The text for this fourth Sunday in Advent comes to us from the reading from the Prophet Micah, the fifth chapter:
But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel. And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. And he shall be their peace.Thus far the text.
Dear friends in Christ,
It is a great joy for me to be here with you this morning. If you don’t know me, and even if you do, my name is Lewis Polzin. I’m a fourth-year seminarian at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis and I am a son of this congregation, one whom you have graciously supported financially and prayerfully. Thank you. It is my privilege to have accepted an invitation from your pastors to preach the Word of God to you this morning.
In the text this morning, we have this very nice, very comforting passage that predicts the Messiah, Jesus Christ. It’s certainly easy for us, isn’t it, to hear these words and remember the Christmas story, where Joseph takes Mary, his betrothed, to Bethlehem to go and get registered under the census of Caesar Augustus. We look at that and go, oh sure! Bethlehem! Yes, the Messiah. And then we shut our ears up.
It’s not that we’re trying to be difficult. Not at all. We just feel like we’ve heard it all before. Jesus is going to come... He’s going to rule... He’ll be a cool kind of shepherd... something about peace. It’s all very Christmasy isn’t it?
Yeah... NO!!!! You see, you’re already missing the point! It’s not Christmas! It’s not Christmas yet! The world thinks we’re already at Christmas, that we’re already in that season, and a lot of churches do, too! But we’re not. We’re in Advent!! We have not arrived at Christmas morning yet, man, we’re not even at Christmas Eve yet! And that’s the point of the text!
You’ve been over this, right? What is Advent all about? Waiting! And what are we waiting for? Are we waiting for presents to open on Christmas morning? Are we waiting for our family to arrive into town? Are we waiting for a feast on Christmas afternoon? Are we waiting for Santa? If you are, and that’s your focus on this Christmas season, dear Christian, I’m sorry to say that you are missing the point of Advent.
We Christians, we who have cause to celebrate in this season, we are waiting for Jesus to come! We are waiting and we have been waiting for nearly 2,000 years! We have been waiting ever since our crucified and risen Lord took His bodily leave of us in this world, when He ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father. We are waiting for Him to come back. We are waiting for Him to end this world, this awful, sinful world and to remake it according to His will and His promise. We are waiting. And waiting. And waiting.
That’s the point of this passage of Micah. Micah wrote this beautiful prophecy to a people in waiting. They were waiting to see the Messiah. They didn’t know when He’d be coming. They didn’t know when God would come to this earth. They didn’t know what He would like, what He would say, what He would do, what He would be. They didn’t know any of this. They heard this prophecy and waited and waited and waited.
They hear that the ruler, the Messiah, is going to be born in Bethlehem. If I were a Jew living 700 years before Christ when Micah wrote this, and I heard the words of the prophet Micah, I’d go and park my rump on a hill near Bethlehem and every time I heard the cry of a newborn I’d get myself down into the city and see what is going on! I’d see if it was the Messiah! I’d go and see what’s up! I’d train up other people to take the watch when I got too old, I’d train them so that when I die, the watch would stand. I’d train them so that no matter how long it took, we’d know when the Messiah would be born. We already know the place. We just need to know the time. We’d be waiting.
And that’s our problem. We’re not waiting anymore. We Christians have stopped waiting for the Messiah to come. I don’t really know when it happened, but Christendom stopped waiting for Jesus. I don’t know if it’s that we don’t believe He’s coming back, I don’t know if we’ve actually even stopped believing in Him, but we no longer wait for Jesus. Do you know that for the first hundred years of Christianity, every generation sincerely believed that Jesus was going to return the next day? They were honestly and truly convinced that the Lord would return in His majesty and glory tomorrow. They believed they were not long to suffer in the world because the Lord was coming back soon. No wonder James says in chapter 4 of his epistle, “You don’t know what tomorrow will bring... Instead you should say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’” They thought their lives could end at any moment and the Resurrection of the Dead would come and all life as we know it would cease and be remade.
But we don’t. We don’t look to the second coming of Jesus, the second Advent. We don’t look to the return of the Christ. Instead of saying that the Lord is returning soon, we hope the world doesn’t end. We hope the world keeps spinning. We like the little lives we’ve made. We like our cars, and our houses, and our toys, and our friends, and our stuff. Who’s our god now, King of Kings? Who is your god? I can tell you, my heart is a little idol factory and I am deep-down just glad that I’ve made my family my god, and my friends my god, and my little electronic toys my god. What’re yours? What’re your gods?
You see, my heart is depraved. And so is yours. I don’t wait for Jesus, and neither do you, because we have other gods here and now, don’t we? You know how I know this? I have lived among you!! I know your sins intimately. This is the reason Jesus says in Luke’s Gospel, “No prophet is acceptable in his hometown.” The prophet, even the preacher, knows the sins of the people he’s been with forever! And people don’t like that. People don’t like to be called out. People like to reject their Christ and welcome their little gods.
But I am calling you out, King of Kings.. So, you see, I know your sins, O Church. I know that you and I grumble against leadership; we have made a good leader our god. I know that you and I leave this place looking for things that will entertain us; we have made a good experience our god. I know that you and I hold grudges against each other; we have made vengeance our god. I know that you and I have made complaining our god. I know that you and I have made the perfect church, the perfect youth program, the perfect job, the perfect spouse, the perfect children, I know we have made all these things our gods. And for this, I know that we are deep, deep, deep in sin.
We are no longer waiting for our one, true God, Jesus Christ, to return, because our gods are right here, in our hearts and in our minds and in our hands. We deserve to be damned for this, this breaking of the first commandment. But that’s not the promise of Jesus.
The promise of Jesus is that He would shepherd us. The promise of Jesus is that He would be our peace. The promise of Jesus is that He shall return His lost brothers of Israel to His people. Those are His promises to us. This is pure gospel, good news, my friends. Though your sins be like scarlet, you shall be white as snow, your garments like the pure driven snow.
How is this to be done? How can I turn my heart to Jesus? How can I cast down my false idols? How can I cast out my grumbling and complaining and coveting and make room for Jesus? I can’t; but Jesus can, and Jesus does.
Let me explain how this works: whether we wait for Jesus to return in actuality or not, it doesn't really matter. We should, but if we don't look expectantly towards His second coming, we Lutheran Christians, we in our theology and practice, have a great handle on this, for we know we already have Jesus here with us! Not only does Jesus promise that where two or more are gathered in His name, there He shall be, but He also promises Himself to us in our baptism. Every time that water is poured on someone’s head, Jesus is here. Every time we invoke the name of the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Jesus is here. Every time we invoke the Lord’s Word in the Words of Institution with that bread and that wine, Jesus is here. Every time my mouth is opened to receive that bread, Jesus’ body is placed on my tongue. Every time my throat opens to receive that wine, Jesus’ blood goes into my body. We know that Jesus is here!
This is how the early Christians looked to the coming of Christ, this is how they knew that Jesus had already been here as Micah promised, this is how they knew that Jesus will come again, because Jesus was already in their presence. We cannot see Him bodily, but He has promised to be among us. And where the Savior is among His people, there is salvation from all our sins.
This is how Jesus will shepherd us: that He will lead us wayward, idol-creating sheep back in His fold and will guard the gate using His means, baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and the very Word of God. This is how Jesus will be our peace: for in this troubled and turbulent world, Jesus is present in my ears and in my mouth. This is how Jesus will return His lost brothers of Israel: that He will break down the altars we have constructed to our false gods and set Himself up in the temple of our hearts. This is how Jesus washes us, and feeds us, and instructs us.
My brothers and sisters in Christ, these are Jesus’ promises. The people of Micah’s day, even if they had set a watch to look for the coming Messiah, would never have expected to see the Church as it is today! They never would have expected to see us worshiping the God of Israel by eating His flesh and drinking His blood and being baptized for the forgiveness of our sins. No one expected the Messiah this way!
But this is how the Lord comes. He comes modestly, and hidden in these elements. He comes in ways that are antithetical to this world. He comes not with pomp and circumstance, but lowly, born of a virgin, and laying in a manger. And He accomplishes His promises, not with a sword or with tanks or guns, but by giving Himself up to His enemies so that they would take Him to a hill, nail Him with simple nails to simple wood, and hang Him on a cross until He is good and dead. This is Jesus’ way. A simple way. A strength-filled way. And a way that no one would expect.
And now we await a day, where after having received Jesus for 2,000 years in simple ways, through the Word, and through the water, and through the bread and wine, we await a day when Jesus will simply come back, not in a way that people cannot see, but gloriously, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ has spoken it. He has promised that He shall return. And so we wait. He has promised that He has cleansed us from our sins. And so we wait. He has promised that He shall lead us into His eternal flock. And so we wait. He has promised to bring peace to this earth. And so we wait. And we expect Him to come.
Hear the words of the Apostle John, from Revelation, the 22nd chapter:
“Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end... I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”Now may the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come... [Jesus,] who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment