His Gospel Is Peace: No Fear of Famine

The Third Sunday in Advent

December 15, 2024

Luke 7:18-28

 “His Gospel Is Peace: No Fear of Famine”

Lots of holiday music wherever we go right now. It’s all around us at light displays, concerts, in stores when we’re shopping, on our Spotify play list, in the car when we’re driving. One holiday song that we hear this time of year is “Do You Hear What I Hear?” Written in 1962, it became a hit when Bing Crosby recorded it a year later in 1963. Some of our younger people are asking: “Who’s Bing Crosby?” Whether you know who he is or not, you probably have heard the song:

Said the night wind to the little lamb
Do you see what I see?
Way up in the sky little lamb
Do you see what I see?
A star, a star
Dancing in the night
With a tail as big as a kite
With a tail as big as a kite

Said the little lamb to the shepherd boy
Do you hear what I hear?
Ringing through the sky shepherd boy
Do you hear what I hear?
A song, a song
High above the tree
With a voice as big as the sea
With a voice as big as the sea

Do you see what I see? Do you hear what I hear? These are questions that Jesus poses to those were sent to him by John the Baptist in today’s Gospel lesson. They came asking: “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” (Luke 7:20b). Jesus response was this: “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me” (Luke 7:22-23). So, what is it that we see and hear in these days of Advent? Are they pointing us to Jesus? Jesus is the only One who has done and can do all of these things. In Jesus, there is abundance, not scarcity. Because his Gospel is peace, in Jesus there is no fear of famine. That is the theme for today’s message. May the Lord’s rich and abundant blessing rest upon the preaching, the hearing, and the living of his Word for Jesus’ sake.

Famine can take many forms, but we usually think of this as a lack of food due to poor growing conditions, drought, or warfare. Despite the great abundance of this land in which we live, there are many who go to bed hungry each night. Each month with Share Sunday, as well as at this holiday time, our congregation seeks to help our neighbors in need by providing food. But there can be other kinds of famine. Listen to what the prophet Amos has to say: “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord God, “when I will send a famine on the land— not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord” (Amos 8:11). The Lord preserve us from such a famine! Let us read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest the Word of the Lord, and make this our daily bread.

Over against this, the Third Sunday in Advent has its focus on joy. The deep blue of this season brightens today to a pink or rose color. The old Latin name for today is Gaudete, meaning to rejoice. See if you can count how many times that word “rejoice” crops up in the Scripture lessons or the hymns we sing! We hear this call to rejoice in the Old Testament lesson from the prophet Zephaniah: “Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! The Lord has taken away the judgments against you; he has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall never again fear evil” (Zephaniah 3:14-15). Whether we find ourselves in lean times of hunger and famine or good times of plenty, the reason we can rejoice goes way beyond food and drink. It centers in what God has done for us: the Lord has taken away the judgments against us. In Jesus, who gave sight to the blind, who made the lame to walk, who cleansed lepers and made the deaf to hear, who raised the dead and preached good news to the poor, God has broken into the famine of our lives with the abundance of his saving grace. Beyond all of these amazing things is how God has taken away the judgments against us because of our own sin and disobedience. That, too, is the work of Jesus. Through his atoning sacrificial death upon the cross and his triumph over death and the grave the debt of our sin has been marked “paid in full,” written in Jesus’ own blood. For this, we rejoice and give thanks, now and always.

By the grace of God, we may not experience out-and-out famine, but we do fear that we will not have enough in life. We fear that we will run short on money, time, resources, life itself. The fear of not having enough is always in front of us. Sitting in prison, did John the Baptist have such fears when he sent word to Jesus? This fear of ours betrays something deeper, and that is a lack of trust in God our Provider. Let us remind ourselves in this Advent season and in every season: “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32). Our needs and wants, our joys and sorrows, our struggles and triumphs – these are all known to our gracious, providing God. It is true that at times in life, our God who loves us with an everlasting love may allow us to suffer need. We may not get everything we desire or want. Does mean that God doesn’t love us? That He is unconcerned about us? Far from it! Jesus tells us that it is the Father’s good pleasure to give us the kingdom (Luke 12:32). That kingdom centers in Jesus, and so where Jesus is, there is the kingdom of God. The reign and rule of God in Jesus Christ are present among us here and now, even though we do not see these fully revealed. We look forward to that day when they will be revealed in all their fullness when Christ comes again. Because we know this blessed truth, we are able to say with Paul in today’s Epistle lesson: “The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:5b-7).

Because his Gospel is peace – that peace which passes all understanding – we have no fear of famine. At the end of the day, at the end of our life, at the end of the world: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice” (Philippians 4:4). Amen.