Anti-glory [Advent 2; St. Luke 21:25-36]

Jesus speaks to you today, in His Gospel, saying,

“So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near.”

The Alleluia Verse also spoke to us the words of Jesus saying that all the powers of heaven shall be shaken and the Son of Man will come with power and great glory. Even the Introit and the Collect; all of our Propers this day point us to the time when the Lord will come to shepherd us and cause His face to shine upon us and save us.

We have plenty of proof that the world is going to hell, for earth and even heaven will pass away, saith the Lord. But is this what Jesus was talking about that we need to be watchful for? Do we really just need to hang on to every news story from Fox or the 700 Club in order to be ready for the Coming of the Son of man?

According to most news outlets, God isn’t fixing what is wrong. We pray, but that doesn’t seem to change anything. We can act, but there’s always something else. One after the other. As soon as we try to turn our lives around or try to love our neighbors as ourselves, there is always too much to do. Maybe God is tired like us.

How many of you know what a manger is? You know, that thing we lay Jesus in every Advent. We have farmers in this congregation, so maybe it is somewhat familiar, maybe not. In any case, it is a feeding trough.

In Bible times mangers were made from clay mixed with straw or from stones held together with mud and we have heard of mud and straw before when the Hebrews were slaves under Pharaoh. Jesus is born and is laid in the symbol of the slavery of His people.

Our word, manger, comes from the Latin meaning to chew. This is not a clean item. The spot where animals feed is popular and heavily trodden. You can imagine the mud, the slobber, and the waste. All to welcome the King of Kings on the night of His birth.

You see, great power and glory do not look like a manger to you. To you, great power and glory is a Superbowl win, or a big check in the bank, or maybe even a complete stop to all evil in the world, especially mass shootings. Perhaps you are more humble in what you think power and glory are so they could be providing for others, financial freedom, or good health. If you think small enough, then maybe you can see God working.

Repent! So what is the opposite of great power and glory? Failure? Poverty? Homelessness? A dysfunctional family or disease? Whatever your idea of it is, by pointing it out in others, you simply judge yourself. Do not think that simply because you know good and bad, that it gives you the longer end of the stick.

However, “The celebration of Advent is possible only to those who are troubled in soul, who know themselves to be poor and imperfect, and who look forward to something greater to come.” (Bonhoeffer)

Jesus tells us that the world is passing away. You should not be comfortable here. You should not want to keep a summer house here. Most of all, you should not expect a world that crucified its Creator to be at peace.

God’s thoughts and way are not yours, but at least you know them. Yes, you know what God is thinking and what He is doing about all this evil: He is bringing it to an end.

In Jesus, you find the thoughts and actions of God. God is not idle, but He doesn’t do things the way you want Him to. As God allows Himself to be placed in a manger, that symbol of slavery and oppression, He is bringing things to an end.

By being born of a virgin; by become just like you in every way, except without sin and by riding donkeys to crucifixions, Jesus makes a way. The Glory of the Son of God is the fact that He becomes a servant. The Glory of the Son of God is the fact that He is humiliated. The Glory of the Son of God is the fact that He dies.

Jesus teaches us and the whole world what it really means to be fighting and winning against evil and that is dying in order to forgive all sin of all people of all time. The glory of the world is a hero in shining armor, making laws to ban all evil wherever it may be found.

Jesus is the true hero and He is to be found in the shining white clothes of the resurrection, which begins in the filthy rags of birth in a manger. For our true enemies are not found in far away countries, domestic congressional houses, nor in prisons or mass shootings.

The real enemy is found within our hearts. It is there that we find, in the deep recesses, the same potential to unleash evil as anyone else on the planet. It is in that heart that we find the same filth that surrounds the manger and swaddling clothes of Jesus.

But it is to that exact place that Christ arrives. In the manger of your enslaved and festering heart, wrapped in the swaddling filth of your death, and sleeping in peace amid much evil, Jesus comes. He comes to make and end of your suffering and death in the bondage of sin. He comes to bring peace.

God does not desire sacrifice. God does not desire submission. God does not desire anything you can give. The broken and contrite heart, Jesus comes to replace. The poor in spirit are to be served abundance. Those hungering and thirsting for glory will find a meal prepared for them in a manger. The Glory of God hangs on a cross.

There would be no point to removing all evil in the world if it still existed in the hearts of men, for it would just rear its ugly head once more. No law or act of kindness can prevent evil, because the very people who make those laws and act kind are the ones with evil in their hearts.

So even though we remain on an evil earth with evil hearts in the midst of a people evil hearts, Jesus comes to serve His clean heart and His right spirit, even to all evil people. Jesus comes for the unrighteous. Jesus comes for sinners. Jesus comes to replace the evil with Himself, Body and Blood.

For this reason, we do not trust in princes or gun control or any laws. We trust in the Gospel which is the power of God for conversion, for salvation, and for hope. We trust in the only tried and true weapon against evil that doesn’t look like a weapon at all.

That is the Good News that Jesus, born in a manger, offers Himself as the food and drink of forgiveness, in order to fix that which is irreparable. Jesus speaks His Word to create a heart of flesh where only stone exists. Jesus baptizes the filthy rags in order that only the robes of the resurrection remain with you.

So when you see God coming in great power and glory, then lift up your heads, for salvation is nearer to you now, than when you first believed and though we walk through the darkness of Advent, the never ending light of Easter dawn is already breaking in the Star of Bethlehem, shining on an infant, Who was once laid in a manger.