+ 1stSunday in Advent – December 2nd, 2018 +
Series C: Jeremiah 33:14-16; 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13; Luke 19:28-40
Beautiful Savior Lutheran, Milton
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
It seems a little strange doesn’t it? It’s the first Sunday in Advent – a season where we prepare to celebrate Jesus’ holy birth; we rejoice in his presence among us in Word and Sacrament, and we await glorious return - and St. Luke drops us right at the end of the story.
Instead of angels, shepherds, a manger, and Bethlehem, we hear the Hosannas, see the palm branches, cloaks, and Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey. Isn’t this all a little backwards? It’s like we’re hearing Jesus’ story in reverse.
This isn’t how we normally go through life is it? Would we start reading a novel from the last sentence and work backwards to the first chapter? Watch a movie from the end sequence and then go to the opening scenes? Of course, there’s always that joke about listening to country music songs backwards to get your dog, your truck and your job back. But chances are, Mater from Disney’s Carsis about the only one who’s a pro at going in reverse.
But if you think about it, it makes perfect sense to hear the story of Jesus’ life this way. To hear the end before the beginning. After all, Jesus’ death and resurrection is the reason for his birth. Born to live, to die, to rise…for you. And without Jesus’ death and resurrection, nothing He says or does makes any sense.
So Advent tells us the story of our rescue and redemption in Jesus in reverse. From Palm Sunday to John the Baptist, and finally to the angel Gabriel’s visit to Mary, the message is the same: the baby born for us in Bethlehem is the man crucified and risen for us in Jerusalem.
Luke depicts Jesus entrance into Jerusalem, and his journey to the cross the same way he came into the world. In lowliness and humility. Jesus went to Jerusalem to die, to be crowned king on the cross, to deliver us from sin and death by means of His own death for us.
It’s the reverse of everything everyone expected the Savior to be. The crowds, the Pharisees, even the disciples – they all expected someone grand and glorious, not a humble and lowly Savior.
And maybe that’s true of us too. Like the crowds in Jerusalem, we expect a glorious, powerful, mighty warrior King, instead of a Suffering Servant whose power is made perfect in weakness, and whose might is displayed in defeat on the cross. Like the Pharisees we expect Jesus to be pleased with our piety and rule-following, instead of the man who eats and drinks with sinners and justifies the ungodly. But the truth of the matter goes much deeper than that.
The problem isn’t just that Jesus does the reverse of what we expect, but that we do the reverse of what God expects of us. We have sinned in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and left undone. We have not loved the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and mind. We have not loved our neighbor as ourselves.
This is why Advent begins in Jerusalem. Jesus the King of Creation rides in humility on the back of a humble creature to die in humility for us. Advent begins by telling us Jesus’ story in reverse, in order to show us how Jesus has reversed our story from sin and death to peace and life in Him.
Advent is the story of our reversal from darkness to light, from sorrow to joy, from sin to redemption, from death to life. You see,not only is Advent in reverse, but everything Jesus does is in reverse. Jesus wins us victory in His defeat. He gives life out of His death. He forgives our sins by becoming sin in our place. We went to war with God. And God won by joining our side. Became man. Born of the Virgin Mary. Born to be with us. For us. One of us.
Advent is the story of the Greatest Reversal of all time. The story of our King who stepped down from His throne to become the Servant of all. Who left the power and majesty of the right hand of the Father to take up the humility of the manger and the cross. Who wore royal purple as people mocked Him. Whose crown was made of thorns. Whose scepter was a nail driven through His hand. Whose throne was the cross on which He died for us.
“Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
The angels sang this same song as they announced Jesus birth to lowly shepherds. “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased.” This song joins Palm Sunday and Advent; the cross and the manger; heaven and earth; Jesus with us.
In Advent, this is our song too. Blessed are you, baptized in the Name of the Lord. Blessed are you, forgiven, absolved, and at peace with God. Blessed are you, kneeling before Him as the Shepherds once did, receiving Him who comes to us in his body and blood.
Blessed are you, for Jesus came in blessed lowliness in his first Advent, wrapped in swaddling clothes and crowned in thorns for you.
Blessed are you, for Jesus comes for you in a continual Advent here, hidden in humble forms of bread and wine, words and water for you.
Blessed are you, for Jesus will come again in his final Advent.
God’s blessings to each of you this Advent season…
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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