The Friday after Ad te levavi Sunday, the First Sunday in Advent

17:20 Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; 21 nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”

22 Then He said to the disciples, “The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. 23 And they will say to you, ‘Look here!’ or ‘Look there!’ Do not go after them or follow them. 24 For as the lightning that flashes out of one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in His day. 25 But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.”

The Pharisees were gravely mistaken. They were eagerly expecting the kingdom of God to be a political, earthly kingdom, one that they could observe with their eyes. They wanted to see their enemies defeated and themselves glorified. Today, there are those who have a similar mistaken hope for a thousand-year earthly reign of Christ and His Church before the Last Day.

Jesus corrects them by stating that “the kingdom of God is within you.” This is also often misunderstood. Some, when they read this, conclude that the Church is completely invisible and that no man can tell where the true Church is. But Jesus says no such thing. Our Augsburg Confession correctly defines the Church as “the congregation of all believers, among whom the Gospel is preached in its purity, and the holy sacraments are administered according to the Gospel” (AC VII). We do not look within ourselves to find the Church, we look for the pure Gospel and Sacraments.

The effect of the Gospel and Sacrament, however, is within us. Through these means, Christ comes to us and His Spirit creates true fear, love, and trust in God within our hearts. He frees our souls from bondage to the devil and brings us into His kingdom.

Collect: Stir up, we beseech Thee, Thy power, O Lord, and come, that by Thy protection we may be rescued from the threatening perils of our sins, and saved by Thy mighty deliverance; Who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.