We suffer in life so that we are evermore being knit together with one another and grown in our faith.

Suffering for a crime you didn’t commit is considered one of the worst experiences someone can go through. Emily and I went and saw the Mr. Rodgers movie, which was great, but in the previews we were shown a movie about an African American lawyer fresh out of law school in the 1980s who took it upon himself to go into the prisons beginning in Alabama and help free wrongly convicted black men. The movie is called Just Mercy and it looks like a great movie. The premise is part of what makes this such a great movie. That the innocent are treated as innocent and the guilty pay for their own crimes.

Today is rejoice Sunday. You’ve maybe noticed the candle we light today is pink instead of purple. Rejoice Sunday is a break in our somber advent reflections to remember that our advent frame of mind, that of repentance and making ourselves right to meet our Savior, is not how we will always be. When we die or Jesus returns, we no longer need to prepare ourselves to meet him. We will have run our race. Rejoice, your suffering is not long but short and what is it compared to the glory that awaits those who believe!

John the Baptist rejoiced when he first met Jesus, well, sort of. Luke says John jumped in Elizabeth’s womb when Mary’s voice was heard. John was in utero and was given faith by the Holy Spirit. John hadn’t seen Jesus, he couldn’t he was still in the womb. John was still being formed and knit together grown by God until his birth. John heard, before he even saw, and he rejoiced.

Today our gospel reading is a little bit curious. Again, John is not seeing Jesus because John is in prison. But again, John hears, he hears about the deeds of Jesus. However, John isn’t quite ready to rejoice. It seems John is wondering what is going on with Jesus. Here John is in prison and perhaps he’s wondering if Jesus is the real deal. If Jesus is the Messiah why is he acting so un-Messiah like?

Are you the one who is to come or shall we look for another?
Matthew 11:3, ESV

John had been preaching and baptizing. His advent greeting was not happy advent, happy holidays or even merry Christmas. John greeted folks with a hearty, “Repent you brood of vipers.” John had put his life on the line for preaching God’s word. He is in jail for telling Herod to obey the 6th commandment and not marry his brother’s wife. Herod arrested John and now John knows what is possible to happen to him. He’s basically on death row for following the law. The innocent in prison.

So you can imagine John’s question, “Are you the one to come or shall we look for another?”
Have you every poured energy and time into a project at work or even maybe at home or church for it to just go unnoticed or even not appreciated? You work weekends, you give your time, you tell your kids you can’t play with them or go to a birthday party, you pour yourself into something and the boss says, “Toss it. No good, in fact, you’re off the project.” We think this may be part of the doubt rising in John’s mind in regards to if Jesus is truly the Messiah.

Look at what John had dedicated his life to. He preached repentance. He called folks out to the Jordan to be baptized for the forgiveness of their sins. He dressed in strange clothes. And what had all this got him? Jail and the murmurs that Herod’s illegal wife Herodias wanted him dead. Thanks a lot Jesus, if you are God you sure have a strange way to treat your best preacher. John had dedicated his life to preaching God’s word and look where it landed him.

There is a little comfort in these doubts of John for you and me. If John the Baptist sometimes wondered if God knew what he was doing, that means I’m in good company. You are in good company when you wonder, “Is God really helping me?” “Does God care?” “Is God there for me, because I sure don’t see him.”

Consider how Jesus addressed John’s doubts, the same way he brought John faith while they were both still in their mother’s wombs. Jesus preached the gospel to John, to knit him together, to grow him in faith, faith comes by hearting. Jesus announced to John while he was in prison, the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.

Jesus preached about his identity just as Mary did when she greeted Elizabeth and John was given faith by the holy spirit. “Tell John what you see…” Tell John. Not break him out of prison. Not pay his bail but preach to him. Tell him of the mighty works of God. So for you and me. We are still if you will being grown in our faith by hearing the gospel. We still need to hear of who Jesus is, because this is how the Holy Spirit works.

We are in good company with John when we wonder about Jesus, “Is he the one or should I look for another?” We ask that same question when life may not be going as good as we hoped. Is Jesus my God? Am I ready to endure all and suffer for the sake of Jesus? Even suffer for doing what is right…1 Peter 3 says, “But even if you should suffer for doing right, you are blessed.” John is suffering for doing right, are you willing?

Kind of interesting that Jesus says today, “Blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” You can rejoice when you suffer, even if you’ve done nothing wrong. How is that for reason to rejoice on this Pink Candle Sunday? This is offensive to our flesh. We think we are innocent. We believe we don’t deserve any suffering but that is a lie. It is precisely what we deserve for our sins. But God doesn’t finally judge us as guilty for our sins, Jesus was judged for your sins on the cross.

Jesus didn’t throw John in prison because he had done anything wrong but precisely because Jesus desired to knit John together in faith even more. To grow him as a child grows in her mother’s womb. So too you and me. In this life we are grown to trust God all the more by suffering. The more we suffer the more glorious salvation will be when we see indeed Jesus is who he says he is!

John, rejoice. Why? Because Jesus is the promised one. Blessed are you John for you are suffering for doing right. Jesus will do offensive things. He will let you suffer. He calls you to repent. He will let you be defeated. But the most offensive of all in the eyes of the world, Jesus lets you off free from your sins. You who are guilty are freed! As if you have never sinned against God. The sinner forgiven. You released from your doubts and fears. Yes, this is already true for you today but you might sit in your prison with John a little while longer while Christ knits you together with each other. You helping one another and your neighbor. In Col 2 St. Paul tells the church, “hold fast to Christ the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.”

Rejoice, for your Savior comes to help you now through his word and sacrament. The same Holy Spirit that comforted and carried John in prison and in his mother’s womb comes to you. Not to make you acceptable to the world or help you make excuses, but to make new your hope. To knit you into his holy church. To re-new you in Christ’s baptismal promise of forgiveness. 

Even in all sorrows Christians do rejoice. Joy is confidence that God is taking care of things. Joy doesn’t leave us content with this life but content to have God’s promise of forgiveness and deliverance.

A great movie is when the innocent are freed from being wrongly convicted. How much greater is it when the guilty are declared innocent? Not even Hollywood goes that far. Christ confessed to your sins for you to go free. Christ is your advocate, he has come to your defense by his cross and baptizing you into his innocence. Though you may suffer, rejoice for you will see God’s faithfulness.  
 
Have you ever asked God for a sign? By a sign I mean something that happens that you have attached special meaning to. Like God if I should do the dishes make a ufo crash in my yard. Have you ever bowed your head in all seriousness, settled your thoughts in your head, really focused and said, “God if I should take this job, give me a sign?”
Or “God if I should ask this girl out, give me a sign?”

Sometimes in life it can be hard to make decisions. Whether it be because we’re nervous or maybe we don’t feel like we’ve had enough time to reflect on certain decisions. We humans love certainty. Who can blame us in a world full of such uncertainty. Joseph surely thought he had his life on somewhat a certain path. He had found a woman who was marriage material. She was even of the lineage of David, royalty you could say.

You can imagine how happy Joseph was when Mary’s parents agreed to the marriage arrangement. That was Joseph’s certainty and answer to his question and probably prayers to God, “Should I marry this woman?” God gave him a sign by their faithful parents agreeing to the marriage. Now Joseph had a set amount of time to establish a home for he and Mary before they were fully married in the eyes of God. Joseph now had to show his worthiness to take Mary to be his wife. This was a sign to Mary and her parents that Joseph was a good man. A man of certainty. A man who was truly just.

Just when life was certainly going to go one way, Mary is found to be with child before they had come together. Now Joseph’s certainty had gone out the window. What he was certain of now was that Mary had been unfaithful. He was certain what his next steps in life were going to be. He didn’t need a sign to know what to do, divorce., he had God’s word. Sex outside of marriage is a sin and Joseph knew Mary was now not what she appeared to be.
There was no question Joseph was to divorce Mary, but what he finally decided was that he was going to do it quietly. You see Mary’s parents had given their approval, they gave a sign to Joseph, a promise with money attached to it that their daughter was a virgin and that they wouldn’t marry her off before giving Joseph a chance to prove his faithfulness and that he could provide a stable home. If they did allow Mary to marry someone else after this agreement, or Mary committed adultery, Joseph would get the money and Mary’s family name would be scorned. Joseph would have the right to publicly shame Mary’s family for their unfaithfulness.

Joseph though does something odd. He resolves to divorce her quietly. Quietly meaning though Mary won’t confess the truth of her supposed unfaithfulness he forgives her. He forgives her but will not marry her. He though will not punish her for her sin. Notice when he resolves to do this, before the angel comes to him and gives him a sign. Joseph is a just man. He is not a weak man, he still is faithful to God’s word, the divorce must happen. Joseph desires to be faithful to God’s word however he will not put Mary up for scorn. Maybe it’s because he thinks Mary might be telling the truth. He was a just man after all, a Christian, someone who believed God would send a Savior from the house of David of royal blood. Could Mary be telling the truth?

Before he can act though God gives Joseph a sign. Joseph didn’t even ask for a sign and God gives it. How gracious and merciful God is, giving so often before we can even ask. An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.” God’s word attached to something, a sign.

Perhaps part of the reason we are so willing to ask for signs from God is because we have a yearning to connect with God in real ways. In a world of uncertainty to have something certain. Something to grab onto, something, if you will to be the object of our faith. What sign would you ask for to tell you, everything is going to be alright? Don’t worry.
God has given signs all through history. There was the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden. God attached his word to that tree, “Do not eat, you will die.” There was also the tree of life.

God gave a sign to Adam and Eve, “Your offspring will crush the head of the serpent.” A sign with a promise attached.

There was the Exodus and Moses asking God for a sign that he should go to pharaoh. God said, “Throw down your staff.” And it turned into a snake. Put your hand in your cloak, it turned leperous.

God gave the Israelites a sign that he was with them, the parting of the Red Sea, the cloud by day and fire by night.

This brings us to our Old Testament reading. You even hear the word sign. God tells King Ahaz, “Ask me for a sign.” God is inviting Ahaz to ask for a sign! And God puts no restrictions on the sign. As high as heaven, as low as Sheol. God has promised Ahaz he will bring them through these hard times the kingdom is facing. What does Ahaz do?

Ahaz was the king of Judah, the southern kingdom. God had told the kings of Judah and Israel, “Do not look to foreign kings for protection. Live by faith in my promise to protect you.” But Ahaz would rather not live by faith. Ahaz wanted the securities of the other foreign kings. It wasn’t that Ahaz didn’t live by faith, it’s an uncertain world you have to believe in something, but what was the object of his faith? What did he want to trust in? He trusted in the kings, the power of his political posturing, he trusted in what his eyes wanted. Don’t we do the same? Isn’t it the things and powers of this life that allure our attention?

When the uncertainties of life rear their ugly head what is the temptation?

The temptation is to doubt God’s provision. To not hear God’s word, like Ahaz. To find signs of certainty in ourselves or in riches. To doubt his signs. God even gives Ahaz the chance to name the sign. God gives Ahaz the opportunity to hear the gospel! Ahaz should’ve asked to hear again the promises of God that would come true because God always keeps his word. But Ahaz didn’t want to hear that God is reliable. God is more trustworthy than any gift you will get this year. He is more dependable than anyone you’ve trusted in life. He will be good to his word.

This life is full of uncertainty. I’ve felt it and I know you have too. Many of you express your frustration, your uncertainty. You have shared with me the struggles, the uncertainties. The devil is active. He hates you. He hates God. He wants you to be uncertain. He wants you to not hear the word of God. He wants you to think you don’t really need God that there are more reliable things, like sleep or what you can buy or drink to deal with your uncertainty. But those are all uncertain in themselves. Or to repay hate with anger. To pretend like you have not caused uncertainty for someone else. WE’ve all done it.

But the thing for you to know is that you are not alone. Joseph wasn’t alone. Mary wasn’t alone. Even Ahaz was not alone. God is with his people and he loves to give signs. So what sign would you ask for? To know that everything is going to work out? To know that all your struggles all your stress. All your uncertainty? To know you are not alone. What sign from God would you ask?

Are you Ahaz? No I don’t want a sign. I’ll find my own false god. Well imagine that even before we have asked God has given a sign that he will not forsake you. The sign is not in the shape of a dollar sign. It’s not in the shape of power or might or the comforts in this life. The sign of God is the cross.

There is the sign for the whole world that God is merciful. That in Jesus Christ crucified for the sins of the world the uncertainty of sin and doubt is gone. Jesus was dead but is now alive.

In a world of uncertainty there is one thing that is always sure, God loves you. He gave his son to show you. The sign of the cross is that Jesus is true man and true God giving his life for your forgiveness. certainty that stands over all time and space.

What sign would you ask for to know that everything that God desires you to have he gives to you. Even before you ask for a sign? How about baptism? How about the Lord’s Supper?

This is why in all generations where uncertainty has shown it’s wickedness, the church runs to kneel at the altar of her Lord and asked the Lord for a sign of forgiveness. Knowing that God has not forsaken you. For the forgiveness of your sins. That is certain! Why doubt him?

God cannot lie. His faithfulness is to all generations. His faithfulness is to you!

So it is not out of God’s character to give a sign to Joseph. His word of promise. So he still now gives signs of his faithfulness. God doesn’t leave it up to us to ask for a sign, he gives us a sign written with the blood of his son. That’s what we see in this reading, God keeps his word. God keeps his promises and he still promises us just as he did to Joseph.

Ahaz didn’t want to trust God, Joseph did. Ahaz didn’t want hear of God’s promises. Joseph was glad to trust God. God’s promise, the sign he gave to Ahaz and to all who heard the word of God came true. A virgin conceived. What a sign! Would you have asked for a sign like that? Probably not. Too impossible. Too crazy. It’s not possible.

With God all things are possible. But what is even more amazing is the sign of the cross. That sinners are completely forgiven! That you dear saint can be certain. God has forgiven you. That your eternal life is certain. Death is not certain for you but life. That sinners are washed clean in water. Water that has a promise attached to it. That bread and wine give forgiveness of sins! These signs are the certainty of God’s love and mercy in an uncertain world.