Third Sunday of Advent
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series III, Cycle A
The church year theological clue
The liturgical/homiletical purpose of this Sunday is to deal with a question that is fundamental to the incarnation, Jesus' identity as the Messiah, who has come to God's people and who will come again. The focus of the gospel shows how Jesus' word and works identified him as the Messiah, the incarnate Word, giving a better understanding of the incarnation as it was revealed in his life and ministry to the church that is about to celebrate his birth. The Gospel also points to John the Baptizer as the forerunner of Christ, who prepares the way of the Lord, and is also a model of godly service and witness for all believers.
The lessons for this Sunday make it a Sunday of transition between the first two Sundays in Advent, which are oriented to the Second Coming, and the Fourth Sunday in Advent, which offers final preparations for the joyful celebration of the birth of Christ. In this respect, it enriches the Christmas worship by reminding the church that Christ is present in the world through his Word, the sacraments, and the Holy Spirit, and that the one whose birth will be observed in about a week will come again at the end of the age.
The Prayer of the Day - The only Advent collect which does not begin with "stir up...." The prayer appears to have been inspired by the appointed - and traditional - Gospel, because it suggests that John the Baptizer had the biblical knowledge and necessary wisdom to understand the answer Jesus gave to the delegation John sent asking him, "Are you he who is to come (the Messiah)?" The church prays for such wisdom in order to witness to the Christ and prepare his way in the world.
The Psalm of the Day - Psalm 146 was selected because it centers on Jesus' answer to the disciples of John who asked him, "Are you he who is to come, or do we look for another?" - and is a fitting response to the First Lesson, Isaiah 35:1-10. It asserts that people who know and trust the Lord are happy and hopeful because they depend on the Lord God, "who made heaven and earth, the seas, and all that is in them," and keeps his promise forever. He is a God who gives justice to the hungry and oppressed, sets the prisoners free, opens the eyes of the blind, lifts up those who are bowed down, cares for the stranger, sustains the orphan and widow, but frustrates the way of the wicked. Praise the Lord, O my soul!
The Psalm Prayer
God of glory and power, happy indeed are those who have put their trust in you. Shine the brightness of your light upon us, that we may love you always with a pure heart and praise you forever; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
The readings:
Isaiah 35:1-10
Isaiah's prophecy in this chapter has to do with the return of the Israelites from the Babylonian captivity, which he sees as a repetition of the exodus from Egypt. Their trust in the Lord will be rewarded and their hope will at last be realized; the people of Israel will return to Zion and the glory of their nation will be restored. Rather than sustaining his people with manna, as in the exodus, God will bless the poor and the oppressed, work miracles among the blind, the lame, the dumb and others, and he will not only restore the glory of Zion but establish a highway - the Holy Way - for "the return of the ransomed of the Lord."
Isaiah's eschatological theology here is consistent with his vision of a faithful God, who keeps promises to his people and, therefore, can be trusted. He has the power to rescue and restore his people Israel and return them safely to Zion. That, Isaiah declares, will be a great day. The prophesy also provided Jesus with a biblical answer to John's question, "Are you he who is to come?" That is the main reason it was selected to complement Matthew 11, the Gospel for the Day.
James 5:7-10
This epistle is an echo of the type of eschatology that predominates on the First Sunday in Advent; it looks to - and anticipates - the return of the Lord. It is "out of sync" with the other propers for this day, probably because it was taken from a ninth century lectionary (Murbach, France), which appointed this lesson for a weekday reading for Advent. The lesson was moved to Sunday in the post-Vatican II lectionary and, thereby, found its way into contemporary lectionaries.
James has a well-developed eschatology, which looks for the Parousia and prompts him to urge the people to be "patient (like a farmer waiting for the harvest) until the coming of the Lord." He also believes that the Second Coming is "at hand" and "the Judge is standing at the door." In a time of persecution that causes suffering, the patience of godly people should be like that of the prophets. The note of patience speaks directly to contemporary Christians and addresses the fact that Christ will come when God gives the signal; the church must continue to wait expectantly - and patiently.
Matthew 11:2-11
Anyone who is familiar with the relationship of John the Baptizer and Jesus has to wonder what prompted John to send disciples to Jesus to ask, "Are you he who is to come, or do we look for another?" It is a preposterous question, one which he should have asked Jesus when he appeared for baptism at the River Jordan; it comes too late in the story and readers are hard-pressed to arrive at a satisfactory reason for John's question. Nor does Matthew tell how John received Jesus' answer, "Go and tell John what you hear and see" - the mighty works he does among the hopeless and helpless people of Israel. Either the answer was satisfactory, or John was beheaded before another scene in this drama could be orchestrated.
Christ's speech about John the Baptizer, culminating in his assertion that John the Baptizer is the Elijah figure whom the prophets declared would appear in connection with the coming of the Messiah, is almost like a eulogy, as though Jesus knew that John would soon die, and wanted to set the record straight about John for all time. John was the one he said he was, the one who came to prepare the way of the Lord and make his paths straight.
The theology spelled out in this Gospel is realized eschatology, in that it has to do with the First Coming, the appearance in the flesh, the incarnation, of Jesus as the Messiah of God. The crux of the matter for us is whether or not John's question is ours; do we believe that Jesus is the Messiah? Or, could our question be even more fundamental, "Just who are you, Jesus?" - or even "Who does this Jesus think he is, anyway?" If we can't perceive from Jesus' answer that he is the Messiah, we have no reason to celebrate Christmas or simply to go through the motions of observing Advent.
A biblical story sermon suggested by the Gospel, Matthew 11:2-11 of the Steimel model in Proclaiming the Story - "A Surprising Question and a Strange Answer."
The setting: John, in prison, sends his disciples to Jesus with what is for him a surprising question, "Are you he who is to come, or do we look for another?" It is surprising, not simply because John has already encountered Jesus as the one sent by God, his beloved Son, but because it is a terribly contemporary question and it needs to be answered in a satisfying way. Was Jesus really the Messiah? John's question was serious; he really wanted to know what Jesus' answer would be. It really was the right question for him to ask! Don't we tend to ask the wrong question much too often?
In the movie, Desperately Seeking Susan, it is not really Susan, a veritable free spirit, who is being sought by her friends and lovers, but Roberta who is doing the desperate seeking. Roberta is the wife of a very successful spa and tub salesman; she lives in a luxurious apartment, has almost everything she could want. At the same time, she really has nothing, not even the love of her husband who, she finally realizes, is more in love with himself than he is with her; his greatest pleasure is to watch the commercials he has made of himself. Roberta manages to change places with Susan and, in this process, she finds a man who loves her very much. She is not looking for a person with whom to have an affair; she is really, the movie makes clear, looking for herself, asking that contemporary question that is so common, "Who am I?" John might tell us that we are searching for our own identities when we ought to be asking a question about Jesus: "Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?" (adapted from The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown, C.S.S., 1986)
The unfolding story: Jesus' answer, too, is strange, because he makes no direct assertion of his identity nor does he refer to their encounter at the Jordan. He replies to the question by pointing out what he is doing in his ministry. Jesus' answer, when it was relayed to John by his disciples, must have brought peace and blessed assurance to his soul. Truly, it is when people, through faith, perceive the full scope of Jesus' life and ministry, the fullness of the incarnation, including his suffering, death, and resurrection, that they identify him as the one to whom they can entrust their very lives while they are living and their eternal destiny when they die.
The climax of the story: When Jesus preached John's "funeral sermon" he emphasized, in his reply, that service to God and people was a sign that he was the Messiah. Service is also the nature of the life that believers are to live in imitation of their Lord. Serving people in the name of Jesus the Christ is the only way to find full favor with God; it is the secret of genuine greatness in the eyes of God; it does not win eternal life for anyone - that comes through the grace of God in Jesus Christ - but it does give comfort and assurance to the person who faithfully serves the Lord.
Jesus' sermonette for John functions as a reminder that we were all ordained for service, in the Sacrament of Baptism. The Lord has come! Serve him as long as you live - and know when you do so, you prepare the way of the Lord in the world.
(Note: in this type of sermon, which follows the plot, or the story line, of the text, two other stories - the preacher's and those of the people - need to be interwoven with the biblical story, as in the first part of the sermon. This technique is more one of integration of biblical and contemporary story than it is a matter of illustrating the truth of the gospel. By themselves, the contemporary stories a pastor interweaves with the story may be in the form that could be called illustrations, but the Steimle technique as demonstrated in "The Stranger," in God, the Stranger, turns the entire sermon into a complete story.)
Old Testament sermon series, Isaiah 35:1-10 - "God's Day for Rejoicing."
1. The Lord God is one who comes with majesty, glory, and power to save and restore his people.
2. His coming will work miracles that will rejuvenate his people; he will free them from their enemies (especially sin and death, in our case).
3. He shall "rework" the earth and establish a holy way back to him which finds its culmination in Christ.
4. Because Christ came as Messiah and opened up the way back to God for all people, this is a day of rejoicing and praying, Come, Lord Jesus! Come quickly!
A Sermon on the Second Lesson, James 5:7-10
Paul Scherer, in one of the two sermons on Romans 15:4 which he preached in Union Seminary chapel, said, "There was a tugboat that for fifty years sat moored to her dock in the River Thames. She had been set there by an act of Parliament under Queen Victoria to be a ready help in time of trouble, if any ships should get into difficulty with the Tower Bridge, which had just recently been built. Now, no ship ever had, and it was unlikely that any ship ever would, but for fifty years she sat there - captain and a crew of six, 27 tons of coal in her bunkers, steam going day and night, ready to dash out at a moment's notice on her great adventure. That, you say, is patience."
1. Christians, like the Jews who awaited the coming of the Messiah before them, live in the expectation that Christ will come to earth a second time, this time as judge.
2. His Second Coming is taking an even longer time than his appearance as Messiah, but he will come again when the Lord God determine that the time is ripe.
3. Impatient though they may be for the Parousia, Christians have to learn to live in hope as they wait patiently (as the tugboat did) for the Lord's return.
4. For now, Christians wait patiently for the Parousia by doing the Lord's work in their daily lives.
Psalm-series sermon - Psalm 146 - "A God Who Can Be Trusted."
1. God, in all he has done in the past, has revealed himself to be trustworthy; he keeps his promises to his people. The faithful can depend on God to keep his word (as he has done in the coming of the Messiah).
2. In his life and ministry, Jesus has verified God's reliability by doing the same things that God has done since the beginning of time; opens the eyes of the blind, sets the prisoners free, cares for the stranger, orphans, and widows, etc.
3. God also reveals his trustworthiness by his stance against sin, evil, and wicked people, frustrating those who refuse to listen and obey him.
4. "The Lord shall reign forever ... throughout all generations" and he can be trusted to reign, in Jesus Christ at the last day, with justice and mercy and love.
The liturgical/homiletical purpose of this Sunday is to deal with a question that is fundamental to the incarnation, Jesus' identity as the Messiah, who has come to God's people and who will come again. The focus of the gospel shows how Jesus' word and works identified him as the Messiah, the incarnate Word, giving a better understanding of the incarnation as it was revealed in his life and ministry to the church that is about to celebrate his birth. The Gospel also points to John the Baptizer as the forerunner of Christ, who prepares the way of the Lord, and is also a model of godly service and witness for all believers.
The lessons for this Sunday make it a Sunday of transition between the first two Sundays in Advent, which are oriented to the Second Coming, and the Fourth Sunday in Advent, which offers final preparations for the joyful celebration of the birth of Christ. In this respect, it enriches the Christmas worship by reminding the church that Christ is present in the world through his Word, the sacraments, and the Holy Spirit, and that the one whose birth will be observed in about a week will come again at the end of the age.
The Prayer of the Day - The only Advent collect which does not begin with "stir up...." The prayer appears to have been inspired by the appointed - and traditional - Gospel, because it suggests that John the Baptizer had the biblical knowledge and necessary wisdom to understand the answer Jesus gave to the delegation John sent asking him, "Are you he who is to come (the Messiah)?" The church prays for such wisdom in order to witness to the Christ and prepare his way in the world.
The Psalm of the Day - Psalm 146 was selected because it centers on Jesus' answer to the disciples of John who asked him, "Are you he who is to come, or do we look for another?" - and is a fitting response to the First Lesson, Isaiah 35:1-10. It asserts that people who know and trust the Lord are happy and hopeful because they depend on the Lord God, "who made heaven and earth, the seas, and all that is in them," and keeps his promise forever. He is a God who gives justice to the hungry and oppressed, sets the prisoners free, opens the eyes of the blind, lifts up those who are bowed down, cares for the stranger, sustains the orphan and widow, but frustrates the way of the wicked. Praise the Lord, O my soul!
The Psalm Prayer
God of glory and power, happy indeed are those who have put their trust in you. Shine the brightness of your light upon us, that we may love you always with a pure heart and praise you forever; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
The readings:
Isaiah 35:1-10
Isaiah's prophecy in this chapter has to do with the return of the Israelites from the Babylonian captivity, which he sees as a repetition of the exodus from Egypt. Their trust in the Lord will be rewarded and their hope will at last be realized; the people of Israel will return to Zion and the glory of their nation will be restored. Rather than sustaining his people with manna, as in the exodus, God will bless the poor and the oppressed, work miracles among the blind, the lame, the dumb and others, and he will not only restore the glory of Zion but establish a highway - the Holy Way - for "the return of the ransomed of the Lord."
Isaiah's eschatological theology here is consistent with his vision of a faithful God, who keeps promises to his people and, therefore, can be trusted. He has the power to rescue and restore his people Israel and return them safely to Zion. That, Isaiah declares, will be a great day. The prophesy also provided Jesus with a biblical answer to John's question, "Are you he who is to come?" That is the main reason it was selected to complement Matthew 11, the Gospel for the Day.
James 5:7-10
This epistle is an echo of the type of eschatology that predominates on the First Sunday in Advent; it looks to - and anticipates - the return of the Lord. It is "out of sync" with the other propers for this day, probably because it was taken from a ninth century lectionary (Murbach, France), which appointed this lesson for a weekday reading for Advent. The lesson was moved to Sunday in the post-Vatican II lectionary and, thereby, found its way into contemporary lectionaries.
James has a well-developed eschatology, which looks for the Parousia and prompts him to urge the people to be "patient (like a farmer waiting for the harvest) until the coming of the Lord." He also believes that the Second Coming is "at hand" and "the Judge is standing at the door." In a time of persecution that causes suffering, the patience of godly people should be like that of the prophets. The note of patience speaks directly to contemporary Christians and addresses the fact that Christ will come when God gives the signal; the church must continue to wait expectantly - and patiently.
Matthew 11:2-11
Anyone who is familiar with the relationship of John the Baptizer and Jesus has to wonder what prompted John to send disciples to Jesus to ask, "Are you he who is to come, or do we look for another?" It is a preposterous question, one which he should have asked Jesus when he appeared for baptism at the River Jordan; it comes too late in the story and readers are hard-pressed to arrive at a satisfactory reason for John's question. Nor does Matthew tell how John received Jesus' answer, "Go and tell John what you hear and see" - the mighty works he does among the hopeless and helpless people of Israel. Either the answer was satisfactory, or John was beheaded before another scene in this drama could be orchestrated.
Christ's speech about John the Baptizer, culminating in his assertion that John the Baptizer is the Elijah figure whom the prophets declared would appear in connection with the coming of the Messiah, is almost like a eulogy, as though Jesus knew that John would soon die, and wanted to set the record straight about John for all time. John was the one he said he was, the one who came to prepare the way of the Lord and make his paths straight.
The theology spelled out in this Gospel is realized eschatology, in that it has to do with the First Coming, the appearance in the flesh, the incarnation, of Jesus as the Messiah of God. The crux of the matter for us is whether or not John's question is ours; do we believe that Jesus is the Messiah? Or, could our question be even more fundamental, "Just who are you, Jesus?" - or even "Who does this Jesus think he is, anyway?" If we can't perceive from Jesus' answer that he is the Messiah, we have no reason to celebrate Christmas or simply to go through the motions of observing Advent.
A biblical story sermon suggested by the Gospel, Matthew 11:2-11 of the Steimel model in Proclaiming the Story - "A Surprising Question and a Strange Answer."
The setting: John, in prison, sends his disciples to Jesus with what is for him a surprising question, "Are you he who is to come, or do we look for another?" It is surprising, not simply because John has already encountered Jesus as the one sent by God, his beloved Son, but because it is a terribly contemporary question and it needs to be answered in a satisfying way. Was Jesus really the Messiah? John's question was serious; he really wanted to know what Jesus' answer would be. It really was the right question for him to ask! Don't we tend to ask the wrong question much too often?
In the movie, Desperately Seeking Susan, it is not really Susan, a veritable free spirit, who is being sought by her friends and lovers, but Roberta who is doing the desperate seeking. Roberta is the wife of a very successful spa and tub salesman; she lives in a luxurious apartment, has almost everything she could want. At the same time, she really has nothing, not even the love of her husband who, she finally realizes, is more in love with himself than he is with her; his greatest pleasure is to watch the commercials he has made of himself. Roberta manages to change places with Susan and, in this process, she finds a man who loves her very much. She is not looking for a person with whom to have an affair; she is really, the movie makes clear, looking for herself, asking that contemporary question that is so common, "Who am I?" John might tell us that we are searching for our own identities when we ought to be asking a question about Jesus: "Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?" (adapted from The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown, C.S.S., 1986)
The unfolding story: Jesus' answer, too, is strange, because he makes no direct assertion of his identity nor does he refer to their encounter at the Jordan. He replies to the question by pointing out what he is doing in his ministry. Jesus' answer, when it was relayed to John by his disciples, must have brought peace and blessed assurance to his soul. Truly, it is when people, through faith, perceive the full scope of Jesus' life and ministry, the fullness of the incarnation, including his suffering, death, and resurrection, that they identify him as the one to whom they can entrust their very lives while they are living and their eternal destiny when they die.
The climax of the story: When Jesus preached John's "funeral sermon" he emphasized, in his reply, that service to God and people was a sign that he was the Messiah. Service is also the nature of the life that believers are to live in imitation of their Lord. Serving people in the name of Jesus the Christ is the only way to find full favor with God; it is the secret of genuine greatness in the eyes of God; it does not win eternal life for anyone - that comes through the grace of God in Jesus Christ - but it does give comfort and assurance to the person who faithfully serves the Lord.
Jesus' sermonette for John functions as a reminder that we were all ordained for service, in the Sacrament of Baptism. The Lord has come! Serve him as long as you live - and know when you do so, you prepare the way of the Lord in the world.
(Note: in this type of sermon, which follows the plot, or the story line, of the text, two other stories - the preacher's and those of the people - need to be interwoven with the biblical story, as in the first part of the sermon. This technique is more one of integration of biblical and contemporary story than it is a matter of illustrating the truth of the gospel. By themselves, the contemporary stories a pastor interweaves with the story may be in the form that could be called illustrations, but the Steimle technique as demonstrated in "The Stranger," in God, the Stranger, turns the entire sermon into a complete story.)
Old Testament sermon series, Isaiah 35:1-10 - "God's Day for Rejoicing."
1. The Lord God is one who comes with majesty, glory, and power to save and restore his people.
2. His coming will work miracles that will rejuvenate his people; he will free them from their enemies (especially sin and death, in our case).
3. He shall "rework" the earth and establish a holy way back to him which finds its culmination in Christ.
4. Because Christ came as Messiah and opened up the way back to God for all people, this is a day of rejoicing and praying, Come, Lord Jesus! Come quickly!
A Sermon on the Second Lesson, James 5:7-10
Paul Scherer, in one of the two sermons on Romans 15:4 which he preached in Union Seminary chapel, said, "There was a tugboat that for fifty years sat moored to her dock in the River Thames. She had been set there by an act of Parliament under Queen Victoria to be a ready help in time of trouble, if any ships should get into difficulty with the Tower Bridge, which had just recently been built. Now, no ship ever had, and it was unlikely that any ship ever would, but for fifty years she sat there - captain and a crew of six, 27 tons of coal in her bunkers, steam going day and night, ready to dash out at a moment's notice on her great adventure. That, you say, is patience."
1. Christians, like the Jews who awaited the coming of the Messiah before them, live in the expectation that Christ will come to earth a second time, this time as judge.
2. His Second Coming is taking an even longer time than his appearance as Messiah, but he will come again when the Lord God determine that the time is ripe.
3. Impatient though they may be for the Parousia, Christians have to learn to live in hope as they wait patiently (as the tugboat did) for the Lord's return.
4. For now, Christians wait patiently for the Parousia by doing the Lord's work in their daily lives.
Psalm-series sermon - Psalm 146 - "A God Who Can Be Trusted."
1. God, in all he has done in the past, has revealed himself to be trustworthy; he keeps his promises to his people. The faithful can depend on God to keep his word (as he has done in the coming of the Messiah).
2. In his life and ministry, Jesus has verified God's reliability by doing the same things that God has done since the beginning of time; opens the eyes of the blind, sets the prisoners free, cares for the stranger, orphans, and widows, etc.
3. God also reveals his trustworthiness by his stance against sin, evil, and wicked people, frustrating those who refuse to listen and obey him.
4. "The Lord shall reign forever ... throughout all generations" and he can be trusted to reign, in Jesus Christ at the last day, with justice and mercy and love.
