Jesu Juva

“A Kingdom Unlike Any Other”

Text: Romans 15:4-13; Matthew 3:1-12; Isaiah 11:1-10

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

You probably know that in Bible times, Jews and Gentiles didn’t get along. The Gentiles thought the Jews beneath them, the Jews regarded the Gentiles as unclean. The Gentiles thought the Jews atheists because they didn’t have idols in their synagogues or Temple, the Jews though the Gentiles idolaters because they did. The Gentiles thought they and their culture were superior, the Jews thought they were, for they were God’s chosen people, after all! So there was conflict, as you can imagine.

And it became a matter of some importance in the early church, after Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension, to figure out how to have a Christian church with both Jews and Gentiles in it. Especially those churches popping up in Gentile territory, like in Rome, the emperor’s own backyard. As we’ve learned in our day and age, ancient hostilities just don’t vanish or easily go away - they often burst out after years of being suppressed, stronger than ever.

So in the verses we heard from St. Paul’s letter to the church in Rome today, that’s the context. Those age-old prejudices and hostilities didn’t just magically go away when one became a Christian. They needed to be addressed. Paul does that in different ways throughout this letter, but here he is encouraging them to live in harmony with one another, that they may with one voice glorify God, and to welcome one another as Christ has welcomed each of them. But then he reminds them of this, too: that what was written in former days - that is, the Old Testament - was written for our instruction.

Now, normally, when we hear that, I think we think of stories like the Exodus, the giving of the Ten Commandments, the prophets of God fighting the false prophets, David and Bathsheba - stories like that. And that’s not wrong. But there’s more. Lots more. And part of that more was what was said about the Gentiles. And Paul says, guess what it says? It says that Christ became a servant to the circumcised - that is, the Jews - to show God’s truthfulness, and in order to confirm [His] promises, yes. But this, too: in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. And then he quotes from the books of Deuteronomy, 2 Samuel, the Psalms, and Isaiah. That was written for your instruction, too, Paul says. Because whether you are a Jew or a Gentile, you need a Saviour. You might think you’re superior to one another, look down on one another, criticize and condemn one another, but from God’s point of view, from God’s throne, from where He sits, as He looks at you, y’all are sinners! Y’all are condemned! Which is why He planned, promised, and then sent you a Saviour. Jesus. So get over yourselves!

Get over yourselves. We could also say it this way: humble yourselves. You’re not so great. You’re not so good. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

That was John the Baptist’s message, as we heard today. John, the one who was sent to prepare the way of the Lord. For the way to prepare for the Lord is to repent. You welcome a Saviour by confessing that you need saving. If you don’t think you need saving, then you don’t care about a Saviour. Just like you don’t eat if you’re not hungry. You don’t stop at the gas station if your tank is full. You don’t change a lightbulb that isn’t burned out. So to prepare for Jesus is to confess we’re hungry, empty, and burned out. We are not righteous. We need forgiveness. We need changing. We need filling.

And evidently, John was pretty good at this, this preaching of repentance, because people from Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, confessing their sins and being baptized by him.

But not everyone. Some were still sticking to their guns, the old prejudices, their superiority. So when the Pharisees and Sadducees came out, full of themselves, John lets them have it. They claimed their lineage as children of Abraham, but John calls them children of the serpent! A brood of vipers, that is, the offspring of the devil. They need to get over themselves! Because the axe of God’s Law doesn’t discriminate. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Now that’s an image with which they should have been familiar. Isaiah referred to it in calling Israel the stump of Jesse. A stump is a tree that has been cut down. And Israel, God’s chosen people, had been cut down because they did not bear good fruit. Instead of good grapes there were wild grapes. Instead of faithfulness there was idolatry. So God wielded the axe of the Assyrians against them, because they wouldn’t repent.

So what about you? We heard of Israel, cut down to a stump. We heard of the people in John’s day, called to repentance by him. We heard of Paul’s words to the Christians in Rome to get over themselves . . . Now what about you? I’m not going to call you a brood of vipers, because you are baptized children of God! But we still need to repent. That is still the way to prepare for the coming of Jesus, which is what this Advent season is all about. That we be prepared not only to remember and celebrate Jesus’ coming at Christmas, but be prepared for His coming again in glory.

So to help us with that, I’ll take a page out of Paul’s playbook and ask you: who are the “Gentiles” today? Who are those we look at today and think ourselves superior? Those we maybe shake an accusatory finger at and say unclean! Condemned!

Are the “Gentiles” today those caught up in sexual sins? And those who want to drag us and our children into their mixed-up ideology? That seems pretty rampant today. But what about our own sexual sins? If not in deed, then in our thoughts and desires? Or our acceptance of them in our society? Staying quiet. Going along to get along. Are we any better?

Are the “Gentiles” today those who don’t go to church? What about those who do - in the body, anyway - but our hearts and minds aren’t here? When we wish we were somewhere else. When we’re thinking about what we’re going to do, or need to do, later today . . . Are we any better?

I know! That person in Idaho who killed those college students. Awful! The devil incarnate! And while we haven’t done anything like that, isn’t there hate we harbor in our own hearts? Those people we wish were dead? And people who are hungry, cold, homeless, destitute, outcast and we fail to help . . .

Or how about Sam Bankman Fried. He’s got to be one of those “Gentiles” today, huh? Big time thief! Swindler, cheat, liar! Horrible! But what have we done with the riches God has so abundantly blessed us with? Do we keep wanting more, too? Even, maybe, if others need it more than me?

Sometimes our actions hurt others, sometimes it is our inaction. And the thinking that my needs come before theirs, my time is more important, I matter more . . . Really? Do we, do you, do I, need to get over ourselves? And realize that the darkness, the sin, the uncleanness, isn’t just “out there,” in them . . .

Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Our Saviour is coming. To save us not just from a world of sin, but to save us from ourselves. That we be chopped down by God’s Law now, for the cleansing fire of the Spirit, before the axe is laid to the root of the trees for burning in the unquenchable fire on the Last Day. That we be wheat, not chaff. That we produce good grapes, good fruit, not wild, untamed, sinful, sour grapes.

Now that sounds hard and painful, and maybe it is. But here’s the thing: from those God chops down for repentance now, growth happens. That’s what happened with Israel. Isaiah tells us that there shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. From what looked like nothing, something. Something started to grow. A Saviour came from, grew from, that stump of a kingdom to grow into a kingdom that would include all people of all time, Jews and Gentiles, and be a kingdom that would have no end. A kingdom where things are as they were meant to be - with justice, peace, and righteousness.

That’s the kingdom, the branch, John proclaimed in the wilderness, when he said: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. A kingdom greater than Israel and greater than Rome. Those kingdoms would fall, as do all kingdoms of this world, sooner or later. But His would not. For His kingdom is not built by men or their might, but by this branch. This branch who was born in lowliness and died in humility, but rose from the dead, that all grafted onto Him receive from Him that life that will never end.

That is the life you have received, and continue to receive. You were grafted into Him and His life in your Baptism. You continue to receive Him and His life when you repent and are absolved, forgiven all your sin. You continue to receive him and His forgiveness as your food and drink in the Supper of his Body and Blood. For the kingdom of heaven is at hand, here, literally, at our hands, in our hands, in these lowly things that are, really, anything but lowly. For they are a king coming to lowly people in lowly ways to lift us from our lowliness, our sinfulness, and into His kingdom. To give us life now, and a life to live forever.

So when John calls out to repent, what that means is for us to stop living a life that’s going to end, and start living that life that’s not going to end! And those two lives look very different and have very different priorities. They are as different as darkness and light, as selfishness and selflessness, as a tree filled with fruit and a tree with no fruit. Bear fruit in keeping with repentance, John said. That is, be who you are. Who you are in Christ Jesus.

And what might that look like? Well, what if Isaiah’s vision were not just of heaven, but maybe, already, a bit, started even here and now? The wolf dwelling with the lamb . . . the calf and the lion together - the devourer and the devoured reconciled and at peace. Children playing over the holes and dens of snakes and vipers without fear, for the life we have been given the bite of satan cannot take away. And a little child leading us. So little He could fit in a manger. This child who took the serpent’s bite and venom to give us the cure in His blood. This child who brings people who bite and devour like wolves and lions into the peace of His kingdom, His church. This child who came to make you and all people His children, no matter who you are, what you have done, and give and all people this life. His life.

Advent proclaims to us that this child, this king, is coming! Even now. Even here. So if that kind of kingdom sounds good to you, a kingdom of justice, peace, and righteousness, which it seems like people want and are fighting for, just in all the wrong ways, that is a kingdom of repentance. A kingdom not of accusing others but getting over ourselves. A kingdom not of getting but of receiving. A kingdom not with me on the throne, but with Jesus on the throne. So repent, humble yourself, get over yourself, and receive Him and His gifts. And when He comes in glory, when all is fulfilled, you won’t be full of yourself, but full of Him, full of Jesus. Full of His life, His love, His fruit. And that person next to you on that day just might be one of those “Gentiles.”Saved and welcomed, just like you, by grace through faith, by the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). Wouldn’t that be something?

And I’ll give the final word to St. Paul: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, - believing this! - so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you - your life - may abound in hope.

In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Now the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.