white lights on the christmas tree

thank god you are here with me

a sermon on Isaiah's prophetic sermon of the "suffering servant"

Today, in case you didn’t know, is “Gaudete Sunday.” Gaudete Sunday is an occasion in the church year. It’s often marked by a pink Advent candle. 

Perhaps some of you recall such a Sunday from years past. 

Now we’ll talk about what Gaudete means in a bit. We’ll discuss the translation, origin, and purpose of this day. For now, though, suffice it to say that, practically speaking, this moment in the church year marks the make-or-break moment for all your Christmas preparations.

Truthfully, it actually marks the moment the make-or-break moment has come and gone. Just as Christ the King represents the day you need to prepare your Christmas pudding, so Gaudete Sunday represents the instance it has become too late to alter how your Christmas plans will shake out. 

I know. That’s not what you wanted to hear. But it’s true. And I do you no favors by pretending otherwise. 

So allow me to be your ghost of Christmas future. Unless you’re already FULLY prepared, your patience will wear thin between now and Christmas. You will get flustered. And you will act out, too. You’ll do something that will cause your cheeks to flush when you recall how you behaved. 

And that’s if you’re lucky! The old saying holds. We’re all just one bad day away from being in the tabloids. 

Now I suspect I’m raising the blood pressure of some of you. But better here than out there. Right? At least in here, there’s grace. 

Remember, Jesus can handle your real life. You don’t have to come here pretending you have it all together. As a matter of fact, this place, on account of Christ, is a sanctuary for us who don’t have it all together! In here, Jesus MAKES a Genesis week out of the chaos of our lives. 

So if you’ve got more than your fair share of chaos right about now, that just means you’re right where you need to be today! Believe it or not, all your turmoil only qualifies you for some of Jesus’ best miracles! And who among us doesn’t have more unrest than we wish we did? No one! That’s who.

What’s more, raising your blood pressure now will help prepare you for when, NOT if, it happens later. When something goes wrong or your schedule goes to pieces, you can remind yourself that you were told this would happen! Hopefully, that simple reminder will take some of the shock OUT of the experience. Ideally, it’ll even give you some leeway to just take a breath, formulate a new plan, and move on.

Because here’s the important thing, that make-or-break moment to have the perfect Christmas never existed anyway! The real Christmas, messy THOUGH it may be, is preferable to the ideal one. And that’s because that ideal Christmas doesn’t exist!

That flawless Christmas where all is merry and bright, your family gets along, and your waist stays trim to boot isn’t real! But Christ, and the Christmas he comes to bring, is for real people! Real people, living real lives! So if that’s you, that means you have everything CHRIST needs to make a true Christmas for you THIS year!

And if you’re not so sure, take a second look at today’s Scripture.

…Ok. Time to keep my promise. Gaudete is French. It means “rejoice.”

In fact, the epistle assigned for Gaudete Sunday includes the shortest verse in the Bible. 1 Thessalonians 5:16, “Rejoice always.” Not John 11:35, “Jesus wept.” The NRSV translates this verse as “Jesus began to weep.” Four words. Not two.

So, just F.Y.I., the shortest verse in the Bible isn’t about Jesus’ grief. No, it’s about the joy he has won through his passion here on earth! 1 Thessalonians 5:16, “Rejoice always.”

Anyhow, this “rejoicing Sunday” comes from back when Advent was a penitential season, like Lent. Maybe some of you remember when the color of Advent was purple, like Lent. And in that context, Gaudete Sunday functioned as a little reprieve from the Advent fast.

The logic was, by the third Sunday of Advent, you’d made it past the halfway point. And if you were going to make it the rest of the way, you were going to need a little break. So before the four full weeks and however many days to Christmas had elapsed, you just stopped and rejoiced as if you had already made it to the Christmas feast!

And you know what? The logic holds for us, too! We may be on a different lectionary. And we may not have a pink candle. And our Advent may not be a season of penitence anymore, either. 

Nonetheless, we, too, need some rest. Don’t we? And we, too, could use a little joy. Couldn’t we?

Well, here’s the deal: go ahead! Relax! Have some fun! 

It’s too late for anything else, anyway! At this point, you might as well just throw up your hands and enjoy what’s left of the ride! Christmas is going to be what it’ll be. 

It’s too late to pull off that fictitious perfect Christmas! And the sooner you give up that illusion, the sooner you can actually start to enjoy these days! Enjoy these days for all they have to offer! All they have to offer as they already are! 

This attitude will not just help you enjoy these precious days you have between now and Christmas, either. No, it’ll also help you accept your family members for the mixed bag they are! And everyone else, too, for that matter. Why, it’ll even help you appreciate those gifts that weren’t exactly on your list, too!

…But don’t get me wrong. I’m not advocating some form of stoicism. No, I’m trying to do you one oh so much better! I’m trying to be your stand-in John the Baptist today! 

So, if you would, allow me to be the one standing in the wilderness of these topsy-turvy days, pointing my finger to the One who comes in the name of the Lord! Because the thing is, we never see this messiah coming. And the reason for this is, like those dreams of a perfect Christmas, we always think Christ won’t show up until WE have everything in shipshape order.

Now, I know we’re Lutherans. So we say we don’t believe this. And on a certain level, we don’t. But when the rubber hits the road, it’s not always all that clear cut. Because, you understand, this pernicious belief of ours always turns up under the guise of something GOOD.  

For instance, it looks like praying more. Or volunteering more. Or reading the Bible more. Or in a thousand other disguises. 

But believe me, you have your own dictate that’s particular to you. And it is, without a doubt, an objective that’s praiseworthy and worthwhile too.

And the problem is not these activities, per se. No, the problem is when these enterprises get placed between God and us. Because no matter how commendable our pet projects may be, when they become the gateway to God, they become downright diabolical. 

Remember, as Jesus said, he is the gate! Jesus, and nothing else, and no one else, is your gateway to God! And in Christ, that gateway is always as wide open as his all-encompassing embrace!

Now, of course, you’ll never regret reading your Bible more. But you’ve got it all backward if you think you’ve GOT to read your Bible more before God will love you more! No, reading your Bible more will only impress upon you all that much more just how much God ALREADY loves YOU!

That demand for just a little more NEVER lets up! And if you think you’ve got to satisfy that demand before your spiritual life comes to life, you’ll be forever doomed! It doesn’t matter how much you already pray. Or don’t. That accusing voice that says you need to put in more hours in prayer will always be there! 

But here’s the deal; Christ DOESN’T talk like that! Christ makes no demands! In fact, he comes to silence them!

In Christ, your intercessor, all your prayers have already been made! In Christ, the fulfillment of Scripture, every page of the Bible has already been read for you! And in Christ, who commended his spirit to God when he breathed his last, your spiritual life has already been let loose, too!

It’s ALL yours! Go ahead and enjoy all the fruits of his Holy Spirit! He’s not stingy!

Christ isn’t waiting around! And he’s not holding back, either! No, Christ comes to give you all the goods TODAY! Third Sunday of Advent though it may be!

Yes, we have plenty of reason to rejoice today! And it’s not just that it’s too late! No, it’s that too late is right on time for Christ!

You don’t have to make the best of a bad situation! No, instead, Christ comes to give you the very fullness of all HIS goodness right now! Right now, in the middle of your life! Your life, as it actually is! 

Christ stands on the other side of eternity and sanctifies every last aspect of your life! NOW, each and every moment bristles with eternity itself! On account of Christ, all your actions and encounters are chockfull of nothing less than holiness!

And if all this sounds too good to be true, and I know it does, then allow me to be your ghost of Christmas past! WAY past! Allow me to point you to today’s Scripture! That prophecy of old, telling of the long-awaited messiah’s coming! 

To whom, exactly, does the prophet tell us this messiah is coming? Because it’s not the fiery “prayer warrior.” Is it? And it’s not the one who’s strong enough to withstand anything life throws their way, either! NO, this Christ comes for the dimly burning wick and the bruised reed! 

Christ HOLDS his candle for those of us whose spirits are flickering and faltering! Christ is ALL your spirituality! What’s more, Christ, by his body broken for you and blood poured out for you, has become your strength! And YOUR lifeblood, too!

Most importantly, though, Christ is all this for you, not when you have it all together! No, Christ is your spirituality AND your strength precisely when YOURS comes up short! Christ’s power is perfected in YOUR weakness! And mine, too. 

You don’t need to be perfect this Christmas. For you, in Christ, are a Christian! And to be a Christian is to be clothed in Christ himself! 

To be a Christian is to have participated in a joyous gift exchange with Christ himself! At your baptism, Christ chose to wear all your weaknesses. And in turn, he determined to give YOU the very fullness of his power unto salvation! 

And that, and that alone, is what makes for a really good Christmas! And a third Sunday of Advent, too! And every other day, for that matter!

And, by the way, I don’t mean really good as in an amount of goodness. I mean really good, as in a goodness that’s actually real! In Christ, you have the very fullness of time right now!

Right now! Imperfect and unprepared THOUGH you may be! Right now! Distracted and overwhelmed though you may be! Right now. 

In fact, such circumstances just make your life the perfect manger for Christ to be borne unto you today!

And isn’t that what we all really want anyway? 

All our frantic and frenetic running is just trying to capture a little of the life that is really is life. And all our heartache and anxiety, it’s just because we all want so desperately for a share of peace on earth and goodwill toward our fellow humankind. Isn’t it?

Well, fellow children of God, rejoice! Rejoice because Christ gives you everything you need to do all that right now!

You can burn the Christmas roast. But on account of the reconciliation Christ has won for you, you can go ahead and mend all the burnt bridges in your life! You can fail to receive anything you really wanted this Christmas. But on account of Christ and his incarnation, you can find everything you really want all around you this Christmas! 

And those are just some silly examples. Aren’t they? You can celebrate yet another Christmas without your beloved. But, by the communion of the saints, you can find yourself not so far removed from your loved ones after all. You can have whatever fate it is you’re so afraid of come to pass. BUT, by this messiah who comes to take you by the hand and lead you out, even that outcome will not have the last word on you!

And so, so much more.

See, the former things HAVE come to pass, 

and NEW things GOD now declares; 

BEFORE they spring up, GOD tells you of them.

What else is there to say? Nothing. Nothing but rejoice! 

Rejoice, Rejoice, Believers; ELW 244