Advent Calendar

Matthew 3:2-3, 1 Timothy 1:15

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I’m sure you’ve seen them in the stores, these things called Advent Calendars. And what are they? Well, they’re little things that you’d buy for a child, usually that help mark the days before Christmas. And there’s usually 25 doors, maybe on a cardboard front of this product, and they punch out one door every day. Maybe they get a little piece of chocolate inside the door, or maybe they get a little toy or a little prize. And it’s supposed to mark the days before Christmas as they’re getting ready for the coming of Christmas.

Now, don’t get me wrong, Advent Calendars are great. I just wonder if maybe they are misnamed. You know, why are they called Advent Calendars? Well, it’s good to note that the season or the time before Christmas in the church is a season called Advent. It’s a word that means coming. Of course, it refers to Jesus coming as a little baby when he’s born in the manger. And it’s a season of preparation for that coming, too. So it makes sense that maybe that they would use that name for these calendars, right? As they were preparing to celebrate Jesus birth.

But it’s also important to know the way in which Advent has traditionally been celebrated, or maybe it’s better to say observed by the church. The Advent season has historically been considered a season of repentance, much like Lent. It’s kind of strange to think about, isn’t it? To think about the weeks leading up to Christmas, to act the way that we do during Lent, maybe not eat meat, or maybe to refrain from certain things because we are focused on our sin?

But it’s important for us to have that sort of preparation when it comes to Christmas. Maybe consider one of the text that’s often used during the Advent season in the church, from Matthew chapter three, verses two and three, as it describes John the Baptist and the message that he came preparing people for Jesus ministry.

“Repent, because the kingdom of heaven is near!” Yes, this is he of whom this was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: A voice of one crying out in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight.” (Matthew 3:2-3)

Why would it be important to prepare for Jesus? Prepare for his coming with repentance? I want you to think about this. Why is Jesus so important to us? Why his birth is so important to us? Why do we celebrate so much at Christmas is because Jesus comes as a Savior from sin. In fact, the Apostle Paul wrote in First Timothy chapter one

This saying is trustworthy and worthy of full acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,” (1 Timothy 1:15)

Yes, Christ Jesus came into the world. He was born into this world to save sinners and only sinners. He is only a Savior for those who have sinned. That, of course, includes all of us, doesn’t it? But we recognize the importance for us to see our sin. If we don’t see our sin, if we don’t apologize to God and repent to God of the things that we have done. If we say, I’ve done nothing wrong, there’s nothing for which I should repent, well, then we also don’t need a Savior. It’s important for us during the season of Advent, then, to prepare for Christ’s coming, not just with little calendars where we punch out the doors and we get a piece of chocolate, but especially to prepare for Jesus birth by repenting of our sins. It’s only by doing that, then we can truly appreciate what Jesus has come to do, that he has come, born a little baby placed in a manger as our Savior from sin. Amen.