Pages

Sunday, December 4, 2016

Advent 2 Populus Zion


Luke 21:25-36 - Advent 2 - December 4, 2016
Your Redemption Draws Near
Listen

As darkest night must fade and die before the sun’s appearing,
So fades my grief away, when I think on these tidings cheering,
That God from all eternity hath loved the world, and hath on me
Bestowed His grace and favor; I’ll ne’er forget the angels’ strain:
Peace–peace on earth, good will to men, to you is born a Savior! Amen. 
In Jesus’ final beatitude, he said, “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven” (Matthew 5:11-12).  Of all persecutions that we suffer as the children of God, I think about the most painful is when we hear people lie about Jesus – and then by extension when they revile us as well for believing and confessing the truth.  What can be worse than to hear evil spoken against us falsely because of Jesus?  What can be worse than to hear others twist our motives of love and concern as though we were judgmental and hateful bigots when really we just want what Jesus wants: for them to repent and believe the good news that their sins are freely forgiven for Christ’s sake?  What can be worse than when people fundamentally misrepresent this message of the gospel that saves them by adding in false human opinions that rob God our Savior of the glory that belongs to him alone — and then when others for whom the gospel is intended actually believe their lies to the eternal detriment of their souls?  What can be worse?  Yet Jesus says to us who must bear this sorrow, “Blessed are you.” 

Although the punishment for unbelief is great – and this must not be downplayed, since it is both just and certain, as all our Scripture lessons make plain – and certainly worse than anything we suffer on earth — yet we who are being saved do not go through life without feeling some of the sorrows of hell.  We feel the flames lick our bodies, not simply when we endure ridicule, but when we see others whose eternal fate we genuinely care about and pray for throw the mercy of God away for the sake of their own stupid pride.  These are arrows in our hearts. 
Yet Jesus tells us, even in the midst of this sorrow which only a Christian can know, to rejoice and be exceedingly glad as only a Christian can — because these are but signs that our redemption is drawing near.  Jesus suffered these things himself in our place and as our example.  He was accused of blasphemy, called a liar, betrayed by his own disciple, and crucified by the very people whose Messiah he was.  And by so doing, he earned the reward that he brings with him when he shall come again.  The reward is eternal life.  Jesus calls it our redemption – when the truth of our hope shall finally be made plain in the light of day.  Even now in the darkness of unbelief, the redeeming light that will one day overcome and expose all lies shines on us through the pure and saving truth.  Although we have unclean lips and dwell among a people of unclean lips, yet our guilt is forgiven and our sin is paid for by Jesus.  This is what the gospel teaches us.  This is what it gives!  And so this is our cause for joy. 
Our joy as Christians is always in the midst of great sorrow, and yet also in spite of great sorrow.  We sorrow in repentance over our sins.  But our joy is found in the forgiveness of our sins.  We sorrow because of some shame we must endure that maybe we brought on ourselves – or maybe we didn’t.  But either way, our joy is in the honor of Christ who covers our shame, even as we as brothers and sisters cover the imperfections and weaknesses of those among us and put the best construction on those things we hear about one another.  We sorrow over the death of loved ones, and the painful frailty in our bones that reminds us that it’s coming for us too.  But our joy is found in the resurrection to glory when our bodies will be renewed in the image of him who lives forever.  We sorrow over joys departed and lost wealth and whatever other worldly cares might make life increasingly difficult to live.  But our joy is always found in him who will restore what we have lost with the eternal treasure of his kingdom.
It is this constant tension that will always mark the earthly lives of Christ’s lambs.  We walk through the valley of the shadow of death.  But our Shepherd leads us.  He leads us in his word and sacraments.  He also leads us by his example.  And with his example, our Lord teaches us not only what to be sad about, but also where to find our joy. 
Consider his example:
Jesus wept for Lazarus.  So here we find leave to be likewise bothered by death.  But Christ is the resurrection and the life.  So believe and be glad.  Weep for your death as sinners who must suffer the residual effects of the curse in your flesh; but find your consolation in him to whom our Lord commended his Spirit, for he guards yours as well. 
Jesus wept for Jerusalem.  So here we learn to be likewise distressed by impenitence and unfaithfulness in the world, in the church, and in our own flesh, as even our own hearts and minds try to make peace between God’s word and the false doctrines of men.  This is cause for us to weep with Jesus – but as penitents and not merely victims.  It is Christ alone, the one true Victim, who makes for our peace.  And he is not, by the grace of God, hidden from our eyes as he was to the Jews.  So believe and be glad.  Repent of your fleshly desires to seek peace in this world where Christ’s word is unwelcome, and find joy that by his word he has made himself welcome in your midst and in your heart. 
Jesus wept in the Garden as he already began to taste the nearing cup of divine wrath against all sin.  So also we beg God to lift our burdens and end our pain and trials: “Oh, take this cup away!”  But his will must be done.  Jesus’ death teaches us that.  The very death that reveals God’s favor and love – the death that proves to faith that God cannot be against you no matter how heavy his chastening rod might feel, the death that atoned for your sins and swallowed your own death and gives you life, the death that tore down the curtain of separation between you and your almighty God and Maker – this death is also an example for you to suffer. — And as you suffer, as you sorrow, dear Christian, as you seek reconciliation with others who want none of it, find your joy in this: your redemption draws near.  Your pain, your death, your struggle with sin and all opposition from the world and from false brethren prove it.  Your redemption is near.  Lift up your heads, believe, and be glad.  Your pain itself only proves that your pain will soon be over.   
Many people resent God for how much suffering they must endure on earth.  What people forget, however, is that they are sinners who have brought suffering upon themselves.  It may not always be a tit-for-tat equation.  Experience teaches us that it’s more complicated than that.  But what mankind suffers in the regular routine of life is nothing more than the curse that our sin deserves.  It is the punishment that all creation must suffer.  And yet all creation eagerly waits for the sons of God to be revealed.  As surely as budding leaves indicate that spring is near, so the dangers and storms of nature indicate a deep, grumbling anticipation for your redemption to hasten and appear – for the Son of Man to stand on the earth to judge. 
And he will.  As surely as he already came to be judged, he will come again to judge.  Once he came to fulfill the law, to suffer and die, to rise and proclaim the gospel to all creation.  This was his first advent.  And once he will come again in glory.  This will be his second advent.  When people do not believe this, they grumble.  They grumble against God who permits them to suffer, who takes away, who allows children to die young and the elderly to die slowly.  And so it goes.  They cannot remain devoted to a God who does not consult with them first before permitting them to endure sorrow.  They deny their sin and so they see suffering as meaningless and arbitrary. 
But God did not consult us before permitting his Son to endure sorrow.  No way.  It was beyond our imagination, expectation, and desire.  Yet in his love alone he sought to save us from what we deserved.  He gave his eternal Son to become true Man and to suffer what he did not deserve – for us.  We who could not ourselves compel God to come down and save us simply receive what he sends us.  We receive his mercy, his promise, his correction, and whatever else his wisdom lays upon us.  We know that whatever is unpleasant to us comes from the same heart of our Father that planned our redemption. 
We do not resent God when we suffer.  We bless him.  We thank him for every lesson he teaches us even if in the midst of it, we must grin and bear what seems to make no sense.  We see what our sins deserve quite plainly.  It is where our God and Lord suffers for them on the cross.  We see the horror of our own disobedience in the same place where God bears that horror for us and removes all guilt and makes for our peace.  Only we who lift up our eyes right now – to see our redemption in the cross of Jesus – will be able to lift up our eyes in joy when the rest of the world is distressed and perplexed with failing hearts at what has suddenly come upon them.  Only we can stand to face the Son of Man who have first learned to rely on him who alone reveals the grace of God. “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.”  So says our Lord. 
We still suffer.  We suffer the general curse of God against mankind.  We suffer the thorns and thistles, the sweat of the brow and the pain of motherhood that God spoke against our first parents in Eden.  We see our little pieces of heaven and our little pieces of earth pass away before our eyes, and it hurts.  So what is the point of it all?  It is to burn away our distractions.  It is to purify us.  It is to purge from the temple of our hearts everything that will eventually pass away anyway, and to make room for that which will not.  God does not punish us.  He punishes unbelievers, because they have no way of distinguishing God’s wrath from God’s fatherly correction.  But for us who know that all sin was punished in Jesus Christ the Son of God on the cross, for us who are in fact sons of God and co-heirs with Christ through Baptism, we know that no wrath hovers over our heads – only the constant blessing of God who loved us so much as to purchase us with his own blood. 
And so, when we suffer, when we sorrow, when we lose, when we are hated, when God allows what seems to break you down and crush you to last longer that you think it should – dear Christians, this is nothing more than a blessed cross.  We of all people should know what wonderful things can come from a cross.  God does not lay crosses on us in order to weaken our faith or drive us to despair.  He lays crosses on us in order to strengthen our faith.  See how he has.  Has he not successfully distracted you from that which the Gentiles seek and focused you on him who is the Light to enlighten the Gentiles?  Yes, he has.  And he will.  He is the glory of his people Israel.  And his glory is found in his cross.  Those who seek glory elsewhere will be sorely sorry when it finally appears.  But for us who bear our crosses knowing that it is there where true glory is hidden, where we are conformed to the image of him who patiently bore his cross to save us – for us who learn to suffer with Jesus, we shall also learn to be exceedingly glad and rejoice forever.  Come, Lord Jesus.  Come quickly. 
Let us pray:
Although my joyful Christmas lay is mingled with my sighing,
The cross shall never take away my joy and praise undying;
For where the heart is most oppressed, the harp of joy is tuned the best,
The better strains are ringing, the cross itself, at Jesus’ will,
Must aid my soul, that I may still in grief His praise be singing.  Amen. 
Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Amen. 

No comments:

Post a Comment