Advent Midweek I:
Three Things That Make a Theologian: Oratio[1]
November 30, 2022
Text: Psalm 119:12-16, 26-27
Maranatha! An Aramaic word meaning, “Our Lord,
come!” Maranatha! “Come, Lord Jesus.” It is the Church’s Advent cry. It is her oratio, her prayer. We pray it often at the Christian Family
Table, at the Feast of our Lord’s true body and blood. The Pastor declares, in the words of St.
Paul, “As often as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim the
Lord’s death until He comes” (LSB 162; cf. 1 Cor. 11:26). And the people of God respond with the prayer
of Revelation 22, the cry with which St. John closes the Bible: “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus” (LSB 162; Rev. 22:20;
ESV). Many of us pray these words at our
own family meals, asking Jesus to be our Guest, to be with us, as we eat our
daily bread. But even more, we are
asking Him to feed us with the Bread of Life and bring us at last into the
fulness of the Heavenly Feast. Advent
means “coming.” It is all about the Lord
who comes… Who came in the flesh to be our Savior, who comes now in
the flesh, to deliver His salvation to His Church, particularly in the context
of the festive Meal, and who is coming again in the flesh, to bring our
salvation to fulfillment. And so, maranatha! Our Lord, come. Come, Lord Jesus.
Luther
says that there are three things that make a theologian (and by “theologian,”
he means, simply, a Christian). Oratio,
prayer. Meditatio, meditation on
God’s Word. And Tentatio,
suffering. Tonight, we take up the
Church’s oratio. We should think
of prayer, not as a one-way conversation wherein we tell God what we think He
needs to know and unveil for Him our wish list, but as a two-way conversation
that begins with God’s speaking to us in His Word. The introduction to the 1982 hymnal, Lutheran
Worship, puts it best: “Our Lord speaks and we listen. His Word bestows what it says. Faith that is born from what is heard
acknowledges the gifts received with eager thankfulness and praise… Saying back
to him what he has said to us, we repeat what is most sure and true” (LW, p.
6). In other words, our prayers don’t
have their source in our own hearts (what a poor offering that would be), but
in the heart of God, revealed in His Word.
His Word forms, and informs, our prayers, so that we pray with
confidence that God will hear and answer.
You can think of prayer, actually, like breathing, like the breath of
faith. First, we inhale God’s Word. Then, we exhale our petitions, prayers, and
thanksgivings. You can’t exhale if you
don’t first inhale. You can’t pray, you
can’t speak to God, unless God first speaks to you. And He does.
And
so, on that basis, you pray. You call
upon God in every trouble, as He invites you to do in His Word, and you know
that He will deliver you, because that is what He promises, and so, you glorify
Him with confession and praise. The
Church prays. Christians pray. We can’t help it. If you don’t inhale, you can’t live. And if you inhale, you can’t help but
exhale. So, oratio. We cry out to God. We pray in the midst of a chaotic and
rebellious world: political upheaval, wars and rumors of wars, the celebration
of godlessness and violence, and the persecution of Christ’s holy people. We pray as our bodies decline and
disintegrate: aches and pains, nearsightedness, and the common cold, all the
way to cancer and stroke and the cold touch of death. We pray in our brokenness, our own sin and
guilt. And the brokenness as it extends
from us to others in hurting relationships and broken ties. We pray in the midst of the devil’s
accusations and lies, his whispered temptations and cackles of despair.
We
pray in the face of all these things because God’s Name is on us (He has given
us His Name for this very purpose, that we call upon it). We pray because we are baptized into Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, who died for all our sins, and who is risen from the
dead. We pray because, in Christ Jesus,
God is our true Father, and we are His true children, and He tenderly invites
us to come to Him with all boldness and confidence, as dear children ask their
dear father (Cf. Small Catechism, Introduction to the Lord’s Prayer). We pray as our Lord Jesus Himself has taught
us: “Our Father,” we say (Matt. 6:9).
We pray like Abraham, who begged God for mercy in the matter of Sodom
and Gomorrah, because he believed God’s Word and held Him to it, held God to
His Promises, because he knew that God is merciful and just and would never
perpetrate evil (Gen. 18:22-33).
We
also hold God to His Word, and we know He always keeps His Promises. We know He is merciful and just, because… Jesus
came. At just the right time. God sent forth His Son. Born of a woman. Born under the Law, to redeem those under the
Law. That we might receive adoption as
sons. And because we are sons, God sends
the Spirit of His Son, Jesus, into our hearts, who cries out within us, “Abba,
Father… Our Father who art in heaven” (Gal. 4:4-6). God’s mercy and justice meet on the cross,
where He punishes all our sins in the flesh of Jesus, and pours out forgiveness
and mercy upon us poor sinners. We know
this because the crucified and risen Jesus still comes to us, continually, and
at this very moment, in the preaching of His Word, and with His body and blood. We pray that He would continue to come to us
in this way. That He would not withdraw
His saving Word, but breathe it into us, delivering His Spirit and life, and so
teaching us to pray. Maranatha! Come, dear Lord. Come now and deliver us from all our
afflictions. Come in Your Word and gifts. And come soon visibly, to deliver us fully
and finally, in Judgment and Resurrection and New Creation. All our faith and hope drive us toward that
goal. We long for that Day. We live for that Day. And so, as we wait, we pray. Oratio.
Maranatha! The Bible actually leaves us there in that
prayer. Revelation 22 (we probably
should have had it as a reading this evening).
“The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come’” (v. 17). The Holy Spirit guides the Church, the Bride
of Christ, in her prayer that her Bridegroom come to her. And then the people, the individuals in the
Church, you… “let the one who hears say, ‘Come’”. And then in the same breath, the same
exhaling as the prayer, the invitation and confession of faith to others: “let
the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life
without price.” And the Lord Jesus
responds with His Promise, the answer to our prayers: “He who testifies to
these things says, ‘Surely I am coming soon’” (v. 20). And again, we pray, with joy and conviction:
“Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.”
“The
grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all” (v. 21). In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[1] The theme and many of the ideas in
this sermon come from John T. Pless, “Midweek Advent Series: Oratio,
Meditatio, Tentatio," in Pastor Craft (Irvine, CA: New
Reformation, 2020) pp. 139-147.
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