"Hope" Romans 15:12

Grace, Mercy, and Peace be unto you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Amen

Again Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles;
in him will the Gentiles hope.”

In the Name of Jesus

Last week, when we met, we discussed the need for preparing for the Christmas season. How first we must get to what is at the core of Christmas, the gift of life. Today we need to focus on another important aspect of the Advent/Christmas season. It is a word you hear it from children and adults alike as they sit and contemplate what Christmas Day will bring them. It is a word that is tossed around as people contemplate what they desire for the their family, for their nation, even for the world.

Today's word of the day is hope. Hope is a powerful word that is full of so much emotion each time it is used. Those emotions tie right to your gut. When we are truly hopeful for something it consumes your thoughts. When you are truly hopeful, there is no doubt in your mind that what you are hoping for will indeed come to pass. Hope is such a wonderful thing. It is so great to have something to hope for, to have something to look forward too. It is such a great feeling when that thing which you have been hoping for comes true.

But hope can also be the biggest stinker in the world. Think back to the last time you had a great hope, something you wanted more than anything in the world, and it didn't come to pass. Someone, something let you down, plans changed and the hope died. Can you remember even the first time that happened? I think the older we get the harder it is to hope. We have been around the block. We know what that disappointment feels like and its not good. So we try to protect ourselves from that.

The seasons of Advent and Christmas gives us such a great hope. A hope for all the ages. For wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in the manger was the Savior of the world. A gift for all people. ALL people. Just listen to the words of the angel that greets and heralds the news to the shepherds. And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”

Even thought this child born in Bethelhem was the hope of world, some tried to take the hope away from others. They tired to make it an exclusive hope, make him and exclusive child. And why not? Look at the Old Testament hope given through the covenant. This was exclusive. You have to be circumcised to be a part of the covenant. You needed the outward act to be included. Especially in the New Testament, at the time of Jesus, this group was exclusive beyond the outward act of circumcision. Those who followed all the “Law”, the Law of Moses and also the law of the forefathers. In all reality, this group was so exclusive, that Jesus the Son of God, the one who came to fulfill that Law, was not included. And they were so pious, so stuck on themselves, they liked everyone to know who special and set apart they were.

The opposite side of that happens today. Not the thought that “we are better than you”, but the thought that God doesn't care. The world would like to think that God has forgotten about us. This is the extent of a deist’s belief. That God created the world and then left it alone. Their hope is gone, and they want to steal and kill dddyours as well. The whole tactic of any religion other than your own is to get you to think that you are on the outside looking in. They want to destroy your hope so that you then would buy into theirs.

This thinking even among our own fellow believers, the thought of this being an exclusive club, heaven being difficult to get into, weighs on us as well. Yes we all hope we will enter through the gates of heaven when we are taken from this earthly life. But there are times with this hope is dim. When we wonder if we have done enough to deserve heaven. Especially when we hear verses like that which we have in our Gospel for this the second Sunday of Advent. It is a familiar one, familiar people involved. These words of John the Baptist cut us to the core.

“I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

Man it would be nice to be spared from the unquenchable fire. It would be so nice to be assured that we were grains of wheat. But because of our sin we just aren't sure. Maybe the world is right. Maybe all those who say we have not done what is required, that my sin is just too much, are right and we are going to be thrown into the unquenchable fire on the last day. Maybe our hope is in vein.

And again Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles;
in him will the Gentiles hope.” The babe of Bethlehem, for which we prepare, inspires us to hope. Not a I hope or a wondering if I will be saved, but it is a confident hope that I will. A hope that is founded child who lay in the manger.

When Jesus mentions that we must become like a child, that we must in turn have faith like a child, I believe we have to through in to the mix that we must hope like a child. Those of you with children and grandchildren, what does it mean to hope like a child? When a child is told a promise there is no doubt in their mind that what was told them will come true. They will sit each day waiting for the fulfillment of the promise given to them. A child does not forget! This is how we must be concerning the spiritual promises made to us. We must not doubt. We must not grow weary or faint waiting for them to come to pass. For they will come to pass. God made promise to the Old Testament believers that a Child would be born.

We were reminded again of this promise in our Old Testament reading from Isaiah 11. There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

Yes the child to come is the one who brings true hope into the world. Dare I say he is the first to give us hope we can believe in, hope for change. What a blessing it is to be guided by this hope that because he was born in human flesh , lived, died, and rose again, that we too would be given the gift of eternal life.

We must heed the words of John the Baptist. You have, that's why you are here this morning/evening. In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’” Let every heart, prepare Him room. Prepare for the coming of Christ by repenting of your sins. Repent and let the forgiveness which Christ won for you on the cross make the path, make your heart, straight.

Of all the things that you hope for this Advent and Christmas season, may you never grow wearing of waiting out your hope for the second coming of Christ Above all, May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Amen

SOLI DEO GLORIA