I suppose you're getting used to the idea that Advent really isn't that much about Christmas. It's kind of hard to accept it, though. I didn't intend it this way, but the Christmas type messages have been taking place during the Midweek services. These Sunday services, instead, have focused on anything but Jesus' birth.

Today is no exception. By the time we come to this point in Matthew, Jesus has been preaching and healing; helping and teaching; this isn't about Jesus' birth either. It's when His ministry is already established. Already doing what He has come to do. Advent asks us, "Are we ready for Him to do that, do what He has come to do?"

If we say, "Yes," then it means we are also ready for Him to come back. It's hardly a reminder you need, because you have been hearing it for the last several weeks, but Advent is getting us ready for Jesus to come back. Its purpose is to develop an attitude of penitence, to create in us a life of penitence. When we are penitent, we are ready for His work; we are also ready for Him to come back.
(Penitence)
And what is penitence? Let me put it really simply. It's crying out, "Lord, have mercy." If we master that, we know what is penitence. It's not just saying the words; it's meaning it. It's crying out for help because we know what we are. What we are. Not just what we do; what we are!

I heard a British pop star sing about herself and show what she was. She sees just how materialistic she is but then she excuses it. She sings, "I'm a weapon of massive consumption, and it's not my fault; it's how I'm programmed to function."

"It's how I'm programmed to function." That's our excuse. I'm programmed this way. God won't hold me accountable; this is the way I am, the way He made me. If it's anyone's fault, it's His. Sound familiar? Sound like Adam in the garden? The woman you gave me, she gave it to me and I ate it.

He will hold you accountable. That's the point. If we blow off what He says, if we don't think He holds us accountable, then we will never be interested in what He has done.

Everyone else around us, especially those who are not Christian, will feed us that line. "God won't hold you accountable. He doesn't expect you to be something different from what He made you. This is what you are naturally.

This is what He is struggling to get through to us. "Yes, it is natural. This is what you are naturally, but as you are, you are doomed. You need help. Do you get it yet?"

Our big challenge as Christians is to stand apart from the world. I don't mean stand distant, as in separating ourselves. We don't separate ourselves from it. The people of the world can't spare us doing that. They need us to be there to show them and tell them what God has done. They need us to serve them. They need us to be there, so we can know how we ought to pray for them. So we can't separate ourselves from them, but we have to stand apart from it. We have to look different. If we hold the same ideas, the same philosophies, have the same expectations, do the same things, then we are no different from the world. We can't call ourselves Christian.

And so, our purpose this Advent is to see how to stand apart from the world so we are ready for the work He is to do. But a huge problem with being ready to have Him do what He is to do, is that He is not what we think He is. Jesus is not what we--or at least the world--thinks He should be.

John's disciples were having the same problem. Every great teacher had students who followed him, to be taught by him. They were also called disciples. John had his. John's job was to point to and prepare the way of Jesus, for anyone who would hear. John also wanted to wean his disciple from him, so they would follow Jesus.

Jesus was not what they expected Him to be, though. They were like just about everyone else. They expected a Messiah that was a warrior. They expected a king or at least someone who obviously had some royal blood. When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, it really threw the people off. And Jesus' reputation had already been throwing off John's disciples. He was poor. He hung around poor, sick people and outcasts of society. He didn't surround himself with the type of people they figured he should have. In fact, they didn't want to have much to do with Him. Following him would do nothing for their political careers. It would only set them back.

That's what the people of that day expected in a Messiah. What do people want today? What do they expect in Jesus? How much does this show in our own expectations?

The expectations have changed quite a bit. For one, people don't care about a Messiah riding a horse and running out the Romans. Nobody today expects Jesus to be a political hero or a warrior. In other words, people today like the fact that Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem. That fits our expectations. The peaceful figure fits well with what we expect.

Even helping the poor, which was so scandalous for that day, suits us well today. We love to hear about the poor being helped. It makes us feel good. We don't mind at all the fact that Jesus gave sight to the blind, made the lame walk, cleansed the lepers, raised the dead and preached good news to the poor. In fact, that suits our picture well. We have an image of Jesus tenderly reaching out to the poor and the downtrodden. Of course, we don't want to see ourselves as any of that. We have our comfortable vantage point, where we can watch, and we can cheer. We can even step into it for a little bit, but step back out when we start getting uncomfortable.

But if there is one thing the world can't stand, it's an intolerant Jesus. They like the Jesus that says, "Judge not," but they hate the Jesus that says, "Out of the heart comes evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander." They love a Jesus that's all about love and peace and tolerance and family but they don't want to hear Him say, "Do not think I have come to bring peace, but a sword to turn the members of a man's household into his enemies. They want a Jesus that says, "I have come to fulfill the Law and the Prophets," and they want to make that mean He has abolished them. This way, things clearly said in the Old Testament are no longer binding. People who claim to be something by nature that is actually unnatural, are not condemned because their Jesus has said he won't condemn them.

Another thing they can't stand is a Jesus who is concerned with truth. With their Jesus, making people feel good about themselves is more important than the truth. Their Jesus would never speak a harsh word of truth or something that would make a person feel bad. No, He would do all He could to make sure people knew they are by nature good people, who occasionally do bad things. The same goes with a person that has wrong beliefs. Their idea of love-a love that really isn't concerned about the person-trumps truth. Their Jesus would never tell anyone his belief is wrong.

But this is not the real Jesus. We may have come to believe the same kind of Jesus the world wants to believe. But it's not real. He is loving and patient, peaceful and tolerant, but when it is not in the best interest of the person, He will love them enough to tell them what will hurt. He shows it again and again, speaking the truth in love, even truth that hurts. These occasions don't square with what the world wants Him to be, but we have to recognize that He is what He is, and He is that because this is what we need.

Finally, we want a Jesus who will make all our wishes come true. We want to be comfortable financially. We want to be healthy. We want our families to be just the way we would have them. And when we don't get these things, we wonder about what kind of Jesus He is. I thought He loved us. I thought He wanted us to be happy. How can I be happy if I don't have these things? And we find, despite what Jesus said right before John's disciples left, we are actually offended by the real Jesus.

The whole purpose of going through this, comparing our expectations with the world's, is so we see how we are so much like the world. If we are like the world, we are not much like God and we are spiritually empty. Jesus had said the good news is preached to the poor. It is preached to us. You had it proclaimed to you when I spoke the absolution to you. This is the good news to be preached to the poor. Do we see we are it?

When we see we are like the world, when we see our expectations are no different from theirs, we realize there isn't a whole lot of difference between them and us. Where we used to think we were so different, we recognize we are not.

Furthermore, Jesus answered John's disciple's questions if He was the Messiah by pointing to what He had done. He compares what He has done with what the prophets said He would do. What does our life look like? Is it obvious we are different? Do we lovingly serve our neighbor? We may do some good things, but don't they? We may ask for forgiveness, but don't they? Don't we hold many of the same ideas, make the same excuses? Then when makes us different? Is there much? Is there anything?

We can say, "Yes, but I'm baptized," but we're not ready to say that yet. We are just using our baptism as an excuse to be just like everyone else.

I fear I may have been preaching this way. And if so, I'm terribly sorry. I've seen signs of this way of thinking in our congregation, and have felt huge regret. Consistent with this same kind of thinking we use coming to church and receiving forgiveness here also as an excuse. "I'm forgiven. I heard God say it, so everything is fine." Still, if we say it this way, we're still not ready--the same with the Lord's Supper. "I received forgiveness in the Lord's Supper, so I'm forgiven."

What did I say was penitence? To cry out "Lord, have mercy!" Not, "I already asked for forgiveness!" This was what John was doing. He was preparing people for Jesus' work. This is what is going on here. Do you see how we use God's gifts for our own selfish purposes? Do you see how we manipulate God? We don't deserve to be forgiven. We can only do one thing when we see all this. One thing: We can cry out, "Lord, have mercy."

We are the poor. We thought we had so much going for us between us and God. We thought we had it together, but we don't. We are miserable sinners, the poor Jesus has come to proclaim the good news. He has come to proclaim it to us.

That's what is happening in the Old Testament lesson. "Comfort, comfort my people. Tell her that her warfare is ended, her iniquity is pardoned, she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins."

This is what He says to you, to all of us who are seeing what we are and crying out for mercy. "Your warfare is ended; your iniquity is pardoned. You have received from the Lord's hand double for all your sins."

Absolution says, "Your warfare is ended." You know you don't deserve to be forgiven, but for Christ's sake, you are. You know you don't deserve to be a child of God, but it was determined before time and then sealed to you at your baptism. "Your iniquity is pardoned." To actually be in the presence of the Holy God is more than you could ever dream, but He does more. He gives you that presence. "You have received from the hand of the Lord, the Lord Himself, double for all your sins." In the supper, you receive not only assurance of forgiveness, but actual forgiveness, more forgiveness than you have sin.

This is what Advent is about. It's hearing John's work of preparation, and being prepared for our Lord--for His work, and finally for His return. I'm sorry that it's still not about Christmas yet, but it will be soon, and when it is, we will be even more ready for Christmas to come. Not because we have delayed it so long, but because we will be celebrating the mercy for which we have learned to cry.

AMEN