Advent 4 – Rorate Coeli
Philippians 4:4-7
Bah! Humbug!
It’s believed this saying first appeared around the 1750s, about 100 years before it was made famous by that cold, miserly, selfish, and cynical old man, Ebenezer Scrooge, in Charles Dickens’ classic, “A Christmas Carol.”
Bah! Humbug!
To define the well-known saying from the classic, let’s start with the Humbug, which is meant to say something is not genuine, that it’s a deception, a con, a fraud, a hoax, it’s fake.
The Bah! in Bah! Humbug! acts as an annoyed interjection to emphasize the contempt behind ‘Humbug.’ Because of this, the Bah! is meant to be the finishing touch on the Humbug, the exclamation point!
For these reasons, when Scrooge says, Bah! Humbug! - he is genuinely and emphatically dismissing Christmas joy, equating it with foolishness and hypocrisy. He’s calling Christmas a hoax, nonsense, or a scam.
Old Scrooge saw Christmas as a waste of time and his money; he lacked sympathy towards others, and his lack of cheerfulness isolated him from both his acquaintances and family.
In many ways, I’m sure Charles Dickens wants the reader to see themselves in Scrooge.
Can you? Can you see yourself in him?
As the season of Advent approaches its end, people's prayers must grow more intense, asking God for a change of heart—one that admits how they, you, have imitated Scrooge in both what you say and what you fail to do for others.
Now, there is another man in Scripture, a truly zealous, well-educated, get-things-done type, whom some might have seen as similar to Scrooge, except this one was serious about it in a very different way and took it to another level. He persecuted Christians, arrested them, and even participated in stoning them for their faith in Christ Jesus.
His name was Saul of Tarsus.
You know him as the Apostle Paul. Yes, it was he who persecuted Christians, sought to arrest them, and was there when St. Stephen, the first martyr, was stoned to death for confessing his faith in Jesus.
But then something miraculous occurred: Jesus came to Saul, not through ghosts or spirits in the night, but He called him to faith through His Word and gave Saul new life in the waters of Holy Baptism.
In this way, Saul was no longer the same, as his heart of stone was transformed into a heart of flesh. Later, he would be known as St. Paul, and he would become someone who suffered for Jesus, proclaiming the gospel everywhere he traveled. He would encourage other apostles in their faith. He would be shipwrecked, beaten, and left for dead. In fact, the epistle this morning was written while he was imprisoned.
And what did he say?
Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. 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.
No one writes these words from prison, no less, unless they truly believe them and have faith in their Savior, Jesus Christ. No one writes these words unless their heart has been miraculously transformed.
Throughout this season of Advent, have you permitted your heart to be transformed? Have you cast aside the Bah! Humbugs! of your life for joy in Christ? Have you learned to pray regularly and faithfully, so that the anxiety of your heart might receive the peace of God that surpasses your understanding of this mortal life on earth, the peace that guards your hearts and minds from the cold, miserable, selfish, and cynical ways of old Scrooge?
If not, the time is now; hear the words of John the Baptist from today’s Gospel,
“I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord.’”
These words are a call to repent of the sin that has led you away from Christ this Advent season. The ways your path has become crooked—the road where joy is not found.
Today is a call for the heart of mankind to be reconciled in the cross of Jesus – His death and resurrection.
In a way, Advent is meant to be a battleground for the heart and mind of every Christian. But the peace you desire will thankfully not be revealed to you by spirits throughout the night, but through the same transformational Word and Gospel spoken to St. Paul on the road to Damascus.
It’s this word of Christ that removed Paul from the crooked path and set him to walk in the way of Jesus, and this was his cause for joy – faith and trust in Jesus.
Old Scrooge saw Christmas as a waste of time and his money; he lacked sympathy towards others, and his lack of cheerfulness isolated him from both his acquaintances and family.
Is this you?
Are there sorrows that continue to fill your heart as we approach this Christmas? Are there broken relationships that you have not reconciled? Do you grieve your lack of charity in word and deed? Have you failed in keeping your prayers this Advent season?
If so, the time is at hand; put away your anxious heart and go to the Lord in prayer.
Pray for a generous heart.
Pray for peace in your life.
Pray for reconciliation with one another.
Pray for the Lord to remove the cold, miserly, selfish, and cynical old man within you.
Because when you entrust the needs of this life to God in prayer, there you exercise your faith, and where there is faith, there is peace, and there is joy in your heart.
So let us gather now in these waning hours of night and pray, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.”
Come and be with us, O Emmanuel, transform us into your likeness, so that we might rejoice in your presence forever. +INJ+
Rev. Noah J. Rogness
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
Tomah, WI
