Ad Te Levavi

The church has long understood that the advent of our Lord occurs in three ways: the first coming of Christ in the Incarnation, His continuing presence in the church today through His Word and Sacraments, and His triumphal return in glory at the end of the age. We have witnessed this second advent this morning. According to Jesus’ promise, He can be found where two or three are gathered in His name, as we are today. Where His words are spoken, there is the God who is the Word incarnate. Where the bread and wine are given according with His command, there the true Body and Blood of Christ are placed into the mouths of the faithful for the forgiveness of sins. And Jesus has also promised, “If anyone loves me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him” (Jn 14:23). You have seen the fulfillment of this promise today.

Joanna Grace, who was made a Christian this morning through Holy Baptism, now loves God and treasures His Word. And now the Father and the Son have come to make their home with her. Likewise, the Holy Spirit as we also heard: “Depart, thou unclean spirit and make way for the Holy Spirit.” How fitting that our Lord should come to Joanna and she would begin her life as a Christian on this first Sunday of Advent and beginning of the Church Year.

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you!”(Zech 9:9). Anyone who does not understand how salvation works would do well to observe the baptism of an infant. This is the core of what we believe according to the Scriptures. This is how salvation is accomplished. Jesus has come to Joanna in the same way He also came to you. If you ask her, I doubt that Joanna will be able to explain what happened to her this morning. She doesn’t speak English yet. But you don’t need to be able to explain something or understand what has happened for it to be true. Jesus calls baptism the second birth. No one here understood the first birth when it happened, and yet here you are. So, if the natural birth occurred without your understanding, how much more the spiritual birth which can only be comprehended through faith? Understanding is not what matters. The advent of Jesus is what matters. “Rejoice, O daughter of Zion! Your King comes to you!”

What wonderful news this is, because, frankly, if your salvation depended on how well you understood the mystery of baptism, who here could be saved? Most of you were baptized, like Joanna, as an infant. And those of you who were baptized later in life, be honest. How well did you understand what was happening? We may as well call your baptism an infant baptism for all you brought to the table. But just as a mother carries and loves her child long before the day of its birth, so God had long carried and loved you, long before the day of your birth into His heavenly kingdom. The Christian faith begins, not with your understanding, not with your decision, but with the advent of our Lord, when your King comes to you. And the Christian faith will end when He returns in glory on the day that faith becomes irrelevant, because we will see Him with our own eyes.

But some would say, “No, the Christian faith begins when you make a choice to believe in Jesus, when you give Him your heart.” What a terrible foundation for faith this would be. If you began the work of salvation, how could you ever be certain that it was well begun? A choice for Jesus? Did you choose your parents and family? Did you appoint the day of your natural birth? Of course, not. Then how much less could you choose God or bring about your spiritual birth into His family. No, your life as a Christian began in the same way that Joanna’s did this morning: “Rejoice, O daughter of Zion! Your King comes to you!”

Jesus comes in such humble means that many would reject Him because of the way in which He has chosen to come. He rode into Jerusalem, not as a conquering king astride a mighty warhorse, but mounted upon a lowly donkey, upon the colt of a beast of burden. And He comes among us today in simple, lowly means that we too could be tempted to despise: clothed in the humble water of baptism, clothed in humble bread and wine, clothed in the words of a humble and sinful pastor. Yet to despise these humble means is to despise Christ Himself, and many, even among God’s own chosen people did despise Jesus because of His humble appearance.

As Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, many were angry because He was not the Messiah of earthly power and might they had expected. “No, Jesus, you must bring Your kingdom in the way we want! We will tell you how to build Your church! A humble entrance is not the way to bring in more people. We need to rethink this whole donkey business. After all, how can plain water deliver salvation? How can bread and wine actually be the Body and Blood of Christ? How can the pastor, a mere man, declare, ‘In the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ, I forgive you all your sins’?”

Today, much of the church, not content with the promises that Jesus delivers through His Word and Sacraments, has set out to correct the humble means that God has appointed for salvation. “It’s not what you said, Pastor, it’s how you said it. I love Jesus, just not His words. I love Jesus, but I don’t like His organized religion. I love Jesus, but I don’t like His Sacraments. I love Jesus, but I don’t like his pastor because he’s a donkey.”

Jesus said to the unbelieving city of Jerusalem, “I say to you, you shall see Me no more until you say, ‘Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord’ ” (Mt 23:38). If we will not receive our Lord in the humble means He has chosen, then we will not receive Him at all. May God grant to us all the faith of Joanna Grace, faith that is content to receive Jesus in the means of salvation that He has appointed.

This is why, moments before we kneel to receive the Body and Blood of Christ, we will confess, “Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.” According to the ancient liturgy of the church, we take Jesus’ words, “You will not see Me again until you say, ‘Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord’, words that are a stern rebuke to those who reject the means of our Lord’s advent, and we hear those words as a promise. And so we with all the saints, living and departed, cry out, “Blessed is He!”, fully expecting that now, according to Jesus’ words, we willsee Him. And so we do. We kneel at the altar and through the humble means of bread and wine, Jesus keeps His promise. And through the humble means of the pastor’s hand, He places His own Body and Blood into our mouths for the forgiveness of every sin.

And then, having witnessed the advent of our Lord once again, we confess, “Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy Word: for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou has prepared before the face of all people”(Lk 2:39–30). “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you!”

Yes, Jesus comes, at this present time, in humble means, lowly and riding on a donkey. He comes in a way we would never have chosen—simple words, simple water, simple bread and wine—and yet, that bread and wine is His Body and Blood, that water grants entrance into His heavenly kingdom, and His words deliver the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. Yes, your king comes to you, once again on this First Sunday of Advent, riding on a lowly donkey. And with childlike faith, you have been granted to say, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.” Today we receive Christ by faith through lowly means, but we also know that the day of His final advent is fast approaching, when every eye shall behold Him coming with the angels in the clouds. And when we see Jesus on that day, there will be no further need for faith, and the lowly means will at last be set aside at last, for then we shall see Him with our own eyes as He truly is, radiant in power and glory. And so, on this first Sunday of Advent, we with all the church, living and departed, cry out, “Come, Lord Jesus!” Amen.