"Prepare the royal highway ... the King of Kings is near!" This is Advent! Together, as God’s people in Jesus Christ, we look for the coming of our Lord. Last Sunday morning, we began our celebration of the Advent/Christmas season with a look at the "Colors of Christmas!" For our first color, our emphasis last Sunday was on green - the color of life. We spoke of Christ Jesus, the Babe of Bethlehem as the source of all life, both life in this world and life for all believers in the next. Today, we look at violet or purple - the color of royalty. It is the color of kings, and especially the King of kings whose birth is certainly drawing near!

As a prelude to our consideration this morning, I’d like to share with you two portions of God’s Word, from the Gospel of Luke. First, Luke 1:31-35 and then Luke 23:33-38.

From the beginning of Luke’s Gospel, until the very end of it, we find Jesus, our Lord, called King. The angel announced it at his conception and birth. The Jews, on the other hand, sarcastically proclaimed Jesus as King of the Jews as he died on the Cross for the sins of all the world. Jesus the King ... the royal Son of David. In birth and in death, he is called King. "Prepare the royal highway ... the King of kings is near!"

A royal King, standing in the line of David, was exactly what the Jews were looking for when Jesus was born. The society of Israel to which Jesus came was a society filled with oppression. Rome was in absolute control. They exacted tribute from their Jewish subjects. No one dared oppose their rule. A few had tried, and most of them had paid the ultimate price. And so, the Jews longed for a new prince, a new King, a new Anointed One, a Messiah like David to restore Judah to its lofty place of political prominence.

History is very important to the Jewish people. Following the death of David and Solomon, and with the assumption of the throne by King Rehoboam, the nation of Israel had suffered from internal strife and continual decline. No King was remembered more fondly than King David. So, remember him they did. For it was David who had consolidated the territory of Israel and expanded the nation. It was David who had established Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. It was David who had won many great victories over Israel’s enemies. And it was David who had founded a dynasty of kings. And so it was David who was remembered reverently, hopefully. Wouldn’t it be great if we could just have another king like David? If only King David would return and throw the Romans out! The prophets fueled this longing for another David through the continual promises of God.

For example, in our first lesson for this morning, Isaiah calls for a shoot, a branch from the stump of Jesse. You remember Jesse, David’s father. Likewise, our Psalm for the day is a Psalm of Solomon. It is actually a prayer of blessing for a righteous king.

Though their powerful nation was gone ... though kings like David no longer existed, still the Jews remembered ... they remembered King David and longed for such royalty once more.

It was into this world of remembering and anticipation that Jesus came. The angel called him King. The Wise Men recognized him in the same way: "Where is he who has been born King of the Jews?" But in reality, Jesus was just the opposite of the great king and military leader the people were hoping for. The Jews expected power, authority, military victories and revolt. Instead, Jesus came filled with (in the words of Isaiah this morning) "the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of council and justice, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord!"

And it was Isaiah’s prophecy that came true in the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. He fulfilled all that was spoken about him concerning the prophets. But the Jews - ah, well, the Jews! They just didn’t know what to make of this Jesus. They missed the royal King when he came knocking on their door. Only at Jesus’ death, did they call him King ... King of the Jews, but this was simply a cruel, humorless joke.

In retrospect, how can we blame them? Given their political situation and their longings for a king, how can we blame them? Did Jesus look like a king? Did he act like a king? How was this Jesus dressed? Did he wear the purple robe of a king?

Actually, he did wear a purple robe once in his life. Mark’s Gospel reports that as Jesus was taken as a prisoner to the palace, the soldiers clothed Jesus in a purple cloak and plaiting a crown of thorns, they put it on him. And they began to salute him, "Hail, King of the Jews!" And they struck him with a reed and spit upon him, and they knelt down in mock homage to him. And when they mocked him they stripped him of the purple cloak, and put his own clothes on him, and they led him out to be crucified.

Purple, violet is the color of royalty. It is reserved for kings’ palaces, not mangers and stables. Yet purple, violet is a color of Christmas. It is the color we generally see hanging from the altar, lectern, pulpit, and pastor during Advent. It is the color we use during the Lenten season, too, since it is also a color of repentance.

The color violet; the King; and repentance have a lot in common. Our sins have been confessed this morning. And we know that because of Christ, our King, because of his loving death for our sake, our sins have been eliminated, washed away. This King, our King, our royal King Jesus sacrificed himself for his subjects. He took off the purple robe in heaven, and put on the diapers of Bethlehem for our sake. He took off the purple robe in Herod’s palace, willingly laying down his life on the Cross for our sake.

The color for today, this color of Christmas, is violet ... and we use it, we wear it, so that we may never, ever forget what he has done for us all.

In another way, remembering will be part of our worship this morning, too. On the evening before Jesus died, He took a cup of wine ... wine made from purple grapes, just like these, and mysteriously, miraculously changed the eating habits of Christians forever. For as we gather here, Advent comes true ... the King comes to us once more, through his own Body, his own Blood. We celebrate, we rejoice, we remember, we repent!

"Prepare the royal highway ... the King of kings is near!" Violet is the color of royalty! As you gather during this holiday season with family and friends, may you remember whose birthday we are celebrating. May you remember the angel’s message. "For to you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, a Messiah, who is Christ the Lord!" That Babe born in Bethlehem, so very long ago is Christ the King ... your king ... my king!

Violet - the color of royalty. "Then greet the King of glory ... foretold in sacred story. Hosanna to the Lord ... for He fulfills God’s Word!"