Advent 1C, 2024
Text: Luke 19:28-40
Title: Threatening Peril
+ INI +
When’s the last time that you needed to be rescued?
When’s the last time that you needed to call 911 because your house was on fire, or you needed an ambulance?
When’s the last time that you needed to call AAA or a tow truck or a friend to come get you because your car was broken down?
When’s the last time you had to call a plumber or a repairman because there was an urgent problem with your home that needed to be fixed, and you couldn’t do it on your own?
When’s the last time you called a pastor because you were wracked with guilt and fear and needed the assurance of your forgiveness?
A few minutes ago we prayed, “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.”
You prayed that the Lord would rescue you from the threatening perils of your sins.
Do you recognize the threatening perils of your sin? Do you see sin as the biggest problem in your life?
Or don’t you see your sin as a problem, something you need to be rescued from? Is sin something that other people do? Or is sin just minor flaw in an otherwise good and upstanding person?
Sin is your biggest problem. Sin is your most perilous threat. Sin is what you need rescuing from the most.
Sin is more threatening than if your house was on fire, more threatening than if your car was broken down, more threatening than if your pipes burst, more threatening even than if your heart stopped beating.
Sin is your most dire threat. Because, if you aren’t rescued from your sinfulness, you will suffer the torment of death and hell forever.
Sin is more than just making a few bad choices here and there. Those actual sins that you commit are a sign of something deeper, something more fundamentally wrong with your heart.
Since Adam and Eve’s fall into sin, we have been born with this same sinful condition. Our sinfulness affects the way we think, the way we talk, and the way we treat one another. It affects what we choose to do and what we choose not to do.
And it’s not something that you can fix on your own. You need someone else to come and rescue you.
You’ll never get Advent right, you’ll never get Christmas right, you’ll never get Jesus right, unless you recognize your own sinfulness.
Advent is about the coming of Jesus- His first coming, when He was born as a baby in Bethlehem, His coming among us here and now in Word and Sacrament, and His coming again in glory on the Last Day.
The whole reason for Jesus’ coming is your sin, your rebellion. Jesus doesn’t just come as your friend, your buddy, your lifelong companion.
Jesus comes as your Savior, your rescuer, the only one who can solve your problem and rescue you from the threatening peril of your sin.
Because of your sin, you can’t come to Him. He comes to you.
He comes in humility, riding into town on a borrowed donkey.
He doesn’t come on a war horse, brandishing a sword with an army at His heels.
Because He isn’t coming to conquer the Romans or establish an earthly kingdom. Jesus comes to establish peace in heaven and glory in the highest.
Rescuing you from your sins means making things right with you and your heavenly Father. And the only way for Jesus to accomplish this is by dying for you in your place, by putting your sin to death on the cross.
That is what Jesus is coming into Jerusalem to do.
He knows that His path leads to the cross. He knows of the suffering and death that lies ahead. And still He comes.
In fact, Jesus knew this was His path from the beginning. Jesus knew that when He came to earth, born as the child of Mary that He was coming to suffer and die.
And yet, He still comes.
Your King comes to you. He comes to suffer and die for you.
There’s a real sense of relief when your rescuer comes, when the experts arrive on the scene.
You’re no longer alone. You can trust that your problem will be solved, that life will be better.
There’s that same sense of relief in Advent. Yes, Jesus comes. He hears your call. He knows your need. He is able to rescue you, to make you safe and secure from all danger.
What do you do when the EMTs come? You trust that they know what’s best for you. You let them do their work. And when they’re done, you thank them.
What do you do when Jesus comes? You trust that He knows what’s best for you. You let Him do His work. And when He’s done, you thank Him.
How did the crowd react when Jesus came into Jerusalem? They sang and shouted His praises.
And this is even before His death and resurrection. This was simply because of the miracles that they had witnessed and heard about. They knew what He had done, what He was capable of, and they trusted that He could rescue them, that He could save them, too.
They were so loud, so annoying that the Pharisees asked Jesus to shut them up.
Wouldn’t it be great if our worship were so loud, so annoying, that our neighbors had to come and tell us to keep it down?
It wasn’t just the volume, of course, that was the problem. It was the content, what they were saying and singing.
“Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord.” That’s Savior-talk. That’s Messiah-talk. And the Pharisees didn’t think those were the right words to use for this traveling troublemaker from Galilee.
They didn’t think they needed saving. They didn’t think they needed rescuing, you see. At least not in the way that Jesus came for them.
They didn’t recognize their sin, and so they didn’t think they needed a Savior.
And if you don’t need Jesus, then no Advent and no Christmas.
But if you look honestly at your life, if you recognize the “threatening peril of your sin,” if you come to the realization that you need saving and you can’t save yourself, then you are ready for Jesus, you are ready for Christmas, you are ready for this Advent season as we join the crowds of Jerusalem in singing with all our might, “Blessed is He who cometh in the Name of the Lord.”
Let’s do it.
INI