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This Week's Sermon THE THIRD SUNDAY in ADVENT 14 December 2008 "Christmas Light" John 1:6-8,19-28 LSB Series B Pastor Philip G. Meyer Soli Deo Gloria!

Perhaps one of the customs people like most about this season is the display of lights. Since it gets dark around 5:00 PM, lights certainly brighten up the dark, cold, winter evenings before we retire for the night. Some of the lighting displays are tastefully done, others not. We have some neighbors whose annual display began the day after Halloween. In fact, they never took down some of the lights from last Christmas! Santa and his sleigh stayed on the roof all year! Tasteful it is not. The only adjective I can think of to describe this rather disjointed display is garish, which means overly ornamented, crudely showy.

John writes about "the true light," which we understand to be our Lord Jesus Christ. He writes also about John the Baptizer, a man sent from God to bear witness about the light so that all might believe through his testimony. John was not the light but was sent to bear witness about the light. John was sent to tell the world about Jesus as the Christ.

God sent a man to tell us about the light. He did not send an angel, but a man to testify to his Son's humanity, that God would take on human flesh, become one of us, in order to redeem us. John spoke only what was given to him to speak. He repeated the words God told him to speak about the Christ. He did not use his own words.

Can you imagine how tempting having this opportunity must have been for John? He could have used this occasion to make a great name for himself and to ensure his future comfort on earth, but he did not. People were shocked to hear how the governor of Illinois [we've heard this with three other Illinois governors!] was ready to sell a Senate seat for his own advantage and how he viewed the governorship as a stepping stone to wealth, using it to gain financial advantage. What a humbling experience to be arrested by the FBI and led away in handcuffs! But John did no such thing when questioned by the priests and Levites. They asked him if he were the Christ, then Elijah, then one of the Prophets, to which he answered "No" to each of them. John stuck to his instructions, referring to himself merely as the one who was to prepare the way for the Christ. Nothing could move John away from his task of pointing to Jesus, the true light.

Jesus is the true light that enlightens everyone. Having a true light means that there are false lights. Have you noticed that lights often hide the greatest darkness. A city like Las Vegas which certainly could be accused of having gaudy lighting also covers up the greatest darkness. It likes to brag about covering it up by having an official slogan, "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas." It brags about covering up behavior that some would never want to see the light of day. The Apostle Paul writes:

"For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night." (1 Thessalonians 5:5-7, ESV)

Darkness and night represent being in imprisoned in dungeons, captive to sin and death.

Christ is the One who liberates us from the prison of sin and death. He is the One who is "the true light" that the darkness of our sins cannot overcome. Think of it this way: John testifies that he is not the true light, but that he bears witness to it. John might be compared to an oil lamp. Now an oil lamp shining in a dark place can be seen by all but it does not enlighten everyone. An oil lamp may be extinguished. In fact, John's life was extinguished by Herod after John condemned him for having his brother's wife. But Jesus would be the sun itself. No one extinguishes the sun! The darkness cannot do anything against Christ. So the Psalmist writes:

"Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in affliction and in irons, for they had rebelled against the words of God, and spurned the counsel of the Most High. So he bowed their hearts down with hard labor; they fell down, with none to help. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and burst their bonds apart." (Psalm 107:10-14, ESV)

The darkness that engulfs our world does not come from the nature of the true Light but comes from the prince of darkness, Satan, and our own wickedness as we hide from the light because of our sins. So much wickedness goes on in the hours of darkness, which is why we have security lights in order to deter thieves and other wicked people. Sometimes even in broad daylight there is great wickedness, so bold are the evildoers, yet the daylight exposes their sinful deeds for all to see. So, on this Third Sunday in Advent, a day of refreshment, where's the joy? "Gaudete," from which this Sunday takes its name, means joy.

John was sent by God to announce that this Christ was indeed coming in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. John pointed to him as "the true light" that enlightens the world, identifying him as the "sun of righteousness" [Malachi 4.2]. All people need this Light because all need the healing that he brings through his own flesh. For this reason Jesus became man and went to the cross, that he might taste death for all and give all his life instead.

The nature of this Light is grace. Christ came with healing for sinners. He came to release the captives from the prison house of sin by paying the penalty they owed. John pointed to Jesus, the One of whom Isaiah wrote centuries before:

"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;" (Isaiah 61:1-2, ESV)

So often we say: "I want this or that for Christmas." We ask children what they want for Christmas. The whole gift-giving mania is based upon determining what someone wants. Sometimes in frustration we ask our spouses, "What DO you want for Christmas?" Perhaps it would be wise for us to consider the example of John who repeatedly confessed that the whole matter was not about him. John is saying, "It isn't about me. You're asking the wrong questions. It is about the true Light! It is about the Christ! He's the One you really need!" Jesus is the true "Christmas Light." He's the One you need more than any material gift. He's the Light you need more than all the lights you put up to celebrate his birth.

It's appropriate on the Third Sunday in Advent that we praise God for sending John the Baptizer to witness to the true Light, our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Praise the One who breaks the darkness
With a liberating light;
Praise the One who frees the pris'ners,
Turning blindness into sight.
Praise the One who preached the Gospel,
Healing ev'ry dread disease,
Calming storms, and feeding thousands
With the very Bread of peace.

2 Praise the One who blessed the children
With a strong, yet gentle, word;
Praise the One who drove out demons
With the piercing, two-edged sword.
Praise the One who brings cool water
To the desert's burning sand;
From this Well comes living water,
Quenching thirst in ev'ry land.

3 Let us praise the Word Incarnate,
Christ, who suffered in our place.
Jesus died and rose victorious
That we may know God by grace.
Let us sing for joy and gladness,
Seeing what our God has done;
Let us praise the true Redeemer,
Praise the One who makes us one.

Text (sts. 1-3): © 1987 Hope Publishing Co. Used by permission: LSB Hymn License .NET, number 100010193.
Created by Lutheran Service Builder © 2006 Concordia Publishing House.

Jesus, only Jesus, is true "Christmas Light."