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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Once again upon us is Advent, with its emphasis on our repentant preparing for the three “comings” of our Lord: the annual celebration of His past coming in the womb of the Virgin Mary, His present comings in Word and Sacrament, and His future coming to judge the living and the dead. As with last year’s midweek Advent services, this year’s again follow the Order of Vespers, using both the Magnificat for the canticle and the ancient “O Antiphons” before and after it. We also are again singing the corresponding hymn stanza from the thirteenth‑century versification of those O Antiphons and using the sermons to reflect on the O Antiphon’s specific title for Christ, His attribute it develops, and the related purpose it gives for why we want Him to come. Four of the seven O Antiphons were considered in Advent midweek services last year, and the remaining three seemed logical for Advent midweek services this year. (If you missed or want to review last year’s four sermons—including the first with its background information on Advent, Vespers, and the O Antiphons—you can read or hear those sermons online or ask for a CD or cassette recording.)
Tonight’s O Antiphon addresses Christ as “Adoni”, which the hymn-stanza paraphrased as “Lord of Might” (there are some other interesting differences between the O Antiphon and the hymn stanza, too). Locate tonight’s O Antiphon inside your service folder on the top right, and let us pray it the way we will sing it in a bit, with the congregation taking the indented portion.
O Adoni and ruler of the House of Israel, Who appeared to Moses in the burning bush and gave him the Law on Sinai:
Come with an outstretched arm and redeem us.
Tonight’s First Reading, Exodus chapter 6 verses 1-13, is a major basis for that O Antiphon, along with the account of the Angel of the Lord speaking to Moses from the burning bush in Exodus 3 verse 2, not to mention the account of the giving of the Law on Sinai in Exodus chapters 20 through 23. In Tonight’s Reading of Exodus 6, God, Who had previously made Himself known to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as “God Almighty”, makes Himself known to Moses (and so also to the Israelites and to us) as “the Lord”. He further makes Himself known as the Lord Who, among other things, will redeem the people of Israel with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. Among those great acts of judgment certainly are the ten plagues of water into blood, frogs, gnats, flies, the death of Egyptian livestock, boils, hail, locusts, darkness, and the death of Egyptian firstborn. Those great acts of judgment certainly can also be called “mighty deeds”, done by a God who is “all-mighty”, regardless of what you call Him.
“My father is bigger than your father!” or so a smaller boy on the school playground or neighborhood street might assert against a larger rival when feeling threatened in some way. (I think I correctly remember it being said to me, though I do not recall ever saying it.) What is the implication? That the smaller boy’s father could, if it came to that, beat up the larger boy’s father, right? And, there might be some boys and fathers out there who would use their physical size and any corresponding might for such a purpose. For what purpose do we want our Heavenly Father to use His might? We have been talking about prayer in the Midweek Bible Study, which has been displaced for a few weeks by these Advent services and the upcoming holidays. For what do we pray our Almighty God? A luxury sports car? Better friends or family? Physical health? There are no doubt correct ways to pray for such things, but tonight’s O Antiphon emphasizes prayer for the Lord of Might to “Come with an outstretched arm and redeem us.”
We pray for the Lord of Might to come and redeem us because we are sinful. Tonight’s Second Reading, Romans chapter 5 verses 12 to 21, traces out how sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and how death passed to all people because all sinned. Whether or not we sin by asking God for the wrong things or in the wrong way, we sin in countless other ways. The Law God gave to Moses on Sinai show us our sin, and God’s judgment on the basis of that law brings our condemnation. As we heard in tonight’s Third Reading, John chapter 5 verses 19-29, God the Father has given all judgment to the Son. (Yes, the Son came to save, but judgment is unavoidable.) Because such judgment by nature hangs over every one of us and could come upon us with finality at any time, we urgently need to repent: to turn in sorrow from our sin, to trust God to forgive our sin, and to want to do better. Such repentance is necessary not only in the penitential season of Advent but every day of every other season, too. When we so repent, then God forgives our sin, whatever our sin is.
Some people love to sing about the might of the Lord. For example, “My God is so great, / So strong and so mighty, / There’s nothing my God cannot do!” Yes, the mountains, rivers, and stars are His mighty handiwork, but we cannot access God in His might and awesomeness! Yes, God chose ten plagues, or mighty deeds or great acts of judgment, by which to redeem the people of Israel, deliver them from slavery, and bring them out from under the bonds of the Egyptians. But, God chose to redeem us, deliver us from our slavery to sin, and bring us out from under our bonds by an act of judgment that appears a lot less mighty: His only-begotten Son in human flesh, as an infant wrapped in swaddling cloths and laid in a manger, and as an adult whipped and beaten and hung naked on a cross. By that Son’s birth, death, and resurrection, God makes available, in the words of the Second Reading, the free gift that brings justification, the forgiveness of sins. Or, as Jesus put it in the Third Reading, whoever believes has eternal life.
Forgiveness of sins and so also eternal life are similarly given to us in ways that do not appear to be mighty at all: water with the Word in Holy Baptism, a pastor’s words spoken to an individual in Holy Absolution, and bread and wine with the Word in Holy Communion. Again, God chooses to give us forgiveness of sins and so eternal life in these ways that do not appear to be mighty at all—ways that some reject because they cannot imagine how such less‑than‑mighty ways could possibly give such great gifts. Yet, the Lord’s great acts of judgment are great not because of their appearance but because of what they accomplish, which may not even meet the eye apart from faith. Tonight’s Psalm (103) confessed that the Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed, out of His immeasurable love, compassionately and graciously forgiving our sins, removing them from us the infinite distance that separates the east from the west. Judgment is a theme common to all of our Biblical texts this night, and we realize the Lord’s great acts of judgment are not so much deciding something as restoring the relationship our sin disrupted. In His limitless freedom, the Lord with His might fulfills His promises to redeem us. He reconciles us to Himself.
Redeemed and reconciled, we naturally produce the good works or the fruits of repentance or the fruits of faith that provide the basis for the final judgment when the Lord comes the final time. Still sinful until then, we live each day with repentance and faith so that we live each day in the forgiveness of sins and without fear of that judgment. Just as the ten plagues brought devastation to the Egyptians and the same great acts of judgment delivered the Israelites, so whatever destruction God brings upon unbelievers is deliverance for us who believe. So with confident hope and eager anticipation we again responsively pray tonight’s O Antiphon:
O Adoni and ruler of the House of Israel, Who appeared to Moses in the burning bush and gave him the Law on Sinai:
Come with an outstretched arm and redeem us.
And all God’s people say: Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +