"Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation.” (Zech 9:9, introit)

The One who is coming in glory, might, and power is the One who came by the humility of the Virgin, the manger, the donkey, and the cross. And He is the One who comes to us here and now, hidden and sublimely “with us,” present in water, Word, bread and wine, to prepare, to forgive, to strengthen, and to keep us. That is the very heart and core of the season of Advent. “Behold, your King comes to you, righteous and having salvation.

What I say to you, I say to all: Watch! (Mark 13:24-37)

We have come to the end of the church year. The final chapter of history, the last movement of the symphony, the last Sunday that wraps everything up at the close of the age when Christ will appear as the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great and terrifying power and glory and send out his angels to gather his elect from the four compass points of the earth. Or as we summarize it in the creed: “He will come again to judge the living and the dead.”

Every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God., waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. (Hebrews 10:11-25)

With a single stroke of his pen, the writer to the Hebrews puts an end to the old covenant and its sacrifices. What the priests of the temple offered daily can never take away sins. All the blood of bulls, goats, and lambs, apart from the Blood of God’s Lamb, Jesus Christ, cannot bring forgiveness, life or salvation.

She came to the temple to make her offering. She was a widow lady and very poor. She lived pretty much from day to day, trusting in the Lord and His provision. Perhaps she relied on family, but you know how family can be sometimes. Maybe there were friends and neighbors who were there to make sure that she had enough flour and oil for bread.

To the nine beatitudes of our Lord’s sermon on the mount in this morning’s Gospel, I will add a tenth from the book of the Revelation on the this All Saints’ Day:

And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord henceforth.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!” (Rev 14:13)