NOV 29, 2009  SERMON ARCHIVE

One year ago, on the first Sunday of Advent, after the Divine Service, one of you made a comment about the fact that the Gospel reading was more of what one expected to hear on Palm Sunday rather than in Advent. Such a comment reveals three things, all of which are reassuring and encouraging to this pastor. First, at least some of you people of God listen to what is being read during the Divine Service.

Two, you people of Bethlehem have an understanding and expectation regarding the seasons of the Church year.

And three, there needs to be continued proclamation and catechesis — continued preaching and teaching — concerning the dogmas and doctrines of Scripture that maintain a connection in the overview of Jesus Christ's Life from before "in the beginning" in Genesis, to after the "amen" in Revelation.

For this day, the task is to take one theme and tie together the first Sunday of Advent with the Palm Sunday procession of the King of kings.

Please listen to a portion of the Gospel reading assigned for today, specifically verses 35-39, doing so under the theme ... ... The Advent of the King ...

Then they brought him [the colt] to Jesus. And they threw their own garments on the colt, and they set Jesus on him. And as He went, they spread their clothes on the road. Then, as He was drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, saying: "Blessed is the King who comes in the Name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, "Teacher, rebuke Your disciples."

Thus far the Word of the Lord our God.

Dearly beloved of God, behold four things this day.

First, behold the King. Though He appears as one among the many men who walk upon the face of this fallen earth, He is the One true God Whose holy habitation is beyond the universe. Though He had no form or comeliness that we should desire Him — though there was nothing special about Him in terms of His appearance when He walked the dirt-laden paths in Bethphage and Bethany — He is, nonetheless, Jehovah Incarnate --He is Immanuel, that is, "God with us."

Through the Gospel of St. Luke, cast your eyes on Jesus, the King of kings as He goes up to Jerusalem to be crowned with a crown of thorns and enthroned on a wooden cross. Here it is that Justice Himself will be executed; the Judge taking the punishment deserved by each one of the prisoners in sin's lockup, indeed, the Divine penalty due to every descendant of Adam, every one of the children of wrath.

See the common garments, ones woven by the weavers on the hand-crafted looms of this world, worn garments now cast upon the colt and spread upon the rocky road leading to the holy city. Look at the ordinary one enlisted to bear the Son of God and Son of Man.

This is a common creature carrying the Christ ... a beast of burden upon whose back no one has ever ridden. Such an ordinary looking man this humble Jesus is; and such coarse fabric consecrated by, to and under the King of creation; and what a menial mode of transporting the Lord of lords to His Temple! This is the Lord God present with and among His people.

Dear friends in Christ, this is the Savior Whose Advent in the days of Caesars and Herods was for the purpose of accomplishing your redemption.

This is the Word who became flesh and dwealt among His people. John says, "He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him" (John 1:10). "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him" (John 3:17).

Second, behold what awaits the advent of the King. See the swaddling cloths, ones woven by the weavers on the hand-crafted looms of this world. These fabrics await the Advent of the newborn King that they might be wrapped about His tiny torso after He is received into the world and be wound around His breathless Body after He has taken your curse upon Himself and died in your place.

Lower your eyes to that animal's feeding trough in Bethlehem — a manger that will cradle the Infant Redeemer; and lift up your eyes to a leafless tree upon which God is pinned and pierced outside Jerusalem's gate.

Look at the ordinary young lady enlisted to bear the Son of God and Son of Man. This handmaiden of the Lord is a common creature carrying the Christ within her womb ... indeed, a Jewish virgin who has not known a man.

The Incarnation of God is both manifest and hidden in a temporary tabernacle as Mary bears the Savior "from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem" (Luke 2:4).

Such an ordinary unborn child this seems to be; and such coarse fabric will be consecrated to the service of the King of creation; and what a menial mode will be used when transporting the Lord of lords to His Temple — the bosom of Mary and the arms of Joseph. Thus is the Lord God present with and among His people.

Third, behold the Advent of the King today. He comes hidden in the places and ways that He has promised. See the world's water united with God's Word — a washing of regeneration that cleanses the soul with the forgiveness of sin and a renewal that bestows salvation and eternal life.

Hear the absolving Word of God spoken by a wretched man called by the holy Christ to proclaim to you the glorious Good News of salvation by the grace of God through faith in Jesus.

Cast your eyes upon the altar and see the bread and wine consecrated to and by the Passover Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world and Who gives us His Body and Blood to eat and drink.

In the Baptismal Flood the Lord God, Whom earth and heaven are not able to contain, takes up residence in the Christian. In the Holy Communion, the very Body and the true Blood of Jesus the Christ are graciously tabernacled to and into the worthy communicant through this sacramental eating. Thus is the Lord God present with and among His people.

In the Baptismal Flood the Lord God, Whom earth and heaven are not able to contain, takes up residence in the Christian. In the Holy Communion, the very Body and the true Blood of Jesus the Christ are graciously tabernacled to and into the worthy communicant through this sacramental eating. Thus is the Lord God present with and among His people.

One group is made up of those who are offended at Jesus and are opposed to the confession of the Truth by those who are His followers. "Some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, ‘Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.'" These are men of the Law and therefore, they remain under the weight of the doctrines of man and the crushing letter of God's stone tablets. These people are offended at this Jesus Who is God incarnate — Who is humble and comes in such lowly ways and by such common These people will seek to kill Jesus of Nazareth and thus rid themselves of this King. They will get what they want and receive what they desire. In this way they are no different than Herod who sent his henchmen to kill the newborn King of the Jews in the little town of Bethlehem.

These Pharisees are joined on the side of history's road by the Arians and the Jehovah's Witnesses — by the Gnostics and the nihilists — by Judaizers and Romanists — by Manicheans and Mormons — indeed, by all the enemies of the cross as well as by those who oppose and deny the ways and means of God's grace.

The other group of people are those who are Jesus' disciples ... those who preceded and those who accompanied and those who have followed after the Advent of the King. Included in this great congregation of the faithful are Abel, Enoch, Abraham, Job, Moses, Rahab, Ruth, David, Anna and Simeon — all of whom awaited the Advent of the King.

Then there was that Palm Sunday crowd of Jesus' followers; indeed those who beheld that Advent of the King in the holy city when the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, saying: "Blessed is the King who comes in the Name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!"

Later in the history of this new testament world, there stood in the one, holy, catholic Church those faithful children of God ... Timothy, Titus and Philemon, Ignatius, Clement and Polycarp, Luther, Chemnitz and Gerhard, Walther, Loëhe and Stoeckhardt, all your loved ones — indeed all the faithful men, women, youth, children and infants who have come out of the great tribulation and have been ushered into the eternal Paradise prepared by God from the foundation of the world.

Now, among those awaiting the Advent of the Crucified, Risen and Ascended King to judge the quick and the dead are you — you are privileged to be in the Presence of the Lord God Almighty on this first Sunday of Advent.

You, dear Christian, — you too now have the privilege to await that Day when, with "the whole multitude of the disciples" you will see the Advent of the King and "rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works" that you have seen, "saying: ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the Name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!'"

Christ is Risen.

And He is coming soon.

Amen.