Advent Week 1

Psalm: Psalm 122  

Old Testament: Isaiah 2:1-5  
Gospel: Matthew 24:36-44  
Epistle: Romans 13:11-14

I have decided to write some more posts on the Lectionary since I wasn’t writing very much on other topics. Hopefully we can all grow in Christ and we can teach each other some things.

Another season of Advent is upon us. For many, the decorations are already up and the shopping season has started before the Thanksgiving dishes were washed and put up. But, I want to pause and again ask a question we have pondered on this blog before: whose time is it? So often we want to know what time it is. What time is the football game? When is the meeting? How many days until Christmas? These questions all have a numerical answer, but the question of whose time is it has a person as an answer; it is God’s time. Advent is the start of the Christian Calendar and it is always good to pause and reconsider the fact that God is the Creator and the Sustainer of all creation. Time and creation have a goal and are heading in the direction of God’s Kingdom coming fully. We celebrate during the Advent season, and especially the Christmas season, that God is not only over time, but that he also entered into our time and space in the person of Jesus. God actually became a helpless baby, lived and breathed, died, was buried, and then rose again to redeem and restore creation and time.  Jesus' life and death provide the means whereby God’s rule over time can be complete.

I think we are all familiar with the themes of Advent: hope, waiting, and expectation.  Our four readings this week are not a surprise.  They speak to the theme of restoration and the day of the Lord's, or Christ’s, return.  We are to be alert and ready because no one knows the hour or day, not even Jesus himself.  The message is pretty clear: Jesus will return and we need to be ready and obeying him or else we will be left out of the Kingdom as numerous parables describe.

I want to pick up on a theme from our two Old Testaments readings, the restoration of Jerusalem. In Isaiah and Psalms, Jerusalem plays the key role in the work the Lord is going to do in order to restore Israel and redeem creation. My question, therefore, is, "What does the restoration of Jerusalem have to do with Christ’s return and reign?"  There are some who believe that historical and political Jerusalem must be controlled by the state of Israel today or that the Temple Mount must be rebuilt. I am not familiar with those issues, either historically or politically, but we can look at what the Bible says in at least one other place. Normally, I try to stick to the Lectionary readings, but I think today it is important we look at how this theme is picked up in the New Testament, particularly in Revelation 21.  In Revelation 21:1-4, a New Jerusalem is presented coming down from heaven and it is the central city of the earth and it is full of peace and prosperity like the prophets imagined and all the nations are under its rule. (21) First, even in the New Testament, Jerusalem plays a central rule. It is the place Jesus is killed, where his disciples wait for Pentecost, and now in Revelation, where the New Jerusalem comes and Jesus will set up his reign. Jerusalem represents all political and religious authority. It will be the central city for all things and Christ will be the center of it. Second, notice that the city is new and descends from heaven. It is not a restored or remodeled Jerusalem, it appears to be something new which both completes and complements the old. I don’t know what to make of that image, but it is interesting nonetheless.

I always like to end this posts in some type of action or application. I feel like this is a rather jumbled post, but I’m trying to think of new angles to traditional seasons. The tried and true application of Advent is waiting. I love the Advent song “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” and the great longing it expresses for the Messiah to come. So, the message to wait is always powerful and needed in our society of instant gratification. Christ will return and we are to be ready. But, maybe one of you can help me think of some type of application of the New Jerusalem and the hope and central role Jerusalem plays in the Kingdom of God. 

Have a good Advent, and may our prayer be, Come, Lord Jesus, Come.

Grace and Peace