The First Sunday of Advent

The first in a series of daily Advent devotions from Anglican tradition

The Church Year

From Seasons Tracts No. 1, Advent. By Harold Riley.

The Church's year begins, not (as the civil year does) on the first of January, but with Advent Sunday. On that day Christians begin to consider again the story of the life of Christ, and to follow it through until the climax of Whit-Sunday, after which the rest of the year is given over to a consideration of the words and deeds of Christ in his ministry. Advent speaks to us especially of the "coming" (Latin, "Adventus") of our Lord. It has a double reference, for it is concerned both with preparation for his first Coming in his Birth at Bethlehem, which we celebrate at Christmas time and also with preparation for his second Coming at the end of the world to judge all mankind.

The Coming of Christ

The first Advent of our Lord was in his Incarnation, and in his Birth at Bethlehem. It was the divine response to the longing of the Chosen People for the coming of a Saviour. They called him the Anointed, which in effect meant the King, since their kings, like our own, were anointed with oil. In the Jewish language, the word for "Anointed" was "Messiah"; in the Greek language it was "Christ." When the Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary on Lady Day, he told her that her Son should "reign over the house of Jacob for ever," and that of his kingdom there should be no end (St. Luke i. 33). He was to come as the Lord's Messiah, although his Birth was in poverty, and his childhood in an obscure village.

The second Coming of our Lord will be in glory. No man knows, or can know, when it will be (St. Mark xiii. 32). But Christians are bidden to watch for it (St. Mark xiii. 35-7). The acts of the Messiah have begun with his earthly life; they are continued through the operation of the Holy Spirit in the Church; they will come to their triumphant climax at his final Advent.

Expectation is therefore the key-note of this season; it is an expectation that fits naturally into the Christian Year as it prepares us for the observance of Christmas. It reminds us of the long preparation that God himself made in the world before in the fulness of time "God sent forth his Son, born of a woman" (Gal. iv. 4). It teaches us of the importance of expectant hope in the Christian life.

1662 Book of Common Prayer Lessons for the First Sunday in Advent

THE COLLECT

Almighty God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious Majesty, to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, now and ever. Amen.

THE EPISTLE. Romans 13. 8-14

OWE no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand; let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

THE GOSPEL. S. Matthew 21. 1-13

WHEN they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me. And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them. All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophet, saying, Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass. And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them; and brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon. And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way. And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; Blessed is he that cometh in the Name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest. And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? And the multitude said, This is Jesus the Prophet of Nazareth of Galilee. And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple; and overthrew the tables of the money-changers, and the seats of them that sold doves; and said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.

Comment

From Tracts for the Times, Advent

We are awakened, then, in the Services of the first Sunday, by the warning voice of an Apostle, that "now it is high time to awake out of sleep;" that "the night is far spent, the day is at hand;" that we must therefore without delay, "cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armour of light." Just so the Jewish Church was awakened by one crying in the wilderness, "Prepare ye the way of the LORD;" the message of John the Baptist was the same as the Apostles to us—"Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." He was to "turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just;" he was to be the Elias who was "to restore all things;" and accordingly the prophecy in which his mission was foretold, after vehement rebukes and warnings to the Jewish people, concluded with a solemn exhortation to them to "remember the law of" GOD’S "servant Moses, which he commanded in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and the judgments." (Mal. iv.) In like manner St. Paul urges upon us the solemn Law which has been given to the Christian Church, the "new commandment," by which we shall be tried, when the messenger of the Covenant comes again to His Temple. The Apostle has been giving many precepts of Christian practice, (ch. xii, xiii.), but it seems as if he heard his Master’s voice, "Behold, I come quickly," and so the more anxiously sounded in our ear the simple commandment which He left us, to "love one another." "He that loveth another hath fulfilled the Law—Love is the fulfilling of the Law. And that, knowing the time; the day is at hand; let us therefore walk honestly as in the day, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the LORD JESUS CHRIST." And now, having seen and felt what CHRIST will seek for, when He comes into his temple, we may profit duly by the awful lesson which we learn in the Gospel. The Jews had long been looking impatiently for the promised Deliverer; (Mal. ii. 17. iii. 1.) and when they saw Him riding into Jerusalem, as the Prophet had foretold, they cried, saying, " Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the LORD; Hosanna in the highest!" Meanwhile, what were the thoughts of the "meek and lowly" King? His forerunner had been despised, the Law of Moses had not been "remembered," the hearts of the fathers were not turned to the children, nor the hearts of the children to the fathers;—and He was now coming to "smite with a curse." (Matt. iv. 6.) And when he came near, He beheld the city and wept over it. He went into the temple and cast out the buyers and the sellers and the money-changers, as a type and signal of that still more fearful clearing of His Temple, when He laid Jerusalem even with the ground, and her children within her, and gave the privileges of His chosen to the Gentile world. Such fearful vengeance was taken of those who "refused Him that spake on earth;" how then "shall we escape if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven?"—we, who have "received the kingdom which cannot be moved;" who are come not to Horeb, but unto Mount Sion, "unto the city of the living GOD, the heavenly Jerusalem." Surely it becomes us to listen to the affectionate warnings of the Church, as she awakens us from our slumber, and recounts our high duties and our inestimable privileges.