Advent 2 - Populus Zion, 2022
Rev. Thomas Van Hemert
Advent 2 – Populus Zion
St. Luke 21:25-33
December 4, 2022
In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit.
The world around us has long forgotten the meaning of Advent and Christmas. The radio has all but replaced Christmas hymns with silly songs sung by popstars who sing about presents and other material things. School choirs have replaced church choirs and children’s programs. Office parties have replaced family time. And the season of Advent has all but diminished in the public square and really, the only mention of Advent now comes in the form of “Advent wine” or “Advent beer” calendars.
But Advent, as you know, is the penitential season of preparation and repentance that builds up to Christmas—to the celebration of our Lord’s Nativity, to His coming in the flesh. While the culture around us has forgotten what it means to prepare for our Lord’s coming, it is good that we remember why we are here and why we need to prepare for our Lord’s Advent.
You know there are three “Advents” of Jesus Christ. The first, is His coming in the flesh as a baby some 2000 years ago. His second Advent is His coming in glory on the Last Day. And still, while we wait for that, there is a third “Advent” by which He comes to us in Word and Sacrament. We get a foretaste of His second Advent in His third Advent.
I fear, however, that we may have forgotten what we need to be doing and observing, what we need to be focusing on during this season as we prepare for Christ’s second coming. I fear that we may have a slight misunderstanding, where we think that Advent is a nice, hopeful, jolly time, by which we get ready for all the festivities of Christmas, and that’s all that matters. While that is somewhat true, it is also somewhat misleading. Jesus has already come. Christmas is really a remembrance, by which we confess and give thanks to God that God became a man so that He could die for men. But that is all in the past. What we are doing in Advent, where we need to place our focus, is in preparing for the Lord’s coming on the Last Day because that is all that’s left for us to wait for. That is the last thing that has not yet occurred, but it is what we’re expecting.
Of course, we cannot remove ourselves from the culture entirely. The festivities during this time of year—the food, family time, the caroling, and presents—all of these are gifts from God and we enjoy them in gladness. But these things will only last as long as this life does. And with all things in this life, there is a temptation of falling into this trap where fallen men attempt to make this season jollier and happier, sometimes, as a guise to cover up all the evil, the wars, poverty, and suffering in this world, and shove them under the rug for a time. We’ll worry about that stuff later, just as long as we can have our Christmas feasts and buy enough new stuff. Maybe on the side, we’ll throw in a few extra dollars to charity because, then, we think, the world will be a better place because little Johnny will finally be able to have Christmas presents. Of course, acts like this are nice, but in the end, acts like this will not make the world a better place. Feasting, giving and receiving presents, and spending time with family will not bring us into a perfect utopia that will last thousands of years. And this is certainly not what the Church focuses on during these four short weeks.
We must prepare ourselves. We must repent. We must look up and lift up our heads. We are preparing for the Son of Man to come in His glory. This time, however, unlike the last few Sundays of the Church Year where Jesus speaks in parables—the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats and the Parable of the Ten Virgins, this time, Jesus explicitly states what will happen immediately before the He comes in glory. “There will be signs,” He says, “signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations with perplexity.” There are literally, wars going on in the world, even as we speak. There are nations in perplexity. Members of all governments threaten each other and argue with each other. There is perplexity also in the sea and the waves roaring. The temperature is increasing, water is drying up and becoming more expensive. It is more costly now than just two years ago to heat your house. There are ever constant threats of asteroids and comets colliding with earth. Mad men who run North Korea, China, and Russia have atomic bombs and who knows what they will do with them. Men’s hearts are failing them from fear and expectation of those things that are happening on earth. How many people were utterly terrified and secluded themselves in their homes for days and days, weeks, and months upon end because what the television and news were telling them about COVID?
The world is not getting better. It is getting worse. But despite all of this and because of all of this, we know that Jesus is ever closer to returning. He will not forget about us or leave us behind. For He says when these things happen, “Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” Jesus gives us comfort and hope. “Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because you redemption draws near.” Despite the ever-increasing danger of living in this world, we know our salvation is at hand. As further proof to this, Jesus tells us to look outside. Look at the trees. When they bud, we know for ourselves that spring and summer is near. We also know that when leaves turn yellow, orange, and red, autumn is approaching and soon after that, it will start snowing and it’ll be winter. Just as we can tell which seasons are approaching based upon what nature does, so also are we assured and we know that because bad things happen in this world—wars, rumors of wars, pestilence, disease, and the like—all we need to do is look up, lift up our heads, and know and expect that Jesus is coming in a cloud and with power and great glory. Our hearts need not faint or fail because we have hope and assurance that our salvation is quickly coming.
Part of the beauty of our hymnody is that often times, hymns act not only as songs of praise and worship, but they also act as prayers. Our hymnody captures the themes of today, in ways, that not many other songs can. The hymn of the day offers a stanza that, in my opinion, is really quite brilliant. Sometimes, we can be too timid with our prayers. But contained in the hymn of the day is a short prayer that’s almost boisterous. It reads, “O Savior, rend the heavens wide; come down, come down with mighty stride; unlock the gates, the doors break down; unbar the way to heaven’s crown” (LSB 355, stz. 1). O Savior, rend the heavens wide.
We sing, and thus, we pray that Jesus would not sneak back into this world and rapture all the believers away while leaving behind the unbelievers without making a scene, like a child sneaking into the kitchen after being put to bed to sneak a cookie from the cookie jar. It is our hope, it is our prayer, and thus, it is our expectation that Jesus would rend the heavens wide—that He would cause a scene, that He would tear apart the skies, violently wrench them open and come down in glory and might. We often pray “Come quickly, Lord Jesus.” And in His coming, in His Advent, His coming on the Last Day, we pray that He would come down with mighty stride, unlock heaven’s gates, break down the doors so that we might have access to heaven and give us the heavenly crown of life. He will cause a scene. He will come in a cloud with power and glory and this will be a delight to believers—those who have faith. Finally, everyone, whether they are believers or not will all bend the knee to the King who comes in glory. This is what we hope for.
The world around us is not getting better. But we expect that. The trees have budded and the leaves have fallen off. Our redemption is drawing near. Let us be ready. Look up and lift up your heads. This is what Advent is about: repentance, preparation. Preparing our hearts and minds so that we might be ready to receive Jesus as He comes to us now and finally, when also, He comes in a cloud with power and glory.
In +Jesus’ name.
