Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
What are your special memories of this time of year? Did you grow up, like me, being bundled up and led to church on cold December Wednesday evenings – watching each week as the Advent wreath counted down to Christmas? On a more earthy level (!), do you remember the wonderful smells of Christmas cookies? Christmas songs on the radio? Do the beautiful Christmas lights, the decorated store windows and displays, and even the wrapping paper “Santa’s and Frosty the Snowman’s” flood your mental memory vault? All these things remind us that it’s time to prepare, but not for a secular imitation of Christmas. What are you preparing for? A day… a party or two… or for eternity – your King is coming!
If somebody very important were coming to your house, wouldn’t you get ready? That’s what God’s Church does in Advent. We’re getting ready. We’re preparing our hearts. We’re lighting our lamps of faith. We’re standing by the door waiting for the Master of the House to return. Advent is about Christ’s Second Coming – and also about preparing to celebrate His birthday at Christmas. So get ready! Your King is coming! Keep watch – “the hour is nearer now than when you first believed.”
Many times you’ve heard “keep Christ in Christmas.” But for us who aren’t merely celebrating a day in history, but looking forward to Christ’s return how much more important we keep Christ at the center of our hearts, with a living faith and hope. John the Baptist had a unique prophetic call from God. John’s ministry was foretold in Isaiah 40, quoted in our Gospel. Hear those words again:
Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for Him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. And all mankind will see God’s salvation.
The message that John proclaimed in the desert called all people to prepare for Christ and receive Him as their Coming King. John called the people of his own day and us today to make room for Christ their God-sent Guest. He called them to sweep away the dirt and filth and clutter, repenting their sins and being washed in the waters of God’s Baptismal grace.
But why bother preparing our hearts for the same old story we’ve heard so many times? I’m sure John’s audience thought the same thing! For centuries the prophets had proclaimed the Messiah’s imminent coming – and for centuries God’s people dozed distractedly.
Could those words describe your preparations – dozing – distracted? That’s why shopping malls are crowded during Advent, but churches aren’t. That’s why spending goes crazy at stores and malls, but offerings at church and gifts to the poor remain very sensible. A couple of years ago, a university professor asked his 40 member class to write the word CHRISTMAS at the top of their papers. After the word Christmas, they were to write the first thought that flashed through their minds. When the papers were turned in, his students had written Christmas tree, Christmas turkey, Christmas presents, Christmas carols, Christmas cards, Christmas parties and Santa Claus. Not one of them wrote: “The birthday of Christ.” None of them wrote anything about Jesus.
I wonder how many of us wouldn’t have the same problem. They were preparing for the lesser details of Christmas: the mistletoe, parties, presents, tinsel, and trees, wrappings and wreaths. They missed the true mystery. They missed the One thing that truly makes Christmas a special day and Advent a special time of year.
We’re tempted to think that the prophets and people of the Old Testament must have had it easy. They were awaiting the fulfillment of God’s promise for a Savior. They didn’t know exactly what God was doing, but they anticipated the answer to this mystery.
Can you imagine what Micah must have thought when by the Spirit’s direction he wrote, “But you O Bethlehem Ephratha, who are least among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth One who will be Ruler over Israel?” Surely, Micah wondered what this new King would be like. Would He make new laws? Would He establish a powerful kingdom? Like Bethlehem’s King David would He lead His armies into battle and destroy all His enemies?
What must Isaiah have thought as he told the people to prepare for the coming of the Messiah? Did Isaiah understand what He wrote under the direction of the Holy Spirit saying, “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a Son, and will call Him Immanuel.” Isaiah wrote about the Messiah “For to us a child is born, to us a Son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
I wonder if Isaiah understood how this Wonderful Counselor, Almighty God and Prince of Peace would be the same One of whom He wrote, “Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet He was stricken by God, smitten by Him, and afflicted. He was pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him and by His wounds we are healed. The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
No question about it, if we had been one of those folks, living in those long ages past, we would have wondered. But we don’t live back then. We live right now. We know the rest of the story. We know our Heavenly Visitor from Bethlehem was God in the flesh, and we know He’s coming again to judge the living and the dead.
By the grace of God, we know the Baby that came to rest in Bethlehem’s manger, was the same One God had promised Adam and Eve would crush the Devil’s head and save His people from their sins. We know today that the One John the Baptist prepared the way for in the desert is the One who would come to throw open the gates of heaven to all who received Him in faith.
Prepare the way for the Lord this Christmas season. Prepare for His Second Coming by remembering why Jesus became so poor that we might become rich. Prepare by remembering why the Son of God became a suffering Servant so you could become children of God. Prepare by remembering why Jesus left His heavenly home to give you an eternal home. Prepare by remembering why Jesus was willing to be forsaken so you might never be alone. Prepare by remembering why Jesus was bound by His enemies so that we might be freed from ours. Prepare by remembering why Jesus died so that we might live.
These are the true Advent preparations. They can be summed up in one word. Love. All the great expectation and anticipation of Advent is encapsulated in one little word. Love. It was only the love of God for you and me that caused our Lord to reach into our fallen world, lifting all our sins onto a Baby resting in a lowly manger.
This Advent season, as you prepare the way of the Lord, look into the Christmas cradle and see the cross of Good Friday. Look at the Bethlehem Baby and see not just helpless baby hands, but the nails yet to come. Remember the beautiful sleeping head of that infant Boy and realize that, someday, it would be crowned with thorns. Look at the restful face which will someday be spat upon. Look at His feet and remember those feet will walk the way of sorrows, dragging a cross for you. Look at these things and see the mystery. For you deserved none of them. I deserved none of it. But it happened. God’s love made it happen.
We all have many preparations to make before Christmas day comes: sending the cards, do the shopping, plan the parties, pick out the tree, and many others. Some of you like doing those things, but if these are all the preparations you make, something’s missing. Tinsel, trimmings, and trappings aren’t Christmas. They’re only a small part. If you want a real Advent and a blessed Christmas you have to go a little deeper. This Advent season come with me to our special Advent services as we see not the trappings, but the real thing. Come to a lowly stable. Come with me and see not a show, but a Savior. Come with me and see God’s mysteries, hidden for long ages past, but now revealed. Prepare the way for the Lord. Come to see Jesus. Amen.
And now may the peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.