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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
This weekend Pastor Galler is away on his first week of vacation for 2015. For our reflection on today’s Third Reading this morning, Pastor Galler completed a sermon that was outlined by The Rev. Timothy P. Halboth, pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Redford, Michigan. Rev. Halboth’s outline was published in the current volume of Concordia Pulpit Resources (25:1), to which our congregation now subscribes, for the purpose of helping supply sermons when Pastor Galler is not available. Pastor Galler’s completed sermon reads as follows:
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
I do not particularly care for so‑called reality TV shows, especially because such shows are often scripted and seldom reflect the realities of life. But, Survivor, Big Brother, The Amazing Race, and countless other shows fill up stations’ schedules and tend to be very popular. Consider the show titled The Voice. I have never watched it, but maybe you have. They say it’s all about The Voice. Like American Idol and others, The Voice is looking for the next great singing stars. But, here is the twist: When the singers first audition, the judges cannot see them. The judges are turned around toward the audience, while the singers perform behind them. You might not like the way he looks; you might not like her style; but if the judge likes the voice, he or she turns around and announces, “I want you!” Then that judge becomes that contestant’s coach. It’s all about the voice. In a sense we can say the same thing about today’s Third Reading: It’s all about the voice—in a sense, two voices, or arguably even three voices, that, unlike reality TV shows, do speak to our realities of life.
First, there is the voice of one crying in the wilderness. That voice is heard from the mouth of John the Baptizer, who, as St. Mark tells it by Divine inspiration, seems to just appear in the wilderness. There was no previous fanfare, and certainly not an agent to promote him, but nevertheless some may have wondered whether he possibly was the next star preacher. One could question his appearance and style—clothed in camel’s hair and a leather belt, eating locusts and wild honey—but even those all went to who he was and what he said. And, he certainly had a voice, one written of in the book of Isaiah the prophet, crying out for people to prepare the way of the Lord, to make His paths straight.
Now, sometimes we respect a voice even if we do not particularly care for one of the “songs” it “sings”, and in some sense such was the case with the voice from the mouth of John the Baptizer. He proclaimed a reality of life that is painful: namely, that all people are sinners. So, you and I are sinners, too. Some of our sins involve what we do with our voices. We tell lies about other people, betray them, slander them, and hurt their reputations; we fail to defend them, to speak well of them, and to explain everything in the kindest‑possible way (Small Catechism I:16). And, we sin in countless other ways, by what we think, say, and do, and by what we do not think, say, and do. We sin because we are sinful by nature, and, because we sin and are sinful, we will perish now and for eternity, unless we repent (Luke 13:3, 5). Such repentance is not a one‑time thing but an ongoing thing: by daily contrition and repentance we should drown our sinful nature with all sins and evil desires, so that our redeemed nature daily emerges and arises to live before God in righteousness and purity forever (Small Catechism IV:12). John the Baptizer also proclaimed that joyful reality of life: namely, that with repentance there is forgiveness of sins. The crowds that heard, confessed, and believed then were forgiven, as we who hear, confess, and believe today also are forgiven—forgiven for the sake of the One identified by the second voice of our Reading.
Although not a fundamentally different voice, the second voice of our Reading is God the Father’s voice from heaven that identified Jesus as His beloved Son with Whom the Father was well pleased. At some point in those days that John the Baptizer was baptizing and proclaiming, Jesus also more or less “appeared”, and not as one likely to be recognized as a star (confer Isaiah 53:2). Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, a seemingly backward town in a seemingly backward region. Jesus seemingly even came to be and was baptized like all those sinners. But, here is where things change, where these opening verses of St. Mark’s Gospel account that we also heard in Advent become the Reading suited for the first Sunday after the Epiphany, the Baptism of Our Lord, and it’s all about the voice! Jesus may not have looked like much, and even the Holy Spirit was not showy (then, or in the beginning [Genesis 1:1-5], for He does not wish to be!). But, God the Father’s powerful voice, in need of no coaching, boomed from heaven and identified or revealed that Jesus was different: Jesus is the Father’s beloved Son with Whom the Father was well pleased.
There is no audition. It is no contest. The Heavenly Judge wants to reveal or show forth Jesus as true God in human flesh, the One mightier than John the Baptizer, the One whose sandal straps John was not worthy to stoop down and untie. Jesus may look like everyone else, but He is quite different. Jesus had no sin but became sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus was baptized not for the forgiveness of sins but in order to take on our sin. God the Father is well pleased with Jesus at least partially because Jesus is saving all of the Father’s children lost in the wilderness. God the Father is well pleased with Jesus at least partially because Jesus Himself soon would be going into the wilderness to resist the devil’s temptations for all who have given in to them. God the Father is well pleased with Jesus at least partially because Jesus ultimately will go to the cross to defeat the devil, sin, and death itself for all people, including you and me. When we repent and believe in Jesus, then God forgives us. God forgives us in ways that even in our time we still can hear His voice.
Thus, arguably the third voice of our Reading, although again not a fundamentally different voice, is God’s voice of the Gospel in His Word in all its forms, with or without visible means. Even in our time God’s voice still can be heard and is effective in the reading of His Holy Word and in preaching on that Word, sometimes referred to as the living voice of Jesus. God’s voice still can be heard and is effective with the application of water in Holy Baptism, which saves us, connecting us to Jesus’s death and resurrection for us (1 Peter 3:21; Romans 6:1-11), making us also God’s children, with whom He is also well pleased, because we receive Christ’s righteousness in place of our own unrighteousness. God’s voice still can be heard and is effective when, after hearing our private confession of the sins we know and feel in our hearts, our pastor in Holy Absolution forgives us individually, in the stead and by the command of our Lord Jesus Christ. God’s voice still can be heard and is effective with bread and wine in Holy Communion, where and when we receive the same body and blood baptized by John that day in the Jordan River, by which we also receive the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. Thus, through God’s Word in all its forms, we still can hear God’s voice proclaim and effect, for us who believe, the forgiveness of our sins—sins related to our voices, all of our other sins, and even of our sinful nature itself. The Heavenly Judge wants us, too! By our repentance and faith in the One revealed by and speaking and working through the voice, we are also God the Father’s beloved sons and daughters, and He is also well pleased with us.
Unlike the so‑called reality TV show The Voice, with its blind auditions, God the Father sees all people for whom they are. Yet, when He sees His baptized children, He is pleased with each one because He sees Jesus. It’s all about the voice! (Confer also Psalm 29.) Each of the three voices of today’s Reading are really one and the same voice, that of the Holy Trinity, proclaiming and effecting the same good news to us, proclaiming and effecting the same reality of everlasting life, which gives us cause to rejoice both now and for eternity.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +