Song of Songs/Solomon 2,8-13 0223
Ad te levavi (Advent 2) 2
Barbara, Virgin Martyr 235
4. Dezember 2022
1. ℣ Daughter of Zion:
℟ Behold, thy Salvation cometh (Isaiah 62,11b).
O Son of God, Thou Perfection of beauty shining forth from Zion, draw near to us with Your advent and gather Your faithful ones so that we may rejoice in the testament of Your incarnation and birth. Amen. (Psalm 50,2-3a.5 Gradual)
2. »The voice of my beloved! Behold, he arrives, leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills. My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Behold, there he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, looking through the lattice. My beloved speaks and says to me: „Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away, for behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. The fig tree ripens its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.“«
3. In our Gospel pericope, Jesus tells us that the fig tree bears leaves in the summer. Thus, you can know when summer is based on the fig tree. Likewise, the advent of the Son of Man is observed with celestial and terrestrial signs. But on Monday of Holy Week, Jesus cursed a fig tree that had only leaves but no figs. The tree immediately withered. The fig tree often represents Israel in the Scriptures, and in Matthew 21 the fruitless fig tree represents Israel who, by and large, had rejected Jesus as their Messiah. Rejection leads to punishment and judgment—the very generation that had rejected their Messiah is judged by Yahweh through the Romans in ad 70 when the temple and Jerusalem are destroyed.
4. Judgement still befalls those who reject Jesus. Sometimes it happens temporally. Nations and cultures have fallen for rejecting Jesus. People have suffered for rejecting Jesus. On the last day, all who have rejected Jesus will receive harsh judgement and be eternally separated from Him.
5. But it need not be this way! Jesus is patient, long-suffering and has overseen the proclamation of the gospel to every nation and culture throughout the Earth. So Yahweh sent prophets to prepare Israel and the God-fearing Gentiles for the Messiah. The Holy Spirit sent apostles to prepare the Jews and the Gentiles; He sends bishops, pastors and evangelists to prepare people. »Comfort, comfort My people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from Yahweh’s hand double for all her sins. A voice cries: „In the wilderness prepare the way of Yahweh; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. And the glory of Yahweh shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken“« (Isaiah 40,1-3.5).
6. The season of Advent exhorts us to prepare ourselves for the Christ. God’s Word tells us that we are sinful; God’s Word also tells us we have a merciful Lord. We prepare for Christ’s advent by repenting and confess our sin. We receive God’s Absolution spoken by the pastor, heard in the preached Word and given to us in the Sacrament of the Altar. We await Christ’s arrival studying the Scriptures, praying and being charitable to our neighbors.
7. Solomon describes the one who is ready and watching for the Christ as: »The fig tree ripens its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance.« Christ and His Church are connected. „He has become as one of us—or rather, not as one but actually one. For to be make man’s equal was not enough for Him: He is a Man. That is the reason why He claims our earth as His“ (Bernard of Clairvaux 190). O Jesus, to You we lift up our eyes, O You who are enthroned in the heavens! (Psalm 122,1; 123,1 vulgate)
8. O dear Lord, hasten to judgement.
Let us see Your glorious face,
The nature/essence of the Trinity.
God help us now and always (Ihr lieben Christen, freut euch nun elkg 306,5 2021 Erasmus Alber 1546).
This is most certainly true.
10. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4,7). Amen.
11. Let us pray. Accept, we beseech Thee, O Lord, our praises and supplications, and look graciously upon this household that we may abide this night in peace and safety under the shadow of Thy wings, and so assist us by Thy grace that we may be fitted for that kingdom where there shall be no more sin, nor sorrow, neither any more pain, but all shall be joy and peace in the Holy Ghost. Amen. (The Week of Advent 2, Vespers Collect 2. The Daily Office. Copyright © 1965 Concordia Publishing House.)
To God alone be the Glory
Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm
✠
All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, Septuaginta, Vol. I and II 2. Revised Edition © 2006 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.
Evangelisch-Lutherisches Kirchengesangbuch. Copyright © 2021 Selbständige Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche, Hannover.
Bernard of Clairvaux. St. Bernard on the Song of Songs. Copyright © 1952 A. R. Mowbray and Co. Limited.
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