Preparing for Worship - November 27, 2022

This Sunday is the first Sunday of a whole new church year, as we begin the season of Advent, in preparation for the coming of Christ. We prepare especially for His coming at Christmas, but also for His coming to us again and again through His Word and Sacrament, and His coming again on the last day. The Scriptures can speak to any of these “comings.” The Gospel lesson is often from the Gospel of Matthew in this church year.

The psalm is Psalm 122. David was glad to be able to come to the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. It was a place of God’s presence and His giving of peace and security to His people. It was also a place for God’s people to pray for that peace, through Him, and give thanks to Him for His goodness. Our churches provide such a place for us today.

The Old Testament lesson is from Isaiah 2:1-5. This is a prophecy of the Lord Himself “teaching His people His ways,” as He came in the Person of His Son, Jesus. Jesus would teach people to follow Him and “walk in His paths.” He would be “the Light of the Lord”  and “the Light of the world,” as “nations would flow to Him” and He and His disciples would take “the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem,” to all peoples. He would bring bring ultimate peace through what He would teach and do as the Savior.

There are two alternatives for the Gospel lesson. It can be Matthew 21:1-11, where Jesus comes into Jerusalem riding on a lowly donkey on His way to the cross to pay for the sins of the world and to bring peace with God. If churches prefer to read this lesson on Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week, an alternative reading is Matthew 24: 36-44, where Jesus taught about His coming again at an unexpected hour on the last day. God’s people are to “stay awake,” spiritually, waiting by faith for Him and His return. There will be, then, the final separation of believers from unbelievers.

The Epistle lesson, Romans 13:(8-10)11-14 also calls God’s people to be spiritually “awake,” for the day of His return, the day of “salvation.” We put on Christ at our baptism (Galatians 3:26-29) and we are to continue to live in His light, with “the armor” of His Word and His good gifts He gives us. That also means seeking to cast off the “works of darkness” and our sinful desires, and to live in Christ’s love, reflecting His love to our neighbor - those people God has placed around us. That is what Jesus first has done for us, as our Savior.