{"id":2806,"date":"2013-12-02T15:17:59","date_gmt":"2013-12-02T22:17:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/?p=2806"},"modified":"2013-12-02T15:17:59","modified_gmt":"2013-12-02T22:17:59","slug":"advent-1-hes-coming-matthew-211-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/?p=2806","title":{"rendered":"Advent 1 – “He’s Coming!” (Matthew 21:1-11)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A-1<\/a><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

One of my favorite Christmas movies to watch is the movie \u201cElf.\u201d When Buddy the Elf finds out that Santa is coming to the department store, he exclaims, \u201cSanta’s coming! I know him! I know him!\u201d That seems to the focus right now, isn\u2019t it? It\u2019s all about Santa coming. But the season of Advent isn\u2019t about the coming of Santa Claus; it\u2019s about preparing for the coming of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

In Advent, we look forward to the coming of the King, and we remember how He came.\u00a0We look forward by looking back.\u00a0It doesn’t matter that the crowd was small, or large.\u00a0The crowd proclaimed the truth that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the promises of the prophets.\u00a0Their testimony tells us that we are awaiting the coming of He who will fulfills the promise to us.\u00a0We aren’t looking forward to His death, or the work of redemption.\u00a0They were, but we do not look forward to that because we can see by looking back that He has already done it. Rather, we focus on the words of the prophet Zechariah, \u201cBehold, your king is coming to you.\u201d<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

In these weeks leading up to Christmas, the world will offer us, with a vigor that is unique to this season, what we should be doing between Black Friday and December 25: shop!\u00a0 New toys for both young and old will be dangled before our eyes, each one promising to make us better or happier. That\u2019s the focus of the world in this season of Advent \u2013 the coming of great deals and bargains for Christmas gifts. But there is more to the season of Advent than deals and bargains. Advent is a season of preparing. 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

We see much the same with Christ at this time of year. We begin celebrating the \u201creal\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

When Christ does make His appearance in this earthly life, it isn\u2019t 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\u2019t 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: \u201cBehold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.\u201d<\/i><\/span> 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 \u2013 the place of sacrifice \u2013 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.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0As 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.\u00a0He even experienced temptation, but He never gave in to it.<\/p>\n

All of this, He did for you. He is the Blessed One, for in His saving death, He brings all the blessings of heaven \u2013 forgiveness of sins and peace with God \u2013 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.\u00a0He comes to us as we read and hear His Word.\u00a0He also continues to come to us in His flesh and blood as we eat and drink the bread and the wine of His Table.<\/p>\n

Later on this month, we will remember how the Kingdom of God came to a virgin named Mary as the Son of God took on human flesh in her womb.\u00a0We will remember how the Son of God came as a baby in a manger.\u00a0This is God\u2019s Kingdom coming to restore peace.\u00a0Today\u2019s Gospel reminds us that the Son of God took on human flesh in Mary\u2019s womb in order to come to Jerusalem and die.\u00a0His death is the way He makes it possible for the Kingdom of God to come in peace.<\/p>\n

That is what Advent is really all about.\u00a0It is a season of repentance and belief while Jesus serves us with His coming.\u00a0Just 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.<\/p>\n

Consider God and His coming during this Advent.\u00a0Consider His coming at Christmas, but don’t limit your consideration just to Christmas.\u00a0Consider the love that God shows in His coming in that even while sin causes terror and hatred, He continues to come with His love.\u00a0Consider how He came to save us with His suffering, death, and resurrection.\u00a0Consider how He now comes in Word and Sacrament.\u00a0Consider how He will come to take His people home with Him.\u00a0Consider the blessings that He once gave, that He now gives, and that He will give when He comes again.\u00a0In Jesus name, amen. Now the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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. One of my favorite Christmas movies to watch is the movie \u201cElf.\u201d When Buddy the Elf finds out that Santa is coming to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17942,9016],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-advent","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2806"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2806\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2809,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2806\/revisions\/2809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revtucher.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}