Preparing for Worship - December 1, 2024

This Sunday, December 1, is the beginning of a whole new Church Year, with the Advent season. Advent is a Latin word which means “to come to.” We think of the various “comings” of Christ to us and our world to do His saving work for us. The coming of Christ was predicted in Old Testament prophecy. He did literally come into the world, born of the Virgin Mary, in order to do all that was necessary to forgive and rescue us. He has come to our own hearts, through the Holy Spirit, working through the Word of God and our baptism, to bring us to faith and to strengthen us in that faith whenever we hear or read that Word. He comes to us in a very personal way in the Lord’s Supper, with His very Body and Blood, in, with, and under the bread and wine, for our forgiveness and encouragement. When we die, He comes to take our souls to everlasting life and peace in heaven, and He will return on the last day for the resurrection of all bodies and eternal joy for believers, in contrast with eternal sorrow for those apart from the Lord. There are touches of all these “comings” in what we heard the last few weeks and in what we will hear in Advent. The primary emphasis, of course, is on prophecy of the Savior, leading up to His birth in Bethlehem and His work for us.

This year, in Series C readings, we hear many readings from the Gospel of Luke. The Psalm is Psalm 25:1-10. David trusts in His Lord, even though he is having difficult troubles from treacherous people and other enemies. He asks the Lord’s help, even as he waits for Him and His ways. He prays for forgiveness of his sins and asks that the Lord, in His goodness, will give him His mercy and steadfast love and salvation, as He instructs him, a sinner, and keeps him humble, in seeking to follow His ways.

The Old Testament lesson is from Jeremiah 33:14-16. The Lord’s people are facing a time of great judgment, because of their sin and rebellion. God promises a coming time, though, when He will raise up a “righteous Branch” from the line of King David. He will be the Lord Himself, who will be the Righteousness we need, in His saving work that we and David and everyone else need. This is a prophecy of Christ Jesus, who will be our High Priest and our Everlasting King, in His new spiritual Kingdom, where all believers are and will be now and forever.

The Epistle is from 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13. Paul gives His thanks to God for this congregation. He wishes to be able to visit and see them again, to encourage them in faith. In the meantime, he prays that God the Father and our Lord Jesus would strengthen them and keep their hearts blameless through faith in Jesus, who is their righteousness and will come again on the last day, together the angels and with all believers who have already died and gone to be with the Lord.

There are two possible choices for the Gospel lesson. The first is Luke 19:28-40, the story of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on what we now call Palm Sunday, at the beginning of Holy Week. Jesus Himself prepares the way for this, having his disciples bring a colt, a lowly donkey on which he would humbly ride into the city, according to Old Testament prophecy (Zechariah 9:9ff). Yet a multitude of followers would praise God and say, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord.” Some of the Pharisees call on Jesus to stop the crowds from saying such a thing. But Jesus answered, “If these were silent, the very stones would cry out” - for He was the promised Savior King. (See how, in Habakkuk 2:9-11, stones “cry out” in judgment of God’s unfaithful people. Here, stones would cry out in praise of the Savior, Jesus, even if no one else would. He was the promised King from the line of David, though He would be a suffering Servant King, and His kingdom was not of this world, as He told Pontius Pilate, later that week. (See John 18:33-37.)

The other possible Gospel reading is from Luke 21:25-36. This is very similar to what we heard from Mark 13 last week, beginning with the prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem, as a sign of the end times to come. There will be much trouble, and then the Son of Man will come with power and great glory. If we are still living at that time, we can hold our heads high, for our Redeemer, the Son of Man, Jesus, will come. Heaven and earth will pass away, as we know them, but not the Words and Promises of God. We are ready for that last day, whenever it comes, by being spiritually awake, in continuing trust in Jesus and His Word and His saving work for us, in His life, death, and resurrection. We seek to leave the “cares of this life” in His hands and entrust our future to Him, relying on His mercy and forgiveness, already earned for us.