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Sermon for Advent 1 – Ad Te Levavi
Romans 13:11-14 + Matthew 21:1-9
Today is the First Sunday in Advent, the season of penitent preparation for Christ’s “coming.” We’re preparing to celebrate the King’s first coming, when He was born into the world, but we’re also preparing to receive Him at His second coming at the end of the age, whenever that day may be.
Our Gospel today looks back to the purpose and culmination of His first coming. It reminds us why He was born. The baby would grow up with a purpose, to carry out a mission. He was born of God the Father in eternity, of one substance with the Father, already the King of the universe by virtue of His divine nature. But He would come into the world, born of royal human blood, too, born of the house of David. And on Palm Sunday, the King, the Son of David, would ride into the holy city of Jerusalem. He would ride on a lowly donkey. He would be humble enough that sinners could approach Him, could stand in the presence of God without fear. He would humbly perform the ultimate act of sacrifice, allowing Himself to be rejected and condemned and crucified for the sins of the world: for the sins of those who already were His subjects and for the sins of all who might become His subjects, so that all might hear His gracious invitation to repent and believe in this King and so be eternally saved.
In this first coming, the King came as a King of grace—humble and lowly, not to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He came, according to Zechariah’s prophecy, righteous and having salvation. Yes, He preached against sin and called sinners to repentance repeatedly, but He never destroyed a single sinner at His first coming. He didn’t shut the gates of heaven permanently to anyone. Instead, He held out that gracious invitation. He offered them God’s grace, His love free of charge, His forgiveness. He came to establish a kingdom of grace here on earth, a Holy Christian Church where sinners are continually called to repentance and faith through the Means of Grace, where sinners are continually justified, counted righteous through faith in the King of grace, continually guarded by God’s grace against the devil, the world and our sinful flesh.
See how the King’s disciples prepared to meet Him! The crowds had been following Him for days, from one city to the next on His march toward Jerusalem. They didn’t know what He was marching toward exactly, but they knew He was coming to Jerusalem to fight for them somehow. So they followed. They watched. They listened. And as they saw Him mount the donkey on the Mount of Olives, they grabbed whatever they could find—palm branches along the way, their own clothing which they spread along the road. And they raised their voices, praising their King for the salvation He was bringing. Hosanna in the highest!
That was how our King of grace came into the world the first time. And He has extended His time of grace for nearly two thousand years, so that we, too, could be brought to know Him and to trust in Him, so that we, too, could be baptized in His name, and hear His Word and receive His body and blood for a little while longer.
But soon this time of grace will run out. Soon people will no longer be allowed to escape the consequences of their sins, and there will be no more chances to repent. Soon the King of grace will come in glory. At that time, those who are found outside the kingdom of grace—those who rejected the King, those who turned away His gracious invitation—will be locked out forever, and those who are found inside the kingdom of grace will be transferred to the kingdom of glory. They’ll go in with the Bridegroom and feast with the King of glory forever.
Today’s Epistle looks forward to that day. It turns our gaze to the second Advent of our King, to His coming as the King of glory who will come to establish His kingdom of glory, not here on this present earth, but in the new heavens and the new earth that our King will bring into existence when He comes. St. Paul doesn’t tell the Romans when the King will come. But he assures us, our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.
So wake up! Wake up now, Paul says, and live a life of wakefulness, of readiness, of preparedness, so that you’re ready to meet the King of glory when He comes.
There’s a silly phrase going around these days. To be “woke.” As in, “I am woke. Are you woke?” Have you heard it? It means “to be aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice).” If you weren’t aware of these issues before, but now you are, you’re said to be “woke.” It’s almost a term of boasting. I’m paying attention! I care! I notice the plight of the socially oppressed! And now that I’m “woke” to it, I’m trying to do something about the problems I’ve become aware of.
It’s a movement that’s misguided, at best. But the point is, these people have become aware of something (even if that something is false), and so they’re living as those who are “awake.”
How much more shouldn’t we Christians wake up to the reality of Christ’s second coming? Paul writes, It is high time to awake out of sleep…The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.
It’s time to wake up, Paul says, time to be aware of the King’s imminent arrival, time to be aware of what’s going on around you, aware of what you’re doing, in light of the King’s impending Advent. Do you, God’s people, really want to behave as the sons of darkness? Do you really want to prepare for the King’s arrival by being just like everyone else? Watching the same things the world watches? Spending your time as the people of the world spend their time? Doesn’t waiting for the King mean doing things differently than those who aren’t waiting?
I don’t mean entirely. We eat. We sleep. We work. We fulfill our vocations in the world. We use the things of this world like everyone else does. But we actually believe, don’t we?, that the King of glory, Jesus, is about to mount His cloud and ride down into our world again. The first time, He came in lowliness. He came to join us in this life. He came to suffer for us. He came to die. And He allowed Himself to be rejected, so that His patience might bring sinners to repentance. But it won’t be like that when He comes again. There will be no more second chances at that time. No more patience. No more time to repent.
Jesus’ disciples prepared to meet Him at the gates of Jerusalem with acts of worship and songs of praise, even though they didn’t really have much time to prepare. We, on the other hand, have already had a long time—some of us, our entire lives. And we may still have days or months or years to prepare. So let’s really prepare! Let’s live as those who are awake, who know what’s really going on in this world. The King is still sending out His Word into the world, giving sinners a little more time before He comes. That means that evil and wickedness still have a little time to thrive. War and bloodshed and persecution of Christians will still continue for a little while. It also means that you still have a little while to spend with family, a little while to work or fulfill your vocations here on earth. But as those who are awake, you know that you don’t live for this world. You live for the day of the King’s coming.
May God grant you to live as those who are awake, so that, when the King of glory comes, you’ll be prepared to go in with Him to His wedding hall. And may our preparations to celebrate the King’s first coming at Christmas also keep us mindful of this time of grace that He’s given us, to use His Word and Sacraments here in this kingdom of grace and to take advantage of His grace while it lasts. Amen.
