+ 1st Sunday in Advent – November 30th, 2025 +
Series A: Isaiah 2:1-5; Romans 13:8-14; Matthew 24:36-44
Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church
Milton, WA
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Advent is a peculiar yet beautiful season of the church year.
Peculiar because the world around us is telling us it’s cozy sweater weather and flooding your email, text messages, TVs and tablets with commercials and sales and deals and it’s enough to make you sympathetic with the Grinch for moment.
But then Advent comes along. Out of place in our world. Out of touch. We get Isaiah and the prophets. John the Baptist – the ugly sweater champion of the world. Paul and Jesus all proclaiming the same message. “It shall come to pass.” The Judge is coming. The Day of the Lord is near. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. The Son of Man is coming soon. Hardly sounds like the Holly Jollies or marshmallows and hot cocoa we were expecting.
And yet Advent comes as an airhorn in your slumber. Arise! Awake! Advent comes as a splash of cold water for someone in a stupor, drunk on the distractions of the world. Get up! Watch! Prepare. Advent comes like a thief in the night, Jesus says.
The beauty of Advent is found in its peculiarity. For Advent is a foghorn in the storm and tempest. Advent is a lighthouse in the bleak midwinter. Advent is the lantern approaching closer and closer on the horizon. The dawn about to break. The light piercing the darkness. The newsboy standing on the corner shouting out: “extra, extra! Read all about it! Christ is coming! Christ is near. Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again. Soon!”
And so Advent is a blessed interruption from our idolatry. A sacred summons to holiness and peace in Jesus word and promises. A slowing down. Roots digging deep into Christ the vine who sprouts forth from the stump of Jesse. In Advent our Lord invites us to pause. Breath. Be awake. Watch. Wait. Slow down. Sit. Listen.
Hear the word of the Lord. He comes to rescue. Deliver. Save. And yes…
He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples;
and 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 anymore.
That’s no ordinary judgment. Isaiah announces a war to end all wars. A black flag hoisted against the powers of hell and death and darkness. The Son of Man is coming and he will give no quarter to the ancient serpent. No safe harbor for hell and death. Jesus comes to hoist the Jolly Roger over the bones of Adam and our old sinful flesh as well.
And Jesus fights this battle. Makes his judgment in the most peculiar yet beautiful way. Something unimaginable to us. Impossible for us. Yet exactly what we need. Jesus comes as the Judge and takes upon himself your judgment. Christ the Judge lets the gavel fall on three Roman spikes, pounded into his flesh to set you free. Jesus, the Judge of the living and the dead, steps off his bench and is hoisted up onto the cross. For you. The innocent for the guilty. His life for yours. Your sin became his. Your grave and mine became his. Your judgment and mine…all his. All for you.
And this is the Judge that we await for on the Last Day. This is the coming Son of Man. The Son of Mary. Son of David. The Son of God. Our crucified and risen King. Your redeemer. Rescuer.
And in a way, the Last Day has already come. Your judgment has already happened. On the cross.
And in Baptism where he declared you washed. Cleansed. Holy. His own dear child. You belong to him. And… “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:1
For you who are in Christ, this day of reckoning is a day of redemption. This day of judgment is a day of joy. This day of consummation is a day of consolation.
This is what makes Advent so peculiar and yet so beautiful. Advent teaches us exactly how to live in the last days. To wait. Watch. Listen.
O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.
Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
Although Jesus will come on a day we do not expect. At his coming, we know exactly what to expect. For he promises.
You are dressed in Jesus. You are clothed in the King’s righteousness. You are Advent people. Children of the day. You are bought and paid for by the precious blood of Jesus.
So, do not fear living in these last days. Because of what Jesus did on Good Friday and Easter Sunday there’s nothing to fear on the Last Day.
After all, you know how the story ends. It ends with the trumpets blaring. Angels and saints shouting for joy. The bells of the new creation pealing. And the Lamb returning. Raising you from the dead. Wiping away all tears. All pain. All sorrow.
And you’ll find out that the Judge is the Lamb all along. Slain for you. sitting on the throne for you. speaking his promises to you:
Behold, I am coming soon.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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