Hold on!

 One of my favorite movies is "Jeremiah Johnson." I don't know how many times I've watched it. Not enough. The movie is based on an historical account1 by Robert Bunker and Raymond W. Thorp of the life of John Johnson, who in 1847, discovered that his wife and unborn child had been killed by Crow braves. In the book, Johnson then began a years long feud with the whole crow nation. The movie shows this but doesn't tell us why; it doesn't tell us that he is seeking vengeance for his family. I suppose they thought leaving out these gruesome facts would be a kindness to the moviegoer. I don't know why that would be since there was a fair amount of grisliness in the movie at any rate. Maybe they were being culturally correct long before it became a fad. In another book2 by Vargis Fisher that was used by the movie makers, there is a section where Johnson is on the run from the Crow, and by now the Blackfeet as well. He makes his way through blizzards in the Little Belt Mountains of Montana. His arduous, weeks long journey through harsh, near arctic conditions, wearing little and having less to eat, would have done me in for sure. But Johnson is driven; he has a mission of kindness to accomplish and will not be kept from its completion. To help himself at nightfall one evening, he dug down into a deep drift, making a wind break, hunkered down and reminded himself of mountain men who, it had been said, endured much more. But he kept drifting off towards sleep. He knew he would never awaken from such a deep, cold sleep, so he massaged the numb parts of himself, thought about Job, tried hard to stay awake, and waited for daylight. After furious pinchings and slappings failed to keep him from dozing, he told himself out loud, trying to speak over the howling winds above his wind break, "Doggone it...if ye can't stay awake, then git up and go!" Let us pray... Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen I don't know if I have ever been so determined as Johnson-at least not as physically determined. I can't even keep up my morning walks with Susan. But Johnson just kept telling himself to hang on, and through sheer, dogged determination-in the movie and in real life-he finally came out at his destination on the other side of the mountain. Our readings for this First Sunday in Advent speak to us of a similar determination that the church must have. In our Old Testament lesson, Isaiah speaks of a God who seems to have retired. The people are crushed by their foes, and God seems to be nowhere in sight. "Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence,"3 Isaiah exclaims. This is the exasperated yet faithful cry of God's people throughout the ages. Often, God seems to be nowhere, his ear disinclined to our pleas. But the prophet knows better, and so do we. God "acts for those who wait for him."4 So, like Jeremiah Johnson, we must not fall asleep, but must "git up" and keep moving with God. This is what waiting upon the Lord is: keeping by his side, as best we may, doing his will even if the only thing we know to do is say the creed or his prayer, and getting to church the next Sunday. Sometimes that's the best we can do. Sometimes it's all God wants us to do. Imagine if that's all everyone could do-and they did. The world would be a better place overnight. That's what waiting on the Lord is: praying and confessing together until we "see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory."5 Part of our Advent prayers must be confession of our uncleanness, our sinfulness, our unrighteousness, to borrow a few of the descriptions used by the prophet and the psalmist today. Another section of our prayers should be devoted to asking for his mercy. "Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved!"6 To turn your face from someone is a clear sign of either disgust or anger-or both. And surely, God is angered and disgusted by our sins. Yet, in spite of what should rightly become his fury toward us, God turns his face to us again and again and again. Luther teaches in his lectures on Isaiah that "God's face is God's very presence either in the Word-the promise and the sacraments-where God's thought is set before my conscience, or in deed, when God removes evils, pestilence, and murder."7 Every time we hear the Word or read it, every time we commune, every time we hear his promises, God's face is shining upon us. Each time God spares us from evil, his countenance shines upon us. We pray, "deliver us from evil," and he does every day. God is smiling at us, wanting us to know how much he loves us. All of this is "because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus."8 How could it be otherwise, since we are sinners? "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners Christ died for us."9 He has acted for those who wait on him, expecting him to keep his promises, to deliver us from evil, to forgive us our sins, and to make his kingdom come among us. All this, the Father does for sinners, simply because they have waited, because they have held on in Jesus' name, expecting God to keep his promises and turn his face toward us in mercy and love. And as we wait for Christ's revealing, his coming again in glory and power, his Spirit supplies us with everything we need. Jeremiah Johnson resorted to digging down to the bottom of snowdrifts for grass and bugs to sustain him. Jesus' disciples are supplied with all the gifts they need for holding on. We have God's Word, Christ's sacraments, the Father's listening ear, and the indwelling of the Spirit. You have all these as gifts, "as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end."10 Note well: these are gifts; they are not something you have to work at or be as determined as a Jeremiah Johnson in order to make it to your destination. It is God in Christ who will sustain us to the end, who will carry us as guiltless sinners to our final destination. Hold on! "God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord."11 And if the going gets tough, the tough don't have to git goin', like a 21st century Jeremiah Johnson. We just need to hold on: hold on to Christ's promises in his Word and sacraments. And if you are overcome by some particular sin, you may, as Luther preached in his sermon on this New Testament text for The Eighteenth Sunday After Trinity roughly 500 years ago, "avail [yourself] of absolution, comfort, and strength through [your] fellow Christians and by aid of the sacraments."12 Shortly after that encouragement, Luther asked, "What further can one desire, or what more does he need, than the knowledge that he is God's child through baptism and has God's Word at hand for comfort and strength in weakness and sin? Do you consider it slight enrichment to have assurance of the fact that God himself is speaking to you and, by means of the office of the ministry, is effective in you, teaching, admonishing, comforting, sustaining you, yea, granting you victory over the devil, death, and all evil influences on earth?"13 And later, he narrows it down to this: "The Word of God alone suffices"14 Do you have the Word? Then you are the church, and you have everything you need to hold on, so hold on! His kingdom is coming. No one knows the hour, yet it approaches still. So stay alert, keep awake, hold on. The Master is coming and he doesn't want to find you buried in a snowdrift, eating bugs and grass. He wants to find you feeding on the pure milk of the Word.15 This calls for the faithful endurance of sinners who know they have a Savior. Thanks be to God. Amen. 1 Crow Killer: The Saga of Liver-Eating Johnson 2 Mountain Man 3 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Is 64:1. 4 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Is 64:4. 5 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Mk 13:26. 6 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ps 80:3. 7 Martin Luther, Luther's Works, Vol. 17: Lectures on Isaiah: Chapters 40-66, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann, vol. 17 (Saint Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1999), 370. 8 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 1 Co 1:4. 9 Romans 5:8 10 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 1 Co 1:7-8. 11 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 1 Co 1:9. 12 Martin Luther, The Complete Sermons of Martin Luther, Vol. 4 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2000), 294 13 Martin Luther, The Complete Sermons of Martin Luther, Vol. 4 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2000), 295 14 Martin Luther, The Complete Sermons of Martin Luther, Vol. 4 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2000), 295 15 1 Peter 2:2 --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ 8