Great Expectations: Rediscovering the Hope of AdventSample

The second Sunday of Advent is the Sunday of peace. During Advent, we celebrate expectations for God's redemption. We celebrate love and peace and joy, and hope. And one of the reasons we celebrate peace is because of the marvelous words said by the angels at the time of the birth of Jesus, in Luke 2:14: "Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest, on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests."

During Advent, we celebrate the expectation of peace that comes through Jesus the Messiah. And this is a time in history when we have so much expectation for peace because of the tragedies in our world. There are wars around the globe between nations. There are even wars within nations, within political parties.

We have battles that are taking place between the Church and the state and between one group of Christians and another group of Christians. We have strife and tension within individual churches, where some Christians are not getting along. And as they celebrate Advent and begin to celebrate the coming of the Messiah, both in His first Advent and His second Advent, that tension will become to them more obvious and maybe an opportunity for them to make peace.

There are tensions and strife within families, neighborhoods, and within communities. Christians during Advent celebrate the peace that comes through the Messiah. Christians have the opportunity, so it seems to me, to be agents of peace in their families, in their communities, in their neighborhoods, in their churches, in their nations, and agents of peace for the whole world.

Our expectation for peace that we celebrate at Advent leads us to think about Jesus as the Prince of Peace. That celebration of the angels when Jesus was born expressed expectations, promises, and hopes from the book of Isaiah.

But Jesus Himself becomes an agent of peace. And He teaches His disciples in one of the most famous Beatitudes of all in Matthew 5:9. "Blessed are the peacemakers."

Jesus was Himself a peacemaker. But He expected His disciples to be agents of peace in their communities, families, and relationships with one another.

When Jesus enters Jerusalem in His last week, we read some pretty significant words in Luke 19. Jesus, after having controversies and discussions and debates, and maybe it spilled over into arguments with the leaders in Jerusalem surrounding the temple, He leaves Jerusalem, and He makes these words: "If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace."

Jesus knew what would bring them peace, but He perceived they were not receiving the peace He was offering.

Peace becomes central in the New Testament. And one of the great writers about the New Testament said, "Peace happens to be the missing piece when it comes to early Christian ethics and understanding them in New Testament theology." Peace was important. The Gospel of John tells us that Jesus promised them that they would have peace. It was inner peace. Peter, when he's preaching a sermon in Acts 10, tells them that this is the summary of the teachings of Jesus – that He brought the gospel of peace. He preached peace, which was peace between people, peace between different Jewish groups, peace between his group and those groups, and peace between Jews and Gentiles, as Peter preached this gospel.

Peace is not an alternative or a preference for Christians today. Peace should be at the heart of the way we live, the way we talk, and what we preach.

At Advent, we have the opportunity to celebrate peace, the peace that comes with God through Jesus, the peace that is Jesus as the Prince of Peace, the peace that is an ethic whereby we live, and the peace that the apostles preached. The question we have to ask during this Advent is whether we are people of peace and whether our message is a message of peace.

(Adapted from a message by Scot McKnight.)