Readings for the Day:
Sermon:
Some of you may be familiar with J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings series, or at least with the movies that have been done about them in recent years.
In the Lord of the Rings, the evil lord Sauron is back on the rise with the reemergence with the One Ring to Rule Them All. Armies of monstrous Orcs and mysterious cloaked riders are all about, ready to take down anyone that comes in their way of getting this ring. This ring that will mean that evil will once again reign, with little hope that things will go back to the way they should be.
It is in the midst of this peril that the great wizard, Gandalf, gathers a group to help protect the ring from Sauron’s forces. But the group he gathers isn’t the sort of group of folks you would expect. He gathers together ragged legends of the past, dwarfs and elves who don’t get along, men who aren’t completely sure where their allegiance lies, and, at the forefront, 4 hobbits. The smallest of creatures. Known only for their large hairy feet and penchant for second breakfasts.
And yet it is this rag-tag diverse group of beings that gather with Gandalf to destroy the One Ring and end all hope of Sauron ever coming back to rule the kingdom of Middle Earth. It is this unlikely group that ends up defeating the forces of evil.
Just as Gandalf calls beings from all different groups on Middle-earth, so we
hear today that Christ Jesus is drawing all people to himself, particularly in the
words of Paul to the Romans this morning.
Now the people Paul is speaking to are a group who are non-Jews. Yet they believe in the one true God, the creator of the world. And they are are people who are not always sure where they stand in the wider community of the church.
But, Paul tells them, the promise of Christ Jesus is for them too. He quotes the Scriptures to tell them so. He quotes from the Psalms, the Torah, and 2 Samuel to tell them that it won’t be just Jews who will rejoice in the coming of the Christ. In fact, the Gentiles will be there too to follow Christ and to rejoice in His coming. Jesus didn’t just come for His own people, the Jews. He came for all others too.
It truly is the case that Jesus has come to bring all to Him. Paul also quotes Isaiah, saying “the root of Jesse shall come, the one who rises to rule the Gentiles; in him the Gentiles shall hope.”
This is the same Scripture we hear in our reading from the Old Testament this morning. Except the word we hear there isn’t “gentiles,” but the word that gentiles actual means. We hear the word “nations”. Because it’s not just one group or another that is called to Jesus. Instead it is all people He brings to Himself.
And we see that further in the reading from Isaiah. Mainly in the animal pairings. “The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.”
Each animal here is paired up with an animal it typically does not get along with. In most cases, one of these animals is the food for the other. And yet, as we are told in Isaiah, under the wisdom of the Lord, they are all brought together to be in community with each other.
Jesus is calling all to Him. All sorts and kinds. All manner of people to be with Him. And even though it may not seem like it, there is something that unites them all, because they all come together to turn away from the old ways of sin and death to follow Jesus Christ.
This is the lesson we gain from the Gospel this morning. On the surface, it seems that John the Baptist has completely rejected the Pharisees and Sadducees. He yells at them and calls them “a broad of vipers.” But that is not all he says to them. He challenges them. He says their heritage, the fact they are descended from Abraham, God’s favored, will not save them. They have to give themselves more fully. They have to “bear fruit worthy of repentance.”
Once again, all are called into the fold under Christ Jesus, but only in giving themselves completely to the Lord and following Him and no one else. And it is in following Jesus that we move away from the fear of death to receive the gift of life and grace.
This is the call we receive during this Advent Season. To give ourselves fully over to Christ Jesus. To reject the old ways we’ve followed that keep us from being closer to Jesus. The ways that led to sin and death. And instead, we are called to turn ourselves over completely to Jesus Christ. The only one who can save us from sin and death. The One who came to give us all the gift of His grace and love.
Because all are offered the gift of grace and love that comes from Jesus alone. And that is also what we are called to remember this season. That all people, even those we don’t get along with or who we may disagree with, at times to the extent that the animals in Isaiah disagree with each other, all are called to be members of the body of Christ.
Just as it took a ragtag team of unlikely and often disagreeing heroes to defeat Sauron in The Lord of the Rings, it takes all sorts of people to make up the church. To fulfill the will of Christ Jesus in the world. So in this season of Advent, take the time to see who your fellow servants of Christ are in this world. And work together with them to help the love and grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ be known to all in this world.
Now the people Paul is speaking to are a group who are non-Jews. Yet they believe in the one true God, the creator of the world. And they are are people who are not always sure where they stand in the wider community of the church.
But, Paul tells them, the promise of Christ Jesus is for them too. He quotes the Scriptures to tell them so. He quotes from the Psalms, the Torah, and 2 Samuel to tell them that it won’t be just Jews who will rejoice in the coming of the Christ. In fact, the Gentiles will be there too to follow Christ and to rejoice in His coming. Jesus didn’t just come for His own people, the Jews. He came for all others too.
It truly is the case that Jesus has come to bring all to Him. Paul also quotes Isaiah, saying “the root of Jesse shall come, the one who rises to rule the Gentiles; in him the Gentiles shall hope.”
This is the same Scripture we hear in our reading from the Old Testament this morning. Except the word we hear there isn’t “gentiles,” but the word that gentiles actual means. We hear the word “nations”. Because it’s not just one group or another that is called to Jesus. Instead it is all people He brings to Himself.
And we see that further in the reading from Isaiah. Mainly in the animal pairings. “The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.”
Each animal here is paired up with an animal it typically does not get along with. In most cases, one of these animals is the food for the other. And yet, as we are told in Isaiah, under the wisdom of the Lord, they are all brought together to be in community with each other.
Jesus is calling all to Him. All sorts and kinds. All manner of people to be with Him. And even though it may not seem like it, there is something that unites them all, because they all come together to turn away from the old ways of sin and death to follow Jesus Christ.
This is the lesson we gain from the Gospel this morning. On the surface, it seems that John the Baptist has completely rejected the Pharisees and Sadducees. He yells at them and calls them “a broad of vipers.” But that is not all he says to them. He challenges them. He says their heritage, the fact they are descended from Abraham, God’s favored, will not save them. They have to give themselves more fully. They have to “bear fruit worthy of repentance.”
Once again, all are called into the fold under Christ Jesus, but only in giving themselves completely to the Lord and following Him and no one else. And it is in following Jesus that we move away from the fear of death to receive the gift of life and grace.
This is the call we receive during this Advent Season. To give ourselves fully over to Christ Jesus. To reject the old ways we’ve followed that keep us from being closer to Jesus. The ways that led to sin and death. And instead, we are called to turn ourselves over completely to Jesus Christ. The only one who can save us from sin and death. The One who came to give us all the gift of His grace and love.
Because all are offered the gift of grace and love that comes from Jesus alone. And that is also what we are called to remember this season. That all people, even those we don’t get along with or who we may disagree with, at times to the extent that the animals in Isaiah disagree with each other, all are called to be members of the body of Christ.
Just as it took a ragtag team of unlikely and often disagreeing heroes to defeat Sauron in The Lord of the Rings, it takes all sorts of people to make up the church. To fulfill the will of Christ Jesus in the world. So in this season of Advent, take the time to see who your fellow servants of Christ are in this world. And work together with them to help the love and grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ be known to all in this world.