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3rd
Sunday in Advent (cycle a)
 

Texts & Discussion:
Isaiah 35:1-10
Psalm 146:5-10
James 5:7-10
Matthew 11:2-11

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Commentary:

Matthew Henry,    Wesley

Word Study:
Robertson

This Week's Themes:

Joyful Hope
Waiting for Christ's Return
Jesus' Mission of Compassion

 

 

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 Texts in Context | Text Commentary - First Lesson; PsalmEpistleGospel
Prayer&Litanies
|  Hymns & Songs | Children's Sermons | Sermons based on Texts 

 

Looking ahead to Christmas:

     Video: Magnificat ($4.95)
 


Sermons:

  • Expectations, Matthew 11:2-11, RevJan      (see below)

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Expectations
Matthew 11:2-11
RevJan

Pick up any December woman's magazine, and you'll see articles titled "Coping with the Holidays," "How to Avoid Holiday Stress," "Helping your Children Face the Season." I even have an article I tore out from Sunday School Leader magazine a few years ago, titled "Helping Children Get Through the Holidays." The morning news-talk shows have segments on "How to Have a Happy Holiday." The presumption is that there will be stressful moments, anxious minutes, and some downright awful times during the holiday season — because what happens during the holiday season very often does not meet our expectations of what should happen during the holiday season.

Children, especially, have expectations this time of year. When Matthew was three, he asked Santa for a teddy bear. Bob and I were surprised because he already had a teddy bear that he took everywhere with him — to bed, to day care, shopping. When he was sent to his room for some offense or another, he would cry for "best friend, Koko." I was always surprised that we didn't leave Koko behind somewhere, but then he was too important to forget. So, when Matthew asked Santa, at age three, for a second teddy bear, we were surprised. I guess Santa was, too, because Santa didn't leave one that year. Koko continued to be Matthew's best friend and time-out buddy, and we never heard a word about another teddy bear – until the next Christmas.

At the end of his letter to Santa he wrote: "and the bear you forgot to bring me last year." When he went to visit Santa at the mall, Matthew reminded him to bring "the bear you forgot to bring me last year." When he told his grandparents what he wanted for Christmas he said "and the bear Santa forgot to bring me last year." When Santa called him on the phone on Christmas Eve, as he does every year, Matthew reminded him "don't forget the bear you forgot last year." Santa didn't forget that year, and under the tree on Christmas morning was a small, soft, dark brown bear whom Matthew promptly named "Misfit." I don't know what was going on in that three year old mind for a whole year until he got his second teddy bear. I do know that he definitely expected to get his teddy bear. Perhaps the most unusual story about expectations is Charles's Dicken's Great Expectations.

In that story, a wealthy bride is dressing for her wedding, when she gets word, at twenty-minutes-to-nine, that the groom is not coming. From that day on, all the clocks in her house are set at twenty-minutes-to-nine — the time she learned she would never be a bride. When the book opens, many years later, Ms. Haversham is still wearing her wedding gown; the wedding cake is still on the table, covered with dust and cobwebs; and the clocks are still set at twenty-minutes-to-nine. Talk about post-traumatic stress syndrome! Christmas is a time of great expectations. The Jews in John's day expected a Messiah.

They expected someone who would be a king — who would ride into Jerusalem in a chariot of fire, overthrow the Roman Empire, and place Israel over all the nations. They expected a warrior king surrounded by angels. They expected someone who would judge the wicked and bring down the mighty. Our Old Testament lesson tells of this expectation: Your God is coming to punish your enemies. God will take revenge on them and rescue you. [Isa 35:4, CEV] Even Mary's Magnificat echoes some of this expectation: He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. [Luke 1:51-53]

John, Jesus' cousin, who leapt in his mother's womb when Mary arrived at their house, had expectations of his cousin: "He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire." [Mat 3:11-12] Yet, in this morning's scripture lesson, John is questioning whether Jesus is the Messiah. John had been imprisoned by King Herod. On a visit to his brother in Rome, Herod had seduced his brother's wife. He went home, dismissed his own wife and married his sister-in-law, whom he had lured away from her husband, his brother.  [continue]