Ad Te Levavi, 2021

Rev. Thomas Van Hemert

St. Matthew 21:1-9

Ad Te Levavi

November 28, 2021

In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Here we are again. The beginning of yet another Church Year. It is Advent once more. We have made it through another year, another trying year most likely filled with obstacles and disappointments, a year filled with reorienting ourselves back into the way things always have been. We are still here. Many things have changed, to be sure. But one thing that has not changed, the one constant, is that the Lord Jesus Christ is the same as He was last year. He’s the same now as He was last month, last week, and yesterday. He’s the same yesterday as He will be the same tomorrow and for all time.

We have come once again to the festival half of the Church Year. In this new penitential season we are preparing. But what are we preparing for? I must admit, for the longest time, the Gospel reading appointed for this first Sunday in Advent always used to confuse me. It didn’t seem to make sense in the grand scheme of things and what I used to think the nature of Advent was and what exactly we are celebrating. How does the account of the Triumphal entry help prepare us for our Savior’s birth in Bethlehem? This seems like a reading more appropriate for Lent rather than Advent. After all, it’s later in Matthew’s Gospel, over half way through. At the outset, it might not make much sense. But I have come to realize how perfect it is and how it truly shapes the character of the Advent season.

During Advent, Christ’s three Advents are called to mind. During this time of the Church Year, we spend extra time focusing on the three ways Jesus comes to us. Advent means “the coming or the arrival of someone.” And so there are three ways that Jesus comes to us, three Advents.

First, His Advent in “the fullness of time,” thus, St. Paul, “When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive adoption as sons.” He left His splendor and glory. He left His throne and came to us. This is what we are preparing now to remember and commemorate on Christmas—Jesus Christ’s lowly and humble birth in Bethlehem. That’s His first Advent. He comes to us now, still today. Hosanna to the Son of David! Rejoice then, you sad hearted who sit in deepest gloom. For He bids you weep no more.

His second Advent is how He comes to us now, still humble. He has not yet flexed His glory. And He still comes to us in a manner that by which, we would be able to behold Him and not be completely destroyed. Just as Jesus clothed Himself with human skin and a body, so now He shrouds Himself in bread and wine so that we might partake of Him and receive Him and still not be destroyed, but so that we might receive Him to our own glory and salvation. That’s His second Advent.

And yet there is still a third Advent that we have yet to experience. His third Advent is when He will come on the Last Day. On that day, He will not come to us humble, or on a donkey, or as a helpless babe placed in a feeding trough for animals. When the Father sends forth His Son again, Jesus will come with all the angels and all the powers of heaven. And so what we need to do now, still in time, is prepare. Repent. Advent is a penitential season, a preparatory season and in it we would do well to prepare for Christ’s third Advent, by remembering His first Advent and the reason for it, and by receiving Him as He comes to us in His in His second Advent.

This is the point of the Gospel reading. This is the whole point of what we expect and wait for as Christians, “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’” Jesus is not like the Greek gods who were too far off, who all lived up on Mount Olympus without really a care for anything lower than them. Our God comes to us. That’s the essence of our Holy Religion. He makes Himself known. He does not stay hidden. He becomes one of us so that He would free us from the devil’s captivity.

Jesus comes to us lowly and humble. And the only thing left for us to do is to celebrate His second Advent. His first Advent is behind us. We’re not preparing for His birth. That’s actually not what we’re doing during this new season. Jesus has already been born. Amid the cold of winter, the shoot from the stump of Jesse grew up, He rode into Jerusalem and was led to Golgotha like a lamb is led to the slaughter. He comes to us so that He might be cast out by us. Because of our sin, He comes for us and dies for us. And while it is still necessary that we always celebrate Christmas and commemorate and remember this, all of that is behind us. We are living in the end of days and we are preparing for that Last Day when He returns and comes again for us, the consummation of the age.

Jesus comes to us as a humble God, shrouded in flesh, God in man made manifest. His earthly ministry is behind Him. His cross, His suffering, His crucifixion, His death, and His resurrection are behind Him. He already entered the holy city on a donkey with cries of Hosanna beckoning Him onward. Because He rode on to His cross and grave, we now stand justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. And yet He still comes to us, humble and mounted on a paten, humble and mounted in a chalice.

Dear friends, it is Advent. Let us prepare. Let us prepare, body and mind, for the incredible joys of Christmas. Let us up the ante. Let us not so much fast from things and get rid of things for a time, but instead, think about taking advantage of the increased worship services and making and increased use of the Means of Grace. Think about and contemplate coming to midweek services while also coming on Sunday, every Sunday. Receive the Supper in joy and in faith. Let us not go through the motions like zombies, but let us prepare! A new church year has dawned, a different church year. But Jesus Christ is the same as He always is and He comes to us, still in time, as our humble Savior. Hosanna to the Son of David!

In +Jesus’ name.