Sermon for the First Sunday in Advent

            Mark 11:1-10:  Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.’” And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it. And some of those standing there said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go. And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it. And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!”

            Beloved in Christ, our worship service so far has shown that we Christians are all mixed up. The holidays are upon us—with only 25 more shopping days left. But we want to have a little parade. Well, that might be fine, says the world, but not if it is with donkeys and palm branches, as we read earlier. If we are going to parade, we’re going to have marching bands, giant balloons, reindeer and mistletoe—and at the end Santa proclaiming the coming of all our winter holidays.

            But, beloved in Christ, what does the world really know? It has a story, and it wants to make sure that everyone in the world knows the story. That story says that we are simply material beings meant to enjoy material pleasures. Is it too dark and dreary out? Turn on the lights to cheer yourself up. Do you feel unloved? Enjoy a nice feast or two or buy yourself the latest gadget and you’ll feel so much better. You are what you own. Now maybe you have to do some nice favors for other people so that they’ll get you some good stuff, but in the end it’s all about the swag you can pile up in this life. And while you’re indulging yourself in every kind of food and enjoying every last creature comfort, go ahead and indulge your entire body in every pleasure you want. Never say “no” to your wants. After all, life is only about feeling good.

            Now that might sound a little bit crass, but that is really what the world is peddling, once you remove all the tinsel and glitter. Sometimes it does acknowledge that we have a “spiritual” side and says that we need to foster it too, but it never wants us to go deep. The world teaches us to be “spiritual” by finding the balance within and by affirming all our desires as always good. It may teach us to do some nice deeds that help other people, but it doesn’t want us to look too deeply into what God may really demand of us. “Spirituality” never wants us to see what a cesspool of gossip, envy, pettiness, and anger we are. In short, “spirituality” quickly becomes just another “feel good” project. Maybe it isn’t as crass as accumulating a bunch of junk, but it is still quite self-centered.

            That’s the world’s story. That’s the world’s philosophy. And that outlooks determines the way holidays get celebrated. It guarantees that the holidays will be about sugar and shopping—and occasionally a little sharing, at least for the more spiritually minded. The holidays are all about us trying to make ourselves feel a little bit better at a time when we might naturally feel a little glum. So crank out those holiday tunes in early November, light up the lights, and do everything to cheer yourself up. So says the world.

            But today’s gospel reminds us that we Christians live with a different story and thus by a different philosophy and so have a different way of handling life, including the holidays. And so the first thing we need to know is that we have a God who comes into our midst to reign. And we get a glimpse of what that looks like when we see Jesus Christ riding into Jerusalem on a donkey.

            You see, Christ brings the kingdom of God to us in three different ways. He came, first of all, in humility two thousand years ago to establish God’s reign over us by His incarnation, birth, death and resurrection. Now He comes to us in a second way, namely, through His Word; whoever hears that Word and believes it is made a part of God’s kingdom. And, finally, He will come again in great glory; at that time all will have to acknowledge His authority, whether they want to or not.

            We see elements of all three in that triumphal procession into Jerusalem. First of all, we are reminded that this took place as part of Christ’s first coming. He came in humility and poverty. He did not come on a warhorse or chariot. He didn’t even own the donkey He rode, but had to borrow it. And most important of all, He was just a few days away from His death. He was specifically heading into Jerusalem because there He would die for the sins of all people. Just half a dozen verses earlier Jesus had summed up what He was about: “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Jesus elaborated: “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.” Because Jesus was the greatest in the kingdom of God, He took it upon Himself to be the lowliest of all, to serve all, yes, to die for all.

            This is the exact opposite of the world’s story. The world says, “Mortals, turn yourselves into gods and enjoy everything.” But Christ, who is God, made Himself mortal and gave up everything. The world tells us that this is the only life we have and you had better squeeze everything out of it. But Christ gave up that life. And that is because He came to offer us something more than this life and all its pleasures could offer. He came to bring real life, life from its source, life from God. And that is why He didn’t fiddle around with all of the things we fill our lives with. He saw that human beings were caught in the vise of sin and all its selfish manifestations. And so He went down to fight death and the grave, Satan and hell, and every form of evil and wickedness. He didn’t mind going to the cross, that shameful and painful form of death, as long as He could go and throttle our deepest enemies and give us life.

            So Christ came in humility two thousand years ago. But He also comes to us today through His Word. By His Word He brings His kingdom into our midst, yes, that kingdom full of life. We get a picture of that also in today’s gospel. There was a colt that was tied up in the village of Bethany. Jesus spoke the word. The disciples passed on that word faithfully to the owner of the colt. And the donkey was untied. All because Jesus had spoken the word. It didn’t matter that the owner of the colt couldn’t see Jesus that moment. All he had to do was hear that word of our Lord, and the matter was settled. So it is with us today. We do not see Christ, even though He is invisibly present in our midst. But He speaks His Word and things change. When He unties the burden of our sins, the burden is removed for good. When He pronounces us holy in His Father’s sight, then we are. When He proclaims that He reigns and is advancing His kingdom, then it is so.

            We were not there two thousand years ago when He was born in Bethlehem and later died and rose near Jerusalem. We were not there for that triumphant procession. But we can hear His Word no less than the owner of the colt did. What He calls a sin, let us call wicked. What He calls holy, let us call blessed. What He says about forgiveness and new life, let us hear with attentive ears. God has spoken. Reality has changed. His words may not please everyone, but we are not everyone. We are no stubborn mules. If a colt that had never been ridden—never broken in—knew enough to yield to our Lord, should we not listen all the more attentively to what our Savior claims? If an irrational beast of burden submitted to the Lord, why should we buck and kick against His Word? No, let us welcome Him as He comes every week in our midst to proclaim His Word.

            As we do so, let us not forget that He will come in glory. Again, today’s Gospel gives us a sample of the glory that our Lord will have when He returns. The crowd threw their cloaks in front of Him and waved palm branches before Him. They pronounced Him blessed. They called on Him as God to save them. They proclaimed Him king, great David’s greater Son. When He returns in glory—on some day in the future unknown to us—palm branches and cloaks will not suffice. We will offer all the treasures that we can offer, even though there is nothing that we can truly give Him. We will worship Him even more profoundly, falling flat on our faces and acknowledging Him to be the Lord. And it will not just be we who are doing so. No, everyone will do it, including people who had despised Him and rejected Him in this life. To be sure, they will still not have warmed up to Him, but they will do obeisance before Him, for they will have no choice. Even Satan himself will have to bow down before Christ and admit that he has been beaten.

            That is the Christian story. It is quite a different story than that which the world is telling. But if it is true—and it is—then that means we must live differently than the world around us does. Life is not all about accumulating pleasure after pleasure. It’s not that we’re against having a pleasant experience or enjoying the material world; it’s just that life is about so much more than pleasure. Life isn’t even about priding oneself for being so “spiritual.” No, life is what happens when Christ comes. Christ entered this world two thousands year ago, and death has been running scared ever since. Christ comes to us today, condemning our sins and offering forgiveness, changing our hearts and giving us new life. And Christ will come again. At that time the bobbles and trinkets and bright lights of this season won’t have meant a thing. But Christ—well, He is everything.

            Therefore, beloved in Christ, we march on during this Advent season. We say, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” In Jesus’ name. Amen.

When It's Your Turn to Go...

You’ve probably heard people say, “God has already chosen your time of death and when it’s your time to go, it’s your time and there’s nothing you can do about it.” Well, is that right or not? I would argue that the statement is a bit confusing. It might be able to be understood in a proper sense, but it could also be understood in a completely wrong way. That is because it does not make some distinctions that are very necessary when discussing matters like this.

The Three Fates by Francesco Salviati.
In Greco-Roman mythology, the Fates
determined the length of a person's
life. Even the gods could not go
against the Fates.

Making proper distinctions is at the heart of theology. The Bible doesn’t just spout abstract ideas devoid of context, but it teaches us to understand how words, phrases, and sentences are to be understood. Sometimes a phrase may be used in the Scriptures approvingly and other times it might be rejected as a false teaching. It isn’t that the Bible is disagreeing with itself about a particular matter, but rather the apostles and prophets who wrote the Bible knew that the way that even sound language may be pressed into the service of bad theology. Usually every heresy has a half-truth at its core. Rather than being an out and out lie, a heresy has taken a correct idea and oversimplified matters or pressed it into the service of an illegitimate idea.

Obviously, on such a matter as important and mysterious as the day of our death, it is easy to oversimplify in a way that does not teach the whole counsel of God. And so we do well to ask ourselves why we are phrasing things this way, for usually when people oversimplify matters it is to gratify a selfish impulse. Often when people say that God has chosen our time in advance and there’s nothing you can do to speed it up or slow it down, they are excusing the way they neglect their bodies. Those who reject that idea and argue that life is pretty much under our control push God out of the picture, as if He had no say over our lives. But a proper understanding of this matter will both glorify God and keep us from shirking our responsibilities.

On the one hand, Scripture emphasizes God’s role in all things, including matters of life and death. It teaches us that God both knows all things in advance and governs the world so that things turn out according to His will. Let me unpack those statements. First of all, we say that God knows all things, including what will occur before it happens (see Psalm 139:1-4; Romans 11:33-36). He knows the good that people will do as well as the evil. We call this His foreknowledge. By itself God’s foreknowledge doesn’t imply causation. Think of it in this way. I have seen a person clumsily knock a bowl off a table. I know what will happen before the bowl hits the ground. In that sense I have foreknowledge, limited though it may be. But my knowledge that the ceramic bowl will break and the contents spill across the floor doesn’t cause the bowl to break or the person to be clumsy. In the same way God is not the author of evil, even if He knows what evil people will do.

But God does more than simply know the future. He controls it, and we call this His providence. He not only knows such details as the number of hairs on our head, He also controls such details as whether a sparrow will fall to the ground or not (Matthew 10:29-30). To be sure, God is not pleased by everything that happens in the world. He does not approve of people’s evil (Psalm 5:4), even if He permits them to do some evil so that they can show what is in their heart and thus in the end glorify Him for being a just judge on the Last Day. (This is what Proverbs 16:4 is getting at: not that God created certain people with the intention that they do evil, but that evildoers will in the end glorify God by getting their just desserts.) But while He allows some latitude—enough rope for people to hang themselves, you might say—God limits the effects of evil. The plans that evil people make often turn out for the good of God’s people (Genesis 50:20). Evil is not permitted to snatch the elect from God’s hand, leaving them in despair and without faith (Mark 13:20). Evil is not permitted to separate God’s faithful people from His love in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:35-39). And it certainly will not hold sway for very long, let alone permanently (Psalm 1:4-5).

So, according to what we have learned so far, it is appropriate to say that God has numbered our days and knows when they will come to an end (and will Himself make sure that they end at that time). This doctrine is meant to comfort us with the knowledge that our life and our death are no accidents but are guided by His loving hand.

But, given my earlier remarks, you know that there is an “on the other hand” coming. Indeed, there is. God has given us this information so that we would trust in Him, not so that we would use it to become presumptuous. Instead, God has told us not to pry into His hidden purposes or counsels (Job 42:1-6; Psalm 131:1; 139:6). When Job wanted to know all the whys and wherefores of the suffering in his life, God said that Job would have needed to be able to explain all the marvels of creation, including the boundless power of the sea, in order to understand God’s answer (Job 38-41). Instead of urging us to find that hidden knowledge, He gives us our vocations, prudence, and wisdom. Moreover, God does not want us to put Him to the test (Deuteronomy 6:16; Matthew 4:7). He promises to take care of us, but He does not want us deliberately to put ourselves in harm’s way to see if He really will act (cf. Matthew 4:5-6).

Furthermore, God has known the answers from eternity, but we human beings do not live outside of time. We are creatures of time and space, while God is neither a creature nor a being bound by time and space. For that reason He allows our life to unfold before us over time. We see a series of events. Sometimes we see an action followed by its reasonable consequences. Other times God spares us from the bad consequences of our deeds. Still other times we do not see the good consequences we had hoped would result from our diligent work. Through these events we are led to pursue wisdom. We discern that on average it is better to do good than to do evil, even if things do not always turn out the way we might expect. And we also discern that it is wisest to trust in the LORD, even when things are going badly at the moment.

It helps us to distinguish, then, between God’s providence viewed from above and it viewed from below. In the Scriptures we are given enough of a glance “from above” to know that things do not happen merely by chance, but that God is firmly in control. And yet we can look at our lives only “from below,” at least as long as we are in this life (Ecclesiastes 8:16-17). We see a progression of events, one after another. We are called to make wise choices, as much as we are able. We know that even our best efforts may fail, if God has other plans in mind (Psalm 127:1-2). And yet we are called to make the most prudent choices, commending the results to God’s care.

Thus, we will believe firmly in God’s providence without becoming fatalists or irresponsible. We cherish the idea that “precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints” (Psalm 116:15). We are not frightened by the thought that our days are numbered, but ask that God would use that fact to give us the wisdom to live wisely (Psalm 90:12). And that wisdom will teach us to avoid carelessness and presumption so that we may have a blessed end.