Rorate Coeli – 4th Sunday in Advent
John 1:19-28
Rev. Paul L. Beisel
“Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain down righteousness.” This was our
prayer in the Introit today, from which we get the words, “Rorate Coeli.” The first part of this
prayer sounds like that of a farmer whose crops are drying up for lack of rain. “Please, Lord,
grant us rain! Shower, O heavens, from above…”
But the second part of this prayer shows us that we are not just praying for the wet stuff. “And let
the clouds rain down righteousness.” Here we pray not merely for rain, but that the Lord would
send forth his righteousness from above.
What is interesting about these words is that right after we say, “Shower, O heavens, from above
and let the clouds rain down righteousness,” we say, “let the earth open, that salvation and
righteousness may bear fruit.” From this Psalm it would seem that God’s righteousness and
salvation come both from heaven, and from earth.
Is this not a prophecy of the Incarnation of our Lord, the Son of God? For surely he is from
heaven, who comes to us with righteousness. He is the eternal Son of God, very God of very
God, begotten not made. And yet He is also from the earth, the Son of Mary, of our own flesh
and blood.
He is truly God’s rain, and how refreshing that rain is for souls that are parched and dry from the
guilt of sin and the condemnation of the Law! How soothing is that holy dew for the one whose
“sin is always before him.” The Law has left us all like a waterless land in the summer. It has
shown us our lack of fear, love, and trust in God.
It has shown us our lack of love for our neighbors, and our love for self. We are truly poor,
miserable sinners, for we are children of Adam, and the saying is true: “The apple doesn’t fall far
from the tree.” Like the Prophet Isaiah, we too can say: “I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell
in the midst of a people of unclean lips!”
So clean us Lord! So show us mercy and pity, for you know that we are dust! “Shower, O
heavens, from above,” that is to say, “Let your mercy and salvation come to us, so that our sins
may be forgiven and our hearts cleansed from their unrighteousness.”
And see how richly and abundantly God has answered that prayer! See how he has watered the
whole earth with His grace! The Lord has poured forth his righteousness. He has truly rained
down grace and salvation and righteousness for us in the Person of His Son. Like rain that waters
the earth and makes it bear fruit, so the Son of God comes from heaven to water the earth with
his grace and favor.
It is to this one that John the Baptist points us, and the whole world during this Advent Season.
His voice cries out in the wilderness of our lives, and directs our attention away from the hustle
and bustle of life, away from the present wrapping, away from the party-hopping and concert
attending, to the only one that can save us, Jesus Christ. “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes
away the sin of the world.”
John’s witness is that the Lord is at hand. The long-awaited One is finally here. The Christ has
come. The Prophet that God promised to raise up for his people from their brothers—He has
come. The Woman’s Offspring, the Son of a Virgin, the hope of the Nations—He has arrived.
That’s John’s office—to be the herald of Christ’s coming.
And that, dear friends, is why Jesus calls him the greatest of those born of woman. Great—not
because he is like Alexander the Great, conquering lands and peoples; great—not like Julius
Caesar, or Napolean, but great because He is the forerunner of the Christ. John knows he is not
the main attraction. He knows that there is someone more important than him. And he is not at
all put off by this.
God raised up John the Baptist not to prepare John the Baptist’s way, but to make straight the
way of the Lord. So John confesses, and does not deny, but confesses: “I am not the Christ.” Nor
is he Elijah, though he comes in the spirit and power of Elijah. Nor is he the Prophet. It’s as if
John were saying, “Look, man, I am not the one you have come to see. I am only the warm-up
act. The one you want to see, the one you need to see, well, He is here, and I’m not even worthy
to touch the strap of his sandal with my sinful hands.”
How easy it would have been for John to say, “Yes, yes I am He!” How easy it is for you and I to
draw attention to ourselves, or to our stories, when we are bearing witness to Jesus. How easy it
is for church members to care more about the appearance or personality of their preacher than
what is preached! Many preachers over the years have succumbed to the temptation to make
themselves the most important man in the room.
What else are we preachers but a voice? Our names, our backgrounds, our personalities are
actually quite unimportant. Look at John—a man who eats locusts and wild honey, and wears for
clothes the hair of camels—is he one that you would be glad and proud to call your pastor? John
is what a psychiatrist would call a monomaniac—someone with an excessive interest or
irrational preoccupation with one subject. A Monomaniac about Christ—yes, that fits John to a
tee (Bird).
John has one purpose, one goal—to prepare the way of the Lord. He is intent on telling everyone
that the clouds have indeed rained down righteousness, that the Christ has come, that the Lord is
at hand. And he is quite unconcerned about much else. Not only that but he knows where he
stands in relation to this Christ—“I must decrease, that He may increase.” Even when it comes
time to baptize Jesus, John balks at the notion: “I need to be baptized by you, and you are
coming to me?”
Today John’s voice cuts through all of our preparations for Christmas and says: “Look! The
Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.” It directs us to the one who has come to
reconcile the world to his Father through his death. And it reminds us, in the midst of one of the
most difficult, busy, and for many—depressing—times of the year, to “rejoice!” You don’t need
to be told how many days there are to Christmas. The kids have been counting down for weeks
now. You don’t need to be reminded to buy the gifts and thaw the ham and bake the cookies and
decorate the tree.
As a baptized child of the Triune God and a member of the Body of Christ, you do need to be
reminded, always, to rejoice in the Lord and let your gentleness be known. Let us, then, listen to
the voice that cries in the wilderness. Let us go with gladness to see the one that John calls “the
Lamb of God.”
Let us find refreshment in this Shower of grace that God has given to us in the holy Son of Mary.
For He comes not to punish us. He comes not to chastise us for our lack of righteousness. He
comes with righteousness and forgiveness and salvation to give to the one who has it not. He
comes not for the righteous, but sinners.
Christ comes for sinners. Let those words take deep root. Let the devil not take those words from
you. Christ comes for sinners. He comes to refresh your souls with the water of his good favor,
mingled with the blood of His atoning sacrifice for your sins. He has already washed you in the
font, and planted you in the vineyard of his church, and soon he will come to take in his harvest,
when it has fully bloomed.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.