Sermon for 12/11/22: Third Sunday in Advent

 CLICK HERE for the sermon audio.

CLICK HERE for the sermon video.

Tidings of Comfort

Isaiah 40:1-11

 

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

 

 

The infant crying in its crib; the old man clinging to a beloved hand as life ebbs away—one has just come into the world, and one is ready to depart, but both need comfort. Beginnings and endings and all the times in between, the need for comfort is vital to the human existence. And yet, aren’t we sometimes skeptical of the comfort we are given? Aren’t we tempted to think that it is just pious platitudes? We don’t want to question the motives of others in their attempts to comfort us, but we do anyway. As you know from trying to comfort my family over the past months, giving comfort can be just as difficult, just as painful, as the need to receive it. And so, sometimes we cling to the questionable wisdom of the saying that it is often best to say nothing at all.

God, however, knows how to give comfort. “‘Comfort, comfort my people,’ says your God.” There is a compelling urgency in these words of the Lord. But if this message is not to be confused with the voices of phony reassurance, we need to know precisely what this comfort is. And these words of our Lord, spoken by His prophet, will help us better understand and receive comfort, and then, perhaps,  maybe we can even offer comfort ourselves.

We must remember: comfort implies a comforter; comfort doesn’t just materialize out of nothing. And our Comforter is God Himself. In the Psalms, David confessed: “You, Lord, have helped me and comforted me.” Help and comfort come together. A bit later in his prophecy, Isaiah will rejoice to say: “Sing, O heavens! Be joyful, O earth! And break out in singing, O mountains! For the Lord has comforted His people, and will have mercy on His afflicted.” It is God who does the comforting, and we are the objects of His comfort. God intervenes where and when no man can help to give comfort or restore hope. And there is no end to the help and comfort the Lord will give!

“Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,” our text says. Literally, the text reads, “Speak to the heart of Jerusalem.” It is the heart that needs to be addressed with comfort, and that is because it is in the heart that sin and all evil resides; it is where the devil does his work. Satan takes great delight in accusing us. But when our hearts agree with the condemnation the Law speaks against them—and they must agree—what help is there? Only a message spoken to the heart will satisfy the need. As St. John said: “If our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.” And God has not failed to do what needs doing. He has sent a message of comfort. The message, spoken through Isaiah, is that the warfare is over and iniquity is pardoned. There is now peace between God and man: the peace that has come through Jesus Christ, the One promised by Isaiah and all the prophets. Sin is forgiven through Him who bore the sins of all to the cross! And now, as the prophet says, Jerusalem—God’s holy people—“...has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.”

None of us can ever say that we have suffered more than we have sinned. There is only One who ever suffered more than He sinned, and that was because He sinned not at all, and yet suffered for the sins of all. The prophet would have us understand that it is the judgment of God that His people have suffered enough. To be sure, our suffering has not been equal to what we deserve, but in the eyes of God, it has been sufficient to accomplish its purpose. God prefers mercy to judgment; He prefers grace to condemnation. And He will not turn His back on His faithful, however weak, however wounded they may be.

Oddly enough, we are to be comforted by withering grass and fading flowers. The certainty of an end, of death itself, is woven into the very fabric of our lives, despite our efforts to ignore it. But there is something more than death; there is also resurrection and eternity. The God whose breath blasts and withers the grass and flowers also breathes a breath of life that revives and resurrects. The Word of the Gospel, which stands forever, refreshes what has withered and faded.

The Gospel is real comfort, but it is not cheap. It comes to us at the cost of our Savior’s life and blood. That price having been paid, it is eternally true that “iniquity is pardoned.” Sinners parcel out forgiveness in small and ineffective doses. But that is not the way this prophet describes God. God does not work with fractions! He administers forgiveness completely. That is how He gives, and that is how we are to receive it! Our Lord Jesus does not toss a ragged garment at us and tell us to cover up our sins as best we can; the baptismal robe of His righteousness completely covers our sins. No condemnation can sneak in to haunt our conscience.

Who doesn’t have a heart that needs comfort? Who hasn’t been broken under the burden of sin and guilt? Rejoice! “Rejoice in the Lord, always...” St. Paul said. Rejoice that your God rejoices to comfort you with the forgiveness of sins and the certainty of eternal life in His presence, now and forevermore! In the name of the Father and of the Son (†) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.