Advent 3 –
Series C (December 13, 2015)
“The Lord
Will Rejoice Over You” (Zephaniah 3:14-20)
Rejoice and exult with all your heart, says the
prophet to the people of God … to the daughter of Zion, Israel, the daughter of
Jerusalem. This is the cry to the Church,
to rejoice in what God has done for you.
This is the theme of the Third Sunday in Advent … to rejoice! We hear the Advent call to repent as we
prepare for the coming of the Lord. Although the world and our hearts are full of
darkness, the light is increasing as we draw nearer to the day when Jesus
returns in glory. The pink candle
reminds us of the joy we should have. Take
pleasure in what God has done for you.
Your hearts should be merry and glad.
He has taken away the judgments against you for your sin. He has cleared away your enemies of sin and
death. He is in your midst. He is Immanuel … “God with us.”
Rejoice and exult with all your heart. Easier said than done, right? Even at this time of year when we’re all
supposed to put on happy faces. We wrap
our presents with colorful paper and bows.
We wrap our faces in smiles and Merry Christmas-es and Happy Holidays-es. Some of us attempt to mask what’s underneath
with all sorts of substances to numb our senses, to anesthetize us from how we
truly feel, and it’s not always holly and jolly. Underneath all the wrapping is a great amount
of sadness, pain, and shame. Maybe I can
rejoice with part of my heart, but not all of it.
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice,”
says Paul. Really, Paul? Always?
How about “Sometimes”? For some
of us, it’s “Rejoice in the Lord seldom.”
After all, were you able to rejoice the times you were put in prison,
had rocks thrown at you, chased out of town, or shipwrecked?
The situation in Zephaniah’s day was also not much
of a reason for rejoicing. There was the
promise of restoration for the southern kingdom of Judah after a time of exile
in Babylon. Even so, further oppression
was in store for them at the hands of the Greeks and the Romans. And there was no hope of restoration for the
northern kingdom of Israel. They had been
scattered to the nations.
Zephaniah is pointing to something farther in the
future. The King of Israel will be in
their midst. The Son of David. Jesus the Messiah. God in the flesh, born from among his own
people. They would be restored, but
not to the land. God’s people would be
restored to the eternal kingdom of God through the forgiveness of sins. This would be for all the faithful remnant of
Israel, for both Jews and Gentiles alike.
The situation for John the Baptist was not much of
a cause for rejoicing, either. He was lingering
in prison. Soon to be beheaded. He was the prophet sent to prepare the way of
the Lord. Yet now, it seems he may have
been having doubts.
Wouldn’t you?
Don’t you have your doubts when things are going rotten for you? Does
God really love me? Is he really there
for me? Why is this happening? Is he punishing me for something I have done? Are you the one who is to come, or shall we
look for another?
Jesus reassures John by pointing him to his mighty
works. All these mighty works were promised
by the prophets, including Zephaniah. “I
will deal with all your oppressors, and I will save the lame and gather the
outcast,” the Lord says through Zephaniah.
We are oppressed by sin and its consequences in this broken world. We are oppressed by temptation. We are oppressed by death itself. Jesus came to deal with these enemies in his
death and resurrection. And as a preview
of the new creation when he comes again, he restored the lame and gathered the
outcast. The blind received their sight. The lame walked. Lepers were cleansed. The deaf heard. The dead were raised up. The poor had good news preached to them.
You know all this.
You’ve heard all this before. And
still, we find it hard to rejoice. So,
when you find it hard to rejoice, hear this good news preached to you. Even though you have a hard time rejoicing, Zephaniah
promised that “The Lord will rejoice over you.”
The Lord rejoices over you with
gladness. You are his creation. You are his beloved child. He takes pleasure in you. His heart is merry and gladdened because he
loves you. He exults over you and displays
his joy by acting on your behalf. He
sent his Son for you. Listen to the
greeting the angel gave to Mary: “Greetings,
O favored one, the Lord is with you.” Listen
to the greeting the angels gave to the shepherds near Bethlehem: “Glory to God
in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” Those words are for you today. In Christ Jesus, you are favored and God is
pleased with you.
The Lord rejoices over you and quiets you by his
love. The rush of the holidays is not
very quiet. The malls are loud. The traffic is insane. The tumult around you and within you because
of sinful conflict in your home, your workplace, your school, and the world in
general saddens us, frightens us, takes away our sense of peace and security. There is also that loud accusing voice in
your heart that knows your own sin. Remember
the prophet’s promise: “The Lord is in your midst, a mighty one who will save.” The Lord is here in Word and Sacrament with
his love to quiet you and comfort you.
He has already saved you. The
Lord has taken away the judgments against you.
He silences the accusing voice. He
gives you peace in your heart even when it is not very peaceful around you.
The Lord rejoices over you, quiets you with his
love, and exults over you with loud singing.
Listen carefully … do you hear it?
Probably not. But the Lord is
still shouting in jubilation over you. At
the birth of Christ, the angels offered this shout that I mentioned earlier: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth
peace among men with whom he is pleased!” It pleased God the Father greatly to shower us
with his favor when he sent his Son to be our Savior. The angels sang loudly over the shepherds of
Bethlehem. We will sing loudly this
Christmas.
Maybe you won’t feel like singing very loudly this
Christmas, because of whatever is going on in your life. That’s when the rest of us come in. That’s when you can hear God’s voice shouting
through your pastor and through your fellow believers, as we declare God
praises in our services, and as you hear your fellow baptized believers
exulting with loud singing. Let them
sing for you. Listen to the words. Let them comfort and quiet your heart. And as you confess your sins and hear the
precious word of Absolution spoken to you, the angels strike up their chorus
again, as Jesus said, “there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner
who repents” (Luke 15:10).
The people of Judah would one day “mourn for the
festival.” Living in Babylon, far away
from their homeland, with the temple destroyed where pilgrims were to come and
celebrate the prescribed feasts, they mourned.
No temple. No festival.
But Jesus is our New Testament temple. He is the Word made flesh who came to
tabernacle among us. He is in our
midst. He gathers us together for this
festival here, his feast of love and forgiveness, feeding us with his own body
and blood. He restores us and renews us. He is present here and rejoices over you with
gladness, quiets you with his love, and exults over you with loud singing.
Amen.
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