Rev. Roland J. Wells, Jr. - Pastor

The First Sunday of Advent - December 15, 2002

Lessons: Isaiah 6:8-12; 2 Cor. 3:16-4:1; John 12:37- 45

"Becoming Able to See Through our Ears"

Introduction:

It's ten days before Christmas: Christmas carols on the radio; Christmas decorations everywhere; malls filled with Christmas shoppers; a wonderful, incredible Christmas pageant in a little over an hour; ...and there is one other sure sign of Christmas. Brenda's first seed catalogues are beginning to arrive.

OK, let's think about seeds. Plants come from seeds. But how? Seeds kept dry and in the dark, in the tombs of the Pharaohs sprouted after thousands of years. For that plant to grow, you need seed and damp, ready soil. If a seed is just moistened, it may sprout, but it will never grow into a tomato plant. To grow a tomato plant, you need a good seed, and you need good soil. Dry soil, or rocks will not do. The soil must be the kind that receives.

In this Advent season, as we look at these texts, these sermons have two additional purposes:

1) To cover the Advent themes of readiness for the coming of Jesus; and

2) To introduce the Gospel of John for the year.

Last week we looked at how John's Gospel made use of Isaiah's Advent prophecy- we said John expected us to be familiar with the other three Gospels and the Old Testament. We said that John was a complex Gospel, with lots of plays on words.

Today we're going to look at a couple other key ideas about John. For some it may be a review, but for some it will be all new. After we look at these themes, we're going to look at how faith, like a seed, grows in John's understanding. Then we'll tie it together by looking at how Jesus' preaching fulfills Isaiah's prophecy about how the people will respond.

I) Themes in John

A) Pairs of Contrasts

In our Gospel, Jesus contrasts those who are spiritually blind with those who see. John's Gospel is full of these pair of contrasts- light and darkness; good and evil; blind and seeing; truth and lies; above and below; etc. These pair always talk about those who are aligned with Christ, versus those who are not. John's gospel is very simple. As John says in his first letter: (1 John 5:12) Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

In our text today, Jesus says of those who will not believe, that they are blind, spiritually blind. And even this rejection fulfills the words of the prophet.

B) The Good Old Circle of Faith

As we look at our text today, we'll see another characteristic of John's Gospel. The most basic thought structure of John are five words. These five underlie the entire the Gospel and are used over and over and over again. As we hear them, we can always fit them into this structure: (Slides)

1) Word- First comes the Word- Jesus himself is the Word come in flesh, and whenever anyone tells about him, this is the same as Jesus himself encountering folks. When folks experience Jesus, they tell others, and then they meet Jesus, because Jesus is himself his Word. The Word comes to folks. Then things begin to happen!

2) Hear- Then comes the hard one. When that Word comes, like a seed, if it falls on normal soil, it sprouts. John uses several different word here to describe what happens. It says 'they hear' or 'they see' or 'they receive' the Word. Sometimes John mixes these up together, as we see in our text day. Hearing is Seeing is Receiving. In John, Becoming Able to See Through our Ears, our sermon title, makes perfect sense. We come to faith, we see by hearing. Or we Hear by Seeing. It's all the same. The opposite is to resist the Word, to reject the Word, to react as if deaf, blind or hardened. But it doesn't say the receiver does anything. There is no more action than that of good old dirt. That, by the way is very Lutheran, because Luther is very Scriptural. If anything happens, it happens because of the life in the seed, not because the dirt made it grow. Seeds grow in dirt. That's what dirt is for. It's interesting that the James tries to explain the same idea: (James 1:21) ...the implanted word that has the power to save your souls. The Word comes, and folks hear, see or receive it. Something happens.

3) Believe - And they find themselves believing. For John, faith is always, always, always a verb, not a noun. Faith means 'trust.' People believe- yet it's not something they do on their own- they always believe because they've heard the Word. The Word produces the Faith that keeps receiving the promises. Faith is like these folks who are born deaf, and then they receive an electrical stimulation implant, which allows them to 'hear' for the first time. For the first time, sound waves fire cells in their brains, and they now, for the first time can understand that there is sound in this world. Without the implant, there is no sound. Once they have an ability to hear sound, then they can begin to learn, to receive, to grow and gain this whole big world of sounds, from firecrackers to a Beethoven symphony. That's what Faith does. Once Faith has been implanted, the rest is received by Faith. Here's the hard part. Faith is something we do, but we can't create. It's a gift, gift, gift. Created by the Word coming into soil that receives it.

4) Know- And as people come to Faith, and that Faith grows inside, they come to just plain Know. How do we really know anything? Stretch your hand out. Close your eyes. Touch the tip of your nose. How did you know where that was? You just Know. And faith grows to something more, to Know Jesus. To Know that he's real. To Know that you Know that you Know that you've got eternal life. Faith does that.

5) Bear Witness- But that's not the end of what the Word does. When the Word comes, and is Seen, Heard or Received, it creates Faith, Faith that grows so you Know- and you know what happens then? That same Word that came to you just 'squirts' out.- and you 'Bear Witness.' Some times it's translated 'bear testimony' or 'testify.' It means that Word just 'squirts' out of you- because that's what it does. And we're back the Word again!

Word-Faith-Hear-Know-Bear Witness- that's the 'Circle of Believing' - and by next Christmas you'll know that in your sleep. Now let's take a quick walk through our Gospel text:

III) Our Gospel Text

Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, (Note: Sign is an important word in John- it's the Word become visible. They will not See the signs done- the Word made visible-)

they still would not believe in him. 38 (Even!) This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet: "Lord, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" 39 For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere: 40 "He has blinded their eyes and deadened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn--and I would heal them." (See, even their rejection was prophesied. God doesn't cause it- when they resist, they become blind- like someone who has hysterical blindness- they actually can see, but their minds have made them unable to see.)

41 Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus' glory and spoke about him. 42 Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved praise from men more than praise from God. Jesus sees that their faith is incomplete- they are unwilling to Bear Witness. The Greek word here is a very powerful pun- to bear witness, in this case, is to be 'homologe'- to be of same Word!

44 Then Jesus cried out, "When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. 45 When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me. (Note: He's claiming equal status with the Father!)

46 I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.

With this final plea, Jesus recalls his words last week, that he is the Light of the World. Jesus clearly desires every human being on the face of this globe to Trust him, to Know him and to Bear Witness. That is God's greatest will, and why at this Advent season for nearly 2000 years we have told the story again and again of his coming and his love. He's come to you. Now, in this generation, today, that same Lord is calling you. He wants you to know him, and for him to become as real to you as your own self. He wants you to be in a close relationship with him, day by day. Without that, Christmas means nothing except crass commercialism.

Without Christ, it's just 'mas'- mass merchandising, mass advertising, mass confusion, Master Card at it's limit, and mass depression. Without Christ, it's a horrible, horrible nothing. That's called darkness.

But Jesus is light. That's why we're here today. That's what Jesus' call is to you today- to hear his word, trust in him; to know him, to be empowered to bear witness. That's the natural progression. That's what Christmas is about. That's what the baby, the presents, the excitement, the carols, the joy- it's gotten so mixed up with so many other things- but it comes down to this. Jesus calls you to trust him. To walk in light. Invitation, Amen

Advent 3 - December 15, 2002

Isaiah 6:8-12

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" 9 He said, "Go and tell this people: "'Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.' 10 Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed." 11 Then I said, "For how long, O Lord?" And he answered: "Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged, 12 until the LORD has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken.

2 Cor. 3:16-4:1

But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. [17] Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. [18] And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

[4:1] Therefore, since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.

John 12:37- 45

Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. 38 This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet: "Lord, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" 39 For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere: 40 "He has blinded their eyes and deadened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn--and I would heal them." 41 Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus' glory and spoke about him. 42 Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved praise from men more than praise from God. 44 Then Jesus cried out, "When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. 45 When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me. 46 I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.