Luke 21:25-36
1
Advent C
Luke
21:25-36
This morning’s Gospel reading
may have taken you by surprise. It’s the first Sunday in Advent, and you’re
thinking about Christmas. You can’t help it. Maybe you joined the crowds for
the biggest shopping day of the year on Friday. Maybe you took advantage of the
relatively warm weather yesterday to put up Christmas lights. Maybe the very
organized among you have already addressed your Christmas cards. At this time
of year, you just can’t help thinking about Christmas.
But then you come to church
today, and hear a very un-Christmas-like message; “There will be signs in the
sun, the moon, and the stars…people will faint from fear and foreboding of what
is coming upon the world… be on guard, lest that day catch you unexpectedly
like a trap.” Yesterday while you were shopping, you might have worried about
your January credit card bills catching you unexpectedly, but this Gospel for
the First Sunday in Advent is a lot more serious than that.
The traditional mood for
Advent is a mood of repentance, as we prepare ourselves for both the
celebration of the birth of Christ, and of his eventual return. I think that it
also ought to be a mood of great joy—joy that God sent his only Son into the
world 2000 years ago for our salvation, and joy that God still has plans for us
to this very day.
The first time Jesus came,
not many were really expecting him. Probably every loyal Jew in those days
expected that someday God would send the Messiah, and the literature of the
time indicated that a great many people, both Gentiles and Jews, were longing
for some special intervention by God—but few were really looking. After all,
how many people came to see Jesus at the time of his birth? Only a stable full.
You see, when Jesus was born
at
This year you will probably
receive any number of Christmas cards hailing Jesus as the Prince of Peace, and
carrying a message of Peace on Earth. But this earth is far from a peaceful
place. Jesus came to save the world from sin, but I don’t have to tell you that
sin is still active in our world. Sin is still active because the job isn’t
finished yet. The Christmas story isn’t over.
The end of the story is yet
to be written, and that is why Jesus told his disciples that he’d be back. And
that is why, in this Advent season, we seek to prepare ourselves not only for
the celebration of Christmas 2003, but also for the fulfillment that it
promises; a bigger Christmas is coming, bigger and better than we can possibly
imagine.
But when, you ask? When can
we expect this second Advent, the second coming of Christ? And what should we
expect when it comes? The second question is probably easier to answer than the
first—what should we expect when Jesus returns?
To be honest, I think that
most of us dread that day. We don’t know much about it, and it’s easy to be
blinded by the predictions of gloom, doom, and destruction that come along with
it.
First of all, let me say that
the Revelation style predictions of the horror at the end of time were not
written for us. They were written for an ancient Christian community that was
suffering persecution. They were written to assure believers in the present age
that the bad guys who were oppressing them now would get theirs later, in the
age to come. The predictions of fiery apocalypse do not apply to those who
trust in God.
And second, all of these
horror stories about the end of time are not to be taken literally. They were
written in coded, figurative language, so that the powers of that age would not
know that the Christians were dissing them. Know these two things—if you are
getting your information about the end of time from sources like the “Left
Behind” books, you are reading fiction, and it doesn’t apply to you.
For Christians, the second
coming of Christ is not something to fear. It’s a good thing. Listen again to
what Jesus had to say in today’s Gospel;
“People will faint from fear
and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of heaven will
be shaken. Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in a cloud’ with power and
great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your
heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
Your redemption is drawing
near. There is nothing to fear. This is what we have been waiting for, the day
when God will put things right, and make a new creation as God intended it to
be. That’s what will happen at the second coming. That’s what we can expect
when Jesus returns.
So, when can we expect this
great and glorious day? That’s a little harder to answer. In fact, it’s a question
we’re not even supposed to try to answer. The Bible points us to all kinds of
signs that the end is near, but again, these signs are not to be taken
literally. Jesus himself said that not even he knew when the day is coming.
Only God in heaven knows that. And so it would be presumptuous of us to try to
predict it. But we do know what to do in the meantime. Jesus himself tells us.
Jesus himself issues a warning that we ought to pay attention to; “Keep alert,”
he says, “Keep alert.”
There will be warning signs
along the way, probably more of them that we can hope to interpret. We may be
distracted by those who think they can interpret them, and we may be led
astray. Instead, just keep alert. If the times are good and prosperous, keep
alert, because such times can cause us to let down our guard. If the times are
filled with ominous headlines, keep alert, because at such times, we can be
distracted by the worries of life. Keep alert, because you don’t want to miss
what God has promised.
This morning, I am sounding
an Advent Alert. It’s a Red Alert. Always has been, always will be—and here it
is;
Christmas is coming! Don’t
miss it! Only this time, the coming of our Lord will be even more climactic
than it was 2000 years ago. This is the Big One, when Jesus comes to finish
what he began in his first coming.
I don’t have all the details,
and I would suggest that you seriously doubt anyone who says she does. And I
can’t tell you how close or how far away it is. Not even Jesus knows, so how
could I?
But I can tell you this. I
sure don’t want to miss it, and I don’t want you to miss it, either. If we had
been around 2000 years ago, we wouldn’t have wanted to miss his first coming at
Live as if there once was a
Christmas, when the story began, and live in hope for a still bigger Christmas
on the way, when the story will come to its glorious completion.
“Stand up and raise your
heads, because your redemption is drawing near!”
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.