Second Sunday in Advent 12/04/2011

Second Sunday in Advent 12/04/11 Mark 8:27-29 Title: Who is Jesus? In Mark 8:27-29 we read, “Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" 28 And they told him, "John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets." 29 And he asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered him, "You are the Christ." What is interesting is that when you continue to read the Word of God you quickly find out that his disciples did not really know who he was. They believed that he came from God, that he was the Son of God, but was not God. Jesus, at one time; he was probably frustrated with them and the others who did not believe he was God Incarnate, said, “If you don’t believe my words believe because of what I am doing.” The disciples along with those who were following Jesus thought he was everything but the Savior of their souls. They thought he was a great teacher, a healer of bodies, but they mostly thought he was the new king who was going to free Israel from the Romans and restore Israel to her past glory. This is still thought today, not just by the Jewish people, but by Christians the world over who want an earthly king. They, just like the disciples and followers of Jesus back when Jesus was walking the earth, do not really know who Jesus is. That is why this Advent season I am talking to you about the Incarnation of God; God in the flesh, coming into our midst and its meaning for our lives today and all of eternity. As I told you last Sunday God has always made his presence known to those he calls his children. At first Adam and Eve could actually talk to him. Later after sin entered the world and one could not see God face to face and survive he appeared to his people in fire, smoke, and clouds assuring them of his presence. He talked to his people through the words of the prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah just as he talks to us today through his Word. His word was and still is like a two edged sword that cuts to the bone when sin needed to be exposed and like healing salve when his people repent and need their wounds healed. God has always been active and continues to be active today among his people. We need God among us as much today as the people through the centuries needed God in their midst, for in Romans 3:23 we read, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” We, even the most righteous of us have not met the perfect demands of God. God in his perfect being cannot abide any sin. He is perfect in all things, so he has to demand perfection from his human creation. He simply has no choice, for if he were to do anything different he would not be God. Our inability to do what God demands to be done creates a huge dilemma for God, for ever since Adam and Eve sinned by not trusting in God to perfectly provide all they needed humans have all missed his mark of perfection. We are all incapable of doing what God demands and deserve his righteous condemnation. What is God to do? To speak in human terms he had a choice to make. He could either and rightly so leave his human creation to face his righteous judgment. Or he could, as he chose to do out of his perfect love for his human creation, do what we could not do; live a perfect life. So God became Incarnate, that is became human so that he could live the life we cannot, because of our sin, live and then bear God’s wrath in our place. We know the historical man Jesus who lived as one of us is God because in John 1:1-3 we are told by Saint John, “In the beginning was the Word, (Word was John’s code word for Jesus) and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” And then in John 1:18 we read, “18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he (that is Jesus) has made him known.” It is in God’s Incarnation that we know as Jesus that we see God. And in his becoming one of us we got to see a side of God that was not visible to us before he became God Incarnate; that is God in the flesh. We now see God’s love toward us, as shown in Jesus’ words and miracles. Jesus in the flesh is God, but he had to also be 100 percent human, for God’s plan of salvation to work. Jesus had to be able to be tempted to sin, as we are tempted. And he had to resist the temptations without using his Godhood, for to use his Godhood to resist temptation would not fulfill the demands of God since we are not God. Jesus had to be fully human while still remaining God for God’s plan to work. So God became one of us. He grew in Mary’s womb, as we grew in our mother’s womb. He was born as we are born. He fed at his mother’s breast. He had to be cared for and protected. He was potty trained, learned to talk, and to walk just as we were taught those things. He was human in every way, as he lived his life as one of us. We all know that God’s Law is good; perfect in every way. We know that God demands that we keep his Law perfectly. We know that, but we find ourselves in a dilemma. We, no matter how hard we try cannot perfectly keep God’s Law. We are in deep trouble. While we make excuses for our sin and try to justify our actions by blaming our behavior on others we know deep down that we deserve God’s wrath. So the God-man Jesus did what we cannot do. He kept God’s Law perfectly. He kept it outwardly and inwardly. He did not sin in any form or fashion. That is one of the blessings we receive in God becoming one of us. Jesus did what we are incapable of doing; perfectly keeping God’s Law. So, we have seen this morning that in God’s Incarnation we now see God in and through Jesus and that in God’s Incarnation we see that the Law of God has been perfectly kept as Jesus did what we cannot do; keep God’s Law perfectly. Yet in God’s Incarnation we see even more, for in Jesus God Incarnate we see salvation. We know, according to God’s Word that not only does the Law of God demand perfection from us it condemns us for our failure to keep God’s Law. The Law demands that payment be made for every violation of its commands. There is, as we sometimes hear, when a person does something wrong, “There’ll be hell to pay.” For, if payment is not made for us, we will certainly pay for it for all eternity. That is the other thing we learn from God’s Incarnation. Jesus came to save us; to take on the hell we still deserve even as we sit here this morning saved children of God. The innocent Jesus took God’s just wrath so that the guilty, that is us, can enjoy being with God now and for all eternity. Jesus switched places with us, so that when God’s hammer of justice fell it fell on him instead of us. My dear fellow redeemed ones listen to God’s Word. Know who you are “Poor miserable sinners” and then take comfort in what he has done for you, for he is the Bread of life, the Light of the world, the Door to Salvation, the Good Shepherd, the Resurrection, the Way, the Truth, and the Life. That is why we expectantly wait for his return in all his glory. Jesus; God Incarnate, our Savior. Amen.