Prepared By and For the Coming of Christ

For the culture around you, what passes for “Advent” begins the day after Thanksgiving with Black Friday and the shopping season frenzy.  But for the Church, the Season of Advent begins with the Sunday closest to this day, the Feast of St. Andrew the Apostle.  And there could hardly be a more appropriate starting point to your preparations for the Coming of Christ Jesus.

To begin with, St. Andrew was a disciple of St. John the Baptist, the last of the Old Testament Prophets and the Forerunner of the Christ.  St. John is a particularly significant Advent figure, and we’ll be hearing more about him (and from him) in the weeks before us.  For he is the Voice of God, crying out in the wilderness to prepare the Way of the Lord.  And it is by his preaching and Baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins that St. Andrew was brought to Christ Jesus.

In much the same way, you also are prepared for the coming of Christ, you are brought to Him and given to follow Him as a disciple, by the office and ministry of St. John the Baptist, that is, by the preaching and Baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of your sins in the Name of the Lord.

You could not prepare yourself for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.  But, with Andrew and the other disciples, you are prepared for Christ and brought to Him by His Word and Sacrament.

The preaching of the Law calls you to repentance by exposing your sin and your desperate need for a Savior.  Do not grow weary of hearing that Word, for it remains true throughout your life, until you shall return to the dust from which you are taken.  As you examine your life according to the Law of the Lord and His Ten Commandments, you discover nothing in you but sin and death.  You do not love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.  You do not call upon His Name at all times and in all places.  You do not give your full attention to His Word and preaching.  And for all of this, for all your lack of faith and love, it is true that what you deserve is nothing else but punishment, the righteous wrath and eternal punishment of God.

Confronted by this condemnation of the Law, your only proper and appropriate response is sorrow at your sin, humble contrition, and true repentance.

And already the Lord’s response is to meet your sin with His Word and preaching of the Gospel, His gracious Word of Holy Absolution, His free and full forgiveness of all your sins, which is given to you in the Name and for the sake of Jesus Christ, “the Lamb of God,” who takes upon Himself and takes away the sins of the whole world.

This simple description of Jesus as “the Lamb of God,” as St. John describes Him to Andrew and the other disciples, is an extraordinarily rich and significant proclamation of the Gospel.  It first of all recalls the sacrifices that Yahweh provided for the atonement and forgiveness of His people.  But it also signifies that Jesus is the Lamb whom God has provided for Himself, in the place of young Isaac, and in the place of all the sons and daughters of man.  And as such, it points to Jesus as the true and everlasting Passover Lamb, whose Blood now covers His people forever from death and judgment, and whose Body feeds them as the Meal of Salvation and fellowship with the Lord.

Hearing this Word of the Lord on a regular basis, the preaching of His Law and His Gospel, is the way and the means by which you remember and live within the ongoing significance of your Holy Baptism, to which His Word called you from the outset.  Day by day, His Law crucifies your flesh and calls you to repentance, and His Gospel raises you up with Christ Jesus in His Resurrection, adorning you with His perfect righteousness and holiness, so that you are ready for His Coming.

Thus do you live the Christian life, the daily discipline of repentance and forgiveness.  And thus are you prepared throughout Advent, along with St. Andrew, as a disciple of St. John the Baptist.  But then also, with St. Andrew, you are catechized to follow Christ Jesus as one of His disciples.

That is one of the main points to this Holy Gospel.  St. Andrew did not remain with St. John the Baptist.  The Forerunner’s task (and the task of preachers to this day) is to prepare the people for the Christ, to lead the people to the Christ, and to entrust them to Christ Jesus alone.  So it was that St. John’s Baptism became the Baptism of Christ and His Spirit, and St. John’s preaching of repentance was for the forgiveness of sins because it pointed the people to the Lamb of God.

It may not have been easy for St. John to let go of his own disciples and to send them after Christ.  He likely struggled with his pride and the temptation of his own self-importance.  But the Word and Spirit of the Lord gave St. John the strength to carry out faithfully the duties of his office, as we have heard, for example, in this case of St. Andrew.  “Behold the Lamb of God,” St. John declared.  And that was all it took.  From that point, St. Andrew would follow the Lord Jesus.

It’s not just a case of chasing after Him to get His autograph.  St. Andrew addresses the Lord as “Rabbi” (teacher), and thereby acknowledges that he will learn all things from Jesus.  Being a “disciple” in this way is more than going to classes, reading books, doing your homework, and taking exams, as though the Christian faith and life were some kind of academic pursuit or a terminal degree program.  Being a disciple certainly does involve the learning of facts and the acquisition of knowledge, but that is really only one small part of discipleship.

As a disciple of Jesus, St. Andrew would learn how to live his entire life from his new Rabbi.  He would be learning life itself.  He would “eat, sleep, and breathe” the Way of Christ, like a new recruit in boot camp.  That is what it means to be a disciple: For you now, as for Andrew then.

That is the significance of finding out where Jesus is staying, and then coming to abide with Him there.  The disciples of Jesus live their entire life with Him, both day and night, 24/7.  For He is the Word of God made Flesh who tabernacles with us, and as the Lamb who is sacrificed for our sins and raised from the dead, He is Himself the Temple wherein we live and abide with God.

Along with St. Andrew, you are called to find your entire life in Christ Jesus, to follow Him and learn all things from Him as a disciple.  From the waters of your Baptism into Christ, you live and walk in the Way of the Lord in daily repentance and by faith in His forgiveness of all your sins.  And you also come and see where He is staying, and you stay with Him in the House of the Lord; which is to say that you live and abide with Him within His Body, the Church.

It is within His Church that you “eat, sleep, and breathe” Christ Jesus, learning from Him, from His Cross and Resurrection, how to live and how to die by faith in His Word as a Christian.  Here it is that you recall the significance of your Baptism, the door by which you first entered into His House.   And here you participate in the “Household Meal” of His New Testament Passover.

As in the case of St. Andrew, following Christ Jesus and living with Him in His House is not a selfish or solitary pursuit.  There is no such thing as a private Christian.  Rather, as St. Andrew first sought and found his brother, Simon, seek out your family and friends; urge them to come and see and join with you in receiving the forgiveness, life, and salvation of the Christ who has come.

Do it by confessing the Word that you have heard, and by the example of your life in accordance with that Word.  As you learn to live your entire life by faith in Christ, as a Christian disciple, show forth His Gospel in dealing with your neighbors.  Demonstrate the same grace, mercy, and forgiveness that you receive from Christ.  This most natural evangelism isn’t any sort of program; it is a way of life in the Way of Christ, just as He teaches you to live in Him.  So, like St. Andrew, bring others to Jesus by bringing them to His Church, to the House where He is found in the flesh.

To be sure, in bringing his brother, Simon Peter, to Christ Jesus, St. Andrew also foreshadowed the additional way in which he and his brother would be called to serve the Lord.  For these men were not only called to follow Jesus as disciples — as you and all Christians are called to follow Jesus and to learn from Him — but they were also called and sent as Apostles of the same Lord Jesus Christ.  And that is quite another matter altogether, for which we give thanks and celebrate.

As an Apostle, St. Andrew was sent in the Name and stead of Christ, as a personal representative of the Good Shepherd.  In that office and vocation, he continued the Ministry of St. John the Baptist and of Jesus Himself.  He baptized others into Christ for the forgiveness of their sins, he preached the Word unto repentance and faith, and he fed the sheep with the very Lamb of God.

In all of these ways and means, the Ministry of the Gospel is more than just a word or message about Jesus.  It is the real presence and proclamation of Christ Himself, who comes to you here and now by these very Means of Grace to prepare you for His coming in glory for the final judgment.

Although we have not received any written record of St. Andrew’s preaching and teaching as part of the New Testament Scriptures, he remains (along with St. Peter and the other Apostles) an important and integral part of that “foundation of the Apostles and Prophets,” upon which the Christian Church on earth has been established by the Lord Jesus Christ, even to this day.

Our blessed Lord, in His own divine wisdom and great mercy, chose to call St. Andrew to that Apostolic Ministry of His Gospel, for the benefit of His Church and to the glory of His holy Name.  And as St. John writes in his Book of the Revelation, we know that St. Andrew’s name, as one of the “Twelve Apostles of the Lamb,” adorns the foundation of the Holy City, New Jerusalem, the very city of heaven itself, for which we wait and hope and daily pray, especially during Advent.

In a very real sense, that Apostolic Ministry began when St. Andrew left St. John the Baptist and took his brother with him to follow the Lord Jesus Christ.  From that day, the very same Apostolic Ministry has continued by the grace of the same Lord Jesus throughout the centuries, also here and now to you, by which you are prepared for the Salvation ready to be revealed on the Last Day.

By this Ministry of the Gospel, by the preaching and Baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of your sins, and by the Body and Blood of the Lamb, given and poured out for you to eat and drink, you are prepared to face your death and your own “judgment day,” as St. Andrew was prepared by the same Word and Sacraments of Christ for his own courageous death as a Christian martyr.

Having been baptized into the death and Resurrection of Christ, and having been fed by His Body and His Blood in the Holy Communion, St. Andrew knew by faith that he had been made ready by Christ Jesus Himself, in body and soul, for the life everlasting.  So also for you and all who are baptized into Christ.  Even your death from this mortal life is not able to separate you from Him.

That is what the Feast of St. Andrew and the penitential Season of Advent are really all about.

No matter how much Advent and the shopping season might coincide on the calendar, they are as different as night and day.  In the one case, you prepare yourself for a frenzy of fun by spending lots of money, time, and energy, and by working hard to do and do and do a million things.  But in the other case, in the Season of Advent, you do nothing for yourself.  You spend nothing, and you do no work at all, but you receive by grace the free forgiveness, life, and salvation of Christ.

Here within His Church you are prepared for the coming of Christ Jesus, for that day when He shall call you from this vale of tears to Himself in heaven, by the coming of the same Lord Jesus Christ right here and now in the Ministry of His Gospel.  For He is here with you in the flesh, the very Lamb of God who takes away, not only the sins of the world, but all of your sins.

And so it is that, with St. Andrew, and with all the saints who have gone before us in the faith of the Lord Jesus, you are baptized in His Name as a beloved and well-pleasing child of His God and Father in heaven.  You are forgiven by the grace of His Gospel.  You are fed from His Table and served by His love.  And by this Apostolic Ministry of Christ, you are given His Life Everlasting.

In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

The Word of Faith That Is Preached to You

In the beginning was the Word, by whom and for whom all things exist, and without whom there is nothing.  He alone is your Light, your Life and your Salvation.

This same divine and living Word has become flesh and dwells with you in love.

He has become flesh to bear your sins in His own Body to the Cross, and to shed His holy, precious Blood for you, in order to atone for all your sins and to redeem you, to justify you with His righteousness and reconcile you to God the Father, to sanctify you with His own Holy Spirit, and to share with you His own divine, eternal life.

He is the true Passover Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world — who takes upon Himself and takes away your sin — who covers you with His Blood and feeds you with His flesh.

In order that you may behold Him, and recognize Him, and receive Him as the Christ, your Savior and your God, the Lord has sent the Forerunner to preach repentance, in order to make a disciple of you by baptizing and catechizing you.

Apart from this Word and Sacrament (the Ministry of repentance for the forgiveness of sins) you cannot even see the Lord Jesus.  Far less could you come to Him, believe in Him, or follow Him.

It is by the Word and Spirit of Christ, by the preaching of Christ Jesus, that you are pointed to Him and brought to Him in faith.  Whereas, without His Word, you remain utterly in the dark, subject to death and damnation.  Thus, not only all of creation, but everything pertaining to faith and life and godliness depends upon the preaching of the Word of Christ.  Otherwise, you have nothing.

It is for your sake, for your life and salvation, that the one true God has opened His mouth in love and spoken His Word to you, and thereby breathed His living and Life-giving Spirit into your body and soul.  And with this divine and holy preaching of God Himself, He has established for you, and for His whole Christian Church on earth, a most sacred tradition of the Word, that is, a handing over of the Son of God from heaven to earth, from then till now, from God the Father unto you.

The Father speaks forth His Son to make the heavens and the earth, and to create man in His Image.  The Father speaks forth the same only-begotten Son in the flesh, to bear your sin and be your Savior.  And as the Father has thus spoken, so does the Son speak His Word to you, which is Spirit and Life.  He speaks to you by the ministers of His Word, called and sent in His Name.

And by that Word that is preached to you, far more than simple information is conveyed.  Indeed, the very Lamb of God is manifested to you, and you are called to repentance, to faith and life in Him, through His free and full forgiveness of all your sins.

That is what this Word does: It forgives you.  And by this Holy Absolution, this Word of forgive-ness, you know the one true God as your own dear Father; you live and abide with Him in peace.

This God and Father still speaks His Son to you.  He sends His man, John, to go before His face to prepare His way — to prepare you for His Advent (His coming) — and to point Him out to you: the Lamb of God, who saves you.  And He sends His servants, Andrew and Simon Peter, His James and John and Paul, His Richard and David and others, to preach the one Lord Jesus Christ to you — to bring you to Christ Jesus in faith, and to bring you to Himself in Christ.

Now, then, what is it that you seek?  Is it not life, and a place to live, a place to call home?

That life and home are in Christ; and Christ is here for you in His Word of the Gospel: He is so very near to you, in your ears, in your heart, and even in your mouth.  First of all as He speaks His forgiveness of your sins, and bestows His peace upon you, and feeds you in body and soul with His holy body and precious blood.  And as He thus gives you life, by grace through faith in Him, so does He open your lips to declare His praise, and He opens your mouth to confess His Name.

You, then, carry on this sacred tradition of the Word: Speak as you are spoken to.  As you have heard, so also believe, and call upon the Name of the Lord.  Pray and confess His Word.  Speak Christ Jesus to your neighbors, beginning first of all with your own family, your spouse, your parents and your children, your brothers and sisters.  And speak to the members of your true and permanent family, that is, to your brothers and sisters in Christ — as Brother Andrew spoke to Brother Simon.  For you belong to them, and they belong to you, as fellow members of one Body in Christ, His holy Church.  For His sake, speak in holy love and with free and full forgiveness.

Do you find yourself speaking otherwise, and not with such grace and evangelical eloquence?

Hear and heed the Word of Christ to you: Repent of your sins and follow Him.  Come, hear and see where He lives, and how He lives.  Receive His hospitality and abide with Him.  For He is your Teacher, and He catechizes you for life.  He has died for you and shed His blood for you, but see, He has also risen from the dead and lives for you, as well.  The very blood that He has shed for you now anoints you with His Holy Spirit and fills you with His righteousness and peace.

Taste and see that He is good — in Him is Life, and that Life is your Light and your Salvation.  Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away your sins.  You are forgiven.  You are His very own.

In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen

The Word Is Near You

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God — by Whom all things were made.  In Him is Life, and the Light of the world, and the divine Love that upholds all things.

That Word has become flesh and dwells among us in grace and truth.  He has become like you, in order to be your Savior and to share His Life with you.  Having become true Man, He has borne your sins in His own body of flesh, and He has shed His blood to atone for all your sins.

This is what the Word of God has done for you.

He has created you for life and love.  He has fashioned your flesh, given you the blood in your veins, and breathes oxygen into your lungs, with the good and gracious will that you should live, not only here and now, but with Him forever.

For it is not only that He has become like you, but He has made you to be like Him.  He has created you in His Image, in order that you might become and be His brother; and that His God and Father should thus be your God and Father; so that His Holy Spirit should also abide in you and with you, and rest upon you, and remain with you, unto the life everlasting.

Therefore, the same Word of God who became flesh, true Man born of Mary, still comes to you and makes His dwelling with you.

He has not only given Himself for you and atoned for all your sins, but He comes to give Himself to you, to save you from your sin and death.

Being the Word of God, He comes to you by speaking, by the voice of preaching.  That is why St. John the Baptist was sent by God, a voice in the wilderness, to preach and point to Christ Jesus, the Word-made-Flesh, the Lamb of God.  In and with that voice of preaching, Jesus Himself drew near to His people and appeared among them.  And He has ever since continued to call and send preachers in His Name.

As St. John preached and pointed out Jesus to Andrew, and Andrew brought his brother Simon Peter to Jesus, so did Andrew and Peter preach to countless others.  And, following in their footsteps, first as disciples and then as ministers of the Word, the Lord has provided a holy tradition of pastors and preachers in every time and place, even to this time and place, even here and now.

The holy Apostles are the Lord’s first and foremost gift to His Church on earth — His one holy catholic and Apostolic Church — because, not only did they preach Christ and administer His Sacraments in their own day, but by their example and the inspired record of their words and works, of their doctrine and fellowship, Christ Jesus still draws near and dwells among us.  So does He speak to you and dwell with you today.

It is especially appropriate that the Feast of St. Andrew should mark the beginning of the Church Year, and the beginning of holy Advent — the sacred season of our Lord’s coming — since Andrew was among the first of our Lord’s disciples and Apostles.  Though we have no Scriptures from his hand, we have the apostolic witness of his life and ministry, of his discipleship and apostleship.  He heard and followed Christ Jesus, preached His Gospel, absolved sinners, baptized and communed disciples, and finally gave his body and life for this Ministry of Christ, our Lord.

Truly it is meet, right and salutary that we should remember St. Andrew with thanks and praise to the One who called and sent him.

The preaching of Christ Jesus is fundamental and necessary to faith and life and salvation, as much so as the Cross and Resurrection.  And the apostolic office of preaching is fundamental to that ministry of faith and life.  For how should any preacher preach the Word of Christ, if he is not called and sent by that one Lord, Jesus Christ, in His Name and stead, with His own voice and authority of the Gospel?

But, Christ be praised, that He does call and send preachers, and He puts His Word on their lips, into their mouths — His preaching of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

Like the Prophets before them, and like St. John the Baptist, St. Andrew and St. Peter and the other Apostles, and the pastors and preachers who have followed them in the Office of the Holy Ministry, have been appointed and ordained as watchmen for the Church on earth.  They warn against sin and unbelief, in order to turn you away from death.  And along with that, they preach Christ Himself, His Gospel and His Life into your ears, into your heart and mind, into your body and your whole life.  So it is that you live instead of dying.

The preaching of Christ Jesus is the preaching of forgiveness, because He truly is the Lamb of God who takes away your sins.  And that preaching of the Gospel of forgiveness is “the Word of faith,” because it is by that preaching of Christ that your ears are opened to hear Him, and your heart is opened to believe in Him, to fear, love and trust in Him.

Christ and His Spirit are actively present and at work in this preaching, and through this preaching, to create and nurture faith in your heart; in much the way that God created all things out of nothing by His Word, and called forth light out of the darkness by His Word.

That same Word of Christ that is preached to you, also opens your lips and your mouth to confess His Name and to call upon His Name.  And you shall not be put to shame; because He has mercy upon you, and He saves you by His grace — by this preaching of His Word of the Gospel.

Not only does this preaching of Christ Jesus forgive you and save you from sin and death, but it still points you to this Lamb of God, and it gives you life and salvation by setting you at His Table to feast upon His flesh and blood.  His sacrifice upon the Cross was once and for all, but just as He is risen from the dead and lives and reigns to all eternity, so is this great Feast of His Sacrifice, His Holy Communion, an ongoing and never ending meal of Salvation.

How much closer could He be to you, than He is here in this Feast of His Body and His Blood?

So, then, do you want to know where He is staying?

Come, and you will see.  Hear and heed His Word, His preaching, and follow Him here to His house, and stay with Him here, where He stays with you.

He is here with you and for you — He is near you, in your ears, and in your mouth, and in your heart — because He sends His preacher to you here, and He causes His Word to be preached to you here, and He draws near to dwell with you in this preaching.  This Word forgives you and feeds you, and it shall not fail you.  For this Word of Christ is the Love of God, His Life and Light and Salvation — for you and for the many.  He is the Christ, the Messiah, and He has found you here.

In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

The Feast of St. Andrew, the Apostle

In the beginning was the Word, by whom and for whom all things exist, and without whom there is nothing. He alone is your Light, your Life and your Salvation.

This same divine and living Word has become flesh and dwells with you in love.

He has become flesh to bear your sins in His own Body to the Cross, and to shed His holy, precious Blood for you, in order to atone for your sins and redeem you, to justify you with His righteousness and reconcile you unto God the Father, to sanctify you with His own Spirit, and to share His own divine life with you in peace.

He is the true Passover Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world — who takes upon Himself and takes away your sin — who covers you with His Blood and feeds you with His flesh.

In order that you may behold Him, and recognize Him, and receive Him as the Christ, your Savior and your God, the Lord has sent the Forerunner to preach repentance, to make a disciple of you by baptizing and catechizing you.

Apart from this Word and Sacrament (the Ministry of repentance for the forgiveness of sins) you cannot even see the Lord Jesus, much less believe in Him or follow Him.

It is by the Word and Spirit of Christ, by the preaching of Christ Jesus, that you are pointed to Him and brought to Him in faith. Whereas, without His Word, you remain utterly in the dark, subject to death and damnation. Thus, not only all of creation, but everything pertaining to faith and life and godliness, depends upon the preaching of the Word of Christ. Otherwise, you have nothing.

It is for your sake, for your life and salvation, that the one true God has opened His mouth in love and spoken His Word to you, and thereby breathed His Spirit into your body and soul. And with this divine and holy preaching of God Himself, He has established for you, and for His whole Christian Church on earth, a most sacred tradition of the Word: a handing over of the Son of God (from heaven to earth, from then till now, from the Father unto you).

The Father speaks forth His Son to make the heavens and the earth, and to create man in His Image. The Father speaks forth the same only-begotten Son in the flesh, to bear your sin and be your Savior. And as the Father has thus spoken, so does the Son speak His Word to you, which is Spirit and Life: He speaks to you by the ministers of His Word, called and sent in His Name.

And by that Word that is preached to you, far more than simple information is conveyed: indeed, the very Lamb of God is manifested to you, and you are called to repentance, to faith and life in Him, through the forgiveness of all your sins.

That is what this Word does: It forgives you. And by this Word of forgiveness, this Holy Abso-lution, you know the one true God as your own dear Father; you live and abide with Him in peace.

This God and Father still speaks His Son to you. He sends His man, John, to go before His face to prepare His way — to prepare you for His Advent (His coming) — and to point Him out to you: the Lamb of God, who saves you. And He sends His servants, Andrew and Simon Peter, His James and John and Paul, His Richard and Gifford, to preach the Christ to you — to bring you to Christ Jesus in faith, and to Himself in Christ.

Now, therefore, what is it that you seek? Is it not life, and a place to live, a place to call home?

That life and home are in Christ; and Christ is here for you in His Word of the Gospel: He is near to you, in your ears, in your heart, and even in your mouth. First of all as He speaks His forgiveness of your sins, and bestows His peace upon you, and feeds you, both body and soul, with His holy body and precious blood. And as He thus gives you life, by grace through faith in Him, so does He open your lips to declare His praise; and He opens your mouth to confess His Name.

You, then, carry on this sacred tradition of the Word: Speak as you are spoken to. As you have heard, so believe, and call upon the Name of the Lord. Pray and confess His Word. Speak Christ Jesus to your neighbors, beginning first of all with your own family, your spouse, your parents and your children, your brothers and sisters. And speak to the members of your true and permanent family, that is, to your brothers and sisters in Christ (as Brother Andrew spoke to Brother Simon). For you belong to them, and they to you, as belonging together to the one Body of Christ, His holy Church. Therefore, speak in holy love and with free and full forgiveness.

Do you find yourself speaking otherwise, and not with such grace and evangelical eloquence?

Hear and heed the Word of Christ to you: Repent of your sin, and follow Him. Come, hear and see where He lives, and how He lives. Receive His hospitality, and abide with Him. He is your Teacher, and He catechizes you unto life. He has died for you and shed His blood for you, but see, He has risen from the dead and lives for you, as well. The very blood that He has shed for you now anoints you with His Spirit and fills you with His righteousness and peace.

Taste and see that He is good — in Him is Life, and that Life is your Light and your Salvation. Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away your sins. You are forgiven. You are His own.

In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen