The First
Sunday in Advent
November
28, 2021
Matthew 21:1–9
Do you know what
we were doing on December 1 of 2019? It was a Sunday and we were right here where
we are now. It was the First Sunday in Advent just as it is today and we were
beginning a new Church Year just as we are now. Advent being a season of
preparation we were preparing for our celebration of Christmas at the end of
the month. Our focus was on worship.
But we had no idea
what was coming. Many of us didn’t even know what had already happened in
October or November of that year, that there was a virus that was spreading. In
the new year more was heard about it and then halfway through our observance of
Lent there were lockdowns all over the world. The pandemic brought with it
fear, confusion, and division. When we began a new Church Year two years ago
none of us knew what would be coming our way.
Those who lived on
the island of Oahu woke up on December 7, 1941 unaware that Japanese planes
would soon be raining bombs on them. Many of us woke up on September 11 of 2001
getting ready for another Tuesday, having no idea that the World Trade Center
would soon come crashing down and bringing thousands of people to their death. Or
what about when your own personal world came crashing down? You may still
remember what you were doing the day you were given the news that you were
stricken with cancer, or that your loved one was killed in an accident, or that
you were fired from your job, or that your spouse told you they wanted a
divorce.
Some things we can
prepare for. Others come out of nowhere and you are shocked and perhaps afraid
or despondent. We don’t always know what will happen. We’re not always
prepared. At times in life we are left flailing. We’re stricken with grief or fear.
We may feel life is hopeless.
Today we are
beginning a new Church Year. We are excited about going through the seasons of
the Church Year. But we do not need to ignore the real tragedies in life. We do
not need to check our fears or doubts at the door of the sanctuary. We are
here, right where we need to be, and that includes being who we are. We not
only are in constant struggle with our sinful nature but we are battered by
outside forces of temptation and trials.
We’re about two
years removed from that strange time when Covid first came upon us. We’re still
wondering how it will all shake out. Many of us have long since given up on
predicting how things will go or even determining how to move forward. But
there is a reason we are here today. It is the same reason we were here two
years ago. We don’t know the specific things that will come upon us but we do
know that living in a fallen world we will continue to suffer trials. How they
come about and how they play out, we will leave that to God.
Two years ago we
couldn’t know what would happen with the pandemic. But being here in the House
of God we were without realizing it being prepared for it. Today we are
preparing for our continued life in this Covid world and for any other
adversities we will endure. The Church Year is designed just for this. It follows
the pattern God set forth for His people in the Old Testament with the various
observances and festivals which highlighted God’s saving acts for His people.
Now in the New Testament the pattern follows the saving acts of God in Christ.
The Church Year takes us through Christ’s life and ministry and His work in
bringing about salvation. In this way we are prepared for anything and
everything.
The way the Church
Year begins is with preparation. On one level it is preparation for our celebration
of Christmas. Advent is from the Latin arrival. As the people of old looked forward
to the arrival of the Messiah so we look forward each year to celebrating that
arrival of Him being born in Bethlehem. So Advent is reminding us to look back
to what God did when He sent the Savior.
On another level
Advent is turning our gaze to what is to come. As He promised to come the first
time our Lord has promised to return. If His first arrival was in humility then
when He returns it will be in glory. We don’t know when it will be. But we know
He will come again. So we are already prepared. We will not be surprised. We
don’t need to wonder if He is coming again. We know He is.
In this way we face
the future and live each day of our lives: we do not go alone. Our Lord goes before
us. The Church Year has a striking if not strange way of showing us this when
it takes the event that begins Holy Week and brings it right to the front. On
Palm Sunday Jesus rode into Jerusalem, as seen so clearly in Lent and at the
head of Holy Week, in order to suffer on account of the sin of the world.
But how does
Christ coming into Jerusalem on a donkey fit in with the beginning of the
Church Year and beginning our Advent preparation? It shows us that our Lord
goes before us. Did you feel things were out of your control two years ago when
the alarm was raised and lockdowns were enforced? Do you feel like you are not
in control when your personal world is upended and you face trials that come
out of nowhere? You are not always in control and this is why Jesus did what He
did on that Palm Sunday. The Gospel reading speaks of many people doing various
things on that day but Jesus was the one who was in control.
Jesus sent His
disciples to get the donkey. He directed them to the village where they would
find it. He is the one who determined that He would ride in on a donkey. He is
the one who made it possible for them to retrieve the donkey that was tied up,
even if someone should ask about what they were doing. He told the two
disciples, If they say anything, tell them that the Lord has need of it.
Jesus was aware of
everything that needed to happen. Matthew tells us that it was in order to
fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: Tell Daughter Zion, “See, your
King is coming to you, gentle, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal
of a donkey.”
See how Jesus is
in control. He is the King, the Lord, the God of all creation. And He sets
about going into Jerusalem to accomplish salvation by riding in on a donkey. He
humbles Himself to go in on a donkey. When things are spinning out of control
Jesus has everything under control. He has come and He came in humility. He
will come again and He will come not in humility but in glory.
For now, He goes
before you. You do not know what will happen, and yet, you do. You know that no
matter what happens you are prepared. You go forward in faith; sometimes in
agitation, perhaps fear, maybe even doubt. But isn’t that what faith is,
believing even in uncertainty? And so you go forward in faith, and Sunday after
Sunday the Church Year will take you back, again and again, to your Lord who
went to the cross and who goes before you. Amen.
SDG
Lutheran
Service Book Lectionary: One-Year, Gospel
Prince
of Peace Lutheran Church, San Diego, California
