Second Week of Advent: 2016 - 12/04/2016

SERMON – The Stones of Peace…

Matthew 3:1-12

¹ In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea ² and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” ³ This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:

“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
    make straight paths for him.’”

⁴ John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. ⁵ People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. ⁶ Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

⁷ But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? ⁸ Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. ⁹ And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. ¹⁰ The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

¹¹ “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹² His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

In Matthew 3:1-12, John the Baptist is baptizing the people and along came the Pharisees and Sadducees.  John calls them “Brood of Vipers” and asked them who warned them to come and avoid the coming wrath of God.  He told them not to give him the excuse that they are the children of Abraham because God could make children of Abraham from “these” stones.

It took me about 20 years to learn that reference to “stones” in the Gospels are not arbitrary comments, but when such comments are directed to the leaders of Israel, there is a history that makes these references quite specific in meaning.

Luke 19:37-40 – Jesus had his disciples secure a donkey

³⁷ When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:

³⁸ “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”^[b]

“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

³⁹ Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”

⁴⁰ “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”

Again, Stone references are specific to the Jewish leaders and to us if we will listen.

When Joshua led the children of Israel through the Jordan and into the Promised Land, Joshua had assigned one person from each tribe of Israel to grab a stone on their way through and deposit it on the other side.

Joshua 4:20-24

²⁰ And Joshua set up at Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken out of the Jordan. ²¹ He said to the Israelites, “In the future when your descendants ask their parents, ‘What do these stones mean?’ ²² tell them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’ ²³ For the Lord your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The Lord your God did to the Jordan what he had done to the Red Sea^[c] when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over. ²⁴ He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord your God.”

And so, when the Jewish leaders are reminded of the stones, they are being informed that what is happening is the hand of God in their midst.  Either they have forgotten their heritage, or they are choosing to ignore it, but John the Baptist tells us that the Child in the manger is the very entrance of God into our world.  He is Emmanuel and the very stones tell us so.

What is the significance of God on Earth?

The babe in the manger is the miracle of all miracles.  The babe in the manger is God having come to earth to show us how to live as well as to save us from the coming destruction of God final judgment of sin.  The babe in the manger shows us how serious God is to love and redeem us.  How serious he is to be a part of our lives.

Once we recognize how serious God is to be a part of our world then it makes sense when we hear things like the words he speak about the Holy Spirit in John 14

John 14:15-20

¹⁵ “If you love me, keep my commands. ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— ¹⁷ the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be^[c] in you. ¹⁸ I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. ¹⁹ Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. ²⁰ On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.

The idea of Emmanuel – God with us, born of the Virgin in a manger on Christmas Day then is just a stepping stone to our Lord’s words in vss. 19 & 20.   

We light the candle of peace today as we prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ on Christmas morning because he is the miracle of all miracles.  We prepare to celebrate as God is in Christ, and Christ is in you.

Be at peace today as you recognize God with us.