Homily For The Sunday After Advent 2025
As the Anglican scholar, Peter Toon, observed:
“We, who are Christians, live in the light of the First Coming in humility of the Lord Jesus, even as we look for his Second Coming in glory. All the time in this interim period of grace, we are to be taught by his sacred Word.”¹
Last Sunday, we heard the intent of the season - that we may joyfully, intentionally look forward to Christ’s second return. That we would cast away the works of darkness that lull us to spiritual sleep. Today, we declare God’s goodness in giving us the Holy Scriptures. In our collect, our prayer for today, we pray, “BLESSED Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning; Grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of thy holy Word,
we may embrace, and ever hold fast, the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ.” Notice that we pray that we might hear, read, learn and inwardly digest them. As we move from hearing to engaging with them through reading to learning them as part of the greater whole of redemptive history, we may chew the cud, ruminate upon them, so that we may derive every possible spiritual health from them. In doing so we may have patience and strength to hold steadfastly to the faith once for all revealed unto the saints. Perseverance is born out of a commitment to engage with the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament as that which can make us wise unto salvation, meet and proper for eternal life.
This collect is one of a handful that were written by Thomas Cranmer for the 1549 Book of Common Prayer. Most of the collects are ancient - they have been read and prayed on these Sundays for over a millenia - some almost 1500 years.
The Protestant Reformation on the Continent had a more moderated impact on the Anglican Church. The Anglican Church gave the world the Authorized Version - the King James - Bible. The bible translated by the Order of James the First - an English king - calling for a bible for the English people in their own language. We still use it today in worship. The collect for today reflects the importance of the Bible for a vibrant Christian faith - not just for Sunday reading but for immersion in the Gospel contained within its books and chapters. The Reformation, in one sense, was a return to the Bible by returning the Bible to the people through a translation in their native tongue. A return to examining belief, dogma, doctrine through the lens of the Scriptures.
Our Epistle is the final chapter of that great Epistle to the Romans. Where St. Paul summarizes the impact of the Holy Scriptures.
He says “WHATSOEVER things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.” Things are written down so that we don’t have to rely on our memories. Our memories will fail us and our recollections can easily distort the realities. The Scriptures were recorded, they were written, so that we might learn them, we may internalize their truths and by doing so we might have patience, patience that sees the world through the framework of God’s work of redemption. God is working out his purposes throughout a thousand generations. Our perspective is so limited by our finitude. We are but a breath and are gone. The Scriptures, with the comprehensive story of our redemption through dozens of authors, over the course of thousands of years points to the God who will accomplish his purpose. The Lord loves us and knows our need to remember , to be reminded, and this is why we have the story of redemption in the Scriptures.
St. Paul says that we also have comfort by the Scriptures - comfort in our modern lexicon suggests softness, sort of the sweet dreaminess of a Sunday afternoon nap in winter. It’s older usage means to strengthen. Think about this during our service when we have the “comfortable words” after absolution. These are empowering, strengthening truths meant to fortify us spiritually. The written word strengthens us to believe, to trust, indeed, to hope. Hope is the confidence to look to the future and believe God has truly good things for us. In trusting God in this fashion we won't be tempted to exchange short term fixes like pleasure and conformity to the norms of this present age for the deep satisfaction of what is coming. He has good things for us. Remember. Remember. Remember. You can’t remember if you have never heard, if the truth of the Gospel is no more familiar to you than the proverbial sayings of contemporary wisdom, “Christian” platitudes or cliches.
Our Old Testament Lesson illustrates the pain of being without God’s word. To forget because the Word is lost, buried, inaccessible. It reminds us of the importance of having access to the Holy Scriptures. The Word of God is not an entitlement but a great gift and privilege. Moreover, it models for us a proper response to hearing the word of God. It brings us to have sorrow for sin for where we have grieved God. It allows us to seek greater clarity on its meaning and make our fullest commitment to do God’s will. The Old Testament lesson shows us the mercy of God to Josiah who came to the throne at the age of 8. Somehow he avoided the folly of following in the footsteps of his wicked father and grandfather. Somehow, by the grace of God, surrounded by idolatry and every type of evil, his heart was turned to the God of Israel. We read in the 2nd book of Chronicles that he began to purge Israel of idolatry when he was 20. Our Old Testament Lesson is during the 18th year of his reign, when Josiah was 26, when he ordered the temple to be repaired.
We read that during the course of repairs to the temple, the high priest found a scroll of the Law - the first five books of the Bible.
Josiah was the son of a wicked father, Amon, and the grandson of the even more depraved Manassah. It was apparently during the reign of Manasseh that the Law of the Lord had been lost. Before the printing press, scrolls were precious and people kept track of them because they were very hard to replace. Chances are that the Law had been hidden, intentionally put away so as not to remind the kings of Judah of their own wickedness.
In any case, among the garbage and disrepair of the Temple, the precious word of God is found. Josiah, the faithful king, one after the heart of his ancestor, David, is 26 years old when he hears the Law read for the first time.
As he heard from the Lord, he was struck to the heart and deeply distressed and tore his robes in shock and grief concerning the unfaithfulness of Judah. This young man, who was already inclined towards God, heard more specifically the commandments to love and serve the Lord only. To have no other gods before him. Josiah would learn of the requirement to have the Law read publicly before all the people once every seven years at the feast of the Tabernacles. He would have been reminded of the feasts of Israel and the fast of the Day of Atonement. Josiah would have heard the consequences, the sure promises of God to bring judgment and destruction if they disobeyed. He would have remembered the Assyrians taking away the northern 10 tribes. We see in Josiah the power of God’s word to convict of sin and lead to righteousness.
We read later in the chapter that Josiah sent a delegation including Hilkiah to seek guidance from the prophetess Huldah so that he might understand the significance of finding the Law beside the obvious features of reminding them of their responsibilities under the Covenant. Huldah tells the high priest to tell the King that Judah will indeed be judged but it will be after Josiah’s lifetime. The Lord says “ 19 because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the Lord, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the Lord.”
Josiah pictures for us the right hearing of the word of God.
Notice that he was prepared to hear the word, for his heart was tender; he was prepared to hear not only God’s pleasure in Israel but his judgment even when he was actively removing the offense of idolatry and rebuilding the proper worship of the Lord. He humbles himself - modelling what we should do when we hear truth from God. We should not argue with God, but be bowing our wills, our agendas to his truth. Josiah truly listened to what God was saying - not what he wanted the Law to say to Him.
In the next Chapter, despite knowing that God was ultimately going to judge Israel, Josiah follows in the footsteps of David by seeking the Lord with hope that God may relent from his judgment. We read that he was already active in destroying the idolatry of Israel and restoring the temple. Now, he called Judah to participate in proper worship. Turning from falsehood is insufficient if it isn't replaced with true worship - true obedience to the pattern of worship in the Scriptures.
The heart of idolatry is always present unless it is replaced by the worship of the true God. That’s why he has a covenant renewal ceremony whereby Judah shares in the renewal that Moses had for Israel at the Mizpah, Israel at Shechem under Joshua’s leadership. Samuel and Ezra also led Israel into covenant renewal. In some sense, it is similar to confirmation or a baptismal vow renewal. All of them were already members of Israel through circumcision. Now, they personally and corporately covenanted to be faithful, to obey. In some sense, Josiah makes all of Israel own their obedience or disobedience. Josiah then commands the most through purging of idolatry in Judah. He assures there is no false worship in the temple and he has all the idolatry purged from his domain.
After covenant renewal, after the totality of idolatry is destroyed, he calls the people to celebrate Passover - the remembrance of their deliverance from bondage in Egypt to serve the living God through the blood of the Paschal Lamb.
This morning we are reminded of the gift of the holy Scriptures. I fear that our familiarity, the privilege of having access to them has blunted the goodness of God to us in making Himself known to us through the Bible. We are not entitled to know the Lord. It is a gift, a kindness, a grace that He has told us what pleases Him. We do not have to guess what will make us acceptable to Him! This brings meaning and purpose now and the hope of everlasting salvation offered through faith in Jesus Christ for all eternity. All these things are a privilege - a privilege revealed in His word.
We are reminded of the purpose of the Scriptures. The purpose of the Holy Scriptures is to make us wise unto salvation. Wise unto salvation is distinct from collecting facts about God; it is to apply the truth revealed to us to ourselves, so that we might make preparations that we might apply ourselves completely to “embracing and holding fast to the blessed hope of everlasting life which has been given to us.” Your bible knowledge is not for someone else. We should always take in the word of God first as a personal corrective, to take the log out of our own eye before attempting to address the spec in our neighbor’s eye.
We hear also of our responsibilities in regards to the scriptures. We are to hear, read, pay attention, memorize and meditate on God’s holy word. We are to hear the scriptures read in public worship among God’s people. We are to read the word again privately, marking it, paying attention to the context and the fullness of its meaning, learn it by becoming so familiar with it that it is fixed in our memories, cross referencing it with other scriptures to gain fulness of meaning and ruminate, chew the cud like a cow by repeated meditation so as to draw all the meaning and opportunities for obedience out the text.
Above all beloved, with a tender and eager heart, we obey. We take the truth and do it. In simple things or in more demanding circumstances, we are to be people of obedience. Not just hearing the word, but doing the word, to paraphrase St. James so that in doing, obeying we do not deceive ourselves into mistaking our hearing for doing. Praise the Lord for making himself known to us, sending his son into the world and recording, memorializing his love for us in the Holy Scriptures - the true love letter of the Lord for his covenant people. Amen.
