I wonder if Christmas can live up to all that we expect of it? Isn’t Christmas the time when all families get along, love each other and all the problems that have existed in the past are simply gone? Isn’t Christmas the time when everyone has a song in their heart and there is a joy that is simply overwhelming? Isn’t Christmas the time when everyone gets exactly what they wanted to get from another? Isn’t this the time when people who felt dead in their soul have a new found faith and have a peace with their God?

Can Christmas be that good? Can it be perfect, without a single flaw? Can joy and faith and hope and love really come into this time and on that day? Have we made Christmas into such a huge time and season that there is no way that it can deliver such things?

I imagine that you have been disappointed in Christmas at one time or another. Maybe your Christmas is much more like Chevy Chase in Christmas Vacation. He waited for his Christmas bonus to arrive, to pay for things he had already bought. But it didn’t come and finally on Christmas Eve the courier brought it – only to be far less than he expected. What was it -Fruit of the Month, Jelly of the Month? And his house was filled with some very strange relatives!! What a Christmas he had!! You had asked for the one special thing under the tree, and you let someone know how important this would be to you to receive, and when all the gifts had been handed out, that one was not around. I remember a phone call one Christmas Eve morning, someone had an emergency - they needed to see me immediately. The problem was a quarrel within the family. This was supposed to be the time of peace and good will, right. Well, somebody wasn’t living up to their end of the bargain.

If you place yourself into the life of Elizabeth, the wife of Zechariah, she lived with an expectation that she couldn’t fulfill. She wanted a child, but didn’t have a child. And when we are introduced to her in Luke’s Gospel account she had become quite old. Hoping. Expecting. But her hopes and expectations never seemed to be met. And without a child getting older meant some uncertainty. Children were the Social Security System in that world. They provided for the needs of parents when their parents could no longer work.

Elizabeth was a godly woman. Her father had been a Priest and her husband had been chosen to serve in that same capacity. But her expectation, which had undoubtedly waned, was given new hope. Her husband, Zechariah, serving as the Priest in the Temple had been told by Gabriel that she would be a mother and he would be a father. John, the child whose name would mean, “God is gracious”, would be born. Gabriel had told Zechariah, not just about the miracle of birth to these older people, but about the greatness of this child, “Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he will go before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous – to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Luke 1:16-17)

This had to be an Advent expectation. Nine months of expectation, and five of those months lived in seclusion. Elizabeth said, “The Lord has done this for me. In these days He has shown His favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.” (Luke 1:25) And then when she was in her sixth month, Gabriel even a bigger job – He had to show up at Mary’s house and tell her that she was also going to be a mother. And the Advent expectation of what God was going to do became even greater.

Mary went to see her relative, (maybe her Aunt) and the baby inside of Elizabeth (John) leapt and Elizabeth with Advent expectation said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! And why am I so highly favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished.” (Luke 1:42-45)

Now the expectation of what God was doing had to increase. What God was planning was even greater than what she knew!! That is what we get to have. This is Advent and this is the time for the expectation of our God who does more than we can ask or imagine!! Paul to the Ephesians talks about this God, our Savior, “Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine, according to His power at work with us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever. Amen.” (3:20-21)

Zechariah teaches us about Advent silence, the joy of quietly seeing what God has in store for us. But Elizabeth teaches us about Advent expectations. God was to remove her disgrace, He would do His miracle and the great miracle of redemption and cleansing and hope would come from a miracle given to Mary in the birth of Jesus!!

In light of what God did I think that our Advent Expectations should be huge - overwhelming!! Into our brokenness we have a God who comes to make us whole. He has come to bring lasting peace when we struggle to find any. Our God has come so that the division that exists between us and Him and between us and others would be mended. If we face something in life, even death, God has an answer given to us in the Child born for us, Jesus. At the table this evening I see His miracle still at work. It is beyond our thought that God could bring us the body and blood of Christ in a wafer and a sip of wine, but He does. And then the truth that lasting forgiveness and strength for daily life could be received in this gift, as well, is promised from Him. Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:53-54)

I’m not sure if everything you put on your list will be under the tree this year. But I hope that the expectations of your soul, as great and deep and broad as they may be, will seek a full and complete answer in Christ. Live, expecting God’s great love and kindness and goodness shown to you in Christ Jesus. Amen!!

(The title and the outline for this sermon come from Concordia Pulpit Resources, Volume 20, Part 1, Dr. Steven Mueller, author)