Fourth Sunday of Advent (1881)

John 1:19-28 Holy Christmas is near, the festival of the birth of Jesus Christ. The world certainly thinks to need no Redeemer. As they do not expect such a Redeemer, they know of no reason why they should prepare for His coming. Christmas has no other meaning for them except a mere external, ceremonial meaning, as another old custom. But you are delighted that the Lord's grace has appeared on earth in the incarnate Son of God and will be celebrated and praised in the forthcoming festive days. So prepare your heart to receive Him. Go to the Jordan and hear how John, the forerunner of the Lord, preaches to all the world about the right preparation for the Lord's coming. The right preparation for the Lord's coming; 1. the coming of the Lord; a. it was a blessed time in Israel, as the Lord gave His bodily visible Advent. John was His angel and forerunner.1 And how faithfully he carried out this office! He removed all eyes off himself and directed them solely to the Lord. They should follow him immediately. Hence his glorious confession about himself and about Christ to the questions of the Jews2, hence his persistent allusion to the Lord's bodily presence in their midst3, to His timely appearance4, to His eternal person and divine majesty5; b. but we also celebrate a grace-filled Advent of the Lord as a time of preparation for Holy Christmas. It is the Lord's spiritual coming into the heart of which we remember what we desire, so that the celebration of the coming festival might bring us exuberant blessing. And as in those days John went before the Lord as His forerunner, so now His messengers, preachers, go before Him loudly calling, in order to prepare the way through the Word for the One Who has already come among us, in order to bless and gladden us anew; 2. the first preparation for His coming; a. in what it consists. John the preacher of repentance already indicates this through his ministry and his whole appearance: it consists in true inner repentance, i.e.

1 2

Malachi 3:1; Matthew 11:10. John 1:20-21, 23. 3 John 1:26. 4 John 1:27. 5 John 1:27.

. in knowledge of sin. We cannot otherwise "prepare" the "way of the Lord", as such, that we reveal our sin through the punitive Law and are able to humble ourselves. Oh, the reason for it abounds! The high mountains must decrease, the crooked way must be plain. Advent, a time of repentance! We see in John the Baptist himself an example of repentance and its effects, his deep humility before God and man is the fruit of repentance. The earnest preacher of repentance is himself in deep repentance. - But knowledge of sin and repentance and sorrow about it is not enough for complete repentance and proper preparation . true faith in Christ must be added and an ardent desire for His gracious presence. John is again a model for us. He who already welcomed the physical presence of his Lord in the womb with hopping6, who calls himself friend of the bridegroom7, he stands here as a witness of the Lord steadfast in the faith, before Whom he humbles himself in adoration and full of trust. Such hearts are the ones to whom the coming of the Lord applies in particular; b. what should move us to such preparation of the Lord's coming, . the great loss that draws the failure of this preparation according to itself. Where there is no knowledge of sins, no remorse, no faith, there is: "He came among you, Whom you do not know", there Christ cannot reveal Himself to hearts. Years of hearing, being baptized, partaking of the Sacrament, etc. accounts for nothing. Where there is no inner repentance, there is no Christ, no salvation, no blessedness; . the blessed benefit that follows such preparation. A truly repentant heart is the Lord's dearest residence, castle and paradise, in which he will reveal the riches of His infinite mercy. There Advent will be in truth, there the Lord comes and with Him joy, bliss, and salvation. One makes so many preparations for Christmas. The Lord is near! Don't forget the most important thing! Georg Stckhardt

6 7

Luke 1:44. John 3:29.