may continue even in our time. That's the good news of the reaction to Peter's sermon. People were cut to the heart by Peter's sermon and asked, "What shall we do?" (That same question is addressed to John the Baptist three times in this week's text!) Peter said: "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38). Be baptized! Simple enough. We all have access to this Holy Spirit of life sent forth on the earth by Jesus. But let's broaden this beyond baptism. The crowd wants this Holy Spirit of life. Peter's answer to their question calls upon them to focus their life in Jesus Christ. It is "in the name of Jesus" that the Holy Spirit is poured out. The Holy Spirit works on earth wherever and whenever (Word and Sacraments) we tell the story of Jesus! That's our word of promise to all who yearn for the gift of the Holy Spirit in their lives. Tend the story of Jesus. Center your life in this Spirit Bearer. It is in centering your life in Jesus that you will receive again and again the Spirit of the Life of God breathed into your dusty bones.
"We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, Giver of Life...." The Nicene Creed has it just right. The Holy Spirit is the giver of life to all creation and to all of us who inhabit God's created order.
Homiletical Directions
Luke's Gospel is filled with material that helps to set forth something like a "theology of the Holy Spirit." This theme of the Holy Spirit comes up in a significant way for the first time in this week's lection. John contrasts his ministry with the ministry of the Mighty One who is to come by saying that his baptism of repen-tance is a washing in water only. The Mighty One will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
Preachers need to pay attention and clearly set forth these Holy Spirit themes that are before us in the Lukan year. What we have given above by way of a brief biblical overview of the work of the Holy Spirit covers far too much ground for a single teaching sermon. Many of these texts will come up in the course of the lectionary year. Do make it part of your plan for this year of Luke to spend time in several sermons setting forth Luke's clear teaching on the work of the Holy Spirit.
The Third Sunday in Advent is probably not the place to undertake a complex teaching sermon on the biblical and Lukan view of the work of the Holy Spirit. We can take our cue from John the Baptist, however. John prepares the way for the ministry of the Spirit Bearer. That's a starting point. Having raised this fact about John, however, begs the question, "What or who is the Holy Spirit?" That's a question that lay people ask all the time. There is an even more important question people ask: "How do I get or receive the Holy Spirit?" That question points us precisely to Christmas! Here is a piece of the Holy Spirit mystery that does fit a teaching sermon for this week.
In this sermon we can do an abbreviated version of the biblical material we have looked at above. It is important to get to the question that the lay people asked on the first Pentecost: "What should we do?" (Acts 2:37). Peter invites the crowd to be baptized in Jesus' name in order to receive the Holy Spirit. Therein lies the answer to the commonplace question: "How do I get or receive the Holy Spirit?" You get the Holy Spirit by centering your life in Jesus Christ.
John the Baptist points us to Jesus, the One who gives the Holy Spirit. He points us to new life and new birth by pointing us to the new life and new birth of the baby wrapped in diapers. In this manger lies the One born of the Spirit. In this manger lies the One whose ministry will be a ministry of life-giving breath. Center your life in this One. Tend his story. The Holy Spirit works when-ever and wherever the story of Jesus is told.
There are references to Isaiah and Malachi in vv.15-17. Malachi 3:2 speaks of "the refiner's fire." Isaiah 4:4-5 mentions "purifying with water and fire," and Isaiah 41:15-16 uses the metaphor of threshing and winnowing to speak of God's judgment upon Israel's enemies. John is cast in prophetic mold! As God's prophet he points to the age which is to come. He himself, of course, will not be part of that age.
The work of the Holy Spirit is given fuller expression in the Gospel of Luke than in any of our Gospels. At one level John the Baptist casts the difference between his forerunning work and the work of the Mightier One as a difference of Spirit. John has bap-tized with water. The Mighty One will baptize with the Holy Spirit. Luke's Gospel paints for us a wonderful picture of what it means that Jesus is the Spirit Bearer.
In the Old Testament the work of God's spirit is most funda-mentally the work of life-giving. In Genesis 1:2 we hear: "... a wind from God swept over the face of the waters." Footnotes in most Bibles note that the word for "wind" could also be translated as "spirit." The root word in Hebrew is ruach. With this word we are in the "wind family." Biblical talk about the "spirit" is "wind" talk. It is talk about the air we breathe that gives life to us and to all creation. (Cf. Psalm 33:6; Psalm 104:27-30.)
In Genesis 2:7 we hear that humans have life only when God breathes (Hebrew: nephesh) upon them. (Cf. Job 27:3; 33:4; 34:14-15; Ezekiel 37:1-10; Ecclesiastes 12:7.) Life is animated dust ac-cording to this passage. God breathes and we are alive. When God takes breath away, we die. We have our life as a gift of God's spirit/breath.
In a very important book on the subject by Michael Welker (God the Spirit, Fortress Press, 1994), the author notes that the earliest figures in the Old Testament to be "charismatic," filled with God's Spirit, were the judges. As we might expect, their ministry was primarily the ministry of preservation of the life of God's people. (Cf. Judges 3:7-11; 6:33-35; 11:6-7.) Later in Israel, as the prophets saw God's future with God's people, they spoke of a Spirit resting on the Messiah in such a way that the Messiah would usher in the dawn of universal peace, justice, mercy, and the knowledge of God. The promised Spirit Bearer would bring human life to its fullest flower. (Cf. Isaiah 11:1-10; 42:1-4; 61:1-4.)
From the Old Testament we learn, therefore, that talk of the work of the Holy Spirit is talk about life-giving. As Luke tells the story of Jesus he clearly presents Jesus as the promised Spirit Bearer in whom the life of God is incarnate. Jesus is first of all the child of the Spirit. His birth is wrought by the Spirit of God: Luke 1:34-35. In his baptism the Spirit of God descends upon him as a dove: 3:21-22. Clearly, Jesus is the child of the Spirit!
As Luke tells the story, Jesus understands himself as the Spirit Bearer promised by the prophets. One of the most central Lukan texts is the story of Jesus in his hometown synagogue. Jesus is asked to read from the Scripture. Jesus reads to them from Isaiah 61:1ff., one of the passages we noted above. "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me ..." Jesus reads. When he finishes reading he sits down and the eyes of all the hometown folk are fixed upon him. We can read their minds. "Isn't this Joseph's son?" they think. "No," says Jesus. "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing" (4:21). "I am the Spirit Bearer." That's Jesus' an-nouncement of his identity to those closest to him. Unfortunately, those closest to such a person, then and now, usually don't get the point.
The ministry of the Spirit Bearer is to be a life-giving ministry. Good news to the poor. Release to captives. Sight to the blind. Liberty to the oppressed (4:18-19). That's just what one might expect from the Spirit Bearer, from the One in whom God's Spirit of life is incarnate. Luke uses a title for Jesus in Acts 3:15 that fits this description perfectly. It's a title for Jesus that never got very far. Too bad. It's of vital importance if we are to grasp the depths of Luke's story of Jesus. In this passage the writer simply refers to Jesus as the Author of Life. What a perfect title for the ministry of the One filled with the Spirit!
In his resurrection Jesus becomes more than Spirit Bearer. He becomes the One who sends life, who gives life, for the world. Jesus gives life to the world by sending the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the ongoing ministry of Jesus among us. The Holy Spirit is the active presence, the present activity of Christ. Jesus' last words to the disciples in the book of Luke are his call to his disciples to wait in Jerusalem to receive that which the Father promised. "And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high" (Luke 24:49).
This promise is clearly fulfilled in the story of the day of Pentecost as told in Acts 2:1-38. Peter's sermon plays a crucial role in the strange events of that day. We would expect that Peter's sermon on the first Pentecost would be a sermon about the Holy Spirit. Wrong. Peter's sermon is about Jesus. The climax of his sermon tells us why this is so. Peter's sermon reaches its climax as he talks of the resurrection of Jesus. The resurrected Jesus is the author of Pentecost. That's the conclusion of Peter's sermon. "Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he (Jesus) has poured out this that you both see and hear" (Acts 2:33).
Jesus sends the Spirit. Jesus sends forth the Holy Spirit upon us so that his life-giving ministry may continue even in our time. That's the good news of the reaction to Peter's sermon. People were cut to the heart by Peter's sermon and asked, "What shall we do?" (That same question is addressed to John the Baptist three times in this week's text!) Peter said: "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38). Be baptized! Simple enough. We all have access to this Holy Spirit of life sent forth on the earth by Jesus. But let's broaden this beyond baptism. The crowd wants this Holy Spirit of life. Peter's answer to their question calls upon them to focus their life in Jesus Christ. It is "in the name of Jesus" that the Holy Spirit is poured out. The Holy Spirit works on earth wherever and whenever (Word and Sacraments) we tell the story of Jesus! That's our word of promise to all who yearn for the gift of the Holy Spirit in their lives. Tend the story of Jesus. Center your life in this Spirit Bearer. It is in centering your life in Jesus that you will receive again and again the Spirit of the Life of God breathed into your dusty bones.
"We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, Giver of Life...." The Nicene Creed has it just right. The Holy Spirit is the giver of life to all creation and to all of us who inhabit God's created order.
Homiletical Directions
Luke's Gospel is filled with material that helps to set forth something like a "theology of the Holy Spirit." This theme of the Holy Spirit comes up in a significant way for the first time in this week's lection. John contrasts his ministry with the ministry of the Mighty One who is to come by saying that his baptism of repen-tance is a washing in water only. The Mighty One will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
Preachers need to pay attention and clearly set forth these Holy Spirit themes that are before us in the Lukan year. What we have given above by way of a brief biblical overview of the work of the Holy Spirit covers far too much ground for a single teaching sermon. Many of these texts will come up in the course of the lectionary year. Do make it part of your plan for this year of Luke to spend time in several sermons setting forth Luke's clear teaching on the work of the Holy Spirit.
The Third Sunday in Advent is probably not the place to undertake a complex teaching sermon on the biblical and Lukan view of the work of the Holy Spirit. We can take our cue from John the Baptist, however. John prepares the way for the ministry of the Spirit Bearer. That's a starting point. Having raised this fact about John, however, begs the question, "What or who is the Holy Spirit?" That's a question that lay people ask all the time. There is an even more important question people ask: "How do I get or receive the Holy Spirit?" That question points us precisely to Christmas! Here is a piece of the Holy Spirit mystery that does fit a teaching sermon for this week.
In this sermon we can do an abbreviated version of the biblical material we have looked at above. It is important to get to the question that the lay people asked on the first Pentecost: "What should we do?" (Acts 2:37). Peter invites the crowd to be baptized in Jesus' name in order to receive the Holy Spirit. Therein lies the answer to the commonplace question: "How do I get or receive the Holy Spirit?" You get the Holy Spirit by centering your life in Jesus Christ.
John the Baptist points us to Jesus, the One who gives the Holy Spirit. He points us to new life and new birth by pointing us to the new life and new birth of the baby wrapped in diapers. In this manger lies the One born of the Spirit. In this manger lies the One whose ministry will be a ministry of life-giving breath. Center your life in this One. Tend his story. The Holy Spirit works when-ever and wherever the story of Jesus is told.
