Sunday Service | Advent, week 1: November 29, 2020
Today is the first Sunday of Advent, the divine intervention of Jesus into the world & into our lives. There are four themes of the four Sundays leading up to Christmas, representing these themes: Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love.
The first candle, representing Hope, is lit to remember that Jesus is the hope of the world, our hope. We open ourselves up to this idea today as we begin this season of Advent.
Throughout scripture, there is a tension, a wrestling present: “already, not yet.” There’s this truth that God is with us and that things are not yet whole and perfect yet in that relationship. In Advent, we remember Jesus’ birth and we anticipate his return. Advent is in the center of this tension and invites us to find hope and joy in the midst of it. Jesus comes to begin the story of our relationship being made right, and all the separation being wiped away from between us & God. In Advent, we examine where Jesus is in the midst of our own life tension: where there is pain, hurt, frustration, and conflict. We get to participate with Jesus to bring hope, life, love, and reconciliation to those places--just as does in his own coming.
This participation brings hope to our lives.
Biblical hope is not optimism. Optimism is based on a flimsy idea that “everything will work out in the end.” Hope is based on who God is and what he promises. Hope is not something that happens to us; hope is found in the person of Jesus and in our relationship with him.
This Advent, we will learn some names of God that will help us follow Jesus & better engage with the hope of this season.
Jesus & Immanuel
These two names are found in Matthew 1.18-23:
This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
The angel came to Joseph to tell him not to be afraid, but to engage with his marriage and his soon-to-be-born child. And he gives him both a name, Jesus, and a Title, Immanuel.
Jesus is a transliteration of the name Joshua or Yeshua from the Hebrew. It means “the Lord is salvation”, or “God saves.” It is a very popular name in Jesus’ day, but God sets it apart here. To God, names matter and have much weight for the person that has it. This Jesus is fully man AND fully God, and he will save us from the sin which separates us from God. Our hope is in this Jesus, because he leads us out of sin and death, into a relationship with God, into our true identities, and into eternal life.
No circumstance is greater than the truth that God saves.
Immanuel means God with us. It is connected to the Old Testament prophecy of Christ, or the Messiah, who brings unity and peace (the Hebrew idea of shalom). This is what the narrative of the Bible is all about: a redeemer, a restorer who will come and be the beginning, middle, and end of God’s story with us.
Immanuel is a prophetic name. To the people hearing it from Isaiah (see chapter 7), it was heard in the context of a war that was threatening their whole lives, including their identity as God’s people. They are losing heart and losing faith rapidly in their circumstances, so Isaiah speaks this word of hope over the most vulnerable of them: the pregnant women. God promises, through Isaiah’s words of a coming baby, that they will have their babies, that their children will live, and that they will not lose their identity in God even if they lose this war.
In Matthew, this prophecy is reframed around Jesus to expand the message not just to a singular people of God at war, but now to ALL people, calling them to see Jesus as the promised hope for everyone, that God himself is with us.
The hope of Jesus is meant for everyday moments. Jesus as Immanuel reminds us of that true hope: that God is indeed with us in all circumstances; therefore, we have hope!
This promise enables us to navigate hard times with these names of God on our lips, encountering our thoughts and our circumstances and even our actions towards others. Jesus is the hope of all humanity, and Advent invites us to remember that. Advent invites us to cultivate this hope so that others can see this hope in our lives.
Reflect on these questions this week and make some time to cultivate the hope of Advent in your own routines:
Where do we need saving in our lives?
Where do we need God to be with us?
God of hope. Giver of hope, help us in our hopeless moments. Turn our hearts and minds to the promise of the gospel, to your dear Son, Jesus Christ. Strengthen our faith in what we have heard. Especially in our troubles, remind us of our true home with you in heaven. Help us to hope for eternal life with you. Help us to live your eternal life in our here and now!
We pray this in Jesus’ name
Amen.