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Sermon - First Sunday of Advent (C) - 29th November 2009
St Aidan's Anglican Church West Epping 8:30am
Readings: Jeremiah 33:14-16; Psalm 25:1-10; 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13; Luke 21:25-38
I remember when the song “Free Nelson Mandela” first came out. I remember thinking it was a wonderful sentiment. But I could not imagine it would ever happen. Given the past behaviour of the government of South Africa. I was sure Nelson Mandela would die in jail. Who would have thought he would ever be free. Who would have thought he would become the President of South Africa. Who would have thought that the people of South Africa would be given the right to choose their own government. And yet it all happened. A political change that seemed impossible quickly came to reality.
In 1987 President Ronald Reagan made a speech in Germany beside the Berlin Wall. As he reached his climax he demanded, “Mr Gorbachov, tear down this wall.” It seemed impossible. At that time, Gorbachov was bringing reform to the Soviet Union with the express purpose of strengthening it, to make it more powerful than ever. Yet two years later, the German people took matters into their own hands and attacked the wall. The East German government appealed to Moscow for troops and they were refused. Gorbachov would not attack the citizens of Germany – East or West. And with the fall of the East German government came the end of the Soviet block and the end of the cold war. The force of communism which dominated political life throughout the 20 th century suddenly took a strange direction. In the West they got the vote. In the East they got rich. And nobody saw any of this coming.
Some of the biggest changes in the last century didn’t come about by planning or wars or political summits. They just happened – and often without any warning. We like to think we are in control. We assume our leaders are playing their part in the development of history. Yet history itself teaches us how out of control our lives are. We like to think we are in control. Yet a crisis, an accident, a health scare shatters that illusion and we realise how much our world, our lives, are beyond our control. There are other forces, other people, who exert their influence just as much as the decisions we make for ourselves. Sometimes we are more aware of this than at other times. We have refugees in camps, whose lives depend upon decisions made in far off Canberra. Or we have the hospital experience where medical specialists make decisions, which can affect our own survival. There are times when we realise how little control we have. There are times when we ask ourselves who is in control?
These are the issues that Jesus was addressing in his speech to his disciples. Its an odd speech. Its hard for us to understand. Yet its also odd because Jesus seems to be talking about the wrong topic. This is the last week of Jesus’ life. Within a day or two he will suffer that dreadful death. The disciples will be in confusion. Yet Jesus is teaching about another crisis altogether. But we need to remember that this discussion began with the disciples admiring the Temple building. The Temple was at the heart of Judaism. The Temple was Israel’s assurance that God was with them. Their understanding of themselves and their connection with God was centred upon the Temple.
And yet Jesus told them – it would all be destroyed. The Temple would be gone – wiped out. Naturally, the disciples wanted to know when all this would take place. Jesus answer was that when they saw the armies lined up and surrounding the city – that would be a good indicator that the end of the Temple was close But as Jesus began to expand on the topic he seems to be describing more than the end of the Temple. What he is doing is describing the world itself. This is life as we know it. The history of the world is the story of wars and rumours of wars. As one cynic once said, “History is just one damn thing after another.” And that’s on the world scale. But it’s the same at a personal level. Think of how many of your friends have been struck with serious illness, or divorce or some other tragedy. We see it in the lives of others.
Yet we see it in our own lives too. Jesus is explaining that this is what we can expect from life. Things will go wrong, and often there won’t be any clear cause or explanation for the events. These are things that just happen. If you go to the Imperial War Museum in London, there is a large display devoted to the holocaust. There are a series of TV screens where people tell of their experience of living through it. One man talks about his experience of surviving the death camps. He said many people asked him how he survived. He simply doesn’t know – it just happened that way. Why did he live when so many died. He had no answer. He said he got into a taxi one day and recognised the driver was another survivor of the camps. He asked him the same question, “Why did we survive when so many died?” The driver said he had asked himself the same question. He simply did not know. And the “not knowing” is difficult to live with.
But Jesus doesn’t leave the matter there. He knows he will be leaving his disciples very shortly. He knows life will be very difficult for them. So he tells them two things. The first is a message of hope. He says in verse 27 “At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” This is a reference back to Daniel 7. In Daniel 7 the vision Daniel saw was of one political leader rising after another. The question was, “Who would rule the earth?” The question was, “Where was God in all this chaos?” Then, in his vision Daniel saw one like a Son of Man coming in the clouds. Now where is he going? He is not coming to earth. He is going to the Ancient of Days in heaven. And he was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshipped him.” Jesus is announcing that he will fulfil this prophecy of Daniel 7. He is the Son of Man. He will appear before the Ancient of Days and be declared the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. He will be master over heaven and earth, over all of creation.
However, that will not be how we will experience the world. So we are told this so that we will not lose hope. The ultimate destiny of all creation will lie in the hands of Jesus, the Son of God. The disciples within a few days will witness a show down between the Pharisees and Jesus. With his death, it would appear that the Pharisees had won. Yet on the third day Jesus would rise again, having defeated death. On the other hand, within 40 years the Roman army would besiege Jerusalem and destroy the Temple and the world of the Pharisees would disappear while Jesus will be vindicated before the throne of the Ancient of Days.
Jesus is teaching his disciples that they have not made a mistake be putting their trust in him. God will fulfil all his promises to Israel but not through the Temple but through His own Son. But that still leaves the disciples and us with a problem. We still have to live in this world with its pain, its distresses, its wars, its famines and its sufferings. How are we to live as the people of God in this alien, hostile environment? Jesus knew he only had to endure a few more days. But the disciples had the rest of their lives ahead of them. So Jesus warned them, “Be on your guard! Don’t be weighed down by drunkenness, dissipation and the anxieties of life. All these have the power to discourage us, and help us forget who is in charge or what Jesus has done. Rather, Jesus says, “Be always on watch, look after yourselves. Enrich yourselves spiritually. Don’t stop praying. Remember what God in his mercy has done for you. Jesus and his disciples were about to face a great crisis. We too, can never be sure what’s around the corner. We need to be prepared. We need to care for ourselves, we need to nurture our faith, to prepare ourselves spiritually so that in the times of crisis we don’t forget who our God is, nor how he loves us, nor his promise to be with us always – so we can stand with the Psalmist and say, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me, your rod and your staff – they comfort me.