Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon is our Epistle, which was read earlier.

St. Paul’s introduction to the book of Romans might seem out of place in the season of Advent at first glance. There is nothing about Mary, Joseph, a Baby, shepherds or angels. There isn’t anything that would make this about Christmas. If that’s your thinking, then you’re right – this isn’t Christmas, but rather Advent, preparing to receive the infant Jesus. But while you’re right, you are also wrong, for this text does indeed prepare us for what happens in a matter of a few days.

These opening verses of Romans are St. Paul’s greeting to the Church there, but this is much more than a simple greeting. In these few verses St. Paul preaches the Gospel of our Lord and at the same time gives us a summary of the history of God’s dealings with his people.

This Gospel for which St. Paul has been set apart has been promised from of old. The prophets told the people of God the Savior was coming. The faithful people of God throughout the ages longed to see Him, but did so only by faith. But when Jesus finally came, the Gospel of God promised of old arrived in the flesh. The Gospel came to the people of God in the holy incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. This Jesus was no ordinary baby. He was God in flesh made manifest.

What do we know of this promised Jesus? St. Paul says that He was “descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from dead….” Jesus is who the prophecies declare Him to be: descended from David’s line. Long ago, to a people far away and in great anticipation for the Messiah to manifest Himself, Isaiah gives this prophect of who Jesus is and where He comes from. He comes from the line of David, as did His mother Mary and earthly father Joseph. And because He has earthly parents, that means He is of flesh and blood. He is like you and I, with ten fingers and ten toes. He is as much human as you and I. But not only is He man like us, Paul says He “was declared to be the Son of God….”

As much as we think of cute and cuddly Jesus in a manger, we cannot forget that this baby will one day go to the cross for mankind. We know that to be true as Paul tells us. He says that Jesus was declared to be the Son of God, “in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead….” In short, He is none other than Jesus the Messiah—our Lord who is both fully God and fully man.

This is the Lord whose birth we prepare to celebrate this Advent season. He is the everlasting Son of God, begotten of the Father from all eternity. And His birth is the revelation to us that He has willingly taken on our flesh from the Blessed Virgin Mary, and come down to earth to save His people.

What is it that we receive through this infant that comes to us? “We have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.” By Christ’s birth, the saving grace of God makes it entrance into the world. In Christ’s birth, the call to the messengers of God goes out. In Christ’s birth the nations gather and see not only a baby, but also their Savior and their Lord. In Christ’s birth, we see the one who calls us to faith and to everlasting life, and the one to whom we belong for all eternity. In Christ’s birth we hear God’s call to us to be His saints, for from the blessed child in the manger we receive grace and peace from our God and Father.

Finally, we are left with familiar words: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” God gives grace to you. He gives you forgiveness for your sins, and it is wholly undeserved. You don’t work to merit grace. Grace is given to you. Forgiveness is done to you. You couldn’t do it on your own. So you rejoice today that God gives grace to you.

Not only do you have grace, you have peace. He declares that you and He are not opposed, are not at war. This strikes many people as strange: how could you ever be at war with a loving God? Yet Scripture says that you were born as an enemy of God—not because of Him, but because of you. By nature, you’re sinful. By nature, you’re hardwired to do precisely the things that are contrary to God’s will—that oppose His love and His kingdom. By nature, you hear God’s Word and get angry when He shows you your sin. That’s what enemies do. And despite the fact that we are God’s enemies, He grants to us peace. That peace is one that passes all understanding, for there is no way to understand how God could forgive the likes of you and me, and yet He does.

You needed real grace and peace for your body and soul, your thoughts and words and deeds. So Jesus became flesh, to be perfect in body and soul, to think pure thoughts, speak true words and perform godly deeds for you. He has done this to robe you in His righteousness, to give you the credit for His perfection and perfect life. He has done this to die in your place, to take away your sin, so that He might raise you up as He has been raised from the dead. The grace and peace of God is real and tangible—as real as flesh and blood, because Jesus became flesh and blood for you, and He is your grace and your peace.

Jesus came to save the lost. He stepped into your place, by taking humanity into His divinity, and became true Man. He became flesh for you. Jesus took your sins upon His shoulders and He suffered for you. His Father poured out His wrath against your sins which were heaped upon His Son, along with the sins of every man, woman, and child ever born, and Jesus endured it all for you, in your place, unto death, even death on the cross.

Through His suffering and death, Jesus made right that which went so wrong so long ago in the Garden in Eden. When Jesus gave up His spirit on the cross, He justified you before His Father. He declared you not guilty of your sins because He became sin for you and bore your sins and paid the price for them, for by His stripes you are healed.

So, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace and peace are yours this day because your Savior comes to you this day. He is present. He is real. You are filled with His grace. You are blessed with His peace because you are forgiven for all of your sins. In Jesus’ name, amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, amen.

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon is the Gospel, which was read earlier.

God is funny; not funny in a ha-ha kind of way, but funny in an ironic way. What I mean is that God does not act in ways that we expect Him to act. As we look at Israel’s history, they found out firsthand just how God did not act they way they wanted Him to act. God chose the least likely to preach and teach of the coming Messiah. All too often, God didn’t choose the biggest and baddest of them all to lead Israel. For instance, when God delivered Israel from slavery, He chose Moses, not when he was the prince of Egypt but rather when he was reduced to working as a shepherd. When Goliath was defeated, it wasn’t at the hands of Israel’s massive army but by a lowly shepherd named David. The greatest display we see is when God would bring ultimate deliverance to His people, and to all people, it would be in a way that many were not expecting.

Israel had expected God to act in certain ways. The people of Israel expected God’s reign to come in a way that irresistible. There was the expectation that God would kick out Roman authority from Jerusalem and restore it to its glory days of old. That’s what the coming Messiah would do; everyone knew that, or at least had hoped that’s what their version of the Messiah would do.

When God sends forth the Messiah into creation, He doesn’t do it according to the will of man but rather to His own will, the will that is perfect. He sends forth a very simple and unkempt man named John the Baptist to herald the coming of the Messiah. While his appearance and attire were odd to say the least, the message that he was proclaiming was spot on according to the words of the prophets of old. He comes, baptizing the people with a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of their sins.

Some time later, John hears while in prison the many deeds of Jesus. He sends his disciples to Jesus to ask a single question: “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”

That’s the question on our minds isn’t it? Is Jesus the one who is to come or should we be looking for another individual claiming to be the Messiah? Is Jesus really Messiah-enough for us? For many, the jury is still out. It’s hard to believe that a little baby born to lowly and insignificant parents would be the Messiah. There’s nothing about Him that screams Messiah from an outward appearance. He’s born in a barn of all places! If He truly is a king, then why isn’t He born in a palace somewhere, with servants waiting on Him hand and foot? Where is His mighty army that will kick Roman authority out of Jerusalem? Where is the kingly garb for Him to wear?

Jesus doesn’t fit the mold of the Messiah because it’s the wrong Messiah. He doesn’t come as a great earthly king like the people want. He comes as the heavenly King that the people need! The way that He makes His entrance into creation is how God had ordained it. While He is indeed the King, the King of Creation, He is not meant to be served, for He Himself says, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” He has no mighty army because the foe that He faces is not of this world. His foe is Satan himself. The kingly garb He wears is the crown of thorns He wears as He takes creations sins upon Himself.

Returning to John’s disciples’ question, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”, Jesus responds by saying, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” This answer isn’t meant to assure John of who Jesus is; John knows that, for he is the herald of the Messiah. The question and answer are meant to assure everyone else of who Jesus is. They need to get out of their minds this messed up and made up notion of the Messiah and accept the Messiah that God sends forth in the person of Jesus Christ.  

The question that was asked of Jesus so long ago is still asked today. Well, it’s not really asked so much as an answer is given to Jesus: “We’ll look for another.” We can thank the world for that answer. The world has perfected that answer to the point that Jesus need not even be considered for salvation. The world won’t go so far as to say Jesus is the Messiah because that would assert that there is a single means of salvation and the world doesn’t want that to happen, lest we offend someone.

For as much as the world puts forth that salvation can be found in anyone or anything other than Jesus, the Church should be the one place where you should be able to find the right answer to John’s question, but unfortunately, even that is not always the case. You will get the prosperity preaching that says believe hard enough, have enough faith and God will bless you. But notice who the subject is: it’s not Jesus but it’s you. You are the one doing the work. But as soon as you are the one doing the work, then you have a problem. It has to be, it must be Jesus who does the work and not us.

For all those times when God’s people wonder whether or not God will keep His Word regarding the Messiah, the time is soon to be fulfilled. When we have our doubts, we return to Jesus’ Word. We return to Jesus’ life. From birth to death, there was a singular mission that He was focused on: the redemption of God’s creation. Everything that was done was done with you in mind. He sends people to proclaim the wonders He has done so that we can hear about them. By this proclamation of His deeds, He sends the Holy Spirit to bear us up and strengthen us as we travel through this sinful world, especially as we travel through those darker times of doubt.

Here is the true antidote for doubt: the proclamation that Jesus forgives sins. We may think that we can take comfort and certainty in the many supernatural attributes of God; His power, His knowledge, His wisdom, His holiness, and so forth, but that is not the case. Without forgiveness, those other attributes only serve to terrify us. If there is no forgiveness, then God’s holiness only sets Him apart from sinful people like us. If there is no forgiveness, then God’s total knowledge reveals our every sin. If there is no forgiveness, then God’s power is there to punish our sin. Without forgiveness, God is simply the ultimate terror.

When there is forgiveness, then God is comfort and assurance. When there is forgiveness, God’s holiness is for us. When there is forgiveness, God’s power protects us. With forgiveness, God is the ultimate comfort. He is the ultimate re-assurance.

We celebrate the coming of our Savior in the manger at Bethlehem because it is through Him that our sins are forgiven and the gates of heaven are opened. Through His atoning death He conquered your death, and raises you to a new life. By faith granted through the Holy Spirit, we now have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. He came to His people, He now comes to you, who are His people by faith, and He will come again, that you would need and expect no other. In the name of Jesus, amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, amen.

 Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon is the Gospel, which was read earlier.

There is recorded for us in today’s Gospel account from St. Matthew one of the most vulgar sounding words to our ears. It’s a word that we don’t’ like to hear, especially when directed at ourselves. That nasty and vulgar word is “repent.”

When John the Baptist makes his appearance, it is not the kind of appearance that you want to see. He goes into the wilderness of Judea with a singular message: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” John the Baptist is the son of Zechariah the prophet, making him the last of the Old Testament prophets. The prophets’ job was to prophesy of the coming of God’s Messiah. These prophecies had been spoken for hundreds of years so the people would have been familiar with who this coming Messiah is and what it would mean. But when John the Baptist makes this revelation about the coming kingdom of heaven, just what did that mean?

It would mean that God’s promise is about to be fulfilled. It means that the Savior of creation was about to make His grand entrance into the creation He was going to save. It meant that creation needed to prepare itself for the arrival of the Messiah, and what better way to prepare oneself than to repent of your sins.

How is one to repent? What is it that they are supposed to do? What does it mean to repent? We normally think of repenting as being sorry for our sins. This is true enough, but there’s more depth to it than that. To “repent” in the Greek means literally to “change one’s mind.” You can see the obvious: when you repent of sin, you’re saying, “I thought it was a good thing, but now I know it’s not.” That’s a repentant mind-change that happens only by the grace of God. But again, there’s a greater depth to repentance because there’s a greater depth to sin.  When John calls the people to repent, he is calling them to repent of all of their misconceptions and wrong ideas about the Savior. If they have the wrong idea of who the Savior is supposed to be, then they’re not going to like the Savior for who He truly is. If they’re looking for the wrong things in a Messiah, then they’re not going to recognize Him when He makes His appearance.  Remember, John the Baptist is called by God to prepare the way of the Lord. He therefore prepares the people by teaching them the true nature of their sinfulness, so that they see the need for the Savior; and he prepares them by teaching them who the Savior is, and what He will do.

People from the region of Jerusalem and Judea and the Jordan were coming to John the Baptist to be baptized and confessing their sins. For the people who came to John the Baptist, they were contrite and believed. They desired to repent, to change their minds, but more importantly, they desired to hear the message of the coming Messiah. 

This Adventide, it is important for us to heed the words of John the Baptist, as did the people of old. We must repent of our sins, repent of our false perceptions of who the Messiah is, and is not. We must repent of our false perception of ourselves and come to grips with the reality that we are a people in need of a Savior.

This is what John prophesies about to the people. His singular goal is the preparation of God’s people to receive the Messiah when He comes. Despite his best efforts, not all of the people were convinced of the message that he was proclaiming. Believe it or not, we’re not fully convinced of his message either.

Like the Pharisees and Sadducees, we make excuses to our behavior. They make the claim, “We have Abraham as our father.” Abraham was a God-fearing man. He followed the law of God. But just because they descended from Abraham, did that make them any less of a sinner? No it did not. To be honest, the statement that the Pharisees and Sadducees and all of mankind should make is “We have Adam as our father.” We don’t want to make that statement because if we do, then we acknowledge “that we are sinful and unclean.” We acknowledge that we have sinned against God “in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone.” No one wants to admit that fact. We would much rather say that we have Abraham as our father because Abraham was “good.” If we say that we have Adam as our father, that’s a black mark because Adam was “bad,” and let’s face it: we would much rather be “good” than “bad.”

What we fail to understand, just as did the Pharisees and Sadducees, is that we are not “good” because of our sinful nature; we are like the tree that does not bear good fruit; it is cut down and thrown into the fire. We have all shared in Adam and Eve’s sampling of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. As a result, our lives are unfruitful: we do not do the works that God requires; in fact, we cannot do them. God’s righteous judgment comes down upon Israel and it comes down also upon us. But instead of leaving us with just judgment, doom and gloom, John the Baptist also promises something beyond our wildest imaginations: the coming of the Savior.

Remember the words of the prophet Isaiah: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’” John the Baptist is the one crying in the wilderness of the coming Messiah. He is making the paths straight by preaching a message of repentance to the people, to prepare them for Christ’s arrival. John the Baptist comes to lead people to repentance, to baptize with water. When Jesus arrives, “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” He is coming to do something far greater than John the Baptist, the Pharisees, Sadducees or we could ever do: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

While everything about John seems to be crazy, the message he preaches is anything but crazy. It is a message that draws the people from all over, drawing them to repent of their sins and to be baptized. For as much as John the Baptist seems out of place in the coming Nativity of our Lord, the message is very much appropriate: He comes with grace – to forgive your sins, to strengthen your faith, to prepare you for everlasting life. Even now in Word and Sacrament we feast upon Christ as our tree of life. He is the vine and we are the branches. By Word and Sacrament, we bring forth the fruit of repentance and live in trust and obedience. He declares to you even now, “Repent, because I am at hand; and because I am here, you are forgiven for all of your sins.” In the name of Jesus, amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, amen.

            Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon is the Gospel, which was read earlier.

            Preparations need to be made for the arrival of guests, especially since you know they’re coming. If you have a dirty house, you clean it. You make sure that the house is spotless, almost to the point that the house is sterile and might even seem as if no ones lives there, for everything is perfectly in its place. Once you have a clean house, the best china laid out, then it is okay to entertain guests. To make sure you are ready, listen to me now: you have a guest coming!

             What kind of guest is coming, you might ask? The Introit for today tells us what kind of guest is coming: “Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation.” We have a King coming! Some of you may respond, “Pastor, that’s old news. Of course our King has come. Jesus came, died, rose again, and ascended. Tell us something we don’t already know.”

            We all know that long before Jesus was born and long before Jesus was welcomed into Jerusalem as the Son of God, the prophet Zechariah had given Israel advance notice: “Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a best of burden.” We see Zechariah’s prophecy fulfilled. It happens much later in the Church Year. It happens on Palm Sunday as Jesus enters triumphantly into Jerusalem. That same account is the basis for the Gospel reading on the First Sunday in Advent. Why would that be? We’re getting ready for baby Jesus to come into the world, not adult Jesus make His exit in the world.

            As we begin the season of Advent, we mark a time of waiting and preparing. We wait for our expectant King to arrive; and while we wait, we prepare. We prepare to receive Him as He comes. How does He come? According to our Gospel account for today, our expectant King comes in a very humble fashion. There is no great pomp and circumstance to our Lord’s arrival. If you want pomp and circumstance, the only thing you have is a star to guide the shepherds and the magi to find the infant Jesus. We prepare for the remembrance of the first coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. When we hear that our King is coming, this message is the call to prepare by opening our hearts to His grace. We need not fear, for He comes in meekness and lowliness. But He comes as King, mighty to save, full of grace and truth.

            When Jesus arrived in Jerusalem, Jerusalem was poised for the celebration of the Passover. This annual remembrance of God’s act of deliverance of His children from Egypt would have swelled the streets of Jerusalem with holiday crowds. The day of the slaughter of the Passover lambs was fast approaching. People were anticipating the delight of being with family for the Passover feast. But when King Jesus comes into Jerusalem, it interrupts the sort of celebration people are expecting.

            We see much the same with Christ at this time of year. We begin celebrating the “real” reason for Christmas: gift giving, parties, but most importantly, gift receiving. We are doing our own thing, enjoying what Christmas is all about, and then Christ comes to ruin everything. For all who think like that, just remember one thing: you can’t have Christmas without Christ, no matter how hard you try.

            When Christ does make His appearance in this earthly life, it isn’t with great pomp and circumstance. He is born to lowly parents in very circumstances. It should be no surprise that when Christ enters Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, He does so in a very unexpected way. He doesn’t enter with trumpets blaring behind a large processional. Rather, He comes riding on a donkey. This is done also to fulfill what the prophet wrote: “Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.” You see, whatever perception the people had of the Messiah and what He would look like and what He would do, Zechariah puts them to rest several hundreds year before the Messiah first graces us with His presence. He comes into Jerusalem, the city of the temple – the place of sacrifice – to suffer and to die as God’s ultimate Passover Lamb. His sacrifice interrupts the monotonous routines of sin and death. Here is a King like no other, for this King comes not in royal splendor or with military might, but in the humility of the Servant who embraces the cross for you.

            Today, we begin preparing ourselves for Christ’s entry into this world, coming into this world by being born in a stable in the small town of Bethlehem. We prepare our hearts for what Christmas brings: it brings the Savior of the Nations, the Virgin Son who makes His home amongst the chosen people of God, as sinful as we are. God came to His people and lived among them as one of them. As God came to us in flesh and blood, He experienced all the things we experience – gestation and birth, childhood, weeping and laughter, pleasure and pain, and all the other things that make up the human experience. He even experienced temptation, but He never gave in to it.

            All of this, He did for you. He is the Blessed One, for in His saving death, He brings all the blessings of heaven – forgiveness of sins and peace with God – down to earth, down to you. It is no wonder that during the season of Advent, we especially hear that Jesus is indeed Immanuel, God with us. Even as God lives with us, He still comes to us. He comes to us as we read and hear His Word. He also continues to come to us in His flesh and blood as we eat and drink the bread and the wine of His Table. 

            That is what Advent is really all about. It is a season of repentance and belief while Jesus serves us with His coming. Just as Lent is a season of repentance and belief in preparation for Good Friday, so also Advent is a season of repentance and belief in preparation for the coming of Jesus, not just as He came at Christmas, but also as He comes to us now and will come to raise us from the dead and live with us forever.

            Consider God and His coming during this Advent. Consider His coming at Christmas, but don’t limit your consideration just to Christmas. Consider the love that God shows in His coming in that even while sin causes terror and hatred, He continues to come with His love. Consider how He came to save us with His suffering, death, and resurrection. Consider how He now comes in Word and Sacrament. Consider how He will come to take His people home with Him. Consider the blessings that He once gave, that He now gives, and that He will give when He comes again. In Jesus name, amen. Now the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, amen.