Christ Memorial Lutheran Church - Houston TX
CMLC 2024-12-01 Sermon (Contemporary)
today is the first week of Advent and with each of these weeks there's a different theme that goes with them and the first one that we look at is the theme of hope. See this season of Advent is the coming, the coming of Jesus Christ when he was born in a manger and that he is here to bring salvation and hope for all people. So as we're looking through these different weeks we see how it is that not only were we looking to what Christ would bring but also that he is truly the one to light us during this time of darkness during this season where he truly is the light of the world. Now as I was thinking about this idea of hope and what it is one of the movies that comes to mind most often is one of the ones that's the most frustrating as you're watching it and that would be Groundhog Day. Now Groundhog Day, Bill Murray, I mean honestly I think he was at his best. Now turned out this movie it was actually the last movie that he and Harold Remus ever worked on together. Remember from Ghostbusters, Egon and then you know so well to turn the two of them apparently had such a big fight that they did not even talk to each other again for about 20 years after this movie. So enjoy it. A lot went into it apparently. Now the movie the premise is that Phil Connors, he is a weatherman and he is in this place called Punksatani in preparation for the Groundhog that he's going to emerge and predict the weather. Well Phil does not really appreciate being there. He's very annoyed and he's going to try to get out as soon as he can. So as he's there and he wakes up and I got you babe is playing on the radio and he wakes up and goes through the motions and with everything happening is that he has to go and see the Groundhog, great the Groundhog saw his shadow so unfortunately it's six more weeks of winter and then he goes back and he tries to leave but a blizzard is coming through. So he goes to bed and wakes up and he hears I got you babe playing on the radio and he's like oh that's funny and the announcer is the same and then walks out and every person that he interacts with it's the same as what he had just experienced. Even to the point where as everything's finishing up and he goes to bed he thinks he's got deja vu and then it happens again over and over the same day keeps repeating. Now at first he was just confused but then he decides oh well then apparently I must be some type of a God and decides that well you know what I can ignore all the rules because I can do whatever I want. It doesn't matter because every day is just going to keep repeating so he eats what he wants he does what he wants he takes what he wants whatever it is because he believes that there are no consequences to his actions anymore but he also then sees well now I know how everything will play out so now I can manipulate things to what I want except somehow he can't quite win the heart of the woman that he he loves or he likes at the time Andy McDowell anybody would ever crush on her but with it is that he keeps trying to figure out the exact formula for how to do things a certain way to get her to like him and when that fails he finally just decides I'm done with this I want to find a way out but no matter what he tries to do even when he feels that he needs to just give up on everything is that he cannot seem to escape there is no formula that allows him to get out of this cycle he loses hope even giving up on life but nothing seems to change have you ever had that feeling that it feels like no matter what it is that you're trying to do no matter what it is that you're trying to put forward nothing seems to change and that somehow it's hard to get out of that same loop this is the idea as we're looking at our gospel passage today of what Israel was going through when Jesus was on the scene Israel when Jesus came on the scene they had continually lost their nation time and time again they had the northern part had been conquered by Assyria in 722 BC the southern part by Babylon in 586 BC later the Persians in 538 BC then the Greeks came along and conquered them in 322 BC they finally got a little bit of independence for about a century in 167 BC with the Maccabean revolt and then they lost it again in 63 BC to Rome they could not seem to escape this cycle of being conquered so when Jesus came on the scene they were waiting again for about 70 years or so and they were wondering if it was finally time for their freedom to arrive but you see when it did people were also reacting in different ways there were some who were living life however they wished because they believed that God wasn't paying attention anymore so they figured it doesn't matter what we do let's just do whatever we wish and then there were some that figured if we could just find the exact formula for what we need to do then God will finally remember us and help us escape but we've got to do things perfectly to make him happy and then there were those who just gave up and they didn't really believe anything would ever change so they just found ways to manage their life in the Roman occupied country but then here comes Jesus and it's time for something to change see the thing is is that Jesus ends up coming into its Jerusalem and they say behold your King is coming see Jesus ends up knowing that he's about to have to go to his death soon but in so doing he also knows that he must show the people that he is the one that they were waiting for see there were different prophecies that had come up before things that were supposed to point to him as being the Messiah in Genesis 49 when Jacob was speaking over his sons and he spoke over Judah who is the ancestor of Jesus and he said binding his full to the vine and his donkey's colts to the choice vine he has washed his garments and wine and his vesture in the blood of grapes we end up seeing that even then they knew that the future Messiah was going to have to be shedding his blood but that writing on the donkey's colts would be a sign of who he was and then later in Zechariah 9 rejoice greatly oh daughter of Zion shout aloud oh daughter of Jerusalem behold your King is coming to you righteous and having salvation is he humble and mounted on a donkey on a colts the full of a donkey all these things are pointing to Jesus being the Messiah to be able to show that as he comes in he is the one that they are to be looking toward and he says go and get the colts because he knows that that's what he needs to ride on but how did he know how did he know where to send them did he just hope that there would be a cult there that somebody had never ridden on before did he just hope that if they went up and they said the Lord has in need of it that somebody would happen to let it happen this was not the kind of way to look at prophecy that we might think of because in our mind in our way of looking at things we oftentimes think of it as as long as I know what's coming and then I can prepare for it but with Jesus it was more than that it wasn't just predicting what the circumstance would be it was because Jesus was the one who had authored it Jesus was the one who was saying I am the son of God and this is what we have said would happen see that's the thing about who God is is that we don't hope in God just because of the circumstances that we're in and just hoping that they work out but rather that our hope is in the God who has made and designed everything already our hope is in the God who knows everything because he has made it for good but that's difficult sometimes because what we end up seeing in the circumstances that we face do not always make us feel very hopeful sometimes as we see things play out and they don't turn out the way that we wish that they would and we begin to feel hopeless that's the thing is that as Jesus is coming he is not the one that they are expecting you see Israel was not expecting this see the thing is is that in our story with Phil Connors is that he wasn't actually expecting what was going to happen and he didn't know what it was that he was meant to do to somehow escape everything but he just felt frustrated and tired and then finally decided that he was just going to try something new and he ends up seeing somebody in an alleyway that he can't seem to help no matter how many times he tries and he wants to save this person and over and over again the person still passes away until finally he realizes how much he had been wasting his own life and he decides to spend his time becoming the person he was meant to be see that's the thing is that hope is not in the solution that we keep wishing for but rather is being able to turn to God and see what it is that he is doing instead it says blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord but that's the thing with Jesus is that he was meant to be a different kind of king the people were excited to see him they saw him coming down on that cult we are so excited and then he ends up kicking people out of the temple and being crucified on a cross what kind of hope could we have when it ends up being unfulfilled they were hoping for a victory against Rome they were hoping that finally their world would change and that they would see something that they were looking toward but that wasn't the kind of victory that Jesus came to bring because that's a thing what we keep hoping for in our lives is always so much more shallow than anything that God is actually going to do the thing that we keep wishing for the thing we keep hoping for it always pales in comparison to what God is actually going to do because that king coming down on the cross to go through humiliation and to shame is meant to be the blessing itself see that's the thing about Jesus is that is he came to do his work it was to provide what we were actually hoping for life salvation and to know that we are a part of God's family see that's the thing about hope though hope is not easy hope is not something that just comes and gets fulfilled like that hope is not something where you sit there and make a wish and then somehow it happens exactly the way you thought it would hope does not come without struggle because that's the thing about hope is that for hope to be real for hope to have substance for hope to be meaningful is that the path to get there is one that is difficult to journey through because if it's something that's meaningful then it's going to take effort but it's not just what Jesus has done on the cross for us but it's also the path that he gives to us as well because that's the thing our character all he ends up doing is spending that day giving everything that he can without wondering what was going to come of it he ended up running up under a tree at the exact moment when a kid was about to fall out of a branch to grab him he ends up going to a restaurant and giving some of the Heimlich mover because he knew exactly where to go and when to be there he ends up going for his first piano lesson after however many times he had repeated that same lesson because of the same day and then that night when he's spending time with the woman that he loves and all she sees is who he is not who he was trying to pretend that he was but that's the thing about it is that then when they finally finish that day and he woke up the next morning it was February 3rd and he was finally moving forward in the life that he was intended to have and that's the thing is that we oftentimes need to let go of what it was that we were wishing for that we thought was so meaningful and to have hope in the one who actually knows what we really need to have hope that it's not some sort of a magic formula that if you do this or you do that or you can somehow prove something that you will get everything that it is that you thought you wanted that is not where hope is found hope is found in a Messiah who gives up everything hope is found when we see that sometimes the struggle is real because hope is meant to be real not just a wish the reason why it matters so much is because of everything that we have to go through to get to it and that's the thing about this time of Advent is that for these coming weeks we're gonna look for the things that are gonna bring brightness and joy and the things that are gonna be fun but that's not where the hope is found the hope is not in the hallmark movie the hope is not in the Christmas bonus the hope is knowing that each and every step of what we are struggling through has meaning and purpose because we don't do it alone and because every step of it isn't an accident but is something guided and provided by a God who loves us I don't know what it is that you're struggling with right now I don't know what it is that causes you to struggle to have hope at the season and that when the cold sets in and everything feels dark and you're wondering what now but what I do know is that resurrection requires death but that's because death in Christ Jesus leads to new life whatever this season may be doing in your life we know that our hope in Christ Jesus will be fulfilled not the way that we expect it but in the way that God loves you and cares for you so this season instead of focusing on the wishes that we want fulfilled may we appreciate the journey that God has us on to get to a place of hope and a place of meaning because it is a place one for us by Christ Jesus thanks be to God Please rise for prayer.