1st Sunday in Advent + Matthew 21:1-9 + Romans 13:11-14 + December 2, 2018
In
the Name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
The
world is closer to Christmas than the Church is right now. The world has its
Christmas trees up, its decorations hung, and its shopping going on. There’s
nothing wrong with any of those things. But the world only has those things. The world’s version of Christmas, which is
simply a gaudy imitation of the real Christmas, is in full swing, racing toward
the 25th for the giving and receiving of gifts. Once the Thanksgiving
turkey is put away, the world starts in on its version of Christmas
immediately. Not so the church. The tree may be up but we are not yet
celebrating the nativity of our Lord in the flesh. First comes Advent and
Advent is its own animal. While the world is in the midst of its Christmas
season already, Advent calls Christians to prepare their hearts for Christ’s
second coming, for that’s what ‘advent’ means, “coming” or “arrival.” How do we
prepare our hearts for Christ’s Second Advent? By contemplating His first
advent in the flesh and receiving it, not just as historically true fact, but
in faith, trusting that all He accomplished He did for us.
That’s
the purpose of the gospel lesson appointed for today. It takes us to Palm
Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week, days before Christ’s innocent, bitter
sufferings and death. There we see Christ coming to His people, adventing among
them. He rides into Jerusalem on the colt, the foal of a donkey. The prophet
Zechariah teaches us how to understand this strange thing we see. “Tell the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your
King is coming to you, lowly, and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
This strikes the heart. Christ’s first advent is lowly. It’s humble. He is
their king. He should ride into Jerusalem on a mighty chariot. He should be carried
into the city on a royal litter. But Jesus, who is God the Son in human flesh,
comes humbly and lowly. So it was at His birth. No room in the inn for the king
but there’s room in the stable. No crib for a bed but an animal’s manger will
do. His ministry was conducted in humility as well. “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man
has nowhere to lay His head,” He tells to those who think following Him
would be glamorous (Matthew 8:20). God the Son came among us this way to call
sinners to repent and believe they have a gracious God who is ready to forgive
every sin. “Take My yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle
and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls,” He tells us (Matthew
11:29).
His
humility and lowliness culminated on that Friday after He enters Jerusalem on
the donkey’s colt. “He humbled Himself
and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians
2:8). His death is how He redeems mankind from its sin. His entire purpose in
assuming human flesh is not to teach men how to save themselves, so that if
they only emulate Christ’s life they will gain everlasting life. God the Son
assumed human flesh in order to live righteously before God the Father in our
place. He assumed our flesh and blood so that He might die to pay for the sins
of the entire world. He came to humanity to redeem us all from our sin and its
punishments by taking humanity’s full punishment upon Himself on the cross. He
didn’t come to judge sinners but to be
judged by God the Father as our substitute. He says in John 3:17, “For God did not
send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through
Him might be saved.” In His first advent
He earns perfect righteousness and the forgiveness of sins and He gives those
blessings He earned to sinners through the promise of the Gospel and the means
of grace, so that all who believe the gospel and flee to Christ for mercy receive
everything Christ earned for them at the cross: perfect righteousness and the
forgiveness of every sin.
It
is through faith in Christ and His merits that we truly understand His first
advent in the flesh. And it is through faith in Christ that we are delivered
from the judgment to come when Christ comes again in glory on the Last Day. God “has
appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has
ordained” (Acts
17:31). That man is Jesus Christ, true God and true God. At His first advent He
came in meekness and humility. At His second advent He will come “in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit
on the throne of His glory (Matthew 25:31). There He will judge the quick
and the dead. Those that are alive at that moment and those who have previously
died. His judgment shall be based on whether or not sinners believed the
Gospel. He says in John 12:47-48, “If anyone hears my words and does not
believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save
the world. He who rejects me, and does not receive my words, has that which
judges him -- the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.” Christ’s first advent and His second advent look
radically different but are connected. At the first Christ redeems the world so
that all who believe in Him are not condemned but justified. At the second Christ
will judge those who rejected His righteousness and tried to gain everlasting
life by their own works and deeds.
Because
you believe in Christ and trust that His merits are yours by faith, you are
able to look forward to that day when He comes to judge the quick and dead, for
“there is therefore now no
condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the
flesh, but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:1). You are “in Christ” by faith. There is no
condemnation for you on that day. And since you are “in Christ” by faith, and
since you know that the time of His coming draws near, you are not to walk
according to the flesh by according to the spirit. This what the appointed
Epistle lesson teaches us. It is high time to awake out of the sleep of sin.
Our salvation is nearer to us right now than when we first believed. Christ
draws near and will return as a thief in the night at an hour that no one can
predict. Since Christ is coming quickly, and you are justified by faith in
Christ, St. Paul urges you to “cast off
the works of darkness,” which are your sins. Cast them off each day because
Christ could return each day. Put away revelry and drunkenness, which dull the
senses so that you cannot watch and pray. Put away lewdness and lust, which teach
the heart to love fleeting worldly pleasures more than Christ. Put away strife
and envy, which pull your thoughts to desire transitory things rather than
heavenly things.
Put
off all this. Put off every sin by confessing them to God and put on Christ
like a garment. He is your robe of righteousness so that as long as you wear
Him by faith, your sins are covered and have a God who loves you and is
gracious to you. Put on Christ by faith each day, so that you are constantly looking
for Christ for forgiveness so that He might be constantly pronouncing it to you
and reminding you of all His promises. Wear Christ by faith so that you fight temptation
and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts whenever your heart
tempts you to sin.Christ invites you to live each day in this faith, daily
fleeing to Him for mercy and daily rejoicing that He comes to save us, and
doing battle against your sins. For now, while it is still called “today,”
Christ comes among us lowly and humbly, teaching us to repent of our sins and
inviting us to trust His merits for the forgiveness of all our sins. Wear
Christ each day so that on the day when He comes to judge the living and dead,
you may see Him and rejoice in the salvation He has promised.
In
the Name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.