God’s
grace, peace and mercy be with you. My sermon title is Wait, Word, Work. My
focus is our Gospel (Luke 19:28-40). Let us pray. Heavenly
Father, the psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let
us go to the house of the Lord.’” Now that our feet are within
your gates, we rejoice to hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit
enlighten our minds and move our hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we
pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.
A friend recently concluded that most charitable donations
arrive after Thanksgiving because charities get busier asking for money. The
last month of the year is the busiest for charities and businesses. In fact, this
is the time of the year for everyone. After Thanksgiving, we get busy preparing
for Christmas. Before you get too busy, I ask you to take time to enjoy Advent.
In order to enjoy Advent, heed three words of advice – Wait, Word and Work.
Wait. Advent marks the beginning of the church year. The word
‘advent’ is from two Latin words: ad, meaning "to"
and venire meaning “come.” Advent focuses on Christ's coming
to us in the flesh; however, His coming manifests itself among us in three ways
– past, present and future.
In the past, Christ came to us in the flesh, an infant who grew
to a man. In the present, he comes to us in Word and Sacrament. In the future,
he will come again in glory.
On the first two Sundays of Advent, we focus on Christ’s Second
Coming. On the third and fourth Sundays, we focus on Jesus’ birth. Advent ends
when we gather for evening service on December 24. Only then does the Christmas
season begin.
Christ’s coming evokes urgent excitement for the believer. We
wait on tiptoe of expectation. We sense His presence is near. We sense His
presence is here. Each day brings us closer to the reason for our waiting, the
reason for our being.
This will help you understand what I mean about waiting. In
January 2014, our daughter-in-law gave birth to our first granddaughter, Emma
Jade. Cindy and I were so excited that on the day we left to see her, we could
not sleep, and left two hours ahead of schedule. Good news stimulates
excitement.
As a Christian, are you excited as you wait for the liturgical
celebration of Christ’s coming and the final celebration of His return? Are you
excited about His presence here and now as He comforts and challenges you in
Sacrament and Word? God comforts and challenges you in Sacrament and Word.
Hence, we move from Wait to Word, my second point.
In today’s Word, we see God’s plan of salvation moving quickly
toward completion. Remember, we focus on Christ’s Second Coming on the first
two Sundays of Advent. Jesus prepared for his last Passover by exercising
control over the events that were about to occur. He told his disciples
what to do and what to expect when people questioned their actions. Then the
events unfolded exactly as Jesus predicted.
All the Evangelists chronicled Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. The
differences of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem according to Luke are not
accidental, but purposeful. Through details often overlooked, Luke reinforced
certain aspects of our salvation as Jesus’ actions fulfilled prophecy.
Luke opened his Jerusalem narrative by focusing attention on a
colt, which had never been ridden. Luke’s description contains two main verbs
(“you will find” and “bring”), two references to the colt, and two participles
(“tied up” and “loosing”).
Luke closed his Jerusalem narrative by focusing on the
tomb “in which no one had yet been laid.” Both the colt that had
never been ridden and the tomb where no one had been laid were set apart for
the purposes of a holy person.
As priest, prophet and king, Jesus must receive all privileges
reserved for such a person, for as the Son of God, He, not the Temple, is now
the center for God’s holy presence. Therefore, he must enter the city as a
king, for, as we read in Malachi: “The Lord you are seeking will
come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come.”
While only lambs and unyoked cows were slaughtered for sacrifice
and carried the ark, the point Luke made in a series of acts – find a
colt, loose it, bring it to Jesus – reminded hearers of Jesus’ ministry of
release. Jesus released those bound by sin.
Read Jesus’ actions in chapter 19 in light of chapter 4 where He
applied Isaiah’s words to himself: “to set at liberty those who are
oppressed.” Jesus set free the oppressed or, as another version
translates the phrase, forgave those shattered by sin. However we word the
phrase, the Messiah would enter Jerusalem on a colt that no one had ridden; a
colt that represented the rider’s royalty and humility.
Jesus’ ride fulfilled Zechariah’s prophecy. “Rejoice
greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your
king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted
on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” As the colt represented
Christ’s royalty and humility, Jesus embraced and embodied the tension between
king and humble servant when he was crowned king on the cross, the focus of his
humiliation and shame, and our salvation.
While the cross shows Jesus’ humiliation and shame, it also
shows us salvation. As I gaze upon Christ crucified, I recall my salvation and
destiny. As Luke wrote his Gospel for Theophilus, friend of God, that he might
have certainty concerning the things he was taught, he also wrote it for
us – that we might have certainty concerning our faith. We may not understand
why things happen to us or why people reject us, but as we gaze on Christ
crucified and meditate upon certain moments of his life – his journey into
Jerusalem where he is cheered and jeered, praised and persecuted – we realize
that Luke wrote his Gospel not simply to tell a story about Jesus Christ, but
to encourage disheartened disciples. For as Christ was cheered and jeered,
praised and persecuted, tried by men and tied to a cross, so were his followers
– friends of God.
Luke recorded that as Jesus overlooked the city from the summit
of the Mount of Olives and came into view of the Temple, an entourage of
disciples – not simply a throng or crowd of people – rejoiced and praised
God with a loud voice for all his mighty works. That the disciples focused not on what
Jesus taught, but his works showed that they were slow of heart to believe all
that the prophets spoke. Among those disciples was Cleopas, whom we meet on the
Road to Emmaus. Like Cleopas, who saw Jesus as a man who was a prophet
mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, the other disciples
who rejoiced and praised God on the Jerusalem Road said the right things but
did not yet believe the right things.
They grasped that Jesus was king, but did not understand the
humility implied in his actions. Like Cleopas, they did not understand the
prophets or the Psalms. They did not understand Zechariah who wrote, “Shout
aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to
you; humble and mounted on a colt.” Or the Psalmist’s
words, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
Jesus understood exactly what it meant for him to approach the
Temple on a colt amidst acclamation. In chapter 13, after some Pharisees warned
Jesus that Herod sought to kill him, Jesus lamented Jerusalem saying, “I
tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the
name of the Lord!’” Jesus knew as he entered Jerusalem that he must be
rejected before he received his honor, for in the Old Testament and in the
Kingdom of God, suffering precedes glory.
The reception of the Gospel is divided. Some received and
accepted Christ and others rejected him. This divided reception comforted
Jesus’ disciples as they later experienced a divided reception. … With that
divided reception of the Gospel, we move from the Word to Work, my final W.
One of my pleasures in ministry has been visiting the elderly
and infirmed in homes, hospitals or institutions. I close my visits by
reminding these friends of God that the Lord has not released them of their
most important ministry – the ministry of prayer.
The Christian life is prayer and action, worship of God and love
of neighbor. In Matthew, Jesus repeatedly said, “Learn the meaning
of this phrase, ‘It is mercy, I desire, not sacrifice.’” … I learn
and live mercy through meditation, a life of prayer. A Christian without an
active daily prayer life is like a candy cane without stripes.
Petitionary prayer is important, but there are other forms of
prayer – thanksgiving, repentance, adoration and praise. Bible phrases tell us
that praying to God can include “call upon,” “intercede with,” “meditate on,”
“consult,” “cry out to,” “draw near to,” “rejoice in” and “seek the face of.”
For me an active prayer life includes these forms as well as
meditation and contemplation; however, the mere mention of meditation and
contemplation unnerves some Christians. Some pastors rail against meditation
and contemplation, while others promote them. I suggest one never engage in any
prayer or practice that leads away from Christ.
For me meditating on Scripture is simply having a conversation
with God. Since God is wise and merciful, I sit silently and wait for God to
speak. Meditation is that simple. I wait for God to speak a word.
In his Simple Way to Pray, after prescribing an
organized method of meditating, Martin Luther wrote, “If in the midst
of such thoughts the Holy Spirit begins to preach in your heart with rich,
enlightening thoughts, honor him by letting go of this written scheme; be still
and listen to him. Remember what he says. Note it well and you will behold
wondrous things in the law of God.”
In Meditation on Christ’s Passion, Luther
wrote, “We say without hesitation that he who contemplates God’s
sufferings for a day, an hour, yes, only a quarter of an hour, does better than
to fast a whole year, pray a psalm daily, [or] hear a hundred masses. This
meditation changes man’s being and, almost like baptism, gives him a new
birth.”
Meditation, almost like baptism, gives us new birth. In short,
Luther encouraged meditation as a way to deepen our understanding and
appreciation of God’s Word. Meditation relates well to our Gospel in that
worship at the Temple was replaced by worship through the new place of God’s
dwelling, the Christ.
As Christians, we are not promised exemption from suffering,
trial or even death for the sake of the gospel. We live in the in-between time
of Christ’s coming in the flesh and his glorious coming, but we do not know
when he will return. The Christian, like a waiting doorkeeper, is never off
duty. We must live mercifully and pray actively.
I close by asking you to check your calendar. Between now and
Christmas, how many parties will you attend? How many school functions and
Christmas pageants? When will you find time to mail cards and wrap gifts? Will
you be so busy that you sneak away from the office early?
My point is that in the busyness of the season, we are easily
distracted. We lose the sense of wonder and contemplation, unable to read the
signs of the times because of our distractedness. Spiritual laziness often
manifests itself as busyness in the form of distractedness. Distractedness is a
way of not paying attention to oneself or the needs of others or the voice of
God because we are so busy doing nothing important – shopping for bargains and
checking our smartphones, catching up on small talk and on social media,
attending parties and festivities.
If
you do not know how to stay awake – how to pray – use Portals of Prayer.
Each day there is a Scripture passage and a meditation. As we begin Advent, I
ask you to do one thing – pray daily – so that when the Day of the Lord comes,
He may find you waiting, working and in the Word. And as you pray, may the
peace of God that surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in
Christ Jesus. Amen.
