December 3, 2024

Today's Reading: 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13

Daily Lectionary: Isaiah 9:8-10:11; 1 Peter 5:1-14

…May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you (1 Thessalonians 3:12)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. 

Advent has been called a season dedicated to waiting. We wait to celebrate the humble birth of Christ at Bethlehem, and we wait to experience Christ’s glorious return at the Last Day. With a dual focus on Christ’s first coming and His second, we devote this time of the year to waiting. Waiting reminds us that there is nothing we can do to hasten Christ’s second coming, just as men did nothing to hasten His first. We can only do what the people of old did before Christ was born at Bethlehem; we can simply wait for Him to arrive.

The Thessalonians had to experience waiting. Paul and Silas started the congregation but were soon forced to leave. (See Acts 17.) The people were without a pastor and had only briefly heard the Gospel of Jesus proclaimed. So, Paul was eager to get back to them and “supply what is lacking in [their] faith,” namely, more instruction in the Word.

The Thessalonians were waiting for Paul and Silas to return to their city, and, like all Christians, they were waiting for Jesus to return to His earth. That they might be ready for Christ’s return, Saint Paul wrote to them about some specific things they ought to do as they waited.

“… may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all … so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.” Waiting is not simply sitting back and doing nothing. No, in this case, waiting means we prepare for the coming of the One who loves us by loving others. First, our fellow Christians, but also everyone else. Just as Christ’s love extends to all, so too for the Christian. This is preparation for the coming of Jesus, which is to say, we prepare for the coming of the Holy One by being holy.

Notice that St. Paul prays for the Thessalonians not that they will do something in order to be ready but rather that God will do something to them to make them ready. It is God who increases our faith, God who builds us up, God who makes us blameless and holy and ready. Therefore, as we eagerly await His return, we should seek Him where He has promised to come to us in the meantime: in His Word and in His sacraments. There, He is at work forgiving our sins, building us up, and increasing His love in us so that we might in turn increase our love toward others. There, He is making us holy and preparing us to receive Him when He returns. 

It is good to remember each year that as Christ came in humility, He will come again in glory. Advent reminds us that that same Jesus who was born at Bethlehem will return as the Lord of Lords. Together, let us join with so many others in waiting.

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

O Come, Thou Branch of Jesse’s tree, Free them from Satan’s tyranny, That trust Thy mighty pow’r to save, And give them vict’ry o’er the grave. (LSB 357:4)

-Rev. Joel Shaltanis, pastor of Lord of Life Lutheran Church, Plano, TX.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, KY.

What makes a church "good?" Come join the fictional family as they test out eight different churches in their brand-new town and answer this question along the way. Will the Real Church Please Stand Up? by Matthew Richard, now available from Concordia Publishing House.