Luke 21:25-36; Romans
15:4-13; Malachi 4:1-6
In the Name of the Father and of the
+ Son and of the Holy Spirit.
If you needed a reminder that Advent is
not Christmas, today’s Gospel and Old Testament readings surely ought to set
you straight. Both texts describe the end of the world in terms of solar,
lunar, and planetary cataclysm, global natural catastrophe, and scorching fire
leaving neither root nor branch. Our Lord states that “heaven and earth will
pass away,” and, to illustrate, St. Peter adds that the very elements
themselves, of which all things are made, shall melt with fervent heat so that
the heavens and the earth will be dissolved. What our Lord and the Holy
Scriptures describe is nothing short of the undoing of Creation. He who made
all things will unmake all things that He might make all things new once again.
Do these things frighten you? Do they
fill you with terror? They should not. They must not. Indeed, your Lord Jesus
exhorts you and encourages you, “Now when these things begin to take place,
straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
Truly, if these things frighten you and terrify you, that should be a sign to
you that you just might have some misunderstanding about this world and the
things in it, and your God who made this world and all things. You just might
have a misunderstanding about what constitutes your life and what does not.
Jesus says that you should be encouraged, happy, even joyful that this world
and everything in it is passing away. Understand, this includes your very own
flesh and blood body, and the flesh and blood bodies of your husband, your
wife, your children, your friends, and all those you love.
But, this is a good thing! How is it a
good thing? It is good that your flesh will be destroyed, for it is your flesh
and its passions and desires that are at war with your spirit in Christ so that
the good you would do you do not do, while the bad that you would not do you
continually find yourself doing. “Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone
who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” It is good
that material things and worldly wealth, which tempt you so to sin and to
idolatry, will be destroyed. If you are fearful of losing these things, if you
are fearful of losing your life, then this Word is for you – “Watch yourselves
lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of
this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap.”
Please note, your Lord does not want you
to be terrified. Your Lord wants you to be watching and waiting in hopeful
expectation. If you are baptized, and your fear, love, and trust is in your
Lord Jesus, then there is no reason for you to be afraid. The day of His coming
is not a day of dread and terror for you. It is not a day of judgment and
condemnation for you, but it is the day of your salvation, your vindication,
and your justification. Because you are watching and waiting each and every day
of your life, you cannot possibly be surprised when your Lord Jesus comes, but
you must fully expect to see Him coming soon, perhaps very soon, perhaps today,
or tomorrow, or the day after that. Why? Look at the signs! Look at the signs
all around you! Are there not wars and rumors of wars all around you? Are not
nations rising up against nations? Are not peoples and nations in distress and
perplexity? Are not your neighbors fainting with fear and foreboding of what is
coming on the world? Are there not signs in sun, moon, and stars? Is not the
earth itself in distress? Yes! Surely, yes!
But, then, such has always been the
case. Such was the case in the days of Jesus and the Apostles. It was to them
in first century Israel that your Lord spoke these words, “Truly, I say to you,
this generation will not pass away until all has taken place.” Surely Jesus’
prophecy was fulfilled within forty years, a biblical generation, when the
Romans laid siege to Jerusalem and destroyed the city and its temple. Indeed,
the signs of the end have always been, and always will be, until the Last Day
actually comes. That is why Jesus teaches the parable of the fig tree and all
trees: “Look at the fig tree, and all the trees. As soon as they come out in
leaf, you see for yourselves and know that the summer is already near. So also,
when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is
near.” Just as the fig tree and all trees go through annual cycles of budding,
leafing, bearing fruit, and returning to dormancy each year, so the signs of
the decay of the universe, of the heavens and the earth, and of your own bodies
are self-evident to all who will simply wake up and pay attention. Truly, the
signs of the end are self-evident in your own flesh, in your failing ears and
eyes, knees and backs. On a personal level, there is no denying that the end is
coming soon and is, in fact, a little closer each day.
And so it is with the coming of your
Lord. You are a deluded fool if you deny or fail to take seriously that the day
of judgment is drawing ever nearer. But, again, that day should not terrify
you, but you should watch for that day in hopeful expectation. No, I am not suggesting
that you should walk around in detached and aloof manner, careless of the
concerns of the world you inhabit. Many Christians do this and thereby neglect
their God-given vocations in this world. No, you must not merely sit back and
wait for Christ’s return, refusing to get involved in the messy worldliness of
politics and society and culture, but you are to be actively involved in the world, without being of the world, as the salt, leaven, and
light of Christ that others may walk in the light of Christ and not in the
darkness of sin and death.
No, aloof detachment is not the appropriate
response, but peaceful contentment most certainly is. “When these things begin
to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is
drawing near.” “For you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise
with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the
stall.” Because you have nothing to fear at the Lord’s coming, for His coming
means for you redemption and salvation, you may view these things the way a
mother views the pangs of childbirth – as a light
momentary affliction that is preparing you for an eternal weight of glory
beyond comparison. Truly, contentment and peace are more precious and
valuable than are happiness and joy, though the Lord may grant that these
accompany them. Moreover, your contentment and peace are a powerful witness to
your faith in the promises of the LORD fulfilled and kept in your Savior Jesus
Christ.
Indeed, no small measure of your contentment
and your peace comes from the fact that you are not enslaved to the desires of
the flesh and to material and worldly possessions and pursuits, but you are
truly free in the knowledge that this world and everything in it is passing
away. You have made your treasure in heaven and not on earth, and it cannot be
moved or be taken from you. Therefore, you are free to live in contentment and
peace with all, even with unbelievers, and with those who hate you. There is
nothing for you to lose. There is nothing that they can take from you that will
endure, not even your life. For, your hope is not in holding on to things that
are fleeting and passing away, but in holding on to the eternal and
unchangeable things – to Jesus, His Word, eternal life, and salvation.
Even God’s holy and perfect Law is no
longer a threat to you. No longer does it terrify you with its threats of
punishment and damnation, but you actually love it and want to keep it, for you
know its wisdom and its goodness. The Law is no longer your fearsome taskmaster
and judge, but it is the LORD’s righteous, holy, good, and loving rule and
order of things. Your new man, the new spirit created within you by the Holy
Spirit through baptism and faith knows God’s Law, agrees with God’s Law, loves
God’s Law, desires to keep God’s Law, and actually does works according to
God’s Law, works that are truly good before the LORD because they are purified
in the blood of Jesus through faith. Thus St. Paul exhorts you to good works
saying, “Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction,
that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might
have hope.” For the faithful, the Law is not a source of terror, but it is a
cause for encouragement. Thanks be to God that the Law will never pass away,
but, rather, that it has been fulfilled in Jesus Christ!
“May the God of hope fill you with all
joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may
abound in hope.” This is the LORD’s exhortation to you this Advent – Hope.
Christ has come. Christ comes. And, Christ is coming. This truth is our hope at
Advent, and at all times in the Church’s Year of Grace. Because of our fear,
love, and trust in God’s Word of promise, we have hope for the fulfilling of
all things. Therefore, we wait and watch hopefully and expectantly for Christ’s
coming and do not get weighed down with worldly and fleshly pursuits, cares,
and pleasures. In truth, you are more useful to the world in sharing the reason
for the hope that is in you than you are quarreling with your neighbors about
politics and the latest social or moral disagreement. In truth, you are more
useful to the world when you stay a course of constancy and contentment and
peace while the world around you is in perplexity and distress because of what
is happening as it slips speedily into inevitable decline and decay.
And so, this Adventide is a time of
peace and contentment and of hopeful expectation, even as it exhorts you to
wakefulness and watchfulness, for the temptations the world and your own flesh
set before you to dissipation and drunkenness are many and ceaseless. Thus, the
Church of Jesus Christ prays in the Advent collects, “Stir up our hearts, O
Lord,” that we might be roused from slumber to heed the signs of the time and
to watch hopefully and expectantly for His coming. “Stir up our hearts, O
Lord,” that we might be found awake and watching when He comes.
In
the + Name of Jesus. Amen.
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