Advent
O Come Emmanuel !
The First Sunday in Advent is not about the wise men, the shepherd’s or the images we associate with Christ’s Birth. We haven’t arrived at that place.
Advent is a journey, a pilgrimage of watching and waiting. We are starting at a point of our preparation for those events as a believer one who relies on Christ. We see the need for our repentance. That’s why purple, the color of penitence, adorns our altar. We dare not rush to greet the Redeemer prematurely until we pause here, in darkened church, to admit that we do need redemption. Nothing within us can save us.
Advent comes from a Latin word – “advenire” - which means to come to... Advent, then is a time to think about “advents” - comings to - and to reflect on three comings-to in particular:
- The Coming of God to the world as a human baby
- The Coming of God to the world in His glory at the end of time where God’s purposes will be fulfilled
- The Coming of God into the world today. Jesus comes to us now in word and sacrament, in prayer and praise, in his Body, the Church. By the work of the Holy Spirit, the Jesus who was born in the past in Bethlehem and who will come in the future is present to us and in us now.
This present betweenness is not a time of the absence of God, but a time filled with the voice of God calling people out of the darkness of sin into the brightness of the kingdom. Jesus coming in human form fulfills both the words of Israel’s prophets and the events in Israel’s history that speak of God’s saving grace. .
During Advent, we remember and honor those who prepared the way for Jesus: John the Baptist, Zechariah, Elizabeth, Mary Joseph and others. We hear stories of the preparation and sing carols of expectation. His coming will not be what we expect, or have experienced, or can perceive .
Our Advent readings teach us one that such coming will be ever a surprise, ever new, ever unexpected. They teach us to look beyond even our own hopes. What newness in life, what new experience in faith, what new understanding, awaits us as we turn our minds and hearts to the coming of our Lord again this year?
Appropriately the readings of Week 1 are linked around the idea of invitation:
Psalm - invitation to all people: "Let us go the house of the Lord" (verse 1).
Matthew - The watchword of Advent is a call to be alert. We, too, do not know the day or hour of the appearance of the Son of Man; he is the one who will come when we least expect
Isaiah - "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of Jacob" (Isaiah 2:2). Here on the mountain the message of peace is proclaimed and taught. Here the prophet heralds the word that calls for the beginning of a new era of swords into plowshares, spears into pruning hooks, and nations not waging warfare (Isaiah 2:3-4).
Romans – Christian love advancing the cause on the neighbor and joining the Christian lifestyle.
Come let us prepare!
Matthew
The Son of Man is Coming
Matthew 24:36-44
Jesus said to the disciples"But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour."
In our scriptures, the season of Advent begins with a look to the future coming (parousia of the Son of Man. While we typically live with a fairly linear view of time -- one event coming after another -- the church's liturgical and lectionary calendar is cyclical -- patterns of events repeating themselves. For this reason, the church year that begins in Advent puts in front of us passages about the end of history before moving in later weeks to prepare us for the coming of the Christ child and the dawn of a new age.
There were two factors that enormously influenced the lives of early Christians:
The destruction and leveling of Jerusalem by the Roman army in 70 CE and the pervasive thought that this event felt like the End of the World.
The delay of the Second Coming. The Second Coming did not occur in the earliest disciples’ lifetime as they had erroneously thought it would. These earliest Christians had to deal with their misinterpretation of the timing of The End.
Our scripture sandwiched between Jesus' teachings about how to recognize signs that the Son of Man is about to arrive and several parables that commend readiness for the imminent judgment that awaits (ten bridesmaids, talent, sheep and goats). Jesus is the son of Man.
The principal theme in this text for the First Sunday in Advent is: "The Son of Man is Coming." Four times this claim is made. Three times it is made explicitly about the "Son of Man" and once about "the Lord." The context of this claim is an eschatological sermon: Matthew 24 and 25. At its beginning Jesus’ disciples ask him: "What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" In response they are told of the birth pangs of the new age (24:8). This new age had been proclaimed at the outset of Jesus’ ministry (4:17). Its coming was the good news that was to be spread throughout the world (24:14). But it would be characterized in part by a time of suffering and judgment (24:21, 30).
In the suffering and trials which will precede the End, society will break down, “many will fall away” (v. 10, from the faith) but “one who endures to the end will be saved” (v. 13). After these events, the “Son of Man” (vv. 27, 30, Jesus) will come “with power and great glory”. This will mark the beginning of a new era, a new way of being. Followers should discern signs of the second coming of Christ (vv. 32-35).
In contrast to the terrible and great signs of the end that no one could miss -- and without God's help believers could not endure (24:22), our text indicates that the time of the end will be quite peaceful and normal
In contrast to the long, commercial buildup and advertising about the shopping days until Christmas, our text clearly indicates that we do not know when the day and hour of the Coming will come. Perhaps a reference could be made back to the Garden of Eden -- the humans sin by trying to know more than God intended them to know. The first theme is this lesson's sure and certain promise that God's future and our future belong to this Messiah, the Son of Man
Verses 37-38 draws an analogy suggesting that the days of Christ's return will be rather like the days of Noah when the flood came. In each case, judgment came in the form of an event which caught the unprepared by surprise.
They failed to be watchful and were caught unprepared. The text does not fault them for their wickedness, as did the source in Genesis, but for their being so fully involved in the ordinary activities of life -- eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage -- that they took no thought of that future which would help define both the character and meaning of their present.
More to the point, remembering the story of Noah, there were a host of sinful humans taken away, swept away by the flood, while Noah's family was "left behind," safe and sound on board the ark.
This is not a scripture of the rapture of the faithful and judgment of those who did not make N. T. Wright, rejecting any literalistic notion of a rapture, i.e., of a sudden supernatural event removing individuals from this earth, interprets "being taken" as being taken in judgment The left behind are those blessed who have escaped the great judgment just as Noah's family escaped the flood.
It appears then that Matthew’s emphasis on the final judgment does not rise out of any preoccupation with the end of the world but rather from a recognition that the final judgment is forever pressing upon the present with both offer and demand. How could it be otherwise in a gospel which begins with the birth of him whose name is Immanuel, God with us, and ends with his promise, ‘I am with you to the end of the world’ ?"
The second theme is that of "knowing" - actually of "not knowing." Five times it drives its point: "no one knows, not even the Son" (36); "they knew nothing" (39); "you do not know" (42); if the owner had known" (43); and "at an unexpected hour" (44).
Through all of these parables the message is clear. A crisis is approaching. When it will come cannot be determined. No chronological calculations can be made. But it will surely come. So be ready.
Jesus tells his disciples that neither angels, nor ordinary human beings, nor even he himself, know the timing of his Return or Second Coming. Only the Father knows such things.
And so this passage bids us not just to wait, but to keep awake, and to watch, and to be prepared.
The need for a disciple to be prepared for the day of judgment is reinforced in the parable of the faithful and unfaithful servant. The faithful servant is the watchful servant, prepared for the master's return. The unfaithful servant plays on the master's delay, running his own agenda.
Here, as is always the case, God reveals enough about the future to give us hope, but not so much that we do not have to live and walk by faith day after day
Accordingly, it is evident that Matthew asserts the Son of Man is present with his people now and to the end of the age, and that at the same time he proclaims the Son of Man is coming at the end of the age. The Gospel claims that he is already here and that he will come again.(2)
For our time at the outset of Advent we should not be distracted life of faith, from service to neighbor, from recognizing God in our midst.
David Lose has written " If we're honest, we might admit that the frenetic decorating and shopping and card-giving that consumes these next four weeks can easily become part of what sidetracks us. We end up preparing for Christmas rather than for Christ and thereby more easily miss the presence of our Lord in the face of those in need and more liable to the judgment he speaks in today's passage."
"With either title, we need to keep in mind that the "Coming One" is one who has come and who continues to come to us in our gatherings around Word and Sacrament. The Bible never uses the phrase "second coming." For those whom Jesus is a part of their lives now, I don't think the "coming" will be a surprise. He already comes into their lives now.
As we enter a time of preparation, let's take our eye off an endgame and put it back on a process of living. We are not waiting for a dividing judgment, but a birth of new hope for a peace that passes our understanding and is for all creation – a peace we can hear sung, no matter how far off, hailing a new creation. Can we be ready in our dark night to hear angels sing? This is what we are preparing for.
Isaiah 2:1-5
The bronze sculpture "Let Us Beat Our Swords into Ploughshares," was created by Soviet artist Evgeny Vuchetich, and presented to the United Nations on 4 December 1959, by the Government of the USSR. The sculpture, depicting the figure of a man holding a hammer aloft in one hand and a sword in the other, which he is making into a ploughshare, is meant to symbolize man's desire to put an end to war, and to convert the means of destruction into creative tools for the benefit of mankind. It is located in the North Garden of the United Nations Headquarters.
Isaiah 2:1-5
"T he word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. " In days to come the mountain of the LORD's house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it. Many peoples shall come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths." For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the LORD! ."
This fits in with both the Gospel and Roman that something new is happening. This book can be divided into two (and possibly three) parts. Chapters 1 to 39 were written before the exile, from about 740 BC to about 700 BC. These were difficult times for the southern kingdom, Judah: a disastrous war was fought with Syria; the Assyrians conquered Israel, the northern kingdom, in 723 BC, and threatened Judah. Isaiah saw the cause of these events as social injustice, which he condemned, and against which he fought valiantly.
Isaiah wrote these verses about 740 BC, a time when spirits were low in Judah: Assyrian armies were bent on conquest, and many people doubted God's power to preserve the dynasty of David in accordance with his promise; others believed themselves to be invincible in the face of enemies.
Isaiah seeks to shock Israel out of its complacency by demonstrating how the nations have chosen a better way. He reveals that the Lord's mountain will serve as the center of the new kingdom, and therefore, the center of the nations. God will teach and judge disputes. People will choose to abide by His decisions, and then war will cease. God's reign will bring peace.
In Isaiah’s Vision God moves to take things into his own hands. He will do what is necessary to establish the city and judge the nations. He will remove all the elements from the population that do not fit this new mode of operation. The Vision of Isaiah pictures God’s search for a people for his city. The Vision will depict successive generations of the people of God: Israelites, Judeans, Jerusalemites, and proselytes who refuse roles in Yahweh’s new city and its program.
This passage, which from its content is clearly an oracle of salvation, can be divided into four parts.
A It begins at once with a description of the miraculous exaltation of Mount Zion in the future (v. 2a);
In Isaiah’s time people located their shrines on hills and mountaintops
God founded the earth above the seas of the primeval ocean, so that from henceforth it could no longer be shaken (cf. he will one day create for the temple in Jerusalem a place which shall not be shaken for all time to come.
Looking forward not to the end of the time, but to the consummation of history. God reveals to all nations the true central point of the world of mankind, the place where he is to appear as judge, and where his word and his will will be proclaimed. Mount Zion, on the peak of which the temple stands, will tower over all other mountains and hills There is a reminiscence of the conception of Paradise located upon the mountain of God,
B. This is followed by the description of the effect of this event among the nations (v. 2a~3b)
Just as Israel once travelled in the desert to the mountain of God, in order to receive the law there Mt Sinai, the nations now travel on pilgrimage to the sanctuary of the people of the twelve tribes, to the house of the God of Jacob. Nations recognize the presence of God on God's holy mountain and come streaming in. Unlike some of the Zion psalms here the nations do not come defeated, but positively and voluntarily in order to learn God's ways, walk in God's paths, study Torah ("instruction," v. 3), and hear the word of the Lord. Instruction is not just the torah but all the works of God that at various times are uttered by priests and prophets, and guide and interpret the existential life both of individuals and of nations.0 Ordinary mortals are unable to bear God speaking to them directly.
C. An account of the rule of God which shall end all discord, in v. 4.
God revealed himself as the ultimate Lord and judge of the whole world,11 so he will finally appear in the as the one who alone can give enduring peace to humanity through his word, which judges men and forgives their sins Nations will abandon their worldview and ideologies and gladly give to the church their esteem as the world’s leader in worship –
As the nations approach the sacred mountain, God appears as judge, chief arbiter between and among the huge throng of peoples arrayed on the hill of Zion.
The nations, inwardly convinced of God's deity by the new creation, will willingly submit to his decision. This means that the constant readiness of them all to take up arms against any of the others has become meaningless. The nations will voluntarily renounce their arms, by forging their weapons into agricultural implements, which will help to bring about peace and further the real task which man has been set, of making the earth serviceable Swords will be turned into ploughshares, and spears into pruning hooks.
The plowshare is a piece of iron, broad but not large, which tips the end of the shaft. So much does it resemble the short sword used by the ancient warriors, that it may, with very little trouble, be converted into that deadly weapon; and when the work of destruction is over
Spears were much used in war. They were made of wood, with a sharpened piece of iron or other metal attached to the end. The pruning-hook, made for cutting the limbs of vines or trees, is, in like manner, a long piece of wood with a crooked knife attached to it. Hence, it was easy to convert the one into the other.] The expectation that men who truly know God will bring war to an end means that wars are unequivocally characterized as the consequence of human sin.
D. Finally, in v. 5, there is a demand to the audience to draw from the oracle the consequence for their own lives.
The prophet addresses himself directly to the listening congregation, knowing that he shares its position and its task
Nations come to the worship of God, Believers walk in the light. In other words “Let the promises of God have their full impact on us now”. The reference to Jacob is the consummation of the saving work of God begun in the choosing of the patriarchs (cf. Gen. 12.3). This both comforts and strengthens their faith
This, together with the placing of this oracle before the prophecies of warning of Isaiah himself, leads to the conclusion that this congregation lacks everything which is promised here.
Thus v.5 is an appeal to the congregation to recognize and accept through the word of hope that the present situation is brought about by God. The concrete significance of this for the exilic and post-exilic community is that they should understand the catastrophe of the exile and its consequences as God's judgment and not as the abolition of the election of Israel or of the promise, but as a step towards their fulfillment
There is a statement to the church -. It testifies that if man is seized by the reality of God, he realizes that he is called not to violence and suffering, but to a peaceful and just life with other men, in which alone human life can be fulfilled. The people of God today might be encouraged and empowered by the gospel to practice peace-making at home, in the congregation, and in society. While others may still choose to fight, the people of God would resolve to walk in the light of the promises contained in these texts regardless of what others might choose to do.
Consequently, it becomes a pronouncement of judgment upon the Christian church, which loses itself in the law of the present world, and is not ready to suffer in imitation of Jesus Christ
Romans
Romans 13:11-14
You know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires."
The Epistle readings for the first and second Sundays in Advent are taken from the later chapters of Paul's letter to the Romans. Chronologically Paul’s Roman was written before the Gospel. Paul wrote it to the church at Rome, which included both Jews and Gentiles. His primary theme is the basics of the good news of Christ, salvation for all people. The book was probably written in 57 AD, when Paul was near the end of his third missionary journey around the Eastern Mediterranean.
In these chapters, Paul is describing the characteristics of a Christian life. This is most appropriate as we enter what is classically a more penitential season, a season of inward reflection and preparation for an advent, a coming.
While both the Gospel and Romans emphasizes the coming of the son of Man and the day of judgment, Paul provides more details of what the present Christian community should be doing.
The message is generally optimistic. We live in hope, an active hope, where the unexpected advent is not something fearful but joyous because it is from God. The vision of Isaiah is no longer just a far-off dream ("they shall beat their weapons into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks") but is something realized already here, in this Christian community, as we "love" our neighbor
The scripture combines two distinct sections: vv. 8-10 and 11-14.
Paul is addressing baptized Christians, Christians who live in the Spirit. It would seem that this sleep is a spiritual sleep. The gift of the Holy Spirit has been received but it has fallen asleep. Simply because we are baptized, simply because we have this privilege, does not mean that we can take it easy. Christianity is an active not passive faith.
Both in early Christianity and beyond the image of waking up from sleep or coming from death to life or from darkness to light and of changing one's clothes was well known and used. It expressed major change, re-orientation, repentance, but with a strong sense that one is turning to something which is far better than what is left behind. Paul can expect the Romans to warm to his exhortation. In many aspects of life, timing is everything. When we know what time it is, we can best live as stewards of what God has given us and where God has placed us. Paul is thoroughly gripped by the timing in history of what God has done in Christ
vv. 11-14 moves into the future. Why should we love?: because salvation is nearer today than it was yesterday. It is significant that Paul's last reference to the present time in regard to how God is working in the world is this wakeup call to moral living in God's daylight.
The former time, the night, was characterized by bondage to powers that Paul calls "sin" and "the flesh." The dawning day will be characterized by freedom and life "in the Spirit," and "in Christ." And so Paul says, "The night is far gone, the day is near" (Romans 13:12).
In particular he emphasises love as the basis for such relationships and has just alluded to the fact that where such love exists all that matters in the Law is fulfilled (13:8-10). We don't live for ourselves (14:7-8). Love is bigger than all the observances and bigger than all the commandments.
The Gospel is ultimately about freedom, yet not just freedom "from," but freedom "for" neighbors. The argument continues with a commonplace in v. 9: all those commandments can be summed up simply by reference to Leviticus 19:18, namely, to love your neighbor as yourself.
Now, here is the commandment: to seek the good of the neighbor, to love the neighbor so as to seek the profit, good and well-being of the neighbor. And the neighbor (as we know from the parable of the Good Samaritan) isn't the neighbor we chose (the person who looks like we look or, on the whole, isn't too demanding). The neighbor is always the other person given to us, the one who crosses our path whether we like it or not, the one whom we might not usually associate with or even try to avoid! The neighbor is always an unexpected appearance in our midst, in the midst of our lives.
Considering the summation of the law in terms of "love of neighbor," coupled with the Gospel text for this First Sunday of Advent, we come to realize that perhaps the one whose return comes unexpectedly is precisely the neighbor who encounters us in the street. Perhaps Christ's second coming is this continual return of Christ in and through the neighbor.
The call to love is not made on the basis of the past (e.g., "Why don't you love others? Didn't I tell you to love others already?"), but on the basis of an emerging future ("Look, God's love for us is coming toward us headlong from the future, so we might as well get with the love program!"). In other words, Paul draws on eschatology, in part, because of the very shape of the Gospel.
"The night is far gone, the day is at hand," Paul writes in v. 12. The reference is to "The Day of the Lord" tradition. Yet Paul inverts that tradition from doom and gloom (beginning with The Day of the Lord = "darkness" in Amos 5:18) to the dawning of a new day. In the end, Paul seals the notion by reference to baptismal clothing. We are people of the day because we "put on the Lord Jesus Christ." If baptism is where we first get clothed with grace, we shouldn't be surprised that the most ever-lovin', grace-spiked bash of final salvation might mean we should stay dressed for the occasion!
We don't love cause we should love. Rather, we love because God's ever-lovin' day is about to dawn. For love is not just the fulfilment of what was-it is also the fulfilment of what will be. Paul provides a list of what we should not be doing. Listing loose living, drunkenness, sexual immorality and excess as signs of the self indulgent life was common amidst Roman life . However, notice that Paul ends the list with divisiveness and infighting which hit home with the Christian community in Rome. Selfish human desire also has a way of tearing communities apart when people stop treating each other as people and that this happens in the church
Our passage reaches its climax in 13:14. Here we are to be clothed with Christ. This belongs within Paul's notion that we are the body of Christ. It is Christ's being of love which needs to encompass us and from which will flow loving behavior
Generally he is contrasting two different lifestyles characteristic of the two different power systems. One follows the desires of the flesh (13:14). Here we should not misunderstand Paul. He is not objecting to our natural hunger nor to sexual desire. He is objecting to when these take over to the extent that we exploit others and do harm to ourselves. When we reduce our lives to only that level of gratification we not only miss out too much; we are also bound to live abusively towards others and ourselves.
Psalm
Psalm 122
- 1
- I was glad when they said to me, *
"Let us go to the house of the LORD." - 2
- Now our feet are standing *
within your gates, O Jerusalem. - 3
- Jerusalem is built as a city *
that is at unity with itself; - 4
- To which the tribes go up,
the tribes of the LORD, *
the assembly of Israel,
to praise the Name of the LORD. - 5
- For there are the thrones of judgment, *
the thrones of the house of David. - 6
- Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: *
"May they prosper who love you. - 7
- Peace be within your walls *
and quietness within your towers. - 8
- For my brethren and companions' sake, *
I pray for your prosperity. - 9
- Because of the house of the LORD our God, *
I will seek to do you good."
Identified as "A Song of Ascents," this psalm describes the pilgrim throng entering "the house of the Lord." This psalm-song lives in the joy the pilgrim feels when anticipating their journey to Jerusalem, the holy city, the place they know (or imagine) that God touches earth. It is the tangible symbol of the shalom we urgently need in our world and in our lives. Three faiths profess it as a place where heaven and earth meet
As we begin a new church year we, too, herald the glad tidings and invitation to all people: "Let us go the house of the Lord" (verse 1). The other readings this week can be considered as invitations
We hear this psalm in light of the assurance that our feet are also firmly placed in the ancient gates of Jerusalem, in the faith of the people then, and for us; we are invited to know the dwelling place of God's presence (verse 2). Perhaps “bound firmly together” (v. 3) means invulnerable: note “gates” (v. 2), “walls” (v. 7), “security”, and “towers” (v. 7). The Temple is where people of all twelve “tribes” (v. 4) of Israel gather to “give thanks” for knowing God and experiencing life in his ways (“name”).
It is where kings descended from David reign (as God’s representatives), settling arguments (v. 5). Vv. 6-7 urge all worshippers to pray for the city’s peace and prosperity. The psalmist prays to God for its peace (and that of the whole country) on behalf of those at home (“my relatives and friends”, v. 8). In v. 9 he returns to speaking of himself: for the sake of the Temple, he will seek the ultimate goodness, i.e. God.
Here within these gates God's judgment is established. In the temple of the Lord thanksgiving and judgment are inseparable. Judgment alone belongs to the God of all creation and of all people. For this the response of all people is to give thanks for God's righteous rule and judgment, of God's equity and justice for all the tribes of people and for the house of David. In this setting the psalmist proclaims God's righteous judgment has been established (verse 5).
In this season of Advent we, too, are called into the sanctuary of the Lord. We also enter into the peace that only God provides. Here is peace only the Jesus supplies. Here is peace and security for relatives and friends, for all God's people. Here is present that for which all people long in the benediction: "Peace be within you" (verse 8).