When we consider God’s promises about the promised land for Israel and our own inheritance in heaven, we will steward our most important faith with the greatest care and look forward with anticipation to the revealing of Jesus Christ in his final advent. 

When we think of Christ as God descending to us in our needs and ascending to lead us to the Father, we experience advents not only on Sunday but also during the week.

When you understand the Bible as a Book of Advents, especially birth announcements leading to the incarnation of the Son of God in whom you have been given new birth in baptism, then you gain a greater sense of the presence of God for a life of living hope. I pray our Advent observance will encourage you with the advents of God into your life.

Advent is the beginning of the Church Year for most churches in the Western tradition. It begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day, which is the Sunday nearest November 30, and ends on Christmas Eve (December 24). Advent challenges us, but there is much in our surrounding culture that subtly wears down messages of Christ’s advents. So in an obviously imperfect attempt to reenergize the true themes of Advent and to try to raise awareness of God’s comings and saving presence in every day of life, we will look at familiar Old Testament texts as pre-figurations of the advents of Christ. Our four Sunday Worship and Atrium Bible Classes will follow the theme “THE BIBLE, OUR BOOK OF ADVENTS”. 

The Reading of the Day is from Mark 10:13-16. Following Jesus’ discussion of marriage, adultery, and divorce early in the tenth chapter of his Gospel, Mark shifts into this story about parents and children. (Luke lowers the age even more: “Now they were bringing even infants to Him” [18:15].) Mark writes that the parents wanted Jesus to “touch them” (10:13), and Matthew records that the parents desired Jesus to “lay His hands on them and pray” (19:13). In the following story about the rich young man who cannot say good-bye to his wealth (Mark 10:17–31), we see a stark contrast to these children. The young man won’t let go of his reliance on worldly wealth, whereas the children receive Him who is the true God and Savior.

Our Reading of the day is Luke 15:1-32. A parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. It uses simple figures and illustrations from everyday life in which deep spiritual thoughts are conveyed. When the Pharisees chided Jesus for welcoming the outcasts… the rejected sinners, the dregs of society… Jesus used parables to show where they were wrong and God was right. These parables have one point: God loves you so much that He will move heaven and earth to have you as His own. If you lose your way, God will seek and find you. If you play the fool, wasting your life away in carnal pleasures as a prodigal son or daughter, your heavenly Father will still receive you and your broken, penitent heart. In addition, God will let no one prevail against you, a penitent sinner who… though declared righteous for Jesus’ sake… still feels unworthy and desires that God not soil Himself by coming into contact with you. Instead, you become a new creation in Christ who praises God.

Today we remember Reformation Day of 1517. Our Bible Reading of the Day is John 11:1-45. The ultimate purpose of Jesus’ earthly ministry is drawing near. Jesus has spent time among the people of Galilee and Judea, teaching and healing them. Now, He goes to Jerusalem to die. It is important to notice that this miracle of restoring life leads into the sacrificial death of Jesus during Passover (John 11:55–12:1). By raising Lazarus, Jesus causes enough political stir that the religious establishment seeks from then on to kill Him, eventually leading to His crucifixion (11:53). Indeed, that Jesus dies to give us eternal life is climactically prophesied by the high priest Caiaphas himself (vv. 49–52). Thus, the raising of Lazarus foreshadows Jesus’ giving up His own life that we might live. Jesus returns to Judea to raise Lazarus, knowing that the Jews are seeking to put Him to death (vv. 7–8), yet doing so because He must finally die so that all, not just Lazarus, may rise.

Our Bible Readings of the Day are Luke 11:1–13 and John 16:23–33. In John 16, Jesus prepares His disciples for His imminent death, resurrection, and return to the Father’s right hand. Since He would no longer be with them, Jesus teaches them to exercise their faith in the Father by praying and asking the Father in His (Jesus’) name. Since the disciples had already received His grace and mercy, they could rely on and pray to their heavenly Father, especially in times of hardship, sorrow, and persecution. In Luke 11, the disciples realize that they need to learn to pray, and they ask Jesus to teach them. He, in turn, gives them the Lord’s Prayer as the model prayer (Luke 11:1–4) - not only as a pattern for other prayers (see Matthew 6:9), but also as a prayer worthy of repeating word for word (Luke 11:2). Jesus also motivates us to pray by teaching us that God promises to hear and answer our prayers (Luke 11:5–13). In these passages, our Lord also gives Gospel-driven motivation to pray. God gladly answers the persistent prayer. Even before His believers ask, seek, and knock, God has already promised to give, to be found, and to open the door to His gracious provision in Christ Jesus.

Our Bible Reading of the Day is John 10:1-18. Jesus is in Jerusalem. Earlier, He had    given sight to a man born blind. In chapter 10, we see Jesus addressing the Jews gathered there, including the Pharisees and other religious leaders. In addition to identifying Himself as the Shepherd, Jesus says that He is the door of the sheep (John 10:7, 9). Jesus not only leads us and guides us as our Shepherd, but He is also the door by which we enter to become sheep of His fold. “We are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand” (Psalm 95:7). Thus, He promises: “If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture” (John 10:9). We entered that gate and were made His sheep through Baptism, and He continues to lead us out to green pastures, where He feeds and nourishes us with His Word and Sacraments. 

Our Bible Reading of the Day is Luke 10:25-37. Jesus is traveling from Galilee to Jerusalem, aware that this journey will end in His crucifixion (Luke 9:51). Jesus teaches, preaches, and works miracles along the way, reflecting His merciful character. Through this parable, Jesus teaches us that fulfilling the Law requires continuous love and compassion. This means all of us have fallen short in caring for our neighbors. Our best efforts to “go and do likewise” are exposed as total failures in light of God’s Law. But Jesus, the true Good Samaritan, has not fallen short. He came to do everything for salvation, leaving nothing for man to earn. He found us, dying sinners totally estranged from God, and paid all He had—perfect obedience during His life and a sacrificial death for our sins—in order to redeem us. He gives medicine that heals all sins, including the sin of lacking mercy. He will bear people to a place of refuge, the church, where they can be taken care of and receive more medicine. Then Jesus promises to come back to take all believers to Himself in heaven.