If you want to see some R-rated evidence of the fall into sin, just turn on your television when you get home tonight. You won’t have to flip the channel to find some raunchy Howard Stern interview or some sleazy movie on HBO or Showtime. Instead, just set your dial for the Animal Planet or the National Geographic Channel. Sit back and watch in high definition detail as a wolf stalks, catches and then rips a young lamb’s body to shreds. See the lion’s face that’s smeared with the blood of a dead gazelle that tried to run for its life – and lost the race. See a viper lash out to sink its fangs into a cute and cuddly bunny. There’s a reason why we call it wildlife – they truly represent everything that is wild and untamed. The creation account in Scripture tells us that the animals were created to serve Adam and Eve, but today they kill. They live by instinct, not by conscience. They prey on the weak, and they fight to survive. If you threaten that survival, you’d better be prepared for the claws or the fangs to be aimed at your throat. Nature’s motto is not “live and let live” – but “kill to live.” And because of that that, there is no better image of who you really are than the one you’ll see in the animal kingdom. What the cat does to the mouse and what the eagle does to the rabbit is really no different than what we do with our words and actions as we playfully – and violently – rip apart the lives of others.
“The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand,” says our God, speaking through the prophet Isaiah. The painful truth is that we are worse than the animals. To call our loveless and meaningless actions “beastly” is actually an insult to the beasts. At least, most of them kill for their own survival. We, on the other hand, do it because we want to. We kill the baby in the womb because it’s just not convenient to become a parent and let that baby live. We stab others in the back because we want to get even or get ahead. We rip reputations to shreds with our gossiping tongues because we enjoy it. We purr soft words of piety, but inside us lurks a lion that is eager to devour. The old animal within cannot be domesticated – it can only be killed.
On this night it is good to remind ourselves that it is good to have Advent before Christmas. After all, what good is the Babe of Bethlehem to those who think that they’re already plenty good without Him? As He lies in the manger, He shows us for whom He came. He came for you, Adam, and for you, Eve, who have become far worse than any wild animal – and yet, are still beloved by Christ. So repent, for today is the day of salvation, the season of repentance. He draws nigh even now. He will draw nigh once again with shovel in hand to bury His old, corrupted creation once and for all. His advent is near. His advent is now. Repent and believe.
In His first advent, He came forth – as Isaiah tells us – a branch from the stump of Jesse. Every other king in Israel’s history had been a son of David, a branch of David, but for over 500 years, King David’s throne sat empty and abandoned. His descendents were led away to the Babylonian captivity, and only a seemingly lifeless stump remained. But Isaiah tells us that Jesus is the only one referred to as the branch of Jesse, David’s father. He’s not just David’s son, but David’s equal. A King like the greatest of kings.
But not just a branch of Jesse, either. He also is Jesse’s root, one who came before Jesse in the family tree. In other words, a new Adam. A new man, a sinless man, just as the first Adam had been before the fall into sin. A King who – just as Isaiah told us – has God’s Spirit in every way.
The Spirit rests on Him to overcome our worldly spirits. The Spirit of wisdom and understanding replaces our foolishness and idiocy. The Spirit of counsel and might overpowers our deceptions and our weaknesses. The Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord conquer our ignorance and our impenitence. He hovers over the living waters of the baptismal font to re-create us as sons and daughters of the heavenly Father.
And now you stand before this Son. As the new Adam, He is your father. As the new David, He is your king. He judges you not by what his eyes see or what His ears hear. He judges you with righteousness. And even though you are most certainly guilty as charged, for your sake He takes the blame. On your behalf the rod of punishments leaves wounds in His back. The belt of righteousness about His waist and the belt of faithfulness around His loins – these he removes and wraps around you. He takes your tattered rags of sin and shame and wraps them around Himself. You become what He is, even as He becomes what you are. You switch places so that all of the good that He has becomes yours – and all of your bad becomes His.
Theologians call it the “great exchange,” when He who is the pure and holy Lamb of God makes you to be the lambs of the father’s flock – now pure and holy in His sight. So it is in the Church, where everything is more than meets the eye. For you are different, now – but also the same. Men and women, young and old, meek and arrogant, rich and poor, powerful and powerless – yet, all of you are one in Christ Jesus. It’s just like Isaiah said, for here the wolf dwells with the lamb and the leopard lies down with the young goat. In the holy mountain of His Church, they will no more hurt or destroy. You have been made new, re-created in the image of Him who is perfect peace and love.
All this is true not because we can ever be or become perfect on our own, but because we have been clothed in the perfection of Him who was perfect for us. His blood flowed in the desert of this world to create a new Eden, a Church where God and man are reunited in blessed communion. And you are a part of that Church. He chose you, He brought you, He washed you, He welcomed you, He has fed you with the fruit from the tree of life. A Branch from the root of Jesse has borne fruit, and of that fruit you are welcomed to eat.
So come right up to the tree that gives life. Eat, drink and be merry, for in the new Eden of the Church – here with Him – you will never die, because you have already died to sin and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Blessed are you who are baptized in the name of the Lord, for your sins are forgiven. Your place in God’s family is safe and secure. His Advent has won this for you all.
Note: This sermon is freely and largely adapted from an Advent sermon series that originally was published in Concordia Pulpit Resources.
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