First
Sunday of Advent
1 December 2024, Church Year C
2024-2025
Christ
is Coming by Rev. Jack Peterson
Luke 21:25-28, 34-36
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If God
the Father had plans to lovingly and sacrificially send his only
begotten son
to take on our human flesh and dwell among us on this earth, it
only makes
sense that he would properly prepare the world for such a
world-changing
event. The Father
did indeed carry out
that task throughout a 2000 -year period of salvation history.
This
preparation included events that pointed to Christ and his
redeeming work such;
as the sacrifice of Isaac on the mountain top, the great Exodus
from slavery in
Egypt and the serpent mounted on a pole in the desert. This also included the
blessing of prophets
who predicted Jesus’ coming and described his saving work with
remarkable
accuracy such as Isaiah, Jeremiah and Micah.
Today,
on the first Sunday of Advent, the church serves up the Prophet
Jeremiah who
recalls God’s promise to send the Messiah who will be a
descendent of King
David: “The days are coming says the Lord, when I will fulfill
the promise I
made to the house of Israel and Judiah.
In those days, I will raise up for David a just shoot.” God chose David, a
shepherd boy, to build up
a kingdom on earth that would beautifully point the way to
Jesus, the Good
Shepherd, who would establish the Kingdom of God on earth. God is faithful to his
promises. Jesus is
the ultimate testimony of God’s
faithfulness.
The
season of Advent is also an opportunity for Christians to focus
on the Second
Coming of Christ at the end of the ages.
This time Jesus will come in all his splendor and glory. “People will die of
fright in anticipation of
what is coming upon the world for the powers of the heavens will
be
shaken. And then
they will see the Son
of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory”. Our Lord will extend
his final judgment upon
the world and hand over to the Father all those intended to
dwell with God for
all eternity in our heavenly home.
We do
not know the day or the hour of this great moment. We will likely be as
surprised as we were at
the first coming of Christ.
For those
who do not know Our Precious Lord, it will understandably be a
day of fear and
trepidation. For
those who know and love
Our Lord, we will have great confidence on that day. The one who had
created us, loved us,
redeemed us and called us to be his disciples ad friends will be
quick to usher
us into the heavenly dwelling place he has prepared for us in
his Father’s house. St.
Luke goes on to say, “But when these
signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads because
your redemption
is at hand.” The
church, in her wisdom, knows
that it is important along our journey through life to recall
these future
realities in order to be properly prepared.
On a
practical level, we make the effort during Advent to prepare for
our annual
celebration of the first coming of Christ Dec. 25 as well as to
recall the
Second Coming of Christ in the last days in order to embrace the
third coming
of Christ, his entrance anew into our hearts in 2024. We dwell upon the two
comings of our Savior
in order to clear away the clutter of sin and unhealthy
attachments that
prevent us from fully welcoming Jesus as King oi our hearts. This process is
directly connected to our ultimate
goal of doggedly striving to grow in our love for God and
neighbor.
St.
Paul in his second letter to the Thessalonians puts this truth
on the plate at
the very start of pour Advent season. “Brothers
and sisters: May the Lord make you increase and abound in love
for one another
and for all, just as we have for you, so as to strengthen your
hearts, to be
blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the
coming of our Lorde Jesus with all his holy ones.”
Dear
friends in Christ, I invite you to take Advent seriously. Prepare for our
celebration of Christmas by
faithfully pondering the marvelous Old Testament people and
events that God the
Father used to prepare the world for the incarnation of his son. Give due attention to
the truth that Christ
will come again to finish; his great work of redemption and
surrender all of
creation to the Father. Take
the
opportunity to look honestly into your heart for some attachment
that is
keeping you from allowing Christ to have primacy of place in the
depths of your
heart. Beg for the
grace to let go of
that attachment in order to more fully embrace the love and
truth of Christ,
our Savior.