First Sunday in Advent

Ad Te Levavi

Readings

• Jeremiah 23:5–8
• Psalm 24
• Romans 13:11–14
• Matthew 21:1–9

Hymns

• 798 The God of Abraham Praise
• 332 Savior of the Nations, Come
• 359 Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming
• 349 Hark the Glad Sound

The Lord Jesus Comes in Humility to Redeem Us

The new Church Year begins by focusing on the humble coming of our Lord. “Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey” (Matt. 21:5). Even as He was born in a lowly manger, so Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a beast of burden. For He bears the sin of the world. He is the Son of David riding to His enthronement on the cross, where He shows Himself to be “The LORD is our Righteousness” (Jer. 23:5–6). Our Lord still comes in great humility to deliver His righteousness to us in the Word and Sacraments. Before receiving Christ’s body and blood, we also sing, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” (Matt. 21:9) And as we receive the Sacrament, we set our hearts on His return in glory, for “our salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed” (Rom. 13:11).

18th Sunday after Trinity

Readings

• Deuteronomy 10:12–21
• 1 Corinthians 1:1–9
• Matthew 22:34–46

Hymns

• 564  Christ Sits at God’s Right Hand
• 694  Thee Will I Love, My Strength, My Tower
• 831  “How Shall They Hear,” Who Have Not Heard
• 549  All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name

In Life and Death, Christ Fulfills the Law of God

The Pharisees ask a Law question. Jesus asks a Gospel question. The Pharisees seek to test Jesus in His own words. Jesus seeks to “test” them in the saving reality of who He is as the Messiah (Matt. 22:34–46). The Law requires you to “fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul” and to “love the sojouner” (Deut. 10:12–21). Failure to keep the Law perfectly brings judgment. On the other hand, the Gospel brings the grace of God given by Jesus Christ, that you may be blameless in the day of His return (1 Cor. 1:1–9). Jesus is David’s Son yet David’s Lord, true God and true man. He is Love incarnate who fulfilled all the demands of God’s Law on our behalf, that we might be saved from the Law’s condemnation and sanctified in the Gospel’s forgiveness. Thereby we see that “God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Cor. 1:9).