THE LORD IS AT HAND

Christ Pantocrator, Preparing to Return to Rule and Reign Forever 

SERMON FOR THE FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT

By Bp. Joseph (Ancient Church of the West)

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to Sts. Mitrophan and Alopen’s Cathedral parish. We are so happy to have all of our friends and family together again, as we gather to celebrate the Holy Feast of the Incarnation. As we end Advent and begin Christmastide, we rejoice in the practical application of this Incarnation of Jesus Christ Our Lord in our everyday lives. This week will be marked with ordinations to the lower clergy, weddings, Lessons and Carols, and Holy Christmas Liturgies. We are so excited about all of this and ask you all for prayers, as we try to use this week to share Christ’s Holy Gospel with the world!

Before we begin our sermon, let us turn back to Scripture and review the readings from this morning.

SCRIPTURE

Philippians 4:4-7

Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

St. John 1:19-28

And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No. Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias. And they which were sent were of the Pharisees. And they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet? John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not; He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose. These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.

SERMON

Beloved in Christ, as the Church draws near to the Feast of the Nativity, Holy Mother Church slows our steps; not to delay joy, but to deepen it. The Fourth Sunday of Advent is not the shout of Bethlehem yet, but the hush before it: the stillness of the wilderness, the sound of breath before the word is spoken, the silence before the heavens open and rain down righteousness.

“Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open and bring forth a Savior.” Isaiah 45

This is not the cry of the comfortable. It is the plea of a people who know that salvation must come from above, because it cannot be manufactured from below.

NOT FOR THY RIGHTEOUSNESS

The Old Testament lesson from Deuteronomy strikes at the very heart of human pride. Three times Moses strips Israel of illusion:

“The LORD did not set his love upon you… because ye were more in number… but because the LORD loved you.”

“Man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD.”

“Not for thy righteousness… dost thou go to possess the land.”

This is Advent truth. God does not come because mankind deserves Him. He comes because mankind cannot survive without Him.

The Fathers are unanimous here. Augustine warns that the most dangerous sin is not vice but self-trust. Gregory the Great teaches that pride is not merely one sin among others, because it is the mother of them all. And John Chrysostom says with brutal clarity: “God does not crown our merits; He crowns His own gifts.”

Israel was chosen not as a trophy but as a vessel. The wilderness was not punishment but preparation. Hunger was not cruelty but pedagogy. Even the manna was temporary, lest the people forget that God Himself, not provision, is their life.

And Advent confronts us with the same brutal truth:

If Christ must come in humility, it is because man has grown arrogant.

If God must become flesh, it is because flesh has forgotten God.

THE WILDERNESS AND THE VOICE

The Gospel places us beside John the Baptist, interrogated by authority, misunderstood by religion, yet immovable in humility.

“Who art thou?”

And John replies, not with a résumé, not with credentials, not with spiritual posturing—but with negation:

“I am not the Christ.”

“I am not Elias.”

“I am not that Prophet.”

At last, he speaks positively only to disappear:

“I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness.”

A voice exists only to vanish once the true and full Word arrives.

Here is the great Advent greatest paradox: the greatest man born of woman defines himself by what he is not. In a world obsessed with self-definition, John teaches self-emptying.

The ancient philosophers sensed this dimly. Plato spoke of the soul’s ascent by purification. The Stoics understood that unchecked desire enslaves the mind. Yet only the Gospel reveals that true freedom comes not by mastering the self, but by surrendering it.

St. John Baptist stands between Testaments, between silence and fulfillment, between shadow and substance. He baptizes with water because water cleanses externally. But Christ will baptize with fire, because fire transforms internally.

And St. John knows his place:

“There standeth one among you, whom ye know not.”

How often that is still true.

THE LORD IS AT HAND

St. Paul’s Epistle distills the entire Advent mystery into one short sentence:

“The Lord is at hand.” Philippians 4

Not merely “near in time,” but near in presence. Therefore, Paul commands three things, which are not suggestions, but imperatives:

Rejoice.

Be moderate.

Be anxious for nothing.

This is not naïve optimism. Paul writes these words under persecution, misunderstanding, and suffering. And the Thessalonian Epistle makes clear that history itself is convulsing toward judgment: apostasy, deception, the man of sin, false peace.

Yet Paul does not say to panic. He does not say to calculate dates. He does not say to seize power. He says to stand fast: “Hold the traditions which ye have been taught.”

Not innovations. Not novelties. Not fashionable spiritualities. But the faith once delivered, embodied, prayed, suffered, and handed down.

The peace promised is not emotional calm, but a guardedness that transcends. “The peace of God… shall keep your hearts and minds.” The verb is military and commanding. God stations peace as a sentinel at the gate of the soul.

THE VIRGIN, THE PROMISE, AND THE HUMILITY OF GOD

The Offertory and Communion texts place before us the final scandal:

“Behold, a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son.”

The world expected power. God chose vulnerability.

The world expected judgment. God chose incarnation.

The world expected a throne. God chose a womb.

Here Patriarch Abraham’s promise is fulfilled, which was not by conquest, but by faith. Here St. Daniel’s steadfastness finds its answer, which is not in escape, but in endurance. Here St. Thomas’s doubt will be healed, which is not by argument, but by encounter. And the Collect prays what Advent must always pray: “Cast away the works of darkness… put upon us the armor of light.” Light is not merely illumination, but also an exposure. Armor is not decoration, but a tool of discipline.

REFLECTION: THE LORD IS AT HAND

The Church grows still as this Advent fades,

Not dimming joy, but schooling sight;

A breath is held, the heavens wait,

The world leans forward toward the dawning Light.

Not for our strength He splits open the sky,

Nor crowns the merits we display;

He comes because our bread runs dry,

Because we cannot continue to live this way.

The wilderness becomes His throne,

Where hunger tutors humbled hearts;

Manna teaches us that God alone

Is our life before all other lesser parts.

A voice cries out, then yields to silence,

Greatness is learned by stepping back;

“I am not He,” says faith’s holy defiance,

And clears the road the Lord shall track.

The Christ stands near, unknown, unseen,

While questions circle before worth and name;

Fire draws near where the holy water has been,

To change the heart by washing, not just the frame.

“The Lord is at hand,” the Apostles cry,

So fear must loosen, and our panic cease;

God posts His peace as a sentry-wise

To guard the mind with Christ's wounded peace.

No throne He claims, no sword He brings,

But takes His place within the groveling low;

A Virgin’s womb becomes the unbound wings

By which this Ancient Mercy goes.

Advent wounds to heal us and make whole,

Cuts pride away to save the broken heart;

It strips the false, disarming our proud control,

That light and darkness then stand clearly apart.

So wait, repent, remain unseen,

Let silence do its hidden and abundant work;

The seed breaks ground when our eyes grow clean,

And faith stands firm, though worlds may stumble and shirk.

Rejoice, not because the night is brief,

But Christ draws near in His flesh and flame;

Prepare in the silence, not loud, but with true belief:

The Lord in His faithfulness, still He came!

ADVENT AND THE MODERN WORLD

We live in an age that cannot wait. We demand immediacy, affirmation, visibility, control. Advent refuses all four. It teaches us to wait. To repent. To be hidden. To obey. St. John does not draw attention to himself. The Blessed Virgin Mary does not explain herself. Christ does not defend Himself. And neither should the Church seek to justify herself before the world. As the ancient proverb says: The seed grows in silence.

SUMMARY

Beloved, Advent is not sentimental. It is surgical. It removes the blinders. Takes away the illusions. Makes us see ourselves for who we truly are!

It strips us of pride.

It starves us of illusions.

It confronts us with judgment: so that judgment may pass over us.

The Lord is at hand! We cry these prophetic words with St. John the Baptist!

Not because we are ready, but because He is faithful.

Therefore:

Rejoice - not because the world is stable, but because Christ is coming.

Fear not - not because suffering is absent, but because God is present.

Prepare - not by spectacle, but by repentance.

Let us pray…

COLLECT

O LORD Jesus Christ, who camest once in great humility to redeem the world, and shalt come again in glorious majesty to judge the living and the dead: Grant that we, watching and waiting in this holy season, may cast away the works of darkness, and be found clothed in the armor of light; that when thou shalt appear, we may not shrink from thy presence, but rejoice with exceeding joy; who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.