Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction (the Lectionary)

Good morning everyone!

It is really great to be here with you all this morning!

Particularly, this week, the third Sunday of Advent is called “Gaudete Sunday” - the Sunday of Joy.

Truly, for Mari and I, to be able to come out here, spend some time with people we love, and share the joy of Jesus Christ , is truly a blessing.

Last week, Pastor Ron, gave us an amazing message from Luke on surely one of the heros of this season - the Virgin Mary.

My message today will be on another one — John the Baptist — but to be honest, this one’s a bit different - the passage is from the lectionary, and it happens much later than Christmas-time.

It happens about 30 years later.

We’re going to look at why it’s included, and how we can apply this to our lives today.

In the words of one of my favorite YouTube personalities — LET’S DO THIS!

Lectionary

When I was teaching Sunday School here, just in the other building, I often talked about religious words — important and precise words, to be sure, but words that no normal human being uses outside a religious context — like redemption, propitiation, or even fellowship !

Seriously, when’s the last time you used that word outside of a church context?

The lectionary is one of those words.

Without going into the weeds, the Revised Common Lectionary is an ecumenical document, meaning lots of different denominations use it.

It’s tied to the liturgical calendar, and there are three separate years where a different gospel is emphasized.

The liturgical year starts with Advent, so we are now in year A, and Matthew is the focus.

The idea, is churches that use the Lectionary, will provide comprehensive coverage of the New Testament over the three-year cycle.

They also have special readings for some specific seasons - since we are in the season of Advent, that’s the focus right now.

Advent

But what is Advent?

If you’ve been to a church for a day or two, or a few decades, you probably already know that Advent comes before Christmas, right?

So first question I have for you — why is it a season?

We might be tempted to say we do it as a memorial to the birth of Christ.

And certainly, there are passages in the Bible that occur before His birth, and they are included in the Advent readings.

Last week, the Luke passage is one of those.

Or today, for example, has the Magnificat, the Virgin Mary’s song which took place right after last week’s passage.

There certainly is goodness in remembering things that happened immediately preceding Christ’s birth, but is that the reason for the season?

A history lesson?

No? Maybe a religious word for the Christmas shopping season?

You’re probably already guessing, no :)

The Advent Context

If you remember from last week, there is something we often take for granted, because we hear it a lot… Take a look...

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David.

And the virgin’s name was Mary.

And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”

But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.

What are we taken for granted?

The angel … spoke… Actually for the second time, but I’ll get into that in a second.

The last book of the Old Testament, Malachi, was written somewhere around 430BC, maybe a bit later.

Jesus was born in the flesh ~4 BC.

This period of time is called the intertestamental period and perhaps the biggest thing to note about it is - (silence)

There were no prophets.

No new revelation.

In a very real way, it was a fast of the Word of God - for four hundred years!

And then - in the fullness of time, without warning… A specific angel, Gabriel (they’re not normally named), appears to Mary and says: “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”

— Yes, clearly Mary has angels that talk to her every day!

This is very normal!

The angel coming to Zechariah and Mary marked a turning point in history.

It represented something new — and something that is still new.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what Advent is all about.

Just as the world groaned for something new at Jesus’ first coming, so do we today for His second coming.

The Rev. Doctor Phillip Pfatteicher, a Lutheran, in his book, Journey into the Heart of God: Living the Liturgical Year, wisely commented that:

Adventus, “coming,” “approach,” suggests not only the coming of God into the world in Jesus but the approaching return of the risen Lord in all his heavenly splendor.

Indeed, the Advent season and its hope should not be regarded purely or even primarily in terms of Christmas.

It should not be seen as an introduction to the Incarnation but rather as the completion of the work of redemption.

The spirit of the season is expressed in the impatient cry of a sometimes desperate people, “O that you would tear open the heavens and come down” (Isa.

64:1)

When we celebrate Advent, what we’re doing is recognizing God’s goodness.

That every year, all the time, God goes ahead of us, and looks out for us, even in a crazy messed up world.

John the Baptist

So we’ll go into today’s passage shortly, but before we do, I have a question I’d like you to think about:

Why is today’s passage in the Lectionary for Advent?