The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
Mark 1:1-8 “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, ‘BEHOLD, I SEND MY MESSENGER BEFORE YOUR FACE, WHO WILL PREPARE YOUR WAY; 3 THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, ‘MAKE READY THE WAY OF THE LORD, MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT.’ 4 John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And all the country of Judea was going out to him, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. 6 And John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist, and his diet was locusts and wild honey. 7 And he was preaching, and saying, ‘After me One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to stoop down and untie the thong of His sandals. 8 I baptized you with water; but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.’” (NASB)
Last Sunday was the First Sunday in Advent and we know that’s it’s message is “the Christ is coming, has come, and continues to come. Be ready!”
On this Second Sunday in Advent John the Baptist comes to us, as he does every Second Sunday in Advent to instruct call and us in what it means to “be ready” and what it means to prepare the way of the Lord.
In a word, repent. It is after all the fundamental act of the Christian. True repentance, Genuine Christian repentance is a rare thing, especially in a day when the Law as God has given it to us and for the purpose He has given it to us is all but lost.
Yet, repentance is the proper response to the Advent message, Behold our King is coming. The Season of Advent is the season that teaches us to prepare all three of Christ’s comings.
Enter John the Baptist. “‘BEHOLD, I SEND MY MESSENGER BEFORE YOUR FACE, WHO WILL PREPARE YOUR WAY; THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, MAKE READY THE WAY OF THE LORD, MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT.’ John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”
Baptism, repentance, and the forgiveness of sins is the best and really the one way to prepare for the coming of Christmas, the return of the King of kings on the Last Day, and for Jesus as He comes to us in His Word and sacrament ministry.
When God comes into the company of sinners or when God descends from on high and draws His children into His presence, the proper form of preparation to stand in the presence of God is Christian repentance.
After all, look at all the work God put into preparing the way for His only begotten Son. First, He forgave Adam and Eve. He saved the eight from the flood. He gave Abraham a promise and raised up a holy nation from that promise. He preserved His chosen people, His children for thousands of years.
In the midst of all that blood and idolatrous history, He sent prophets to preach and teach and His Law and Gospel. He instructed the Prophet Isaiah to say and write, “Speak kindly to Jerusalem; And call out to her, that her warfare has ended, That her [c]iniquity has been removed, That she has received of the Lord’s hand Double for all her sins.” 3 A voice is calling, “Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.”
Isaiah 40:3 spoke of John the Baptist, as does Malachi 3:1, “‘Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,’ says the Lord of hosts.”
Then one day God sent an angel to the priest Zacharias saying, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John. . . 16 And he will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God. 17 It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
Then seeming suddenly,“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. . . . 4 John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” There he is, the last Old Testament prophet, preaching the Law and the Gospel and bridging the Old and New Testaments by preaching Christ and a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
First let’s get “repentance” right, then we’ll move on to the “baptism of repentance.” The Greek word “repent” is “metanoia” and it means “turn around” or “a change of mind.” In regard to the Christian, it means to change one’s mind about the entirety of his or her life in regard to sin and righteousness. When a person is repentant in the biblical sense, it means that person, has come to understand that he or she has no righteousness, no good thing to offer before God, but trusts only in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Thus, only a Christian can repent in the biblical sense.
As you know “repentance” was one of the big problems Luther had to deal with. “Penance” was all about dealing with one individual sin after another in an endless cycle of debt and payment.
But biblical repentance has as its target the entirety of a person’s like and being. There is no room for language like self-esteem, or loving one’s self, or of good intentions, or of moral neutrality. This understanding that biblical repentance is about the entirety of one’s being and existence should temper, to some degree, any Lutheran’s tendency to spend so much time on this or that particular sin. Repentance has as its target the entirety of a person’s life.
Luther wrote or a proper understanding of repentance and of sin, “repentance simply lumps everything together and says, ‘Everything is pure sin with us. [Why] would we want to spend so much time investigating, dissecting, or distinguishing [individual sins, as is done in penance]?’” (The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, Robert Kolb and Timothy J. Wengert, eds. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000, p 318).
Now listen to the Small Catechism’s instruction in regard Confession. “What sins should we confess? Before God we should plead guilty of all sins, even of those which we do not know, as we do in the Lord’s Prayer. But before the confessor we should confess those sins alone which we know and feel in our hearts.” The second sentence singles out the individual sins we remember. The first sentence covers the entirety of our lives.
This brings us then to what Bible means when it calls for repentance. In the New Testament’s use of the word “metanoia” shows that repentance consists of two parts.
The Augsburg Confession teaches this about the nature of Christian repentance. “Properly speaking, true repentance is nothing else than to have contrition and sorrow, or terror, on account of sin, and yet at the same time to believe the Gospel and absolution (namely, that sin has been forgiven and grace has been obtained through Christ) and this faith will comfort the heart and again set it at rest.” A.C. XII
Christian repentance is not just the feeling of sorrow or guilt. It is a one and singular disposition consisting of contrition and sorrow on account of sin AND at the same time to believing the Gospel and absolution (namely, that sin has been forgiven and grace has been obtained through Christ). Repentance is nothing more than faith taking hold of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, especially in a time of need.
Now this next part is really important. John the Baptist didn’t come just preaching a message of “repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” That is where the sacramentarian, both past and present get it wrong. They separate repentance from baptism and baptism from repentance. For them one my repent first and then be baptized to as a symbol of their repentance. Repentance and baptism becomes a work they do, not God.
Again the Small Catechism. “What does such baptizing with water indicate?–Answer. It signifies that the old Adam in us should, by daily contrition and repentance, be drowned and die with all sins and evil lusts, and, again, a new man daily come forth and arise; who shall live before God in righteousness and purity forever.” To repent is to make use of your baptism and to make use of your baptism is to repent.
Where is this written?–Answer. St. Paul says Romans, chapter 6: We are buried with Christ by Baptism into death, that, like as He was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
“If you live in repentance, you walk in Baptism, which not only signifies such a new life, but also produces, begins, and exercises it. 76] For therein are given grace, the Spirit, and power to suppress the old man, so that the new man may come forth and become strong…Repentance, therefore, is nothing else than a return and approach to Baptism, that we repeat and practice what we began before, but abandoned.” (Large Catechism, Baptism, 74 & 76) Repentance is nothing more than faith taking hold of that which has been given in Holy Baptism.
We must admit that we are depraved and have nothing to offer by sin. Then we take our condition to the cross. This is the proper way to prepare for the coming of Christ. “As for me,” John preached, “I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
John the Baptist followed in the footsteps of the Old Testament prophets before him in preaching repentance and the forgiveness of sins. But John was sent to do something even more. He was sent to preach a baptism for the remission of sins. Baptism’s significance as a means of forgiveness is so tied to John’s identity and preaching office that it earned him the name “John the Baptist.”
To be baptized is to receive the forgiveness of sins. To be baptized is to live in all the benefits of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Baptism is not a one time act, one and done. It is a condition and a continual daily act of repentance.
Advent calls us to prepare for the coming of Christ. It calls us to return to our own baptism and its daily use. In and through baptism we are contrite and full of sorrow over the entirety of our lives and over individual sins.
The biblical doctrine of baptism and repentance assures and frees us from unceasing introspection and spiritual self-flagellation over our sin, motives, and life lived under the law rather than the Gospel. This is why Advent goes from deep lenten type reflection to the greatest celebration of joy and angelic hymns. “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”
Advent and John the Baptist are calling us back to the most fundamental exercise of Christian faith – repentance. Repent and be baptized and you the baptized, repent and make use of your baptism.
“Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. (Luke 2:10).
AMEN.
May the peace that surpasses all understanding keep our minds and hearts in Christ Jesus. Amen.