2 December 2012 at Salem Lutheran Church, Gretna, LA
Text: Matt 21:1-9 (Jer 23:5-8, Rom 13:8-14)
In the name of +
Jesus. Amen.
“Behold, the days are coming,
declares the Lord.” The days are
coming. Time is of the essence. There is a sense of urgency.
’Tis the season! We rush about between stores and family
gatherings and office parties and the post office. We are buying food and supplies and gifts and
wrapping paper. We are making sure this
child gets here, grandma gets there, we don’t forget to pick this item up on
the way home, and somehow schedule in that doctor’s appointment.
Of course, in the middle of
the busyness, it’s easy to forget what is most important, why the urgency, what
the “Behold the days are coming” the Lord is declaring to us.
The days are coming for our
King to come to us, for the Lord to raise up the Righteous Branch, for the King
to reign and “deal wisely,” to “execute justice and righteousness in the land.”
The days are coming when all
of this concern about time will end, because time itself will end. And with that end comes another end: the end
of busyness, the end of scrambling around, the end of having to be here or
there, the end of worry, of stress, of money problems, of sickness, of
heartache, of sin, of family divisions, and yes, the end of death itself.
“Behold, the days are
coming.”
For just as certain as our
Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem was, having been predicted by the
prophets, being waited on for thousands of years by the people, carried out in
the fullness of time at the Lord’s own words and deeds – so too will His advent
come for us: His return, His final triumph, His coming again to take His throne
and crown. This time, He will not take
up a cross and wear a thorny cap – but will rather he hailed in a worldwide triumph
that will place Him at the center of the universe, bringing to fulfillment all
that has been testified in Scripture.
“Behold, the days are coming…”
For this is what we are
really moving toward, dear brothers and sisters. This is why time is of the essence. This is why St. Paul tells us to “wake from
sleep.” There is something far more
important happening than shopping and parties, than cooking and greeting family
members. For we are preparing the royal
highway to meet our King! We are storing
up eternal treasures in heaven to be made ready for the feast that will never
end! We will greet our brothers and
sisters of every time and place around the throne of the Lamb, to sing “Hosanna
to the Son of David! Blessed is He who
comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna
in the highest!”
The first time the Lord came
to us, He was helpless and placed into a manger. He came to us as one of us. He joined us in our weakness and mortality
and yet without sin. And when He came to
claim His kingdom in His ancestral Royal City, He came “humble, and mounted on
a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.” He was cheered entering the city, hailed as
King, and led by the crowds to be crowned; but five days later, He would be
driven outside the walls of the city, jeered as a rejected pretender, to be
crucified.
He suffered for our
sins. He died bearing our
punishment. He was sacrificed to achieve
our redemption. And He was to rise again
as victor over death, so that we, His beloeved, might live forever.
And so we wait for this
momentous return of our Lord. “For
salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone, the day is at hand.”
Just as we prepare for the
busyness of the coming season, so too, dear friends, let us prepare spiritually
for the coming age. Let us be found
prepared to greet our Lord in eternity, whether He comes to us at the end of
the world, or whether we go to Him at the end of our lives. For we know not when either event will
happen. But like our Lord’s triumphant
entry into Jerusalem, it will happen.
How are we to be prepared,
dear friends? We have been redeemed by
the Lord’s Holy Blood. We have been
baptized by the Lord’s Holy Water. He have
been forgiven by the Lord’s Holy Absolution.
We have been brought into a mystical union with Him through the Lord’s
Holy Supper. He has made us ready by
offering to us Himself. He has invited
us to the feast. He has prepared the way
for us to join Him in eternity, leaving behind time itself and all of the
hustle and bustle, worry and grief, sickness and death.
Come, dear friends! Come to Him even as He comes to us this
Advent, coming to us men for our salvation as the Baby in Bethlehem, as the King
riding on a donkey preparing to take our place at the cross. Come to Him, dear brothers and sisters, even as He comes to us, His Bride, as a
Conqueror at the end of the age, defeating Satan and death once and for
all. Come to Him, dear Christians, even
as He comes to us humble, in the forms of bread and wine, forgiving our sins
and drawing us into Himself in the miracle of the Holy Eucharist, for “the
night is far gone; the day is at hand.”
Come to Him, dear friends, as He comes to you in the Divine Service,
week in and week out, coming to prepare you to join Him in eternity!
And this is how we live out
this salvation given to us by our Savior as a free gift: “Owe no one anything,
except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the
law.”
The Lord Jesus loves us and
has indeed truly fulfilled the law for us and for our sakes. And, dear friends, He gives us the strength
and the power necessary to love others as well.
This busy holiday season is an opportunity to live in that love, to mend
fences, to seek forgiveness, to grant forgiveness, to repent, to “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.”
“Behold, the days are coming,
declares the Lord.” The days are
coming. Time is of the essence. There is a sense of urgency. For this is truly important. This is the greatest gift of all. “Behold, your King is coming to you!”
“Hosanna to the Son of
David! Blessed is He who comes in the
name of the Lord! Hosanna in the
highest!”
Amen!
In the name of the Father
and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
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