SERMON FOR THE FIRST SUNDAY IN ADVENT
GLORY IN THE HIGHEST
Theme: God your heavenly Father glories the most in those things that do not
seem glorious.
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen. When your Lord Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the angels sang “Glory in the
highest!” and “Peace!” to the shepherds (Luke 2:14). In today’s Gospel, the
Palm Sunday congregation welcomes Jesus into His suffering and death with
nearly the same words: “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!”
they sang. “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.”
Dear Christian friends:
Throughout his Gospel, St. Luke repeatedly speaks about God’s glory in
terms of intense brightness, dazzling light, and unmistakable magnificence. For
example:
· At the transfiguration of our Lord, when Jesus’ “face was altered, and
His clothing became dazzling white,” Luke reports that “Moses and Elijah…
appeared [with Him] in glory” (Luke 9:29-31), using the word “glory” to
emphasize the divine brilliance of this amazing scene.
· Jesus also makes it abundantly clear to you that, when He returns for
you on the Last Day, there will be no mistaking or overlooking His arrival. All
people on earth will see your Lord’s return because He will come “in His glory
and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels” (Luke 9:26). Jesus promises
you, “The Son of Man [is] coming in a cloud with power and with great glory”
(Luke 21:27).
· Think, too, how Luke sets the scene for the angel’s good news of your
Lord’s birth: “The glory of the Lord shone around [the shepherds], and they
were filled with fear” (Luke 2:8-9).
These displays of divine fireworks show that God has an overwhelming power and
glory that strikes fear and awe in all who see it (Luke 2:9, 9:34).
NOT ALL THE GOLD GLITTERS
There is something you should learn and take to heart concerning that
bright glory of God at your Lord’s birth. “The glory of the Lord” shined
brightly around the shepherds in the fields outside of Bethlehem, but nowhere
near the manger in which Mary laid her Son. Jesus is “the radiance of the glory
of God” (Hebrews 1:3), and yet He was swaddled in darkness while the shepherds
were bathed in light. St. Peter states that Jesus received “honor and glory
from God the Father” (2 Peter 1:17) at His transfiguration, but in Bethlehem
His divine glory was hidden and unseen. When the shepherds hurried to “see this
thing that has happened” (Luke 2:15), all they found was “Mary and Joseph, and
the baby lying in a manger” (Luke 2:16).
The same is true of today’s Gospel, and Luke has deliberately tied your
Lord’s Palm Sunday donkey ride to His birth in Bethlehem. Here today, “The
whole multitude of His disciples began to rejoice and praise God,” echoing the
Christmas angels with their joyous song, “Peace in heaven and glory in the
highest!” But there is no more radiance and glory to be seen here than there
was in the darkness of Jesus’ birth. In today’s Gospel, a man rides on a young
colt of a donkey, perhaps raising His feet awkwardly so that they do not drag
on the ground. Born an infant indistinguishable from all other infants, He now
is a pauper indistinguishable from all the other paupers, except for the fact
that they call Him their King.
What exactly did the angels sing, and how did the people outside of
Jerusalem respond? “Glory to God in the highest… glory in the highest!”
· A Baby in a manger, born for your salvation: A loftier and more
elevated glory cannot be conceived in heaven or on earth.
· A Man bouncing toward His execution on the back of a donkey: This is a
divine glory above which there is nothing more glorious.
These Christmas and Palm Sunday Words, “glory in the highest” are very
important for your life, dear saints. These Words teach you what your God
ultimately considers to be the loftiest and the most glorious things. Even more
than that, the Words “glory in the highest” also teach you to look differently
at the things you see happening in your own life.
THE GLORY OF THE INGLORIOUS
God your heavenly Father glories most in those things that do not seem
at all glorious—and He does this so that His Word and His Word alone may be the
source of your faith and the foundation of your salvation. In today’s Gospel,
as in the Christmas Gospel, God is telling you that His highest glory takes
place in the filth of a cattle stall and upon the bloody cross of a criminal.
The things that are most valuable to Him are those things that appear the most
unbecoming, inglorious, and disgraceful in the eyes of all others.
· Jesus, born the king of the Jews, is far more glorious in His infant
darkness than Herod and all other kings combined. This is because Jesus is true
King, the one and only King who does what a king ought to do for His people:
laying down His life for their sake, guarding and preserving their lives in the
face of their enemies.
· “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Glory in the
highest” to Him. He comes, not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life
as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). Jesus comes to establish “peace on earth,”
as the angels sang (Luke 2:14) and “peace in heaven,” as the Palm Sunday
congregation responded. He Himself is your peace (Ephesians 2:14), for in
Jesus—in His suffering and His death and His resurrection—in Him you have
forgiveness of sins and the removal of every disturbance that once robbed you
of your peace.
A Baby in a manger and a Man gangling atop a donkey: God glorious most in the
inglorious, and He exalts the most in that which men despise. God does this for
you. His highest glory consists of the lowest and weakest things so that your
salvation will not consist of what impresses you, but that you believe solely
as a result of His powerful Word doing its miraculous work within you. God
glories in humiliation so that forgiveness may be yours without regard for who
you are, what you can accomplish, or what rank you can achieve. You never need
to measure up when it comes to being accepted by your God, because your God has
already put Himself beneath you and it was His highest glory so to do.
GLORIOUS THINGS OF YOU ARE SPOKEN
A Baby in a manger and a Man gangling atop a donkey: God glorious most in those
things that do not seem glorious—and this is a good thing for your everyday
life. Is St. Paul really all that far from the truth when he writes to the
Corinthians and to all Christians everywhere, “Not many of you were wise
according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble
birth” (1 Corinthians 1:26)? Yet such lowliness is a great and blessed thing,
because
God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is
weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in
the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are (1
Corinthians 1:27-28).
So here we are:
· Some people in this congregation work from sunrise to sunset, and they
keep going even into the depths of the night, just to string together enough
money to feed their families and keep the bills paid. “Glory to God in the
highest… glory in the highest.”
· Others look back over the course of their lives and wonder what they
will have to show for it, other than the scars and aches of a worn out body.
Have they managed even to make a dent in this world, and has anyone noticed?
Will anyone remember? “Glory in the highest.”
· Some people spend what was supposed to be the golden years of their
retirement doing things that do not seem terribly golden: sitting lonely by the
window, caring for an ailing spouse, watching their own bodies waste away.
“Glory in the highest.”
· If we were to sit and think about it long enough, we could probably
convince ourselves that every single one of us is insufficiently appreciated,
inadequately acknowledged, and perhaps even underpaid.
· Think of all the ways your life has turned out differently than it
should have been, and of all the ways things could have been better.
While you are sitting and thinking such things, glory in them! Think of Jesus
riding on a little donkey. Sing “Glory to God in the highest” for the
inglorious things as you experience in your life, because God your heavenly
Father glories the most in those things that do not seem glorious. He glories
in YOU, joined as you are to the crucifixion glory of His Son.
___________________________________________________________________________
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