First Reading: Isaiah 2:1-5
1The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 2It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, 3and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 4He 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. 5O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.
Psalm 122
1I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.” 2Now our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem. 3Jerusalem is built as a city that is at unity with itself; 4To which the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, the assembly of Israel, to praise the name of the Lord. 5For there are the thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David. 6Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May they prosper who love you. 7Peace be within your walls and quietness within your towers. 8For my brethren and companions’ sake, I pray for your prosperity.9Because of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek to do you good.”
Second Reading: Romans 13:8-14
8Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. 11Besides 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. 12The 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. 13Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
Gospel: Matthew 24:36-44
36{Jesus said,} “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. 37For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, 39and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 40Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. 41Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. 42Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. 44Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
Wake Up Call
Martin Luther asserted that a true theologian was one who could rightly distinguish between law and gospel. When Lutherans work at theology we almost always work within the parameters of law and gospel. Protestant theology in general talks about three uses of the law. The first use of law is usually termed the political or civil use of law. These are the rules and statutes that govern behavior for the good and safety of society. The second use of the law, the spiritual or theological use, is the law as a mirror in which we see our lives; the law as revealer of our sins. The third use of the law is law as a guide for Christian living. There is much debate as to whether Luther taught the third use of the law or not. I personally believe the third use of the law teaching was a later development.
According to Luther, the function of the 1st or civil use of law is to help humankind create an orderly society. Since everyone bears the law within their being, all people can work to make society a more civil place to live. Preaching on the civil use of the law would call upon people to make use of their rational intelligence in making ethical decisions in life and in working toward a civil society. There is nothing particularly Christian about the civil use of the law. It’s simply rules that restrain errant behavior. The 2nd use, or the theological or spiritual use of the law was for Luther the proper use of the law.
The 2nd use of the law, for Luther, is the one that reveals to us our sinfulness. As St. Paul writes, “What then should we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet, if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin …. Apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died, and the very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me (Romans 7:7, 8-10).” The theological application of the law is that always kills and drives us to the gospel!
That was Luther’s dictum about the spiritual use of the law. The law always leaves me helpless, consigned to wrath, doomed to death. This is the proper use of the law and is therefore the proper use of the law in preaching. To preach the law is to render people helpless in their relationship to God. The law kills us and leaves us dead in the eyes of God driving us to seek the mercy of God found only in the gospel. We then have the later teaching on the 3rd use of the law.
The third use of the law is the law as a guide to Christian living. Other theologians see this as the proper use of the law. As Christians, we obey the laws God has set down not because we’re compelled to by the civil penalties, or at least we shouldn’t, we follow these commands because Jesus reaffirmed that if we truly love God and our neighbor, then this should be the natural result of obedience and discipleship.
St. Paul addresses this in our epistle reading for today: “Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13 8-10). Of course, no Lutheran pastor worth their salt will talk about the law and not bring up the gospel.
According to Luther, the gospel is what saves us. The law kills and drives us to the gospel of God’s mercy and forgiveness. The law is what make us alive, it gives us comfort, peace, and the assurance of God’s love for us in Jesus. This is why people love to hear the gospel, as the Pepto Bismol commercial says, “it coats, sooths, and protects.” Now at this point you might be asking yourselves, why is pastor talking about the law, the gospel, and love? For me the same law and gospel preference can be said for Advent and Christmas.
Pastors at this time of year are trying to get folks to slow down, to be patient, and to wait for Christmas. Many treat Advent like the law, it’s something to shun, to ignore, choosing instead to jump right to Christmas and the joy and excitement it brings. But like law and gospel, you cannot have one without the other. We must walk the road of Advent to fully appreciate Christmas. Thus, Advent always seems out of place with everything else that’s going on around us.
While people are rushing toward Christmas in a shopping frenzy, our observance is markedly different. Sometimes we get so lost in the sentiment and traditions of Christmas that we have difficulty connecting with the themes of Advent. Advent is about waiting expectantly, longing for God to act. But, we grow impatient and demand immediate satisfaction.
Our readings for this first Sunday of Advent find us not dreaming of the perfect Christmas, or searching for a gift for the person who has everything, but rather looking to the future — to the second coming of Christ. Advent begins not with a baby in a manger but rather, looking forward to the return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul, along with first-century Christians, believed that Jesus would return during their own lifetime. Much of Paul’s writings reveal the notion that Jesus would return within a short period of time. This leads me to ask the question, if we lived each day expecting Jesus to return at any moment, how would this viewpoint alter the way we live and what we view as important in life?
I don’t believe we have the same sense of urgency today as Paul and the 1st century believers. More than 2,000 years have passed, and we’re still waiting for Christ’s triumphant return. Advent reminds us that our faith is future oriented, it propels us into the future. Too often our focus is on the past, which makes it difficult to ponder what tomorrow will bring. While it may not always seem to be the case, we believe that with Jesus the best is yet to come. On this first Sunday of Advent, the apostle Paul encourages us to “know what time it is.”
It’s time for us to focus on Jesus, refraining from all other distractions commonly associated with Christmas. “Now is the moment for you to wake from sleep,” he writes to believers who might have been going through the motions without realizing the importance of the day. The people needed to wake up and pay attention, “for salvation is nearer to us now than when we first became believers,” Paul writes. We’ve been here before, working our way toward Christmas. It’s easy to simply go through the motions, expecting nothing out of the ordinary to happen. Paul commands us to wake up, to pay attention; “the night is far gone,” God is at work in our lives and in our world. We do NOT want to miss anything due to our inattention.
As we focus or refocus on Jesus, we reject the “works of darkness.” There is evil in our world, causing us at times to stumble and fall, yet Paul instructs believers to live in the light of Christ. The light of Christ dispels the darkness. Paul uses the metaphor of suiting up with the “armor of light.” The armor of light will provide protection as we confront the evil powers and injustices of this world. We dress in the armor of light to shine brightly through the darkness of evil. We do so knowing that Christ has already prevailed over the darkness of evil.
The season of Advent is a time that reminds us to follow the positive command to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ” rejecting works of the flesh that hamper our relationship with God. Our enemies are “not flesh and blood” but rather the destructive power that enslave and divide people — mistrust, injustice, addictions, thirst for revenge, a thirst for wealth and power, prejudice, fear, and greed. Putting on the “armor of light” is how we battle the forces of evil.
Late on Christmas Day the Lawder family regathers around the Christmas tree. There’s one more gift to open, and it’s the one they anticipate the most every year, a plain white envelope. Their daughter-in-law reads the note inside the envelope that states that their parents have supported a local health clinic in the children’s honor. Everyone smiles, some with tears streaming down their faces. “It’s the best part of the holiday,” one of the sons claims. “Our parents raised us to believe that giving back is important,” says another son.
“We worked at soup kitchens, and we always had people over for Christmas dinner who had nowhere else to go.” The children, now in their twenties, continue the tradition by supporting agencies like Heifer International, which provides milk for a third-world village; Disaster Relief agencies that helped to refurbish a Heleene victim’s home, and bought food and clothing for the local Christian ministries, all in honor of their parents. Of this yearly tradition their mother says, “My sons love seeing how they can make me cry each year.” She remembers how one year her sons helped a single mother and her children. “They wanted this family to have the kind of day we have,” she says. “When she called to thank them, I cried.”
During Advent our focus is on living as the light of Christ, diligently working to help other people. We need always to remember whose birthday we are preparing to celebrate —it’s not our own but Jesus’. We strive to be like Jesus in all we say and do, remembering that Jesus had a passion for helping other people. “Putting on the Lord Jesus Christ” also reminds us of our baptisms and our profession of faith.
Elsewhere Paul states, “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” (Galatians 3:27). We “put on Christ” so that everything we do, we do as committed disciples of Jesus Christ. Everything we say, we do so as an agent of Jesus. Living out our baptism in this manner will often lead to conflict with the status quo, but we are clothed in the armor of light for protection. Advent is a time to remind us that while “we are in this world, but we are not of this world.”
The season of Advent reminds us to wake up, pay attention, and put on the “armor of Light” that will transform and change all aspects of our lives, including how we prepare to celebrate Christ’s birth in our lives. Advent is about turning to someone far better than the fleeting and momentary satisfactions of this world. The first Sunday of Advent is about waking up from our slumber to pay attention to God’s Word as we prepare to receive God’s gift, as we wait for that glorious day when Jesus will return. Until then, we’re called to continue doing those things that Jesus wants us to do, loving and caring for others, and confronting the effects of evil in our communities and world.
“I don’t have time for this,” muttered Kregg Grippo. Kregg owns a small contracting company in upstate New York. A friend of a friend asked if he could help an elderly woman who lost her home to fire. However, Kregg had second thoughts when he saw the extensive damage to the modest house. “What am I supposed to do,” he thought to himself, “build her a new house?” He didn’t have the time to build a new house with Christmas only a couple of weeks away.
When he met the elderly woman, he discovered that she went to school with his aunt. She told him about the fire and how she couldn’t extinguish it. By the time the fire department arrived it was too late. She told him that she had lived there for sixty years. Kregg asked her where she was staying and she led him to a shed in her backyard. She was sleeping on an old cot covered with afghans. “She should not be staying here,” he thought. Even though he didn’t have time, he assured her not to worry because he would take care of everything. “You’ll have a new house by Christmas” he promised.
With that promise made, Kregg called everyone he knew, his crew, suppliers, even a competitor or two, asking for their help. He asked customers to give him an extension on other projects. Within days fifteen people arrived ready to work. They would donate their time, “Somehow,” Kregg thought, “we’re going to make this happen.” Word spread, the next morning twenty people showed up, then thirty, then a local TV station. The story ran on the evening news. As a result, an electrical contractor called offering to help, as did a roofing company, as well as heating supply companies, and carpet suppliers. It seemed everyone wanted to help this woman.
They finished the house on Christmas Eve. The modest house had all new appliances and furniture. Some of the workers even bought the woman Christmas presents. “It was the smallest home I’d ever built,” Kregg says, “but it gave me the biggest feeling I’d ever had.” The apostle Paul asks us if we know what time it is. Our response is that today and every day is God’s time. Advent is the time for us to get our act together, to live in the light, to transcend the darkness all around us, and prepare once again to celebrate a Savior who can and does change lives.
Amen.