Sermon Tone Analysis

Advent John the Baptist

Advent

Definition of Advent from the Wikipedia

Advent is a season of the liturgical year observed in many Christian churches as a time of expectant waiting and preparation for both the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas and the return of Jesus at the Second Coming.

Advent is the beginning of the Western liturgical year

Christians use the four Sundays and weeks of Advent to prepare and remember the real meaning of Christmas.

Advent is a season of hopeful anticipation of God's breaking into our world and our time

History of Advent

it was certainly in existence from about 480 – and the novelty introduced by the Council of Tours of 567 was to order monks to fast every day in the month of December until Christmas

In the medieval Roman Catholic church there were several Councils of Tours, that city being an old seat of Christianity, and considered fairly centrally located in France.

The theme of the Lectionary for each of the Sundays in Advent:

Advent 1 The Patriarchs

Advent 2 The Prophets

Advent 3 John the Baptist

Advent 4 The Virgin Mary

Christmas Day The Christ

Advent first Advent Birth of Christ

and second Advent Second Coming

The Advent Wreath

Widipedia

he concept of the Advent wreath originated among German Lutherans in the 16th Century.[7]

However, it was not until three centuries later that the modern Advent wreath took shape.[8]

📷Advent wreath as designed by Wichern

Research by Prof. Haemig of Luther Seminary, St. Paul, points to Johann Hinrich Wichern (1808–1881), a Protestant pastor in Germany and a pioneer in urban mission work among the poor as the inventor of the modern Advent wreath in the 19th century.[9]

During Advent, children at the mission school Rauhes Haus, founded by Wichern in Hamburg, would ask daily if Christmas had arrived.

In 1839, he built a large wooden ring (made out of an old cartwheel) with 20 small red and 4 large white candles.

A small candle was lit successively every weekday and Saturday during Advent.

On Sundays, a large white candle was lit.

The custom gained ground among Protestant churches in Germany and evolved into the smaller wreath with four or five candles known today.

Roman Catholics in Germany began to adopt the custom in the 1920s, and in the 1930s it spread to North America.[10]

Professor Haemig's research also indicates that the custom did not reach the United States until the 1930s, even among German Lutheran immigrants.

Our experience in relation to John

The Advent wreath is usually a circle of greenery with five candles rising from it.

There are four candles on the outside that are purple (sometimes one is pink) and the candle in the middle is white.

The candles are lit in the same order each week so that by the fourth week, the candles have burnt down by different amounts.

(The pink candle can be lit on the third Sunday, known as Gaudete or 'Rose Sunday'.)

The theme of the Lectionary for each of the Sundays in Advent:

Advent 1 The Patriarchs

Advent 2 The Prophets

Advent 3 John the Baptist

Advent 4 The Virgin Mary

Christmas Day The Christ

2. John the Baptist

2 Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples 3 and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” 4 And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: 5 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.

6 And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

7 As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see?

A reed shaken by the wind? 8 What then did you go out to see?

A man dressed in soft clothing?

Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses.

9 What then did you go out to see?

A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.

10 This is he of whom it is written,

“ ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face,

who will prepare your way before you.’

11 Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist.

Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

12 From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.

13 For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, 14 and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come.

15 He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

16 “But to what shall I compare this generation?

It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates,

17  “ ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;

we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’

18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’

19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him!

A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’

Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version.

(2016).

().

Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

first lesson

John the Baptist

seen and meet christ his mission is to proclaim christ .

yet he is in prison and cannot do anything

Messenger for the king in prison

John the Baptist was imprisoned by Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee and Perea.

Herod Antipas was a son of Herod the Great, who had been king of Judea and the surrounding regions during the time of Jesus' birth.

After Herod the Great's death, his kingdom broke up into smaller territories over which his sons ruled.

Herod Antipas received Galilee, and it was He who ordered John's arrest.

While the gospel of John makes only a passing reference to the imprisonment of John the Baptist (), the other Gospels all tell us that Herod had John imprisoned on account of John having rebuked him over his sin, particularly over Herod's taking his brother's wife.

Luke's account is the briefest, simply stating:

"But Herod the tetrarch, being rebuked by him about Herodias, his brother’s wife, and about all the evil things Herod had done, added this to everything else—he locked John up in prison"().

It was the plotting of Herod's wife Herodias, however, that led John' execution

The Greatest Prophet John The Baptist

(11:2-3) John the Baptist: John's perplexity was caused by his picture of a stern Messiah.

John was in prison and he heard about the works of Christ.

Note two points.

1.

What John had heard was that the works of Christ were works of love.

He knew that the Messiah was to baptize with both the Spirit and fire—the Messianic fire of judgment.

He had heard that Jesus was doing the loving works of the Spirit and that people were mobilizing around Him in huge throngs, but he had heard nothing about the fire of Messianic judgment.

It seemed that Jesus was fulfilling only half of the Messianic prophecies.

He was perplexed and questioning, so he sent two emissaries to Jesus for an answer.

Note: despite John's puzzlement and questioning, he still believed in the truth.

⇒ He believed in the promises of Scripture concerning the Messiah: "Art thou He?" (cp. ).

⇒ He was committed to seek after God's Messiah: "Do we look for another?" ⇒ He was willing to have his faith confirmed in Jesus as the true Messiah.

The fact that he asked the questions shows this.

2. John was questioning Jesus' Messiahship.

John was the one who sent two of his disciples to question Jesus (), and it was to John that Jesus sent His answer ().

John wondered if Jesus was the true Messiah.

There were several reasons for his questioning Jesus.

a. John was perplexed.