Rejoice: God Changes Everthing (Advent 3, Dec 11, 2022)

Sometimes, something happens, and it changes most everything. A little over twenty years ago, I stood at an altar along with my soon-to-be-wife, Kristen. We faced each other. I said my vows and she said hers. We exchanged rings. The pastor pronounced us husband and wife. Ever since, things have been different. On that day, something happened, and everything changed.

A little over five years after that wedding, Kristen was at the hospital and our first child, Phedra, was born. And ever since, our lives have been changed. Everything changes when you have children. Sometimes, something happens, and everything changes.

This reading from Isaiah 35 gets at this reality. In a way, Isaiah says,

When God Comes to Save, Everything Changes.

Creation changes. Isaiah talks about the land. It’s barren, a wilderness, a desert. The land is inhospitable and dangerous. It’s a place where things just don’t grow. It’s brown and ugly. But when God comes to save, creation will change. It will be luxurious and green. Grass will grow, and the ground will be covered with a carpet of flowers. Isaiah compares it to Carmel, Sharon, and Lebanon, which are noted for their glorious vegetation, trees, and beauty. I imagine it will be like the change from winter to spring. At the end of February, everything is brown and there are no leaves on the trees. Then April comes, and trees turn green, things are growing, birds are singing. You just feel uplifted, joyous, and excited once again. Isaiah pictures creation changing when God comes to save.

Then he talks about people who have weak hands, feeble knees, and anxious hearts. They are dismayed and discouraged, disheartened, depressed, and despaired. Others are blind and deaf. Some can’t speak and are lame. But when God comes to save, the weak, the discouraged, and the disheartened are suddenly strong and courageous once again.

And people see and hear and shout for joy and dance once again. It reminds me of those medical stories in which a young child hears for the first time. He has been deaf all his life. Then doctors do surgery. Perhaps they put an implant in the ear. Suddenly, the child hears his mom’s voice. And you see his face just light up in joy. Or a woman who has been color blind all her life. She puts on special glasses, and suddenly she can see a rainbow of colors. Tears flow down her cheeks. When God comes to save, everything changes in a person’s life.

Then Isaiah talks about a highway. Back then, most highways were more like trails. They were dangerous. Wild animals could attack you, as well as thieves and robbers. Then everything changes when God comes to save. The road becomes a highway of holiness for the redeemed to travel on in safety. Those who have been ransomed don’t have to fear anymore. They are going to arrive at a destination, and they’re going to travel together. Instead of fear and danger, they are going to be rejoicing with exuberant praise.

Isaiah simply says that when God comes to save, everything changes. Joy will fill the land and people’s lives. But when will this happen? When does God come to save?

II.

I want you to picture a manger in a stable in Bethlehem. No doubt, back at the time of Caesar Augustus, you’ll find a few of those in that small town. Nothing out of the ordinary for a small village like Bethlehem. But one evening, a child is born, and his name is Jesus. When you translate the name Jesus, it means “he saves.” So in that manger, which was once just an ordinary stable, everything changes because Jesus is born in it. Immanuel . . . God with us. It’s a night of joy and praise in the world. God has come to save.

When Jesus grows up, during his ministry, he meets people. When he comes into their lives, everything changes. A man who is born blind, who has never been able to see, meets Jesus, and he can see. “Once I was blind,” he says, “but now I can see.” And more. He now worships Jesus. Joy and thanksgiving fill his heart.

Or a tax collector. Tax collectors were not particularly well-liked back then. They could rip people off, get extra money by taxing them more than they should. This tax collector was named Zacchaeus. He climbed a tree because he wasn’t very tall and wanted to see Jesus. Then Jesus saw him and told him he was coming to Zacchaeus’s house to eat. That evening, everything changed. Salvation came to that house, and the tax collector gave away money. He made things right with those he cheated. He followed Jesus with joy in his heart and praise on his lips.

A woman is caught in adultery, and another one is a prostitute. Jesus comes into their lives, and everything changes. The prostitute weeps at his feet, drying the tears with her hair. The one caught in adultery goes away without condemnation. She is told to sin no more.

A man is paralyzed and cannot walk. He is let down through a roof into a house. Jesus gives him his legs back, and he can run and jump once again. Even more, his sins have been forgiven.

Do you see what happens when God comes to save as Jesus? Everything changes.

Then, as his earthly ministry comes to an end, he comes to save in the most gruesome of places. A cross back then was an instrument of death. It was ugly. It reeked of shed blood, agony, and rotting flesh. The cross was a horrific place to die. But now take a look. We have crosses in just about every church, for jewelry, and along the side of the road. We call it “Good Friday” all because when Jesus hangs on the cross, everything changes. Instead of judgment and death, we have forgiveness and life.

Now head to a graveyard. A tomb back then was closed, and the body stayed put. But not with Jesus. With Jesus’ tomb, everything changes. The stone rolls away and life bursts forth again, including the life of creation God has given in this world. Creation that is groaning under pollution, misuse, hurricanes, typhoons, fires, earthquakes, drought, and all that devastates our land is simply waiting for that day when Jesus comes back to save it fully and completely. Jesus will make it new once again. The resurrection of Christ is the proof positive that when Jesus comes to save on that Last Day, all of creation will be renewed. Rejoicing will be all that is heard.

When Jesus comes into our lives, everything changes for us too. Think about the baptismal font. Just a little bit of water, but when you add to it, “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” Jesus is there. The child born sinful is forgiven. A child who needs Jesus is welcomed into his arms. A child is brought into a family called the Church.

A pastor friend of mine told this story about how he baptized his first daughter, Holly. He was a new pastor at the church, and the congregation got a kick out of her Baptism. Why? Because Holly simply screamed the whole time. She was just not happy about something, and her mother could not calm her down. But her cries didn’t take away from the moment. Glen dipped his hand in that water. He spoke, “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” That day Holly became a child of God, welcomed by Jesus, forgiven, and a part of the Church. It was a joyous day!

So when you have those days when you are discouraged or disappointed or dismayed or disheartened or even despairing, just think back to your Baptism. It’s when everything changed in your life. You became a child of God. Jesus came to save you. Rejoice in that gift.

Or think about the Lord’s Supper. We come up here. We stand. We get a little bit of bread. We get a sip of wine. But it’s more than that. Jesus is present, and he comes right into our lives. The words we often use with the Lord’s Supper are life, forgiveness, and salvation. Every time we come forward, everything changes once again. We are forgiven. We have life eternal. Jesus has come to save us, and we rejoice.

Holly is in her mid-thirties now and has a daughter, Lana, who took her church’s Communion class. So now, when her parents go up to receive the Lord’s Supper, they have Holly beside them and their granddaughter too. It’s a time of rejoicing and thanksgiving because life, forgiveness, and salvation come to Glen and Sue, to a daughter, and to a granddaughter. Everything changes when God comes to save in Jesus.

Or open his Word. It’s not just words on a page. Jesus comes through these words. He gives us his Holy Spirit to build us up, to encourage us, to strengthen us. “Cast your cares upon me,” he promises, “for I care for you” when we are struggling, hurting, or grieving.

It was a little over eleven years ago when I was woken up from a nap at a family friend’s ranch, and was told Kristen had been in an accident. Kristen went through a barbed wire fence and badly injured her face. Then there was getting her into a van and her dad driving nearly 100 miles an hour in back country roads to get to the local hospital, and I was holding Kristen’s hand, praying. Then the medical flight to the trauma center in Austin. I followed in another car. Then scans, and surgery, and recovery. I remember borrowing a Bible from the hospital chaplain during those 2am hours while she was still in surgery. This time I was reading the Psalms with a whole new eye. Eventually the doctor came out and told me she was going to be OK. But during those scary, uncertain hours, I needed the comfort and strength Jesus gave me through his Word. It was just what I needed, and it changed everything that night.

III.

Now, about that highway. We are on our way to an eternity of joy, thanksgiving, and praise with Jesus. But we are not traveling alone; we are traveling with one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. We are a throng of people, marching to our heavenly destination in safety and security because of Jesus. We are the redeemed, the ransomed, in Jesus.

When God comes to save in Jesus, everything changes. He came long ago in a manger, on a cross, and out of an empty tomb. Everything changed when God came in Jesus. Joyous good news from long ago. God still comes to save in Jesus at the baptismal font, at the Lord’s Table, and in his Word. Jesus comes to us with forgiveness, life, and salvation. Everything changes, and we rejoice. And as we travel together on his highway with brothers and sisters in his Church, we look forward to that day when Jesus will return to save fully and for all time. On that day, all of creation will be renewed. We will have no more weak hands, feeble knees, or anxious hearts. There will be no more blindness or Alzheimer’s or cancer or infections. There will be no more worries about danger. The sorrow and the sighing will flee to be replaced with joyous and exultant praise. Yes, God in Jesus has come to save us, and we rejoice because everything has changed. Amen.

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