Resurrection Lutheran Church, St Catharines

For me, it often turns out that I don’t really know where an Advent or Lent midweek series of services is heading until we reach the end. That is why I am somewhat reluctant to give titles to sermon and service series ahead of time in the bulletin. There is the theme that I start planning with, and then there is the theme that works out in the end. And perhaps that is the way it is with the coming of Jesus. Many people had heard the themes in the prophets and they had their plans of how this would all turn out, but when Jesus did come we see that almost universally people were taken aback, either in joy or some other emotion which called for faith to replace their personal preparedness.

 

Looking back over the last two weeks, a theme emerged of being called to rejoice despite the occurrences of things that can turn us off. In the first week we heard how Michel found King David’s dancing before the Ark of the Covenant to be a despicable act. She lost sight of the LORD God Almighty entering Jerusalem. In contrast, the priest Zacharias burst forth with joy after Mary, bearing the LORD in her womb, came to stay at his house.

 

In the second week we heard how the coming of the bridegroom to His bride also means that the great harlot is first destroyed and all who desire her are to be put out of the marriage supper. We find it hard to rejoice when anyone is excluded from the kingdom of God, but we are called to do just that both as bride and as guest.

 

Tonight, again we are called to rejoice and perhaps with even more vigour than the last two weeks. The first reading from Zephaniah began with a string of verbs calling us to “Sing aloud... shout... rejoice... and exult with all your heart” (Zephaniah 3:14) for the Lord will come to restore our name and our place and our fortunes. Then we heard again from John 7, which has been our text for Bible Study throughout the month. And we see that when the Lord did come, it caused people to have a crisis in their thoughts about whether or not He was the Christ.

 

I don’t know about you, but I don’t like to have that kind of crisis going on in my head. I like to have things clearly set out in my mind so that I can understand and be confident and have a peace about things. But if I can’t quite wrap my mind around it, then I lose my confidence and I am anxious and I have to give up my control and wait and see if it will all play out the way I expect it, or will I get a shock or be blind-sided along the way.

 

You may have been blind-sided in a car accident, when a vehicle you didn’t even see suddenly crashes into your side, or rather, the side of your car. It is jarring and frightful and quite often physically painful. Perhaps you have also been blind-sided in sports. I have been blind-sided playing football. You wear these protective helmets that restrict your peripheral vision and whole bunch of padding that restricts your head and shoulder movement, so it is quite common that out of nowhere, two or three hundred pounds of human fury comes unexpectedly crashing directly into your body.

 

All kinds of things can happen. You are often taken off of your feet and sent flying through the air. Sometimes you see stars, sometimes you see nothing at all as you black out for a few seconds, sometimes the wind is knocked out of you and you can’t breathe for a minute or two. With all of the padding and protective equipment it is rare that there is any immediate serious injury or even pain, but the shock to your body is so intense that it can lose its regular ability to function and the long-term effects of repeated blind-sided hits can be debilitating.

 

I can appreciate that many of the people at the Feast of Booths had a hard time keeping the joy of the festival when they were in effect blind-sided by Jesus who came in covertly at first and then mid-way through “went up to the temple and began teaching” (John 7:14). He knocked them for a loop. He taught with the authority of the LORD who gave the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai.

 

He said that He had come from the Father and was sent by the Father (7:29). He claimed to be the divine source of water that was provided for the children of Israel in the wilderness (7:37). He claimed to be the light that led them through the darkness (8:12). He claimed that He had now come to be the Saviour of God’s people and the bringer of eternal life.

 

Obviously, they were not really expecting that. They had expected to come to the feast and celebrate and be reminded again of the great God of their salvation who had brought His people out of Egypt and made them a mighty nation. Many of them were immersed with thoughts of seeing relatives and friends and all the sort of vacationing activities that go along with camping out in tents and a trip to the big city.

 

That is not to say that they had given up on what the prophets, like Zephaniah had written about the coming of the Saviour. But Jesus’ appearance at the temple and His teaching blind-sided them. It caused a crisis in their thoughts. They didn’t know exactly how to fit this in with what they knew from the Scriptures and their family upbringing, and the negative response of the religious leaders, and all of that. They didn’t quite understand what was happening and they couldn’t wrap their minds around it. So, like when that happens to me, I am sure they became somewhat anxious and lost their confidence and even their peace about what they expected to happen.

 

Well, Jesus didn’t just say, “Sorry to have disturbed you. Forget it and go about your festivities.” This crisis of thought was a moment of judgment. Do you believe or do you not believe what the Scriptures have said, and what God the LORD is now revealing to you? “Come on, Jesus, don’t do that to us. You’re going to spoil the fun of the season.”

 

No, He doesn’t want to spoil the fun for you. He wants to give you greater joy. He wants that crisis of thought to hit you this Advent season so that your joy can be full in the confidence that you have a God who has come to redeem you by His death on the cross; that you have a Saviour who comes to you in His Word and Sacrament; that you have a Christ who is coming quickly to set all things right, so that you will no longer have to suffer reproach, you will be free from all your oppressors, and all your shame will change to praise (Zephaniah 3:18-19).

 

It can feel like being blind-sided, if you’re not expecting it. It can make you anxious and drain away your confidence, but only insofar as you are relying on yourself to keep it all together. He proclaims things that are beyond your understanding so that you will trust in Him and not in your ability to sort everything into its proper category. He comes to you suddenly, not to send you into a tizzy, but so that you will rely on Him to control the situation of your salvation and not feel you have to steer it for yourself or for your loved ones. He comes to give you the peace of placing everything into His hands where it will all be set aright—your questions, your fears, your sins, your loved ones, your enemies.

 

Like an Advent series that you think will go in a certain direction, and then brings to light an unintended angle, so the coming of Christ can catch us off-guard, fighting to stick to our script and getting anxious that it is not going the way it was intended. The coming of Christ to us at any time can be a bit of blind-side hit. It finds us getting anxious as we strive to meet our commitments. A certain hymn puts an unexpected lump in our throat. A Scripture text suddenly causes us to rethink the revelation of God, the reception of the Sacrament brings a flood of tears to our eyes. That is the way of Christ’s coming and His way of giving us a crisis that will have to surrender all things to Him.

 

True joy and celebration can only come when we trust in Christ fully to let go of the things we feel we need to control, whether in our plans or in our understanding. Christ is coming to put it right. He is the One who came in such great love for you and for all, that He boldly went to the cross to suffer and die for your redemption. He is the One you can trust.

 

As He kept reminding His people, “I AM the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt. You shall have no other gods” (Exodus 20:2-3). Don’t trust in anything else, but Him, not even in yourself. You couldn’t even believe in Him if He did not make it happen. And He does. The Holy Spirit at work in the Word calls, enlightens, and keeps you in the one true faith. He works in you through the words of Jesus the same way that He worked in those who heard Jesus in the temple during the Feast of Booths. “Many of the people believed in Him. They said, ‘When the Christ appears, will He do more signs than this man has done?’” (John 7:31).

 

Jesus says to you, “I AM the One who speaks on His own authority” and I speak to you My forgiveness and pardon. “I AM the source of the river of water for eternal life.” I gave My life for you so that you might live eternally. He continues to say, “I AM coming quickly” (Revelation 22:12). And as He comes, even if it blind-sides you in some way because you were expecting something different, He comes so that you may “Sing aloud... shout... rejoice and exult with all your heart” (Zephaniah 3:14).