Establish Your Hearts

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Waiting is difficult for children. Advent is a rough time for a young mind. The tree goes up, the wrapped packages start appearing, and you may not touch them. Talk of Christmas presents starts to happen – maybe even the trips to the stores to buy them for others. They spend the time from Thanksgiving to Christmas with daily reminders of what is coming, but is not yet. The wait is excruciating. The temptation to touch, to handle, to go exploring, is almost more than they can bear. It is as the Chipmunks say:

Christmas, Christmas time is near
Time for toys and time for cheer.
We've been good but we can't last;
Hurry Christmas, hurry fast!
Want a plane that loops the loop,
Me, I want a hula hoop.
We can hardly stand the wait;
Please Christmas, don't be late!

 Even a simple trip to the grocery store or a department store can be a test of a child's patience – and a parent's, for that matter. Hurry up and wait. Don't touch that. Stand still. No, you may not have that. Put the candy back. Keep your hands to yourself. The five minutes it takes to check out from the grocery store feel like they will never end to a child who has already endured a march up and down the aisles.

Waiting is a difficult task for a child. No child is born with the innate ability to sit still and wait for something to happen. We are born crying, and never really stop.

Waiting is difficult for adults, also. You might be tempted to think that adults have gotten past the phase of hopping up and down in the store aisles in hot anticipation of a treat, but we are now only two weeks removed from the madness of Black Friday. And of course – case in point – hordes of Americans cannot even be troubled to control themselves until Friday anymore. Black “Friday” now starts on Thanksgiving night, and in some places, as much as a week beforehand.

You may see this problem writ large in our nation, as well as on a personal level. Would you rather pay down debt or spend your money now? It is no fun to pay debts; it is much more enjoyable to put off the bills until some future date. Paying your debts means you must delay gratification of your desires. Paying off your debts means that you must take responsibility for what you yourself have incurred, and deal with it as you agreed.

It is very easy, in our society, to “finance” things, be it land, cars, machinery, business expenses, or the operation of government. It is seldom necessary to save beforehand, because someone will lend you them money, for a not-so-small convenience charge. In days past, our forefathers saved for a purchase. You did not buy a car until you had the cash to walk in and buy it. You did not go to college unless you could pay for it, or work for it directly. The government did not start projects unless it had the actual gold to back its debts.

But all this is merely a symptom of the greater illness. You are ill at ease with waiting. Patience is not a virtue to the sinful man. “I want it now!” is the cry of the world, whether young or old. You want what you want when you want it, and you would do what you must to get it, whether it be wailing in the candy aisle or trampling the other guy at WalMart.

St. James says, “Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord.” Be patient. Settle down and hang onto your hats. Christmas will come. The store will still have the goodies tomorrow.

But waiting for the Lord is difficult, also. When will the Lord come? You often are moved to cry out, like the Psalmist, “How long, O Lord – how long?!” You look around, and the world is getting worse by the minute. Death crowds in at every turn, in every instant. The world is sitting in darkness, and the shadow of death grows longer and longer.

Wars and rumors of war abound. Natural disasters, “acts of God”, and calamities befall the young and old. You sit by and watch as loved ones are devastated by disease, while you are powerless to help, except to pray “Thy will be done... But deliver us from evil.” Waiting for the Lord is difficult, and the condition of the world makes it all the more so.

You heard in today's Gospel lesson of St. John's petition to Jesus: “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” At every turn, you are tempted to look for another one to come, another Messiah, another savior from the world's ills and ailments. When our long-suffering Lord delays in coming to our rescue, at least in our eyes, it only makes the temptation more acute. There are always those in the world who will seek to claim your attention and your allegiance, who will hawk some snake-oil answer to your problem while failing to address the real issue – your sinful nature and the death sentence that is laid upon the whole creation because of human sin.

“Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord.” You may cry out “How long, O Lord?”, but do not lose heart or give up faith. The day of the Lord is coming, yea, is at hand. But you must be patient.

“See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and late rains.” Farming is an exercise in patience and faith. The farmer plants his seed, but must wait for the fruits of the earth, being patient as the ground receives the rains and the sun. He can neither make it grow nor control the weather.

Neither can you control the coming of the Lord. The day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night, according to His schedule and plan, and you can neither hasten it nor prevent it. Therefore, “Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.” The coming of the Lord – His advent – is at hand. The kingdom of God is coming, and now is – right here, right now. This is the day of the Lord, just as surely as Jesus spoke to John's disciples back then.

How do you know that the coming of the Lord is at hand? Because He is here, speaking to you and making Himself known through signs, just as foretold by the prophets. What does our Lord say to John's people? “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” This is how you know that the Lord is at hand – because He is doing what He said He would. You know the Lord is at hand because His work is being done.

The Lord is here, now. He came into this world as a baby, conceived by the Holy Spirit in the Virgin's womb. He was born into the dark Judean night to break the blackest night of human sin. He healed the sick, cleansed the defiled, raised the dead, and preached to the downcast and distraught. The Lord is at hand, because His Word is preached and His Gifts are given.

The earth has brought forth the precious fruit for which it so earnestly yearned. From the virgin soil of Mary's womb sprouted the shoot from the stump of Jesse. In that pure and kingly hall, the Lord of heaven took up His throne in the flesh of man, that He might come forth to walk the path set before Him.

And that path that was set before Him was the road to Calvary. The Lord is at hand, not to serve, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many. It is this for which our fathers waited – for the day of the Lord's deliverance.

For the fruit of the earth that comes forth is the Lord Himself. Our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified for us men and for our salvation. He was crushed for our iniquities and bruised for our transgressions. The great and terrible day of the Lord came, just as He had foretold, and it broke upon the head of the Son of Man. The wrath of God to be revealed against sin was poured out upon the Son of God, our Savior. The single seed was crushed and buried into the earth, and the earth swallowed Him.

But then – o great and glorious day! – the precious fruit came forth in radiant splendor. The seed which had been crushed burst the bonds of death and rose up out of the ground. The earth could not hold the Lord of Life in the realm of the dead. Our Lord Christ burst forth from the tomb and rose victorious over sin, death, and the devil. The gates of hell lay shattered; the captives were led into the kingdom of our God. Death was defeated and life now reigns.

The waiting ended that day. No more waiting for the salvation of our God. No more waiting for the coming of the Lord to deliver His people. No more waiting for the sacrifice to be offered for the sins of the many. No more waiting, because your sins are forgiven now, here, forever. The night ended and the everlasting day of the Lord dawned, never to set.

So establish your hearts, and be patient as you wait for your deliverance. The day of the Lord has dawned upon you already. You live in His light, made perfect and holy and pure by His blood shed for you, by His life given for you and poured into you. You are filled with His Spirit, who keeps you steadfast in the faith.

“As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.”

Waiting is difficult. It requires patience and self-control. Cries of “How long, O Lord?” must give way to “Thy will be done.” But look to the prophets for examples of godly patience and perseverance. They foretold things which they did not see. They prophesied the day of the Lord which they did not live to witness. They suffered in hope of things to come.

You have seen the purpose of the Lord. You have received the fruits of His sacrifice for you. You have tasted and seen that the Lord is good. You know that the Lord is compassionate and merciful, because you have received His mercy. What the prophets waited for with patience and long-suffering, you receive, because now is the day of the Lord.

Now it only remains for you to live in this day of the Lord, and to remain steadfast in the faith until the final, great and glorious day of the Lord when our Lord Christ shall come again to call His people forth and lead us into the courts of heaven, into the houses prepared for you. You have what the prophets longed for; establish your hearts and hold fast to the blessed hope of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ has died; Christ has risen; Christ will come again.

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.