Advent (part 1): It Didn't Start With Jesus

I. Jesus Is Jewish
Israel and God's covenants

Jesus practiced Judaism
Judaism makes sense of Jesus

II. Messianic Expectation: The Setting of Our Salvation
Israel's "felt needs": Home rule, purified worship, justice

How intense was Messianic expectation?
Less and more: Jesus' ministry as transformed expectation

III. From Promise to Fulfillment: The Dawn of the New Testament Era
Turning point: John the Baptist

Example: Luke 1
Jesus validates God's earlier graces: Clothes, ark, exodus, Law, land, return

IV. Getting Advent Wrong: Marcion
Law versus Gospel, Yahweh versus Jesus
No Advent, no Trinity
Christian faith gives us a past

Jesus' Judaism becomes ours (1 Cor. 10:1-4, Rev. 22:4)

 

V. Getting Advent Right: The Black Church

African America encounters white America

"Is God a white racist?"

Gospel re-narrates black America

America is Egypt, God is black

Advent's gifts: Remembrance and expectation