Sermon: "The gifts He freely gives for peace, joy, and hope" Advent 3 2024

15. December 2024

Advent 3

Mark 8:1-9

And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said to Him, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?” … [And] as they departed, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Indeed, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. But what did you go out to see? A prophet? (Mt 11:2-3, 7-9).

This is the word of the Lord that came to me, so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name. AMEN.

Who did you come here to see? What do you expect to receive here today? What did you think was going to happen? Because your expectations are mistaken, you’re never satisfied. Until you get this straightened out, you’ll never be content—not with John the Baptist, not with Jesus the Christ, not with His Holy Church, and not with the gifts He freely gives for peace, joy, and hope.

We’re not content because our hearts are deceived. We chew holes in our souls because we’re starving for something real to satisfy us. The voices in our heads and the invisible hands always pulling at our hearts are like a drill sergeant stuck on repeat. It’s the same song every day. We’ve got a problem, now deal with it. Deal with your pill problem. Deal with your drinking problem. Deal with your porn problem. Deal with your self-pity problem. Deal with your diet. Deal with your tantrums and your fits of rage. Deal with it, but how?

Stop pretending you’re free and you have choices when your choices have trapped you in a cage of your own making. Sobriety and dieting, fighting and hiding from other people, falling off a professional cliff, and riding shotgun on someone else’s life are not the cure for what ails and afflicts you. Popping more pills and finishing off a fifth, lighting up a smoke, or taking a sniff won’t change the fact that you were birthed with a curse, and you’re cursed to call it a gift. Self-help talk and positivity won’t reverse the curse.

It is said, “His heart was in the right place.” But that’s just running cover. You still need the jaws of life to free it if you ever want to feel good again. It’s madness to imagine you can reverse the curse that keeps a fire constantly burning at the back of your belly. The money and habits, the whispers and gossip, the crashing and burning, and the lying that only the good die young is how we end up hung up on everything and anything, everyone and anyone who promises to reverse the curse that we were born with but can’t escape because we’re locked up in the cages we made for ourselves. 

That’s why we can’t wait to listen to what God has to say, to see His face shine on us. But we don’t have to plead our case because He already knows all our thoughts and all our ways, so before we get a chance to say anything, He says to us: have faith, you’re forgiven, you’re loved, you’re safe in the name of Jesus Christ forever. The curse you’re born with is reversed, so you can now call it all a gift.

But how many dark days have ruptured our patience, though? For many of us, if it weren’t for faith, we’d part ways with this world. It’s such a heavy weight to carry, witnessing so many people out of luck, corrupted and faithless, without a dollar to their name, saying: To hell with it. I hate this, and I can’t deal with it anymore. Then there are all the close calls that we recall to memory; all the brushes with greatness and with loss, with strength and weakness, tossed every which way, out of control and lost, praying God would give us a sign that where we’re sitting is where his face shines on us. 

But whenever the winds of sin threaten us like this, threatening to blow us off a cliff so that we fall from grace, God sends us a preacher like St. John the Baptist to say: have faith, you’re forgiven, you’re loved, you’re safe in the name of Jesus Christ forever. The curse you’re born with is reversed, so you can now call it all a gift.

That means you don’t have to worry about finding wings to survive the winds of sin. The angel of death can do a fly-by and sing hymns that frighten you to the core. Your breath can be strangled, and you can be torn limb from limb, but the word remains: have faith, you’re forgiven, you’re loved, you’re safe in the name of Jesus Christ forever. The curse you’re born with is reversed, so you can now call it all a gift.

When you see pain in a mother’s eyes, you can grit your teeth and say: It’s all a gift. When you keep falling for the same old lies, you can grit your teeth and say: It’s all a gift. When you struggle to stay sober, thinking you can’t get any lower, you can grit your teeth and say: It’s all a gift. When you see no light at the end of the financial tunnel, you can grit your teeth and say: It’s all a gift.

When the fires are almost out, and there’s just a flicker of hope, it’s all a gift. When the walls close in and you’re reminded of all the cruel things you wrote, it’s all a gift. When the devil walks beside you saying God could never forgive someone like you, it’s all a gift. All the murder stories and coughing up blood, the bending and the breaking, the faking it because you can’t make it; it’s all a gift. Why? 

Because whenever the winds of sin threaten us like this, threatening to blow us off a cliff so that we fall from grace, God sends us a preacher to say: have faith, you’re forgiven, you’re loved, you’re safe in the name of Jesus Christ forever. The curse you’re born with is reversed so that now you can call it all a gift.

Who did you come here to see? What do you expect to receive here today? What did you think was going to happen? Because your expectations are mistaken, you’re never satisfied. Until you get this straightened out, you’ll never be content—not with John the Baptist, not with Jesus the Christ, not with His Holy Church, and not with the gifts He freely gives for peace, joy, and hope.

This is what God says. This is why Jesus keeps saying: I’m the great giver over everything, who created everything and gives everything. I’m the word that speaks, and it’s done. I’m the only one that can give you a new life, new eyes, and a new song to sing. I’m it. 

I died so that you can see it all as a gift. I live so that you always receive it as a gift. When you dig a ditch, I’ll come and lie in it with you so that you can see that it’s all a gift. I don’t care if you’re buying it, because I’m always with you, giving it to you as a gift, for free, for you.

So it’s an honor, a promise, an invitation, an iron fist, a mission, and a defiance of sin and this world that we receive everything from Jesus as gift. Then, whenever the winds of sin threaten us, threatening to blow us off a cliff so that we fall from grace, God sends us a preacher to say: have faith, you’re forgiven, you’re loved, you’re safe in the name of Jesus Christ forever. The curse you’re born with is reversed, so you can now call it all a gift.

And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said to Him, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?” Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. (Mt 11:2–5)

This is the word of the Lord that came to me, so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name. AMEN.

Rev. Christopher R. Gillespie
St. John Ev. Lutheran Church & School - Sherman Center
Random Lake, Wisconsin