ADVENT 1, B, 2011

SCRIPTURES: Isaiah 64:1-9; 1 Cor. 1:3-9; Mark 11:1-10 

Today the season of Advent begins and a new year in Christ’s Church dawns upon us. But, still ringing in our ears are the cries of the Gospel readings of the last few weeks: “Christ is coming again to rescue His people and make all things new! Get ready for His arrival!” Advent echoes this cry, for this season isn’t only about getting ready to again celebrate Christ’s first coming in Bethlehem. It’s about getting ready for His return from heaven. So, what preparations are being undertaken? The same ones as last year, and the year before that, and the year before that: aggressive shopping, Black Friday sales featuring great bargains… and more.

Ø  This year featured robberies; people getting shot; and a woman in L.A. unleashing pepper spray on others so that she could get her bargain.

What a beginning to this new Church Year! Of course, it hasn’t begun that way for most of us. For some, like my father, it has begun much more quietly: with sickness, and even hospitalization.  

Advent may announce and call for a new beginning, but it has done so year after year after year. Things haven’t really changed, have they? It can make you want to cry out with Isaiah: “Oh that You, Lord, would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence… to make your name known to your adversaries, and that the nations might tremble at your presence!” Why hasn’t Jesus changed things? Why haven’t we changed? 

God’s prophet Isaiah has very important words for us, a message that Jesus also proclaimed by the way He entered Jerusalem. Isaiah says: “From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides You, who acts for those who wait for him.” What is Isaiah telling us who are frustrated and fed up with the way things are? He is proclaiming that God is acting, but in ways that are hidden. “From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen.” God is doing His work among us, but quietly and unremarkably. We cannot see it and so must not judge it.

Ø  Look at how Jesus entered Jerusalem: on a colt, a young donkey that was barely big enough to carry Him. He must have looked a bit ridiculous: a grown man sitting on a small animal, his feet nearly dragging on the ground as the animal labored under His weight! He brings God’s coming kingdom?

Now, there’s no denying the greatness of Jesus. He had done so many miracles, and even raised the dead back to life! However, Jesus had not done His miracles in the crowded city of Jerusalem and before the Jewish leaders. Few had seen them and spread the news about it. Why, then, didn’t He enter Jerusalem on a powerful horse, while bringing those He had miraculously helped with Him and calling people to come to Him for healing? Because, I suppose, this would appeal to our “Black Friday” nature, our desire for self-satisfaction and gain. “Oh that You, Lord, would rend the heavens and come down!” That’s what we want: God working mightily and visibly for us, overcoming the plans of unbelievers who oppose Him; healing us of the diseases that afflict us; and, blessing our lives with good things. But, no. Isaiah says, “We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.” We enter this new year with life going on as it always has – or worse. What is there to do? 

Wait upon God. “From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides You, who acts for those who wait for him.” Wait for Him. Leave things with God: His time; His place; His way; His purpose and plan. 

Why? Why do we have to wait upon God? Why can’t He satisfy our desires? Again, Isaiah tells us: “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.” Do you realize what God is telling us through Isaiah? It’s not just our obvious wrongs that are bad: robbing someone, or unleashing pepper spray so that you can get what you want. Of course that’s wrong! But, God says that even our righteous acts are “like a polluted garment,” are dirty and disgusting and worthy only of the garbage can. What are our righteous acts?

Ø  Certainly our prayers and our worship. What things do we do that are more holy and righteous?

Even in such good things there is our sin: our impatience, our expectation of something, our wanting God to make out of them what we want. “I’ve prayed and prayed, but God hasn’t done anything.” How do you know? He hasn’t done what you desire, but must He do so? Who is God, after all? Do you truly know better than Him what is good and best? 

“O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.” (Is. 64:8) This is what Isaiah concludes. It is also what we must say. But, what a great thing to say! These words are not defeatist, or mere resignation, but a statement of faith. What a blessing that God is our Father and our potter!

Ø  The potter takes a formless and rather useless lump of clay, shapes it, and from it brings forth something that is useful. He brings forth what has been in his mind.

Can we trust God to bring forth good and useful things from the things that happen in our lives? Yes! For, because of Jesus He is not just God. Nor is He just our Creator, the One who brought us forth into this world. He is our Father who is with us as a potter, to mold and shape our lives and bring forth what is good and useful. True, we often don’t see His plan and the good He is bringing forth. In fact, we often don’t see any work or plan at all.

Ø  What good can come from sickness?

Ø  From people rejecting what we believe?

Ø  From financial struggles and being unable to shop for the things we would like to give as gifts?

Ø  And, especially, from death?

I don’t know. I’m not the potter; I can’t give you the answer you might want. But, I do know that God is not uncaring, or toying with you, or uncertain as to what He is doing. He gave His Son for you, to pay the price for your sins and rescue you from them. He took you to Himself in your Baptism, in which He put His holy name upon you. He is your Father, and is a good potter. 

And, since your Father, whose name you bear and in whose family you live, is the eternal God, I do know this: your life is eternally safe in Him. Things will change one day, and you will see it. Your death may usher you into the new day, or Christ may come while you are still alive and usher it in. Either way, you who trust in and receive Christ will see it. Your eternal Father, the potter, will make all things new. Blessed will be that Day! 

On this first Sunday in Advent, then, we look forward to that joyous new Day and pray as we prayed earlier:

Stir up Your power, O Lord, and come, that by Your protection we may be rescued from the threatening perils of our sins and saved by Your mighty deliverance; for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.