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 grandchild. My wife, 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 reading, Luke
included many pastoral preoccupations and literary themes important to
Christians of the 9th decade. While chapter three introduced readers
to John the Baptist, he is not Luke’s main concern. Luke’s focus is Jesus’
divine mission in relation to John’s message – the word he proclaimed. “Word”
was a significant term for the proclamation of the Gospel’s events,[1] and Luke showed that the
Word came to John politically, religiously, chronologically and geographically.[2] In verse 2, we read, “the
word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness.”[3] “The word of God came to
John” is the main clause of the sentence.
The word of God that
came to John, he proclaimed to the people who followed him into the wilderness.
Geographically, the desert wilderness, far from the political and religious
centers of power, recalled Israel’s formation as God’s covenant people and their
return to God. As a place and a theme, the desert wilderness was an appropriate
setting for repentance.
The wilderness served
John well in his call as one of the old style prophets, but the content of his
preaching placed him in the new.[4] For Luke, “to preach,”
meant to proclaim or declare that a new era of salvation was present and active
through John the Baptist or Jesus or the disciples.[5] John’s preaching extended
beyond Pharisees and Sadducees to all people seeking to escape God’s wrath like
snakes scurrying before a fire.
In addition to his
fiery preaching, John’s baptism was a ministry of preparing the way of the
Lord, making hearts ready for the one soon to come “who is mightier than I.”[6] A baptism of repentance
was an abandonment of the old way of life and a conversion that included faith
that the era of salvation was dawning.[7]
His ministry was a
continuation of salvation history, the tradition of how God dealt with His
covenant people.[8]
By recalling Isaiah and Elijah, Luke showed that God’s embrace of all nations was
not a new theme but one embedded in the tradition all along.[9] As the Gospel made its way
in the world, it interacted within the world’s political and religious arenas.
From its expansion from Jerusalem to Rome, the Gospel encountered not only the
poor, lame and blind, but also high priests, imperial guards, governors and the
emperor himself. In this sense, Luke’s universality is geographical, social,
political and economic.[10]
People responded to
John’s call to repent and prepare the way for the Christ. Unfortunately, some
responded by appealing to a physical relationship to Abraham. John retorted
that this was an ineffectual effort to escape God’s wrath. Every tree that did
not bear good fruit, that is, the fruit of repentance, would be cut down and
thrown into the fire. A true son of Abraham bore the fruit of repentance. Human
origins were of no consequence. What mattered was that one respond to the life
that God brought forth through the Holy Spirit.[11]
John offered
practical advice to members of three groups – crowds, tax collectors and
soldiers – who asked him, “What should we do?” The advice in each case is a
central Lukan concern: nothing so hinders relationship to God, dehumanizes
human beings and ruins life in community as attachment to wealth and
possessions. To accept and live in the hospitality of God always means
detachment to things.[12]
John’s answers
addressed the injustices and inequities of that society. His words echoed
Luke’s convictions about the social implications of the gospel.[13] The Church built these
social and economic concerns into its common life. We read in the second and
fourth chapters of Acts how all who believed lived together and held all things
in common. John answered their question. People who had food and clothing
shared with people who had none. Taxes were not to be calculated according to
the greed of the people in power. The military were to cease victimizing
occupied peasants with threats and intimidation.
John’s baptism turned
people to the Lord and set them in motion on the way of the Lord, a journey by
grace and a way of new life, so that when holiness arrived in the person of
Jesus Christ, they would be prepared to meet him.
Repentance expressed
itself in daily life. Each instruction from John dealt with people’s
attachments to things in this world. Repentance and baptism for the forgiveness
of sins is Good News. Our Gospel reminds us that not only is repentance an
appropriate spirit during Advent but also that the way to Christ leads through
the wilderness where John is preaching.
Now, in the spirit of
Advent, I ask, “What then shall we do?” Or in the spirit of Luther, I ask “What
does this mean?” What does it mean to 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 them that the Lord has not
released 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.”[14]
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.[15]
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.”[16]
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.”[17]
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.[18]
As Christians, we are
not promised exemption from suffering, trial or even death for the sake of the
gospel. As Christians, we live in between the 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.[19] 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. Distractedness is spiritual laziness that manifests itself as
busyness. It 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 pray, use Portals of Prayer.
Each day there is a Scripture passage and a meditation. As we begin our second
week of 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.[20]
[1]
Arthur A. Just, Jr., Luke 1:1 – 9:50. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House
(1996), 148.
[2]
Eugene LaVerdiere, Luke. Wilmington, DE: Michael Glazier, Inc. (1986), 47.
[3]
Luke 3:2
[4]
Just, 148.
[5]
Just, 149. See Luke 3:3
[6] Fred
B. Craddock, Luke. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press (2009), 47. Luke
3:16.
[7]
Just, 149.
[8]
Craddock, 47.
[9]
Craddock, 48.
[10]
Craddock, 47.
[11]
LaVerdiere, 49
[12] Brendan
Byrne, The Hospitality of God: A Reading of Luke’s Gospel. Collegeville, MN:
Liturgical Press (2000), 40.
[13]
Craddock, 48.
[14] Margaret
Dorgan, “Prayer,” HarperCollins Encyclopedia of Catholicism, ed. Richard
McBrien. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco (1995), 1037.
[15] http://www.lcms.org/faqs/lcmsviews#yoga
[16] http://www.se.lcms.org/uploads/simple_way_pray_luther.pdf
[17]
Paragraph 10 - http://www.lutheranmissiology.org/Luther%20Meditate%20Passion%20of%20Christ.pdf
[18]
LaVerdiere, 207
[19] R.
T. France, The Gospel of Mark: A Commentary on the Greek Text. Grand Rapids:
William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (2002), 546.
