The Promise of Joy

The Third Sunday in Advent
December 14, 2025
Matthew 11:2-15
“The Promise of Joy”

Are you feeling the joy in this season? There are so many things in this season, in this life, that can be joy suckers. You know what I’m talking about: things, and sometimes people, that just drag us down; that seem to just suck the joy out of life. Nevertheless, today is all about joy, and the signs are all around us if we have the eyes to see them. This Third Sunday in Advent is sometimes called by its old Latin name, Gaudete, meaning “to rejoice.” Today, there is a lightening of the deep blue of Advent to pink, a bright and happy color. The penitential character of this season changes today with a call to rejoice. Our hymn of the day that we will sing after the sermon is a familiar one for Advent: “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.” Even though the hymn is in a minor key, the refrain reflects this Gaudete theme: “Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.” In our Advent Savior Jesus Christ, there is the promise of joy. Based on today’s Gospel lesson, that is the theme for the message this day. May the Lord’s rich and abundant blessing rest upon the preaching, the hearing, and the living of his Word for Jesus’ sake.

Once again today, we encounter John the Baptist, except now he’s not on the banks of the River Jordan, but locked up in prison. So what happened? John the Baptist had called out Rome’s client king, Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee and Perea, for having Herodias, the wife of his brother, Philip, as his own wife. Herodias bore a grudge against John and would bide her time until an opportune moment presented itself to get her revenge. She manipulated things to bring about John’s beheading (Matthew 14:1-12). All too often, this is how it works when those in power are threatened: silence and imprison those who speak out against them, and if necessary, execute them. So where’s the promise of joy in all of this? Before John comes to this grisly end, while in prison he sends word to Jesus: “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” (Matthew 11:3). Where was the joy of that kingdom that John was called to prepare people for?

Jesus himself is both the promise and the fulfillment of the joy of God’s kingdom. But that joy comes only through the cross. This is how the kingdom of God enters into our broken and sin-shattered world: through the birth and life, the death and resurrection of Jesus. Jesus’ words to those messengers of John echo the words of Isaiah in today’s Old Testament lesson. They are the joy of the redeemed: “Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, ‘Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.’ Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy” (Isaiah 35:3-6a). “He will come and save you.” That is the center of our joy. And how will God save his people who dwell in darkness and in the shadow of death? He will give sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf. He will cause those who cannot walk not just to walk, but to run and leap. He will cause those who are speechless to sing for joy.  But wait! There’s more:  “… and the dead are raised up, and the poor will have good news preached to them” (Matthew 11:5). All of these things – every single one of them – were fulfilled in the life and ministry of our Advent Lord Jesus Christ. That longed-for, way-off-in-the-distance kingdom of God had now come crashing full-on into this dying world. Who else but God-come-to-earth could do such things? God-in-Christ has indeed come into our world, leaving his heavenly glory and power behind, to take upon himself the sorrow and suffering, the sin and shame, that was our legacy, going to the cross to bear it all for us. And in its place, he gives to us joy that that far exceeds anything  we could ever have imagined. Joy is different than fun. Fun lasts for awhile, and then it’s gone, But joy goes much deeper. Jesus himself is the fulfillment of the psalmist’s prayer: “Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with your willing spirit” (Psalm 51:12).

The promise of joy was given long before John the Baptist. In the very final verses of the Old Testament God promises to “send Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord” (Malachi 4:5). In the very final verses of today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus tells us that John is that new Elijah. And yet, great as John may be, “the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he” (Matthew 11:11). We who are just simple disciples of Jesus are greater than John the Baptist? Through simple faith and trust in Jesus our Advent Lord, and all that he has done for us, we are called great in the kingdom of heaven. “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Matthew 11:15).

The truth is that we often look for the promise of joy in places and things that cannot make good on that promise. True and lasting joy is not found in a place or a thing, but in a Person – the Person of Jesus our Savior and the good news that he brings to our lives. This is at the heart of who we are and what we do as a congregation. This is our mission: pointing all people to Jesus. Christmas is now just ten days away. In the hustle and bustle of these final days before the celebration of the birth of Jesus, don’t get dragged down or discouraged by the joy suckers. Yes, these things – Debbie Downers – are out there. We don’t have to look far to find bad news, disappointment, frustration, and the like. But they need not control or dominate our lives. Our joy goes beyond outward things. The beautiful decorations of this holiday season, the drinking and feasting, the gifts are all fun and festive, but they are not the source of our joy. Our joy is in the One who gave sight to the blind, who made the lame to walk, who cleansed lepers, who made the deaf to hear, who raised the dead, who preached good news. And so we pray: “Come, Lord Jesus. Restore to us the joy of your salvation that we may be ready to greet you with joy at your coming.” Amen.