With Advent hope our praises Reecho joyfully
To greet our Lord’s arrival In His humility.
The Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ Brings
True Rejoicing, Even Under the Cross
Sometimes life requires the astonishing patience of Job. Like him, we are to rejoice in the midst of affliction, be grounded in repentance under the cross of Christ, and hope relentlessly in His resurrection, that we might see “the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful” (James 5:11). In the promise of the Gospel, therefore, “be patient”and “establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand” (James 5:7, 8). Like St. John the Baptist, whatever your own kind of prison or suffering may be, call upon Jesus and receive the strength of His Word from those He sends to you. For as “the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up,” so is the Good News of Jesus preached to you also (Matt. 11:5). He comes and restores the fortunes of Zion, His Holy Church, so that “sorrow and sighing shall flee away” (Is. 35:10).
Advent is a most joyful time and a time for great praise of our God. Today is the “joyful Sunday” in Advent. With Mary’s beautiful song, the Magnificat, we exult that God has “done great things” and that “His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation” (LSB, pp. 248–49). With Mary, we rejoice that God “has shown strength with His arm” especially to those who are lowly and humbled. In his paraphrase of the Magnificat, hymnwriter Stephen Starke invites us to “Sing the greatness of the Lord” and “With praise and blessing Join in confessing God, who is solely Mighty and holy” (LSB 933:1). There is so much joy in Advent—it simply must be shared!
BIBLE READINGS
Isaiah 35:1-10
James 5:7-11
Matthew 11:2-15
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