This sermon was preached on 8th December 2024, the Second Sunday of Advent, at St Peter’s Church, Brooke.

Readings: Malachi 3:1-4; Luke 3:1-6

So, we are in the run-up to Christmas. You might have your Christmas tree up and got out the decorations. You might have listened to Michael Bublé more times than you’d care to admit. Most importantly, how many mince pies have you eaten? These are some of the many things we do across December and Advent in the build-up to Christmas. At church, we still like to try to distinguish between Advent and Christmas, but for many, such distinctions are non-existent. Yet, we know that the things we do across December (whether you think it is Advent or Christmas) build up and prepare the way for Christmas Day on the 25^th December.

The season of Advent, as properly defined, is meant to be a season of build-up, of expectant waiting for the coming of Jesus. This is what Advent is all about. And our readings today recall how John the Baptist came to prepare the way for the coming of Jesus. The prophet Malachi said that John the Baptist will ‘prepare the way before [the Lord]’ and shall come and appear in his temple. 

Now, the reference to the temple is significant. The temple was the place of God’s dwelling on earth. It was the place where God’s presence dwelt in its fullness in the holy of holies in the temple, where if the high priest committed any sin or wrongdoing in there, he would die, such was the power of God’s pure and perfect presence. The temple was the symbolic representation of God’s presence with us. Throughout the Old Testament, the temple was the closest the Israelites could get to the presence of God. But now, the Lord was coming to his temple. He shall appear before you. No longer is the Lord veiled behind a curtain, but the living God will come to us. Emmanuel, God with us. 

This is the joy we celebrate at Christmas 2000 years later. That Jesus came as Emmanuel, God with us, so that we may no longer have a distance between us, but God would be as near as the air we breathe. So, Christmas is about celebrating that Jesus has come to us, it leads us to ask, so what do we do to prepare for this? Prepare might be the wrong word because it has already happened. But if we are to be in the presence of God like we are now, what would we like to do to be ready to meet him? 

Looking at John the Baptist can offer us a lot of help in this area, as he is the one who came to prepare the way of the Lord. If we look at our gospel reading, we see that John ‘came into all the country about the Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.’ Let’s break this down. So, John preaches about baptism. Well, what is baptism? How long have you got? But baptism is the sign of dying to our sins and old life and rising again to our new life in Christ. Baptism marks the start of a new life living for Christ rather than living for yourself. 

Jesus’ coming to us leads us to baptism, to lay down our old lives and things that keep us away from God. We repent of our sins; that is, we say sorry to God for walking away from him and choose to turn our lives around towards him so that we might run straight into the arms of our present Lord, Emmanuel. In turning to Jesus, we receive his healing forgiveness and remission of our sins. The sins that used to keep us apart from God behind a curtain have now been done away with, and now God’s very presence lives in each one of his disciples. This is what baptism is all about, and this is what John the Baptist says we are each to do as part of our preparation to meet with God. 

As we are in Advent, we prepare for Christmas and meeting with God by choosing to follow John’s lead and turn away from all distractions and sin and turn to Jesus. It’s worth stating that as I say this, this isn’t meant to be some sort of telling off, repent of your sins preacher moment. But in the season of Advent and Christmas, when we celebrate that God has come to us, I think it is worth asking ourselves if we are taking Jesus up on his invitation. Jesus has come to us personally. He has knocked on the door for you. But so often, we ignore the knock on the door, or worse, we turn and run out the back away from him. But when we do this, we miss out on the amazing gift of God’s presence in our lives. God’s presence is so great that Malachi asks, ‘Who may abide the day of his coming and who shall stand when he appeareth?’ Such is the greatness of God’s presence. Are you really going to say no to the God that awesome when he comes to you? You can do if you choose to. But I think you are missing out on how amazing God is and how amazing it is for God’s presence to be with us. 

It’s one of the frustrations of this season. People can become so fixated on the decorations, the presents, and the festivities that they forget that Christmas is about a knock on the door from Jesus, who has come to us and says I want to be at the very centre of your life. This is what Christmas is all about, that God is Emmanuel, God who is with us. 

This Advent and Christmas, what are you going to do in response to Jesus’ invitation? Will you turn to him and open the door of your heart to let him in? Or will other things distract you and sway your attention? What will you do this Christmas when Jesus knocks on your heart? Will you let him in? If you do, you will discover the greatest joy of the world.  

Amen.