Matthew 21:1-9
Happy New Year! Today marks the start of Advent and the beginning of a new year in the Church. I’m sure by now, you can sense Christmas is on the horizon. Although our Gospel reading this morning may seem to point toward Easter, as it relates to events from Palm Sunday, it actually aims to prepare us for the arrival of Jesus. By the way, the term Advent means “coming.”
The Church has consistently focused its existence on Jesus, to the extent that Christians measure time in a distinctive way compared to others. The Church calendar aims to recount the full life of Jesus, but it doesn’t start with Christmas and His birth. Instead, it begins with Advent, a four-week period of eagerly awaiting and anticipating the events that took place in Bethlehem nearly two thousand years ago.
Since humanity’s Fall into sin (Gen. 3), believers have longed for God’s salvation from sin. Figures such as Adam, Eve, Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and other Old Testament faithful were all anticipating the salvation that Jesus brought through His birth, death, and resurrection. Like them, we too are in waiting, but our situation is distinct. Following Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, Christians—including Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, Paul, Augustine, Luther, and ourselves—have been awaiting Christ’s promised return (Acts 1:6-11).
Advent is not just a lead-up to Christ’s birth, which has already occurred, as we are familiar with the story. We don’t pretend He hasn’t been born so that we are caught off guard when we hear the passage from Luke 2 on Christmas Eve. Instead, during this period, we are thoughtfully preparing our hearts to celebrate His birth while also looking forward to His glorious return.
Advent is also a time for us to rejoice in His continual presence among us, especially as we come together to partake in the Lord’s Supper, where He meets us in the present moment.
Advent reflects on the arrival of Jesus at His birth, His presence in our times, and His anticipated return on the Last Day. We should reflect on the purpose of His coming. What is His mission? When we pause to consider this, we realize that God’s arrival among us isn’t always positive news. For instance, if a pagan Greek heard that Zeus was coming, it wouldn’t be reassuring. Similarly, if a Muslim learned that Allah was approaching, it would likely evoke fear rather than comfort. Even in the Old Testament, when prophets spoke of God’s coming, it often served as a warning (Jer. 7:8-15).
Listen to these words from Amos 7:18-20 talking about God’s coming, “Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! Why would you have the day of the Lord? It is darkness, and not light, as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him, or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit him. Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it?” Or think of Isaiah’s response when he found himself in God’s presence in the Temple (Is. 6:1-5), “Woe is me! For I am undone; for I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.” When you consider God’s holiness and purity, God showing up is bad news for all of us who are unholy, unclean, defiled, and sinful. God’s holiness and our unholiness cannot exist together.
Reflect on the last occasion when you had to remedy a situation that someone else had completely ruined. Consider the instance when your partner left a chaotic kitchen after you had just spent hours tidying it up. Or when a colleague reversed days of your efforts on a task, throwing the entire project into disarray. You recognize the mess and understand that it falls to you to tidy it up, organize it, and bring everything back to order.
You’re feeling frustrated and angry, cursing under your breath because now you have to invest significant time rectifying a disaster that could have been avoided. Similarly, we often assume that God shares our emotions. While it’s true that our actions provoke His anger due to our sins—which disrupt His creation and lead to disorder—the consequences extend beyond ourselves. Our wrongdoings affect those around us and damage our relationship with Him. Thus, the prospect of God’s presence among us should invoke a sense of fear.
This is the purpose of the Scriptures. When Jesus enters Jerusalem on the first day of Holy Week, He arrives to address the chaos our sins have caused in the world. Instead of coming on a war horse with an army, He arrives on a mission of salvation. His goal is to rescue you from sin, death, and the devil. To illustrate His purpose, He approaches as a humble king, as foretold: “Behold, your King is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey” (Zech. 9:9). He comes knowing He will be rejected, to bear our sins, and to endure spitting, beating, mockery, and scorn. He is led outside Jerusalem to be crucified, accepting the wrath of God for our sins.
My brothers and sisters in Christ, the Gospel is not merely the announcement that God is present. The true Gospel is that God is present to save us. This is precisely what the name “Jesus” signifies: “Yahweh saves.” Jesus is here with us now, not arriving on a donkey, but through bread and wine, to bless us. He comes to offer us His salvation, mercy, and forgiveness. Amen.