Time with the children of God—Advent wreath second Sunday
Today is the second Sunday in the season of Advent. “Advent” means “arrival” or “coming,” and during Advent we count down the weeks and days until Christmas when we celebrate Jesus’ birth.
An Advent wreath helps us to do this. We have a lovely Advent wreath here. The tradition of the Advent wreath began back in 1839 when a pastor in Germany used the wheel of a cart to make the first Advent wreath.
Wheels are round and this shape—a circle—is a very important feature of the Advent wreath. Shapes have more than one side. The different lines, or sides that join together form the shape—say a square, or a triangle.
But a circle doesn’t have any sides. It only has one line, and the end of it continues with the beginning again. The circle, or ring, has come to be a symbol of forever—eternity.
The circle shape of the Advent wreath reminds us of God’s unending love and the eternal life He makes possible through his Son Jesus, whose birth at Christmas we count down to each Sunday. Jesus was born to be the Saviour of the world to take away everybody’s sins so that we can live with God in heaven forever. So Advent also reminds us to look forward to Jesus’ coming back to earth to take us home to heaven.
Today we light the second candle—the candle of peace. It reminds us that God sent Jesus to make peace between God and all people. We only have God’s unending love and eternal life because we have peace with God through Jesus.
Prayer
SERMON—Know Christ, know peace
Last week on my day off Jessica and I decided to get some Christmas shopping done. We found a lovely gift shop and browsed through all kinds of elegant items, but it was something at the counter that took my eye: a can of instant snow. Many Christmas cards have nostalgic scenes of snow-covered villages—but for us Aussies, Christmas is smack bang in the middle of Summer and the European ‘White Christmas’ experience is not possible ‘Down Under’.
I’m not sure how many cans of instant snow you would need to recreate a snowy Christmas scene in an Aussie front yard. There’d be barely enough in a can to make a single snowball. The bureau has the long-range forecast for this year’s Christmas Day at 25 and sunny—just perfect as far as I’m concerned—but still way too warm for snow in our Australian climate. It would be impossible to have real snow—so it is just as well have snow in a can—an imitation of the real thing.
It struck me just how much of our Christmas celebration involves imitations—snow in a can, plastic Christmas trees, foil ‘icicles’ dangling from their lower branches, battery-operated candles that flicker just like the real thing! Even Christ himself has been tipped out of ‘Christ-mass’ and the public instead speak of ‘The festive season’, ‘happy holidays’ and ‘seasons greetings’.
As we count down to Christmas in 2024, Luke prepares his audience to get ready to receive the ministry of Jesus. Our text begins with a lengthy and rather mundane list of detail which we initially might gloss over. Why is that there? Is it even relevant to us today? We might think: “Get to the point, Luke!” But this is the point—Luke shows that what he writes in regard to the arrival of the Saviour happened against the backdrop of real history. God works through real people, in real places, in real time.
The setting is the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Ceasar. His rule is usually dated from the death of Caesar Augustus on 19 August, 14AD, so the fifteenth year of reign of Tiberius would be around 28-29AD. Pontius Pilate was the Governor of Judea. The Kingdom was divided into four parts, called ‘Tetrarchies’ and Luke names their rulers in the opening verses.
It was at this time—about 28 AD—God sent John the Baptist, a preacher who urged the people to get ready for the coming saviour—an event prophesied some 600 years earlier by the prophet Isaiah:
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.
Every valley shall be filled,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
and the crooked shall become straight,
and the rough places shall become level ways,
and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”
John was preparing the people to see God’s salvation. God who is real and really serious about making the way for all people to come to know him personally, sent to us a Saviour who “became flesh and dwelt among us”. In Christ, God became like us; one of us. This is our real God, really down to earth, really stepping into our world. God had removed all obstacles to all people receiving his divine grace—the valleys were filled, so to speak, and the mountains and hills made low—when he sent Jesus from heaven to earth on the ‘salvation expressway’ to rescue a people helpless to help themselves.
In Luke 2 we hear of this Christmas Gospel; the birth of Jesus. But here in Luke 3 we hear how John was preparing the way for the people to come to this Saviour and receive his ministry of grace. The intention of John’s preaching was to cause the people to consider in their hearts their need for divine forgiveness and mercy. The intention was not to shame people, or urge them to be good, or to be better—but point people to attend to their need for their Saviour, so that they could receive the Saviour’s grace. It was to look outside of themselves and the normal human way of working to try to attain righteousness and peace. It was to see God’s grace, love, forgiveness and righteousness in Christ alone, not because of their own strivings. It was to prepare them—not by turning away from their sin (if we could do this, then we wouldn’t need a Saviour—but we can’t because we are born in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves). So John called people to repent—to turn to Jesus with their sin—so that Jesus could take their sin from them. It was to prepare people to cease their strugglings and strivings to free themselves, and to instead go to Jesus for him to lift their sin and shame from them, and give them pardon and peace.
Jesus showed God’s love by engaging with those around him in a very real way—he really helped them, really served them, really ministered to them. He forgave a woman of the night giving her a new beginning. He sat down at the table and ate with sinners and tax collectors, bringing new hope for them. He raised a widow’s son from the dead, bringing joy out of grief. He put mud on the eyes of a blind man to give him true sight, for the very first time. He freed a young man who was tormented by a demon with self-destructive behavior by a simple yet profound command, so that he could be set free and have a completely new life.
On this second Sunday of Advent where the theme is ‘peace’, this Gospel reading is an incredible fit. For the purpose of preparing ourselves to come to Jesus is to receive peace from God.
So often we look for peace in our own human ways. We’re very quick off the mark to point out the sins of others. But when we miss the mark ourselves, in what we think, say and do, we usually try to find peace by justifying our sins, explaining them away, sweeping them under the carpet, or blaming someone else. When we experience turmoil, problems, stress and conflict, we usually try to withdraw or escape from it. We might go on holidays to “get away from it all”. Many young people today enter virtual worlds through computer gaming as a way to escape the painful reality of life in the real world. There’s ‘Retail Therapy’—which we have come to know as an amusing and somewhat endearing term, but for many it is literally a form of therapy, as people ultimately try to buy their way to peace. Some people self-medicate by turning to alcohol and drugs to numb the pain, but by the time the hangover lifts, peace has long since flown away. Many disordered behavioral patterns like eating disorders eventuate because people are ultimately needing peace.
Trying to obtain peace is hard work. Yet peace cannot be bought, no matter how much money we have. Peace cannot be discovered, no matter how hard we look. Peace cannot be achieved, no matter how hard we try.
Peace is not the absence of trouble or suffering. Jesus said: “In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33).
True peace—real peace—is a gift. And it is given by God’s Son, Jesus. Jesus said: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (John 14:27). Peace is not the absence of storms. True peace is experiencing God’s promise and presence in the midst of the storm. For as Paul says “Since we have been justified (since God has made us right with him) by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Romans 5:1). To have peace is to have Christ. To have Christ is to have peace.
Through John the Baptist, God gave the people a real message. He called them to get ready for their Saviour. John called them to repent; he called the people to come to know a loving God by turning to him with their sin and receiving his forgiveness. God still calls us through the words of John the Baptist today, with that same message—to come to our Saviour with hearts—our broken and contrite hearts—repenting of our sins and receiving real peace from Jesus.
That’s why Jesus suffered under Pontius Pilate on a hill named Golgotha. The Son of God became so real with our sin that he humbled himself to the point of death, even death on a Cross, before himself triumphing over death with his mighty resurrection, for you and me. He has reconciled us to his Father by his holy and precious blood that he shed there. He took our place, so that as he wore our sin, he clothed us in his very own garment of righteousness, so that through trusting Jesus, God says you are just as righteous as he is.
Today’s text concludes with the promise: all humankind will see the salvation of God. This doesn’t mean all people will be saved—but all people will see the salvation of God in Christ when he returns to judge the living and the dead, when “…at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:10-11).
You who know Jesus as your Saviour have seen the salvation of God now. He is here with grace from heaven. Don’t wait until you are good enough to come to him—because we can never be good enough to come to him. Hear Jesus’ invitation: “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28). Jesus is here to lift off of your shoulders all your guilt, sin, shame, strivings, struggling and efforts of trying to be good enough to please God. In the year 2024, during the reign of Anthony Albanese when Peter Malinauskas is the ruler over South Australia, God has come to the corner of Brighton and Jetty Road—and with, in and under ordinary bread and wine, the Saviour of the world places in your hands his holy and precious body and blood to bring you forgiveness, life and salvation. In this holy meal he invites you to as his honoured guests, he assures you that there is absolutely nothing that can separate you from God’s love in Christ Jesus, that you might have peace with him, now and forever.
So in the words of the Apostle Paul: “Now may the Lord of peace himself continually grant you peace in every circumstance. The Lord be with you all!” (2 Thessalonians 3:16). Amen!
