Advent 3 Year A 12/14/2025
Isaiah 35:1-10; Psalm 146:4-9; James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2-11
Rev. Mark A. Lafler
We continue in our series today of Advent Psalms.
Our appointed psalm today, Psalm 146, is a psalm of praise.
In fact, the last 5 psalms of the Book of Psalms are all praise psalms.
Praise psalms celebrate God’s greatness, power, and mercy…
They are full of exclamations of “Hallelujah” …
and declarations of “Praise the Lord.”
Liturgically they are characterized by a call to worship…
Or an encouragement to continue praising God.
The first few verses of Psalm 146 (that we did not hear today) are a call to worship…
While as the last verse expresses praise with the words:
The Lord shall reign for ever,
your God, O Zion, throughout all generations.
Hallelujah!
The middle verses are what intrigue and give Psalm 146 some distinction from other praise psalms.
Verses 4-8 of our reading of Psalm 146 tell the story about a God who is present among his people and is the one who defends the vulnerable.
The psalm is believed to have been written during the postexilic time of Israel’s history.
So just to give a brief understanding of this…
The first king of Israel was Saul and then came David.
The kingdom grew powerful under King David and when he died his son, Solomon continued to grow this far-reaching kingdom.
It was under Solomon’s reign that the great Jewish Temple was built in Jerusalem solidifying this city as the most important place in Israel.
Well, after Solomon died, the kingdom of Israel had a battle for the throne, and the kingdom was split into two.
The Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah.
In 722 BC, the Northern Kingdom fell to the Assyrians and all the people were dispersed.
Judah in the south held strong, until the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple in 586 BC.
The Babylonians took all the worthy people, the skilled people to Babylon (people like the Old Testament character Daniel) …
And they left all the poor and unskilled people in Jerusalem to waste away with the ruins…
(which is probably what happened to the prophet Jeremiah).
Well, after about 70 years… the Persians sacked the Babylonians and the Persian kingdom allowed the exile Jews to return back to Jerusalem.
And when they returned…
They returned to a city in ruins…
What once was mighty, was now in shambles…
The most beautiful Temple that Solomon had built, was not plundered and destroyed.
The people came back to devastation.
The Old Testament books of Nehemiah and Ezra share about this time…
They began to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem…
And to rebuild the temple…
Though nothing like in its former glory…
A new temple of worship was built.
And it’s in this context that Psalm 146 was most likely written…
Perhaps by some Levitical worshippers for the dedication of the new temple.
Psalm 146 is a call to worship… a call to praise.
But in the middle of the psalm…
is a declaration of the promise and help from God.
Happy are they who have the God of Jacob for their help!
whose hope is in the LORD their God;
Who made heaven and earth, the seas, and all that is in them;
who keeps his promise for ever;
And then comes a focus on the most vulnerable of people…
Listen to the words:
Who gives justice to those who are oppressed,
and food to those who hunger.
The LORD sets the prisoners free;
the LORD opens the eyes of the blind;
the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down;
The LORD loves the righteous;
the LORD cares for the stranger;
he sustains the orphan and widow,
but frustrates the way of the wicked.
In the psalm, it emphasizes that God takes care of the people in need… It’s about trusting in God… while reinforcing all the promises of God to those that are not able to help themselves.
In the historical context, it is a reminder of who takes care of the people of God.
Not human rulers, whose justice and plans fade away when they die.
It is God who cares for his people… and his justice lasts forever.
Psalm 146 is a psalm of praise that was used liturgically in the Jewish Temple as a reminder that our trust should be in the God who helps the oppressed, the hungry, the prisoner, the blind, the depressed,
the stranger, the orphan, and the widow.
As one scholar put it:
…in [God’s] economy, princes are devalued and the marginal in society are given value. [1]
And that’s largely what Psalm 146 is about.
So why is this psalm appointed for the season of Advent?
It was selected to be an Advent Psalm in our worship because of its messianic connection.
It parallels with the Old Testament and Gospel reading today.
In Isaiah, the prophet declares that when God comes:
He will come and save you.
Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
then the lame shall leap like a deer,
and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.
So, in both the Psalm and in Isaiah there is an expectation that God will come and do these amazing things…
Well, in our Gospel reading, when the disciples of John the Baptist come to Jesus to inquire if he really is the Messiah, the Son of God,
God Incarnate…
Jesus responds by referring to these passages.
He says:
Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight,
the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear,
the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.
Jesus confirms that he is the One…
He is the Messianic hope…
He is the same God who is promised to come in the Old Testament readings…
He is the God who saves.
Psalm 146 is fulfilled in the life of Jesus…
And is continued in the redeeming work of the cross and resurrection of our Lord.
In Jesus, we have the forgiveness of sins and the wholeness of life.
He rescued us, for we could not rescue ourselves.
Jesus is the Messiah the one who came to seek and save the lost.
Psalm 146 is also a psalm that helps guide us on our Advent journey.
One of the lessons of Advent is trust.
Whenever we take a trip,
A journey,
Or even a walk…
If we have a destination, we trust that we will get there.
We follow the pathway that takes us where we want to go.
Sure, there are bumps…
There are adjustments…
There are hazards to work around…
But we stay on the path trusting in the plan.
Life is like that.
Our journey in Christ Jesus is like that.
Advent, waiting for the coming of Jesus, is like that.
We keep our focus on Jesus…
Trusting in Him and following the Holy Scriptures…
Keeping the faith.
Back in 1988, just before the Winter Olympics in Calgary,
a television program featured blind skiers being trained for slalom skiing…
Which sounds impossible.
The blind skiers were paired with sighted skiers…
And the blind skiers were taught on the flats how to make right and left turns.
When that was mastered, they were taken to the slalom slope, where their sighted partners skied beside them shouting, “Left!” and “Right!” As they obeyed the commands, they were able to negotiate the course and cross the finish line, depending solely on the sighted skiers’ words.
It was either complete trust or catastrophe.
Pretty amazing!
Its also a vivid picture of the Christian life!
In this world, we are in reality blind about what course to take.
We must rely solely on the Word of the only One who is truly sighted… God Himself, who can see all things…
Who knows all things…
His Word gives us the direction we need to finish the course.
Liturgically, in our worship we are headed toward Christmas.
And we look forward to the 12 days of Christmas joyful feasting and celebrating the birth of the Messiah.
In the reality of our life, in the here and now…
we are headed toward the second coming of Jesus Christ and the day of resurrection of the dead.
And we look forward to the never-ending days of joyful feasting with Christ Jesus in the life of the world to come.
In this journey…
May our trust be in Jesus Christ…
The author of our faith…
The fulfiller of our hope…
Our Redeemer and Lord.
It is he who rescues the vulnerable…
Sustains the down hearted…
He saves those who cannot save themselves.
He saves us, each one of us, from sin and death.
To him be praised…
As the end of Psalm 146 declares:
The Lord shall reign for ever,
your God, O Zion,
throughout all generations.
Hallelujah!
Amen.
[1] Craig C. Broyles, Psalms, NIBC (Peadbody: Hendrickson, 1999), 510.
