The Christian message we receive in this time of Advent is unique among all the other world views and religious expressions.

Only Christianity provides a remedy for our personal sins

Other world religions do not lay claim to a divine

Christians have a unique god-man savior, unlike the god of any other religion before or since the coming of Christ. All

And why is this so important? Why is Advent such a crucial

"So how can salvation be reconciled with divine holiness and justice? This is posing the question in the right way. The Christian answer is that God decided to pay the price himself

            The exclusive truth claims of Christianity are, in short, irreconcilable with any other religious tradition. Christianity alone gives us the answer. “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Matt 11:28

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This is the first Sunday in (not of) Advent, the season in which we prepare for the birth of the Messiah through anticipation and penitential reflection on our own spiritual state.

Chapter 13 of Matthew's Gospel is full of parables of Jesus teaching about the Kingdom of God, usually beginning with the words, "The Kingdom of God is like." The parable of the wheat and the weeds at vv. 24-30 talks about how in the church and in this life the wicked and the righteous are growing up together until the final judgment of God. Tares, or darnel, looks like wheat, but it is poisonous.

The great Anglican Bishop J.C. Ryle, in his "Expository Thoughts on the Gospels," described the Kingdom of God as the spiritual reign of Christ over the hearts of believers. This kingdom, though currently small and often despised, will ultimately be great and glorious at Christ's second coming.

Ryle explained the Kingdom of God is not just a future hope but a present reality. All true believers are subjects of this kingdom, living under Christ's rule and striving to reflect His teachings in their lives.

In the Gospel of Saint Matthew, we have the dual narrative of the healing miracles of Jesus for the synagogue ruler whose daughter had died and the severely afflicted woman who had suffered twelve years with a hemorrhage (Matthew 9:18-26). In fact, chapter 9 is full of miracles of healing, by which Jesus extended God's mercy to those afflicted but also, and more importantly, showed his own divine person and work.

Saints aren't just the best or holiest people. Saints are people who place their faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

Jesus taught us to love our enemies and to forgive those who wrong us, even to seventy times seven times.

Why is Christianity the Good News? Scripture and the 39 Articles of Religion show us that in our natural state we are enemies of God. We want to go our own way. We are "dead" in our trespasses and sinful choices unless God intervenes. That's the bad news, and the good news is God has indeed intervened in the person and work of Jesus Christ. By trusting faith in him, and in him alone, we can become children of God, right in position because of what Jesus has done for us.

The parable of Jesus recorded for us in Chapter 22 of Matthew's Gospel, the parable of a wedding banquet, fully encapsulates the Christian Gospel. When those invited fail to come, the King sends out his servants into the world to bring in people called and chosen for the Kingdom of God. They are called as a free gift of the King. They are clothed by faith in the proper wedding garments, just as we can be clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

The terrible storm and flooding that hit our country, in tandem with the warfare and violence afflicting Israel and the Mid East, bring deep sorrow and pain to our hearts. Our response should be sincere and energetic prayer for those matters and all afflicted by them.

Jesus's healing of the palsied man shows the miraculous power to God to heal. Beyond medical science and beyond personality, God's power heals the soul.