Preached on
December 27, 2015
Introit: Psalm 92;
antiphon: John 20:31
Revelation 1:1–6
1 John 1:1–2:2
St. John 21:20–25
In the name of the
Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit –
On the third day of Christmas, we commemorate
St. John, the Apostle and the fourth Evangelist. We have the famous words John
wrote still ringing in our ears from Christmas Day: The Word became flesh
and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory. So even as we continue to
celebrate the incarnation of the Word, the eternal Son of the Father, we also gather
today to rejoice and give thanks to God for His Word in the Holy Scriptures. Today
we receive this Word, all three readings in fact, from the faithful pen of St.
John under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
John is very concerned with the certainty of
God’s Word, the Scripture that he is delivering to us. While he never named
himself in His Gospel, he referred to himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved,
and at the end of His Gospel he wrote: "This is the disciple who is
bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and we
know that his testimony is true." As he also said in his first
Epistle, John only proclaims and writes what he has seen, heard, and touched. As
an Apostle of the Lord Jesus, he is an eyewitness to the life, death, and
resurrection of our Lord. But John’s testimony, his witness, is not simply his
own take on Jesus, his own ideas about God. John speaks Words not from his own
lips, but from God's. What John writes is a sure and certain witness – it is what
He received from Christ, and brings it also to us.
So St. John is still speaking, even here in the
midst of our congregation. Of course, this doesn’t mean that John never died
and is still hiding on this earth somewhere. We heard in the Gospel today that
there was a rumor among the first Christians that John would remain alive until
Christ returned. But John explains that the rumor was based on a
misunderstanding of Jesus’ words. As far as we know from church tradition John
was not martyred like the other Apostles, which is why his day is not red but
white, because he confessed the faith and died as an old man.
However, John is still speaking to us through
His writings. We believe in "One, Holy, Christian and Apostolic
Church" because we are still gathering to hear the Word given through Christ's
apostles. We prayed in our collect today, "Merciful Lord, cast the
bright beams of Your light upon Your Church, that being instructed in the
doctrine – the teaching – of Your Blessed Apostle and Evangelist John,
we may come to the light of everlasting life." This is one of a few
collects that is addressed to the Lord Jesus the Son, rather than to His
Father. And it rightly says that while John may be instructing us, the Lord is
the one casting His light. The light is His Word and He shines it through His
apostles whom He sent. He has filled John with His Spirit, and the inspired
Words written by John still carry the power of that Spirit to enlighten us. And
what sort of enlightenment is it? It's the light of everlasting life. That is
why it matters whether all of these Words are true. That’s why it matters that
the words we say and sing in church are not simply beautiful or ancient or
well-loved, but they are true. And they are more than facts, trivia, or ancient
history. They are truth that brings us into communion with The Truth, Jesus
Christ.
If there’s any clear connection between St.
John’s Day and Christmas it is this: The inscriptured Word – the Word of God
inspired by the Spirit and written, inscribed by the Apostles – that Word
delivers to us the incarnate Word. The enfleshed Word, the Word who is God and
became flesh and was born of the Virign Mary – He comes to us in the Holy
Scriptures. This is, in fact, the whole purpose of the Gospel as John tells in
chapter 20, and we sang it in our Introit antiphon: "These things – these Gospels, these Scriptures – are
written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that
by believing, you may have life in His name."
This is also what the beginning of the
Revelation to St. John is all about. It isn't a scary vision of the future or a
book full of secrets meant to confuse us. It is the Revelation of Jesus Christ
– it shows Him, it reveals Him. That is why the one who reads aloud the Holy
Scripture is blessed, along with the ones who hear and keep it. This is the
same message as that word from Jesus that we sing so often in Matins: "Blessed
are those who hear the Word of God and keep it." In the reading and preaching of Holy
Scripture, the Lord Jesus, the incarnate God comes and blesses us. The
whole purpose and aim of John the Apostle is to proclaim Jesus to us. He says:
the One whom we saw, heard, and touched with our hands—the Word of Life who was
from the beginning—this Life was made manifest. The Word was made flesh, and
appeared to us. We have seen it and testify to it and proclaim to you
eternal life. John speaks eternal life right into you, because John speaks
Jesus right into you. We proclaim the eternal life also to you so that you
too may have fellowship with us—communion with us. And we are writing
these things so that our joy may be complete. Complete joy, Christmas joy,
eternal joy is found in communion with God. With the Father, and with his Son,
Jesus Christ, though the Holy Spirit whose written, spoken, and heard Word
enlightens us.
And what is the message that can give eternal
life? What is it about Jesus that gives eternal life? The blood of Jesus,
God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. He is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If anyone does sin, we have an
advocate with the Father: Jesus Christ, the righteous. He is the propitiation—He
paid the price and satisfied God’s wrath—for our sins, and not for ours
only, but also for the sins of the whole world. This is the apostolic
Gospel. This is the doctrine, the teaching, that gives grace upon grace, and
the fullness of truth to all who receive it. This is the Word that the Lord
puts into John's mouth, and wants proclaimed in His Church. This is the Good
News that the ready writers of the Scriptures deliver to us with pen and ink.
We call St. John an "Evangelist"
because he wrote one of the four books called "Evangels," that is,
Gospels. But the Gospel itself, the Evangel, the Good News, is the particular
Word about the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, who cleanses us from all sin. He
is the Advocate with the Father, pleading for our forgiveness as a man, and so
He earns for us the verdict of "not-guilty," and the sentence of
"eternal life in communion with God." And this message is not
restricted to John or to the four Evangelists, but is found in each book of
Holy Scripture. Thanks be to God for His servant, St. John. For the gift of His
holy Word that sounds in the voices of the Prophets and Apostles still in our
congregation. May it always be so. May the Lord always give us true preachers
who will echo this Word of the Gospel and deliver to us the Word made flesh in
both sermon and Holy Supper. May the Lord fill us with joy and boldness to bear
witness to this Gospel also in our daily callings, to walk in the light of good
works and to put sin to death, and if we do sin, to confess our sins and trust
in the Advocate we have with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous, the Word
made flesh for us and dwelling among us in His Scriptures and in His Sacrament.
To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood and made us
a kingdom, priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever
and ever. Amen.
Happy
St. John’s Day!
And
a Merry Third Day of Christmas to you all!
In
the Holy + Name of Jesus –
Many
ideas were adapted from a sermon by Rev. Sean Daenzer (12/27/15) at Trinity,
Great Bend & Peace, Barney, ND.
