Texts: Philippians 4:4ff, John 1:19ff
The fourth week in Advent always feels a bit rushed. For starters, it’s often a short week, as it ends with Christmas, regardless of whether Christmas is the day after the 4th Sunday in Advent, or whether it’s a whole week later. Second, since our local custom is to have our Lessons and Carols service on the 4th Sunday in Advent, our normal course of Sunday worship feels half as long. Third, because of that custom, I’ve rarely preached on Advent 4; usually the assisting clergy take this week. And then we have Christmas parties, Las Posadas, and other indicators that Christmas is very close indeed. We can tangibly feel that the waiting is almost over.
This is an appropriate feeling as Advent draws to a close. In many ways, the themes of our readings for the 4th Sunday in Advent are the culmination of the season. As I mentioned last week, for the older approach to the readings as preserved in our Book of Common Prayer, today’s Epistle gives us our “Gaudete” or “Rejoicing” theme, despite last week’s rose candle and rose vestments. Today is when we focus on the near approach of the Lord Jesus. And if we are his people, if we are those who have been united to Christ by faith and baptism, this indeed a cause for rejoicing.
As I’ve mentioned throughout the season, our Advent Collects have followed a progression. We began with the foundation of using the Lord’s first coming to remind us of his second. Since we pray that first collect every day in Advent, we are constantly reminded that we prepare to meet the Lord by casting off the works of darkness and putting on the armor of light. That is, we prepare to meet the Lord by repentance. In the second week we discussed how the Scriptures are God’s message, his word to us of salvation. They tell his story of love and grace. They call us to repentance. They tell us of our duty to God as we respond in love and thankfulness to that gift of grace. Last week we discussed the ordained ministry as following in the footsteps of St. John the Baptist in proclaiming the Lord’s coming, in turning hearts away from sin and toward God through the word and the sacrament. The ministers of the Church proclaim the message of God’s love and the call to repentance. This week we cry out to the Lord for him to come and deliver us. We acknowledge that we cannot run the race on our own. We need his power, might, and succor if we are to make it to the finish line. Indeed, we need his presence. We need the Lord to come among us.
This sense of expectation was the same thing God’s people were feeling in the opening chapters of the Gospels. God sent John the Baptist to prepare his people for the fulfillment of that expectation. Last week we saw the Lord’s description of John’s ministry in the face of John’s own doubts. This week we see John the Baptist’s understanding of his own ministry from the beginning of Gospel according to St. John. At this time in the story, Jesus had not yet begun his public ministry; most of God’s people didn’t know the Messiah had come. They were still in expectation. So, the religious leaders go to John to ask him if he’s the one they had been waiting for. John 1:19:
This is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No.
There are a few Old Testament characters we need to recall if we’re to understand the priests’ and Levites’ questions to John, and the general expectation of God’s people. The Christ is, of course, the Promised Messiah, the heir of David, Israel’s greatest king during the nation’s golden age. At the time John is preaching, it had been centuries since Israel had a proper Davidic king. Nonetheless, God had promised that one day an heir of David would set things to rights and reign forever. But John is not this Davidic heir.
Elijah (or Elias) was the greatest of the Old Testament prophets. Now, last week I misspoke when I mentioned Elijah dying. If you remember the beginning of 2 Kings, Elijah didn’t actually die. He was assumed into heaven in a whirlwind by chariots of fire. When we combine that story with last week’s prophecy at the end of Malachi, we see that many among the Jews expected Elijah himself to return and continue the prophetic ministry where he left off. While Jesus does indeed affirm that John was continuing Elijah’s prophetic ministry, particularly in calling for repentance by “turning the hearts of the disobedience to the wisdom of the just,” John is not Elijah himself.
“That prophet” is a reference to God’s promise that he would send a “prophet like Moses” who would lead God’s people into all truth. Deuteronomy 18 says that this coming prophet would perfectly speak for God and perfectly explain all of God’s Word and Commandments. And God gives the direst of warnings against anyone who refuses to listen to that prophet. But John is not that prophet. He is not the new and better Moses.
So if John is not the new and better David, the return of Elijah, or the new and better Moses, who is he? Quoting Isaiah, John says that he’s the one who would prepare God’s people to meet this promised one. That’s why he’s calling folks to repentance and why he is baptizing. Continuing in our Gospel with Verse 22:
Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias. And they which were sent were of the Pharisees. And they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet? John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not; he it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose. These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.
The new and better David, new and better Elijah, and new and better Moses was indeed already there. But the priests, Levites, and Pharisees did not yet know it. If we continue in the chapter, we see that the very next day John baptizes Jesus, launching the Lord’s public ministry. The waiting, the preparation, the expectation, was about to pay off. Though this means that John’s ministry is drawing to a close, two chapters later we see that John is rejoicing. In John 3:28, John the Baptist is explaining this change to his disciples:
Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease.
“He must increase, but I must decrease.” This is one of the most profound statements in the Bible. In this statement we have yet another way that John the Baptist is a model for pastors and priests. Our job is to exalt Christ and diminish ourselves. But when we diminish, when we decrease, it’s not a tragedy. It’s not an occasion for resentment or sorrow. No, like John said, this is a cause for rejoicing. Come, meet Jesus! Meet the bridegroom! Let me get out of the way and give him all the spotlight. After all, the guest of honor, the promised one, the one we’ve been waiting for: He’s here!
So, John’s joy at meeting the Lord in his first coming is one focus of our rejoicing on Advent 4. In our Epistle, we have another focus for our rejoicing: the Lord’s immanent return. Philippians 4:4:
Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
It’s hard to know whether our opening verse or another one from the same chapter is more famous. The other verse has become popular on coffee mugs and Hobby Lobby wall art lately. It’s the one that begins, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Some snarky folks have redone the verse to say, “I can do all things through a bible verse taken out of context.” And that does point out something important about both our Epistle verse and the other verse: St. Paul was not enjoying a day at the beach when he penned this chapter. Unlike when I was recently visiting Phillipi, there was no cruise with a buffet and tasty beverages in St. Paul’s immediate future!
No, when Paul was in Gaudete mode, when he was rejoicing, he was in prison, and not for the first time. Two months ago, I visited the traditional site of St. Paul’s prison in Philippi itself. But when he was writing to the Philippians, Paul was most likely in Rome awaiting execution. Earlier in the letter, he muses that he’s not sure whether he’d rather live or die. He says that living would be better for the ministry, but dying would be better for him personally. What an incredible statement! He clearly wasn’t depressed or in despair. Rather, he knew that if he died, it would be worth it because he would die for the Lord. More importantly, he also knew that if he died, he would then be with the Lord.
This gives some added wait to St. Paul’s statements in our Epistle. Twice he commands them to rejoice. He then commands them to have obvious and demonstrative “moderation.” The Greek word translated as “moderation” indicates reasonableness, seriousness, and a sober mind. We rejoice, but we don’t act crazy. We’re not overcome by passion or ecstatic experiences. Though we rejoice, we keep our heads. Why do we rejoice? Why is our moderation or reasonableness to be known to all men? Because the Lord is at hand.
Now, this is definitely a statement to the Philippians (and us) that the Lord is coming back. The second Advent is drawing ever nearer. And so we need to keep our heads. We need to rejoice. We are to be “careful,” that is, anxious, about nothing. We take everything to God in prayer and thanksgiving because he takes care of us. The Lord’s promised return is one of the reasons we know God takes care of us. The coming of the Promised One does indeed set everything to rights. We have the downpayment with his first coming. We will have the completion, the fulfillment, when he returns.
But Paul also knows that he might be meeting the Lord sooner than that. If things go the way Paul suspects, the Lord may just be at hand to take Paul to meet him. But Paul’s not freaking out. He, too, is letting his moderation, his reasonableness be known to all. He too is taking his supplications and requests to God with thanksgiving. Even imprisoned and awaiting execution, St. Paul can rejoice. Indeed, he rejoices always, just as he commands us to do. Why? Because one way or another, he will be meeting the Lord. The Lord Jesus is at hand.
The knowledge that we will be meeting the Lord brings us supernatural peace. We have a peace from the Lord that the World cannot understand. St. Paul demonstrates this kind of peace when he’s writing from death row with joy to the Philippians. St. John the Baptist demonstrates this kind of peace when he rejoices that Jesus’ ministry is eclipsing his own.
Yes, the race is hard. Yes, we are burdened by our sins and opposed by the World, the Flesh, and the Devil. But the Lord has come and is coming back in power and glory. So we rejoice. We have peace. And we prepare to meet our King, both on Christmas, and throughout our lives.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
