"What are you waiting for?"

“Tell short stories about things we might wait for, including me waiting for a call from my soccer coach.”

“What kind of things are you waiting for?” Maybe you can’t wait for 2020 to get over…maybe you can’t wait for Christmas to get here, or perhaps you are waiting to start your family, finish school, or for the person you care about to be healed.

If you think about the Old Testament it is all about waiting on the Lord. Take for example the story of Abraham. Genesis 12-25 record the whole story, but let me just a share a little bit of it. Abraham was called by God out of his own country into a whole new place called Canaan. So he takes his wife, servants, and his nephew Lot and they set out. Along the next several verses we learn how God makes a promise to Abram to make him into a great nation and that all the nations of the world will be blessed through him. Pretty cool promise given that Abram has no children and is already getting very old. Well as time goes on, he still doesn’t have a son so his wife Sarai thinks “maybe we need to do something about this.” So she give Abram her servant Hagar to have a child with and Ismael is born, but God says, no this isn’t the way. In fact when you look at the history of the Israelites, it is the descendants of Ismael that cause quite a bit of trouble for God’s people.

So Abram waits, and he waits, and he waits, and he waits, and waits. He was 75 when God called him, and Genesis 21:5 records that he was 100 years old when Isaac was born. Now, a few years after Isaac is born God tells Abraham to go up on a mountain and to sacrifice his beloved son. What does Abraham do? He follows God’s direction and takes the boy and some servant to the mountain. After telling the servants to hang tight for a little while Abraham and Isaac climb the mountain, Isaac even asks where is the sacrifice, and Abraham responds that God himself will give the sacrifice. Genesis 22:7

But at the last moment an angel declares, “Do not lay a hand on the boy, now I know that you fear God and have withheld nothing even your own son.” Genesis 22:12 Abraham had waited at least 25 years for this son, and even still he acted in faith.

According to the Lutheran Study Bible Notes the call of Abraham occured around the year 2091 B.C. That’s TWO THOUSANDS YEARS before the angel now comes to Mary to deliver the amazing news that the Messiah is coming. Talk about waiting.

Now lets turn our attention to the amazing words that were spoken in today’s Gospel reading. Here is a brief clip from the 2017 movie “The Star.”

Mary is engaged to Joseph, which in the ancient culture of the Jewish people is like already being married. The major difference is that they are not yet living with each other. Joseph would have already met with Mary’s dad and arranged the marriage, and now he is getting their home ready and once everything is set, he will officially marry her and bring him into his home.

Boom suddenly there is this angel, and what does he immediately tell Mary. Look here at Luke 1:28 that she is greatly favored, but in the next verse we find that this troubled her because she didn’t understand. Then the angel tells her to not be afraid, Luke 1:30, for she will have son and name him Jesus. He will called the Son of the Most High and will reign on David’s throne of the house of Jacob forever.

This is the news that humanity has been waiting for. Here are just a few of the prophecies about the Messiah that the Jews have been waiting for:

God’s first promised the Messiah would be the offspring of woman and would crush Satan’s head (Genesis 3:15).

He would come from the seed/offspring of Abraham and would bless all the nations on earth (Genesis 12:3).

He would be a “prophet like Moses” to whom God said we must listen (Deuteronomy 18:15).

He would be born in Bethlehem of Judah (Micah 5:2).

He would be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14).

He would have a throne, a kingdom and a dynasty, or house, starting with King David, that will last forever (2 Samuel 7:16).

He would be called “Wonderful Counselor,” “Mighty God,” “Everlasting Father,” “Prince of Peace,” and would possess an everlasting kingdom (Isaiah 9:6-7).

He would ride into Jerusalem on a donkey, righteous and having salvation, coming with gentleness (Zechariah 9:9-10).

He would be pierced for our transgression and crushed for our iniquities (Isaiah 53:5).

He would die among the wicked ones but be buried with the rich (Isaiah 53:9).

He would be resurrected from the grave, for God would not allow His Holy One to suffer decay (Psalm 16:10).

He would come again from the clouds of heaven as the Son of Man (Daniel 7:13-14).

He would be the “Sun of Righteousness” for all who revere Him and look for His coming again (Malachi 4:2).

He is the One whom Israel will one day recognize as the One they pierced, causing bitter grief (Zechariah 12:10).

We think that we have been waiting for things, but think about this. God’s people have been passing down the promise that a savior, and Messiah was going to come and save humanity, from generation to generation. Abraham lived almost 2,000 years before Mary finally receives this message.

What you waiting in faith for God to do?

So, what you are you waiting for? Think about your life and the things you are waiting for God to do.

How can you show your faith as you wait?

Remember Abraham again, he waited 25 years for his son to be born, the people of God waited 2,000 years after that for the Messiah to finally come. How does their example of waiting in faith challenge or encourage you? My guess is that you know the Abraham and the people of Israel were not always that good at waiting for God’s timing. Abraham took his wife’s servant and had a son with her, the Isrealites constantly rebelled against God’s plan because they wanted to do it their own way.

Remember Abraham again, in Hebrews 11:17-19 we are reminded that even though Abraham messed up from time to time, he still responded in faith and followed God’s commands even being willing to sacrifice his son. What a witness to his son and his family that God is the most important thing in his life. How are you showing your faith in God to others was you wait?

What is your response? Do you accept with humility or has bitterness and anger crept into your heart?

As God keeps his promises, because God will always keep his promises, what is your response? God always keeps his promises. Sure it seemed to Abraham that maybe God might not give him and Sarah his wife a child, or it sure seemed like God had forgotten about the Israelites. Remember as the angel told Mary “nothing is impossible with God,” (Luke 1:37). Then how does Mary respond, Luke 1:38-39, with humility and grace. “Let it be to me as you have said.” Is that your response especially when God’s promises don’t come about the way you thought that they should? [retell story about soccer coach]. I didn’t make that team, but that’s not how the story ends. Instead I joined another team with a few of my other friends and he had a much better time with a more caring coach and comrade with each other.

What are you waiting for? Could be lots of things but during the season of Advent we are waiting for Christ. Not just the coming celebrations of Christmas, but during Advent we pause to remember that we are also waiting for the 2nd coming of Christ when all things will be made new and He will wipe away every tear from our eyes, and fill every empty tummy with His food. May we all wait well in faith knowing that nothing is impossible with God. Amen.