Sermons 2025

Video

Text: Luke 7:18-35
Theme: Advent Joy because Christ is Come
Outline
3. John as always points to JC, John’s disciples come to Jesus, Are you the One?
2. JC does wonderous acts, Yes I am.
1. JC gives us reason to rejoice no matter our circumstances because He is come, defeated all of our woes

Sermon

Intro: Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 
My dear beloved flock, the text for our meditation today is the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke, the seventh chapter verses eighteen through thirty-five.
Boys and girls, I pray that you are doing well today. What are these? *Point to eyes* Right they are your eyes. What do we use our eyes for? We use them to see. We interact with the world through our eyes. Our eyes tell us a lot about the world that we live in and the people within.  Without our eyes, we could not see colors. We could not see where things are in the world around us. We would be constantly bumping into couches, railings, and doors. In our text for today, both John and Jesus tell us what to do with our eyes. What should our eyes see? Who should our eyes be focused on? Ponder those questions as you hear the rest of the sermon. You may go back to your seats and those who love you.

3. John as always points to JC, John’s disciples come to Jesus, Are you the One?

John is sitting, languishing in prison. He has been thrown in there by Herod Antipas because Herod did not like the fact that John was calling Herod to repentance for marrying his brother’s wife.  While awaiting his eventual beheading, John, as always, points to Christ. He sends his disciples to Jesus to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?’  Are you indeed the Messiah that John was proclaiming would come with Fire and a winnowing fork in hand to clear his threshing floor? The disciples ask this because it does not seem as though Jesus is doing the things that John said He would do. There is no fire. There is no sign that the wicked in the world are finally being dealt with. It appears they are still getting away with whatever they want, after all John’s locked up in prison facing death. Why is Jesus not recusing him? Why is Jesus not punishing wickedness here and now? Jesus is acting not in anger and judgment but in mercy, grace, and love.

2. JC does wonderous acts, Yes I am.

Our Lord’s response to John’s disciples is simple. Use your eyes. He “healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight. 22 And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. 23 And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”   Yes indeed, Jesus is the promised Messiah. He is God in the Flesh that John proclaimed. How do we know this? Look at everything that Jesus was doing for the good and blessing of the people. The deaf hear, the blind see, the dead are raised, lepers are cleansed, and much more. 

The Church Father Cyril of Alexandria captures the significance of these miracles of Jesus:
The wise Evangelist has told us, saying, “In that same hour He healed many of sicknesses and of scourges, and of evil spirits: and gave sight to many that were blind.” Having then been made spectators and eye-witnesses of His greatness, . . . they bring forward the question, and beg in John’s name to be informed, whether He is He Who cometh. Here see I pray the beautiful art of the Saviour’s management. For He does not simply say, I am; though had He so spoken it would have been true: but He rather leads them to the proof given by the works themselves, in order that having accepted faith in Him on good grounds, and being furnished with knowledge from what had been done, they might so return to him who sent them. “For go,” He says, “tell John the things that ye have seen and heard.” (Cyril, Saint, Patriarch of Alexandria, A Commentary upon the Gospel according to S. Luke, trans. R. Payne Smith [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1859])

All of this is a fulfillment of what Isaiah says the Suffering Servant of Yahweh will do. Here Jesus shows that He is that Suffering Servant.  Even though He’s not come in the judgement that John proclaimed, wickedness will be ended by His death and resurrection. Wickedness will end as Jesus gives His life upon the cross for the forgiveness of your sins, mine, the sins of the whole world. A fact that people can see and witness with their very own eyes.

1.    JC gives us reason to rejoice no matter our circumstances because He is come, defeated all of our woes

As John’s disciples leave, Jesus calls on the people to use their eyes. “What did you go out into the wilderness to see?  Not someone who was tossed to and fro by public opinion. Not someone who was rich in fancy clothes. Rather a prophet, so great that among those born of women, none is greater.  Jesus is claiming to be God in the flesh for you. He praises John as the Forerunner, making ready His way. We see the reaction of the people. Many of them rejoice in John’s coming and work as a Prophet. Yet, many of the leaders reject both John and Jesus and the messages that they proclaim. They are like obsolete children who neither want to smile and dance or act all somber and serious. In their rejection, they applaud the killing of John while plotting, planning, and carrying out the death of our Lord upon the cross.

Using your own eyes, we can see and rejoice in Jesus’ great works for our salvation in our own lives. We see not only with our physical eyes but also, as Saint Paul writes in Ephesians 1:18, the eyes of our heart. With our eyes opened by faith we gather every week and see His great mercy given to us in Word and Sacrament. We can feel the water of Holy Baptism, taste the bread and wine of the Holy Eucharist, hear the words of Absolution. See the joy on members’ faces as they forgive each other for the wrongs that they have done and mutually support and encourage each other. All this to strengthen us in faith, to guard and protect us.  We can see, focused upon Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, the great joy that we have as Christians secure in what He has done for us. That no matter our circumstances, no matter the pain, hardships, and trials of this life, we can have joy this Advent, and every Advent, as we look forward to His coming again.

Con: Use your eyes! See the great joy of Jesus in our midst as He destroys your wickedness and the power of sin by His precious blood. He crushes the head of the serpent forever beneath his nailed scarred feet. He destroys the very power of death forever, all to give you life with Him forever.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard, and keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.