Advent 1: Hope
Luke 1: 5-25
Grace, mercy and peace, from God our Father above, Jesus Christ our savior and the Holy Spirit who strengthens us and keeps us in the faith. Amen.
Today we start the first part of a sermon series based on the symbolism of the Christmas wreath. During this season, we place a wreath with purple, white and pink candles near the altar. Each week, we light an additional candle. But, rarely do we explain what each of these candles represent. During this advent season, we’ll be examining each of the ideas behind these candles as we build towards the celebration of our coming Lord. These candles stand for Hope, Preparation, Joy and Love. Tonight, we will look at the candle of Hope and how it relates to the coming of our Savior.
We are here tonight, to prepare ourselves for the Christmas season. That is the same reason for our Gospel message today. At the beginning of each of the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, there is a mention of the activities leading up to the birth of Jesus. A moment ago, we heard from Luke about one of those preparations, the announcement of the coming of John the Baptist.
Zacharias was a faithful priest who had been bestowed the honor of representing the entire nation of Israel in the temple. He was granted the honor and responsibility of burning incense in the morning and the evening as a form of worship to God in front of the Most Holy Place of the temple. This was not an ordinary honor. Only priests could do this service and then, usually only once in their lifetime. This was an honor that he surely relished.
But, the moment would become special in more than one way. As Zacharias was going about his priestly duties, the angel Gabriel appeared above the altar of incense. The appearance of angels was not a normal occurrence in any respect. But, it was no accident that the angel spoke in front of Zacharias. He had come to give hope to Zacharias with the promise of child. The prayers of Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth were being answered. Not only by the blessing of a child, but with a messenger sent from God Himself! A new found hope must have come upon Zacharias and Elizabeth and they looked forward to their infant sons arrival.
To make it apparent to others, as well as give a lesson to Zacharias for doubting the message, he was not allowed to speak until the baby was born. This was seen as a sign from God by those around him. Ultimately, that was the intended purpose because this was a message from God. A message with a profound impact. One that would change the world. The people realized that there was something special happening, but they didn’t understand what that was.
This moment was more that an important development in the lives of two future parents. The soon-to-be parents were not the only ones looking forward to the arrival of John. John was more than just another baby on the scene of Israel. He was more than a child born to parents thought too old to be parents. He was a predecessor to the coming messiah. He was to prepare the way for the savior!
Isaiah prophesied that John would come. In Isaiah 40:3-5 he wrote:
3 A voice cries:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
This is a message of hope for the future written 700 years before the birth of John. Only a true message from God could predict the truth so far in advance. But, how can we be certain that this was written about John and not some other man yet to come?
In Mark, the Gospel writer opens up his book with a direct reference to this passage in Isaiah. Mark 1: 2- 3 reads:
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:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight,’ ”
But, quoting Isaiah was not restricted to Mark. In Matthew 11:7b-15 and in Luke 7:24-28 Jesus himself quoted Isaiah when he said said:
“What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? 8 What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. 9 What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 10 This is he of whom it is written,
“ ‘ Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
who will prepare your way before you.’
11 Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist.
Jesus used the passage in Isaiah as a direct reference to John the Baptist. There is no doubt here who Jesus was talking about or what prophesy he was quoting as having come true. Isaiah wrote about hope for the future. That hope would reveal itself in the coming of a messenger who would come before the savior. It is the fulfillment of hope that the Gospel writers and Jesus himself proclaimed as having arrived.
But, Isaiah was not the only prophet to proclaim the coming of John. In Malachi 3:1 we read:
Behold, I send my messenger and he will prepare 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.
And in Malachi 4:5:
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.
Just as Elijah preceded Elisha in Old Testament times, a messenger was to proceed the Savior’s coming. Jesus made it clear that this reference to Elijah, written 70 years before, referred to John. In Mark 9:12-13 Jesus said:
11 And they asked him, “Why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?” 12 And he said to them, “Elijah does come first to restore all things. And how is it written of the Son of Man that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt? 13 But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him.”
The scribes did not understand the reference to Elijah. Jesus had to explain that he was already here. They did not understand because they were expecting something different. They were expecting an earthly kingdom.
Instead, John was sent to prepare the environment that Jesus’ ministry would thrive in. He was to proclaim the message that one was to come. John was key to the messianic prophecies for he would set the tone for Jesus.
Hope is at the beginning of the Advent season because it is the hope of the coming savior that would save the nation of Israel. It is the hope of prophecies of Isaiah and Malachi that proclaimed the coming of John. It is the coming of John the Baptist that prepared the way for Jesus.
Hope is what Christianity is based on. Hope for eternal life through the coming of our Lord and Savior. Hope in the ministry to those who are lost to become chosen. God made a promise to us to bring us a messenger prior to the Christ, and he did. He made the promise to bring Elijah to Israel as a precursor to the Savior, and He did that in the form of John. He promised to bring a messiah in the world to save us from our sins, and he did that with the sending of His Son Jesus into the world. In every case, God gave us hope by announcing what would happen, then gave us the gift of celebration that we are here for today.
Hope is what happens before the fulfillment of God’s promises and His track record of fulfilling promises is perfect. So tonight, we can continue to hope in our faith in Jesus Christ that we will be saved and bask in His glory when we are finally by His side in heaven. It is the promise and hope of eternal life that we look forward to.
We can learn something about Christian hope from a fishermen. In Pavlov’s Trout, Paul Quinnett writes:
It is better to fish hopefully than to catch fish.
Fishing is hope experienced. To be optimistic in a slow bite is to thrive on hope alone. When asked, “How can you fish all day without a hit? the true fisherman replies, “Hold it! I think I felt something.” If the line goes slack, he says, “He’ll be back!”
When it comes to the human spirit, hope is all. Without hope, there is no yearning, no desire for a better tomorrow, and no belief that the next cast will bring the big strike.
According to the Bible, the Christian life is also hope experienced. A hopeless Christian is a contradiction in terms.
Just as the fisherman looks hopefully at his catch and just as Zacharias and Elizabeth looked hopefully toward the granting of a child and the creation of a family, we too should continue to hope for the future. Many in Jesus’ time could not see the fulfillment of the prophecies because of their bias in how they perceived things. We have the luxury of being able to compare prophecies with fulfillment and seeing how the hope was fulfilled 2000 years ago. Zacharias was presented with an angel of God announcing the coming child. Many were able to see the message from God because Zacharias was unable to speak. Elizabeth would soon experience the growth of the child inside here and know the message was true. But, prior to all these developments, they never abandoned their hope for a child and they were blessed for their faithfulness.
We too have much to be thankful here today. We have been blessed with the knowledge that Jesus has already come and paid for our sins with his life. We are blessed with the knowledge that scripture has been fulfilled with the prophecies of old. We have the comfort that hope has been fulfilled and will continue to be fulfilled in the future.
Here in this Christmas season, it comes down to this. We are here to celebrate the hope of a new life. We are here looking forward to a life deprived of pain and suffering and instead full of praise, celebration and joy. We are here to celebrate the hope that God has given us through his promises and through his fulfillment. We are here to celebrate the coming of the Christ, because without Him, there is no hope.
Christmas is based on Hope, because the fulfillment of the prophecies is the fulfillment of hope. We are here to experience that fulfillment through our celebration of God’s gifts to us. Christmas is a time for hope and a time for joy. Let us find ways to spread this cheer not only among ourselves, but also to those who do not know the hope that is already around us.
Amen.
