The Kiss
Notes
Transcript
“The Kiss”
A sermon for the Second Sunday in Advent
December 6, 2020
Mark E. Ryman
There is glad news, or gospel, that comes to us in this season of Advent when
we look up to the blue skies for the coming of the King. Actually, it is the best of all
news but first we must deal with a bit of unhappy news. Then, once we have let
grace dispense with the bad news, a special greeting will meet us with a kiss.
Let us pray…
Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come,
and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the
faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made
us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever
and ever. Amen
In the early 1980s, I was invited to a weeklong series of preaching services at
Wiley United Methodist Church in my hometown. Pastor Moore and I were
friends and colleagues in ministry; besides the Word was being preached and a
meal served each night before the services. So, I was going to be there; and I was
each night for five consecutive “Edification Services.” After the first night, it
seemed like any of the revivals I had attended. I asked Pastor Moore why they
didn’t call them that: revivals. He said it was because they wouldn’t know if the
Spirit had brought revival until the end of the week.
Each night, Pastor Moore would announce that it was time to greet one
another with a holy kiss, as Paul speaks about Romans 16:16. Now we would have a
serious problem with that biblical greeting in these days of social distancing. In
fact, Pastor Moore noted nearly 40 years ago that many present at the edification
services might be hesitant to give a biblical kiss. So, he suggested a hug might do.
Now, as he announced this, I had a particular perspective of the hundreds of people
present. Being one of several pastors there, I was seated in the chancel and would
participate in the services each night. As Pastor Moore suggested this slight
alteration of the Pauline formula, I noticed one lady in the front pew directly across
the front aisle from myself. She was looking right at me, licking her lips. And
smiling. It was clear to me in that instant, hugging was not for her. Nor would it be
for me. Every night that week, I was greeted, not with a holy hug, but with a big,
wet, kiss.
I don’t think that’s what the Apostle Paul had in mind when he wrote to the
Roman church. What he meant was similar to what we think of when we see
Middle Easterners greet one another in the movies with a polite peck on each
cheek. This is a meeting of two friends with a kiss, and when performed by
followers of Jesus, it is not merely a greeting; it is a holy kiss.
In today’s Psalm, we see a picture of another kind of kiss, just as intimate
and every bit as holy. It is the kiss of righteousness and peace, two old friends who
have been separated by human sin, for there can be no peace without
righteousness. Unless righteous, one will always feel, and yes, be separated from
God.
We address the problem by devising all kinds of systems to become holy.
This effort is one of self-sanctification. Do this good thing and you will, by virtue of
having done it, be good. One of the problems with this human system is that no
matter how many of these good, usually religious, things are done over the years,
you will still feel guilty. How much good is good enough for a sinner? How does
one deal with the ever-present sense of guilt? This conundrum plagued both Luther
and his confessor, whom he would wear out with hours and hours of daily
confession, and expectations of penance to purge his sins. Nonetheless, it never
worked.
Another problem is that, even if you can come to ignore the sense of guilt,
you are still guilty. You are a sinner. Now here is one of the things that human
systems of religion do not consider: sinners do not need things to do to make
themselves better or holy or righteous. Sinners need a Savior. We do not need a
deliverer who’s good for an initial saving but then we’re left on our own with
whatever method of sanctification makes us feel good going forward. We need a
sanctifying, a holying, a righteous-izing that is permanent, eternal. We need a
Savior whose saving is good for all eternity. We need a righteous kiss that brings
peace on earth, as well as at heaven’s gates where we will, at last, meet our Maker.
This is why, as Paul tells us, the righteous must live by faith.1 The Prophet
Habakkuk said some four hundred years before the apostle.2 The only way to live
before God with peace in the heart is to live by faith. This is how the mountains are
brought low and the paths made straight. 3 Faith is the only way to God. This is also
Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38
Habakkuk 2:4
3
Mark 1:2
1
2
how the baptism of the Holy Spirit 4 is effective. He is the seal of our salvation5,
reminding us of our baptisms, of our faith in Christ Jesus—not in ourselves, in our
systems of religion and self-righteousness. Indeed, this is why you must remember
your baptism whenever you sin. You must be reminded that your righteousness is
not apprehended by being able to avoid sin, or in doing proper penance when you
do sin. Your righteousness is in Christ alone. So remember in whom you have
believed. That is where the holy kiss happens; that is when righteousness and peace
greet one another. 6
This hallowed kiss happens when real peace enters the human heart. That
only transpires when a human being is truly righteous. We have already seen that
this rightness with God is nothing we are able to accomplish on our own. For
heaven’s sake! That’s why we need a Savior. That’s why the Father sent his Son.
That’s why we celebrate Advent and Christmas—Advent to prepare the way, to
admit we are sinners who need a Savior, and Christmas to celebrate the fact that
God has given us one. The Father has seen to it. “Salvation is near to those who fear
Mark 1:8
Ephesians 1:13
6
Psalm 85:10
4
5
him.” 7 Our righteousness, Jesus Christ, goes before us. His footsteps have made a
way for us. 8
However, as soon as we introduce things that we must do in order to be
righteous, we have stepped off the path of righteousness and are lost. This is why
Luther told Melancthon to “sin boldly.” Poor Phillip was so worried that he might
sin, that he was paralyzed. Luther reminded him that he could not contribute
anything to his justification or righteousness with God. Jesus has done it all.
Indeed, knowing that you are going to sin anyway helps; knowing that you have a
Savior helps more. So, you may sin boldly. This does not mean that you are to sin
with purposeful abandon. It means that you know you are a sinner with a Savior.
Knowing that you will fail, that you will trespass anyway, you may be bold or
confident to live without a paralyzing fear of sinning. You can only live with such
bold assurance if you have faith in the blood of Christ covering all of your sins. If
you are left to your religious devices, you will never be confident; you will never be
at rest; you will always be troubled at the thought of God.
7
8
Psalm 85:9
Psalm 85:13
But at the thought of Jesus, one gets used to the idea of being a sinner. One
becomes bold and confident. One grows in grace such that the cross of Christ is the
only thing that makes any sense at all. The cross becomes the ground and center of
your whole life. You have no use for anything your conscience retches up to
provide comfort. It will not last; it quickly sours to the taste. Only the word of the
cross will do for you. Your spirit cries out, “Let me hear what God the LORD will
speak.”9 And what does the Lord say? What is written? “Surely his salvation is near
to those who fear him.” 10
Do you fear him, sinner? Or do you have a ready, religious answer, some
thing you imagine you can do in order to be right with God again? Put no credence
in religious devotion. Fear God so that you may learn to love him, and know that
you may trust him. He has not given you a Savior so that you may depend upon
yourself instead. No holy kiss happens there, just the sad, perhaps half-terrifying
notion that the only kiss you’re likely to get is from some aged sister in the front
pew, eyeing you as she smacks her lips.
9
Psalm 85:8
Psalm 85:9
10
Yet a holy kiss does exist. It comes down from heaven and greets the earth at
the horizon of the cross.11 This is where something more than edification occurs,
where revival breaks out in the soul. It is at the place of a kiss, the greeting come
down from heaven: that God’s righteousness is ours because of the faithfulness of
Christ alone springing up from the ground of the cross. 12
Amen.
11
12
Psalm 85:11
Psalm 85:11