1st Sunday in Advent “Put On The Light”
December 3, 2023 Romans 13:11-14
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Dear brothers & sisters in Christ,
As you know, there are 4 gospel-books in the Bible, Matthew/Mark/Luke/& John. Matthew/Mark/&Luke are called the ‘synoptic’ gospels; those 3 tell of the life & work of our Savior in a very similar way. Likewise, they tell the Advent/Christmas story of Jesus in the same way – with the angel’s announcement to Mary & to Joseph, the journey to Bethlehem, Jesus’ birth, & the shepherds with the heavenly host of angels.
The Gospel of John, however, does not retell that same story with those earthly facts. Instead, John tells us the Christmas story with the spiritual facts. He says:
‘In the beginning was the Word, …and the Word was God. …In Him was life, and the
life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not
overcome it. …and the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we have see His
glory.. as the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.’
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That -too- is the Christmas story. For our Sundays in Advent, we will think about this Light of Christmas. And Paul’s letter to the Romans will help us out. In Romans 13,
Paul is explaining something about Jesus being the ‘light of men’ to shine in our darkness. Paul reflects what John wrote when he says,
“….the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now
than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast
off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the
daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in
quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for
the flesh, to gratify its desires. (Rom 13:11–14)
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The truth is: The darkness has a sinful beauty that lures & charms us. But as sinners redeemed by the righteousness of Christ, we are brought into the light – to live in the light.
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When our kids were younger, our family enjoyed the adventure of going to a tree farm
to cut down a pine tree to stand in our home as our Christmas tree. So I have memories of the aroma, & the sticky sap, & the loose needles of those trees. After deciding on a fitting tree, & dragging it to the car, & tying it down, that was just the beginning.
The trunk had to be trimmed straight, the stand had to be inspected to make sure it would hold, it had to be muscled into the house, and it had to be turned & turned again to find the best-looking side to face out.
And then finally we could step back, take a breath, and admire the smell & beauty;
but it still wasn’t finished. We did admire the tree itself for its natural beauty, but we were all anxious to get to the next step = from darkness to light. We were eager to Put On The Lights, and to see another kind of beauty – as the tree became dressed up in ornaments & garland.
In one form or another, most Christians go thru this routine during the Advent season leading up to Christmas. Those various kinds of decorations, ornaments & lights have a rather simple & godly purpose: to celebrate that Christ has come to our earthly-plainness; He is the Light of the world & decorates us. He shines thru the darkness of our sin & death, and He gives us hope & peace.
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In Romans 13, Paul refers to a kind of routine as we prepare for Christ = the light of the world. Of course, we are 2,000 yrs too late to prepare for Christmas. We prepare only ‘to celebrate’ Jesus’ first Advent; but more importantly, we are to prepare for the 2nd Advent & the Day to come. Paul isn’t concerned with our trees & decorations, or our colored light bulbs. Instead, our hearts & minds & lives need to be prepared for the Son of God to return.
And even if Jesus doesn’t return before many more of our annual Christmas celebrations, every day we need to be prepared to go to Him – thru our own death, at which point our eternal destination is determined.
Paul knew that preparing for that is far more important than what we do with a pine tree & temporary decorations = even if that brings us some joy. Instead, our celebration of Jesus’ Nativity, and our walking properly as in the daytime, is to be our true preparation for an eternal exit out of darkness, and into His marvelous eternal light.
‘The day is at hand,’ he says, ‘cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light. …put on the Lord Jesus Christ.’ That’s the chief reason we celebrate Christmas;
to prepare for the day when Christ comes in all his splendor, power, & glory, with all the heavenly angels, to banish the darkness with His victorious light. His Nativity reminds us that the One who is coming is the One we have already seen; the very Son of the Father, full of grace & truth. He was sent into our darkness to be our hope & light.
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Besides the spiritual truth of Christmas, John’s Gospel is the one that records Jesus’ quite memorable words that some call ‘the gospel in a nutshell’. Jesus said, ‘for God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son.’ Our use of the word ‘love’ can lead to some confusion. Here, it does not mean that God has very strong feelings or loving emotions toward His creation. The feeling of love IS a thing, but the greatest part of love is the action it does;
and that’s John 3:16.
Talking of loving feelings is not the backbone of a marriage; but living out the vow of faithfulness is the action of that love. How many marriages have you heard of that dissolve because he or she doesn’t ‘feel’ the love they once had. Well, feelings change; feelings are not foundation. Imagine if our HL Father listened first to his feelings about his rebellious & apathetic creatures. Because of our ‘spiritual adultery, He certainly would’ve ‘fallen out of love’ with human beings, beginning with Adam & Eve.
Or, imagine Jesus, after 3 yrs of hard work, when his disciples were so slow to learn, and the teachers of the Law were plotting to kill him === imagine that when He gets to the Garden of Gethsemane, He looks up into heaven & says, ‘Father, I don’t feel like going thru with all this suffering & death = not for them. I feel tired & burned out; I have to think of my own emotional needs here; so, I quit.’
I’m sure God has many feelings toward His creation & mankind; but far more,
He showed His love in that he gave His only son; He kept His vow; He showed His love when Christ died for the ungodly. God does speak words of love; but far more, God’s Words became flesh & dwelt among us, full of grace & truth. The good news is that Jesus battled against His human emotions to keep His covenant promise of delivering the mercy of God to an undeserving world. He spoke of His feelings when He asked for that cup of God’s wrath to be removed from Him; but He showed His love when He stopped asking, acknowledged His Father’s will, & then He gave himself up to the cross. God’s love-in-action is the light that outshines all the darkness.
And then, in view of that light, WE are commanded to cast off the works of darkness and to put on the armor of light. Earlier in his Letter to the Romans, Paul has to remind us that this sinful nature we have means that we love the darkness; it charms & seduces us.
Even tho our souls are already a new creation in Christ, washed in the promise of Baptism & in the blood of the Lamb, yet our flesh is like a magnet drawn to the rusty scrap-iron of a world fallen away from God’s right things. This is especially hard for the children of God – who are torn between the two. We bear the holy name of our Christmas Savior, and yet we struggle with the luring power of sin. We are tempted to think that in darkness we can get away with our disobedience. Here Paul sheds some light on the shadowy parts of life so that we will not be fooled or deceived by them. Darkness looks like: wild-living & drunkenness, immoralities, jealousies, arguing & fighting.
Flirting with & participating in these things, is like standing in front of that plain dark pine tree in our living room. The aroma is nice for a little while, but -in reality- it is a dying & dark tree. Something is missing before there can be any celebrating. Exposed by the light of heaven, The Spirit identifies for us these works of darkness. But with The Day at hand, the time has come to cast off the works of darkness, & to walk properly as in the Lord’s daylight. You are able to walk in this way because Jesus has become your armor of light.
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In the verses just before our verses, Paul reminds us that the entire Law of God can be summed up in one simple statement: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Rom 13:9). God’s Law identifies where our sin, our darkness, is. In the birth of God’s Son, God’s mercy arrived to pierce the darkness; & even creation itself acknowledge His purpose when ‘the sun’s light failed’ on Good Friday, and our Savior died our sin-death.
And yet, that old life being gone with His forgiveness was not the end. After our pine tree is turned & positioned, & after the brief time of admiring the aroma & the natural, altho dark color, we know that it’s time to put on the lights so the new beauty can shine thru. “Let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.” Now with the resurrected Savior, our new life has already begun; a life that has been brought out of the darkness – to walk in the light; to put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and to live in His light.
His light looks a lot like the life He himself lived among us, full of grace & truth.
It looks like being honest in our dealings with others, caring about our neighbors, being patient with our children, being obedient to our parents & authorities,
….. actively being peace-full in our families, returning kindness to those who hurt us,
and having self-control in a world that does not have the right view of moral living.
With Jesus’ own Sacraments of forgiveness, and His Word of guidance, the armor of light
we need is given & strengthened. And we are prepared for a life of waiting eagerly for Him
to return & take us home.
That’s the message that made the words of our first hymn a prayer fitting for our Advent waiting.
O Lord, how shall I meet You, How welcome You aright?
Your people long to greet You, My hope, my heart’s delight!
O kindle, Lord most holy, Your lamp within my breast
To do in spirit lowly All that may please You best.
He comes to judge the nations, A terror to His foes,
A light of consolations And blessèd hope to those
Who love the Lord’s appearing. O glorious Sun, now come,
Send forth Your beams so cheering, And guide us safely home. (LSB 334)
Amen.