Rejoice – You Have a Pastor
Matthew 11:2-11
December 14, 2025 anno Domini
I don’t title my sermons until Sunday morning because that’s when I finally finish them. You’ve probably noticed that. If you’ve visited other churches you’ll often see the sermon title in the bulletin. Not here – every week you just get “sermon …. Pastor Timm.”
Today my sermon title is “Rejoice – You have a Pastor.” That title puts the theme of the day “Rejoice” – that’s what Gaudate Sunday means, with the readings. Isaiah is commanded to speak tenderly to Jerusalem, to be the voice that cries out, to proclaim the coming of God. Sounds like a pastor to me. St. Paul writes to the Corinthians – this is how one should regard us “as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.” That’s what pastors do – they serve Christ by delivering His mysterious gifts to people. Finally in today’s Gospel reading John the Baptist is in jail for his preaching and he’s wondering if he’s on the right track when it comes to Jesus. Jesus answers John’s doubt with a little sermon from God’s Word. God gives pastors that His church, that you have joy in Christ.
The main thing to rejoice over your pastor is this – rejoice if your pastor offends you. Now, that seems to contradict the words of Jesus in the text – when He says, “blessed is the one who is not offended by me” but hear me out.
John was in prison because he offended King Herod. John was preparing the way for Christ and he did so by calling people to repentance, to confess their sins, to be baptized for forgiveness. Consider how important this is for your faith and life before God? If you do not believe you are a sinner, if you do not believe you deserve God’s wrath, if you do not believe you have ticked off the holy and righteous God and are destined for hell, then you will have no need of Jesus. If you do not believe you are a sinner, you will never believe in the Jesus who died on the cross to take away your sins.
Now, tell me, how much do you like being told you’re a sinner? It’s not too bad when it’s a general statement like “we’re all sinners.” But what about when the hammer of God squarely hits your thumb – what has your thumb been scrolling through on your screen, has your thumb been generous or miserly in your offerings, have you thumbed your nose at your neighbor, even in church, by your gossip or anger or neglect.
King Herod was committing adultery with his brother’s wife and John called him out. Divorce, adultery, affairs, lust, porn addiction – let’s talk about all that shall we? Are you guilty or not? John the Baptist was not afraid to call the King to repentance. Try that on our current president – how well does he take criticism? When John was in the wilderness baptizing, all of Judea and Jerusalem were going out to Him. He baptized Jesus. He saw the heavens open, heard the voice of the Father. Now he sat in jail for being a bold and faithful preacher of God’s Word.
Since Herod eventually beheaded John the Baptist we can assume he did not repent. He did not take offense well. But how much better would it have been for him had he repented? How much better if he turned from his sin and lived? Yes, having your sin called out is offensive, but if the Law works repentance, if it creates Godly sorrow in your heart, then the Holy Spirit has prepared you for Jesus. Blessed are you if your pastor offends your old sinful self with God’s Law and you’re not offended by it.
Because John ended up in prison for preaching the truth he was offended at Jesus, or so it appears. That is why he sends his disciples to ask Jesus, “Are you the one who is to come or shall we look for another?”
What exactly caused John to be offended, to doubt Jesus was the Christ? John had preached a coming judgment, the fire of God’s wrath, the sifting of the chaff from the wheat. He proclaimed that God’s axe was about to strike the root of the tree. But what was Jesus doing? He tells John, “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.” Jesus was not swinging the axe to bring down the tree. He was healing, restoring, forgiving, resurrecting. He was showing patience and mercy.
Are you offended at God’s mercy? Do you believe that all your sins are forgiven? Are you confident that when God looks on you, He sees nothing but Christ covering you? Or perhaps it’s not your own forgiveness that you are offended at, but that other people are forgiven, especially the ones that hurt you, or the real possibility that the worst people who ever lived, the most wicked and vile of sinners, also can enter heaven by the forgiveness Christ won. That’s what good and faithful preachers preach. You heard it again this morning. “In the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ I forgive you all your sins.” That’s what Christ accomplished on the cross. That’s what He delivers to you in baptism. You are forgiven, not just the white lies and character flaws, but the sins that ruined your life, that hurt others the most, that you can’t forgive yourself, that the Devil brings up whenever he can. Forgiveness is offensive – it’s too easy. It’s not fair. People abuse it. Yet it stands because Christ stands risen from the dead, having taken away the sin of the world. Blessed are you if you are not offended by the offensive forgiveness your pastor proclaims and delivers
John also might have been offended because he was still sitting in jail. When Jesus tells John what He is up to Jesus quotes from Isaiah 35 and Isaiah 61. In Isaiah 61 the servant of the Lord says “The Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor, he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captive, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.” John the Baptist grew up a preachers kid – well a priest’s kid in his case. You know what that means. His parents made him memorize the Scriptures. He knew the prophecies. If you were playing Bible trivia you would have wanted John the Baptist on your team. John knew Isaiah 61 by heart. What did the Lord’s servant promise? The opening of prison to those who are bound. Where was John? In prison, Herod’s prison. His freedom was not coming by release, but by death.
This too is why you have preachers – we are stewards of the mysteries, and God’s Word and His ways are mysterious — what you see is not what you get. You have His Word that you are forgiven, yet you still struggle with sin, temptation, and doubt. You have eternal life, yet you are dying. You have the promise of a glorious future, and your days are filled with sorrow and strife and you despair.
Rejoice that you have a pastor who proclaims the truth of God’s Word that you might believe your reality of Christ. Your eyes aren’t telling you the truth. Your feelings are not an indicator of good or bad or the future. God’s Word is. And so all John the Baptist gets is God’s Word from God’s Word made flesh. Jesus is doing what He is supposed to do. John must believe and not be offended.
You and I have it far better than John – the least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than John. How are you greater? He never knew the judgment against sin at the cross, the mystery that God laid the axe at the Tree of Life, His only begotten son. John never heard, “Christ is risen!” He did not see the graves popping open on that first Easter and Isaiah’s words being fulfilled. You have. Rejoice. Don’t be offended by your preacher when his sermons offend you with your sins, with Christ’s forgiveness and with the mysterious reality of God’s Kingdom. Believe and rejoice. In the name of Jesus. Amen.