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The Christian church year doesn’t begin on New Year’s Day, as our secular calendar does, but begins on the first Sunday in Advent, which is always the fourth Sunday before Christmas. The word Advent comes from the Latin verb advenire, which means “to come to,” so Advent means “an arrival, a coming to.” In Matthew 21:1-9, when Jesus arrives at Jerusalem on the back of a donkey, it is His “advent,” His “coming to” that city as her King. Once you have come to know the meaning of the word advent, you can understand why the first season of the Christian Church Year is called Advent. If God’s Son had not come to earth and become a Man named Jesus, who God the Father sent to be the Christ (or Messiah) of Israel, then there would be no Christianity.
So the first season of the church year, Advent, focuses us on the basic message of Christianity, the wonderful truth that God has not abandoned His creation that we ruined by our sin, but that He Himself has come to save it. And the way He would bring all this about was through three advents that have occurred over many centuries and one final advent that we are still awaiting. First, in the Old Testament God promised His people that He would send them a Christ who would come to save them, a promised advent; then this Christ would come to this world to suffer, die, and rise to win forgiveness of sins and justification for sinners — this is the advent of Jesus 2000 years ago; then Christ promised His Church that He would continue to come to her through Word and Sacrament until the Last Day — this is the advent of Jesus still today; and finally, He promised that He would come again to judge the living and the dead — His final advent on the Last Day. These four advents or “coming-tos” by our Lord are what the season of Advent is all about, and it is all essential to God’s plan of saving you.
As our King continues to come to us in the Word and the Sacraments in the Church, He also announces that He will come back visibly on the Last Day to judge the living and the dead. At the end of the book of Revelation, Jesus says, “Surely I am coming soon.” And the Church answers: “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” And so the season of Advent also calls us sinners to another sort of “coming to”: we all need to “come to,” wake up from our slumber, regain consciousness of His imminent coming, when He will send unbelievers to hell and bring believers into His everlasting Kingdom in the resurrection on the Last Day.
The secular world’s Christmas season has no interest in the final coming of Jesus, and this can lull us to sleep if we let it. We can get caught up in the fun, the partying, the preparations, and lose consciousness of our Lord’s return. We can get lulled to sleep by disappointment and depression if the Christmas season reminds us of lost loved ones, or broken relationships. So Advent announces to us in our sinful drowsiness: “Come to! Wake up! Repent! Get ready to meet your Lord, who is coming soon!”
It is not wrong to enjoy all the preparations and festivities of the Christmas season, but don’t let those things cause you to put off repentance and preparation for your Lord’s final coming. So come to, wake up, repent, put off all the sins that keep dragging you down, put your guilt onto the back of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, who died for every one of your sins, the One who says to you, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). And He promises those who come to Him in faith, “Whoever comes to me I will never cast out … For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:37, 40). Amen.
