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Sermon: The First Sunday in Advent (B) - 27th November 2011
St Alban's Anglican Church Epping 8 and 10 am
Readings: Isaiah 64:1-9; Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19; I Corinthians 1:1-9; Mark 13:24-37
“You’re to be shot at sunrise”, says the soldier to the prisoner in an old Wizard of Id cartoon.
“Look, I’ve got a million things to do tomorrow”, replies the condemned man. “Can we make it Wednesday morning instead?”
By this time they’ve both got their diaries out. “Wednesday’s my golf day”, says the officer. “How about Thursday afternoon?”
“What a shame! I’ve got a dentist’s appointment. How does Friday look for you?”
“Friday’s out. I’ve got a conference all day.”
“Well, we’ve got cricket on Saturday. How’s Sunday?”
“Sunday’s clear”, replies the officer. “Then it’s set. You will be executed next Sunday.”
Just at that moment, along come the members of the firing squad. “Wait a moment!” they call out. “Do we have to fit that in before or after church?”
And for all I know, they could still be discussing dates today, and the prisoner could still die of old age!
I guess that many of us who lead busy lives, especially around this time of year, can identify with the characters in that story. How do we fit in all the things we need to do, let alone the things we want to do?
Well, there are certain appointments we will not miss out on, no matter what else we have planned. These are the ultimate appointments: the day of our death, and our meeting with the Lord on the day of judgement. One way or another, our earthly lives will come to an end one day – either through our death, or as we easily forget, perhaps through the return of Jesus. Jesus taught about this climactic event in our Gospel reading from Mark 13: an appropriate reading for Advent Sunday.
The season of Advent calls us to look back and to look forward. We look back to the first coming of Jesus, and we are reminded of the events that led up to the birth of Jesus and his ministry: passages from the Old Testament point us to the hope of God’s people for salvation and indeed for a Saviour. And we are therefore encouraged to prepare for our own celebration of the birth of Jesus on Christmas Day.
But Advent also calls us to look towards the second coming of Jesus at the ultimate climax of history: his return in glory as Saviour and Judge to usher in the kingdom of God in all its fulness.
I suspect that many of us are a bit uncertain what to do with the doctrine of the Second Coming of Jesus. Some might think that the idea doesn’t really belong to a 21 st century understanding of Christianity. Others might find it hard to work out what it means, what it’s all about. Some people turn it into a symbolic idea, which bears very little relationship to the scriptural material. And still others might not reject the idea so much as ignore it: that might be quite a few of us. We are reminded about it at Advent, and then we can forget about it for another year.
Why this difficulty? Firstly I guess because it is so different from life as we know it: it describes something beyond our experience, something we find hard to get our heads and even our imagination around. Secondly, it is difficult because it hasn’t happened. Over 2000 years have passed since these words of Jesus, and it’s hard to feel that we are really purposefully awaiting the great day. In the pages of the New Testament we read of Christians who were bewildered that Jesus hadn’t returned even during that era: no wonder people have problems today! But there’s a third reason, and that is that so many weird ideas are associated with it: last year there was a big campaign, even using billboard signs, to assure people that Jesus would return on a particular date. Surprise surprise, it didn’t happen! Yes, most of these ideas come out of American fundamentalist churches and strange sects; but these people present themselves as great students of the Bible, and they get publicity, and their failed predictions and prophecies certainly breed cynicism.
Mark 13 presents teaching of Jesus about the events leading up to his promised return in glory. In the first part he spoke of a wide range of signs: wars and natural disasters, the persecution of Christians, the spread of the Gospel and the spread of false teaching; and also the defilement and destruction of the temple of Jerusalem. Of course, all these things have happened: indeed they happened during the lifetime of Jesus’ first followers. Jesus indicated that these were things which would happen before his coming in glory. But he did not indicate that they were events on some sort of timeline, or dates in an appointment book. They can remind us that Jesus will return, but in themselves they do not give a date.
It was natural for the early Christians to assume that the Second Coming would be in their lifetime: indeed there are indications that Paul in the earlier stages of his ministry assumed that would be the case. However, he never tried to predict the date.
But in the midst of all that information about signs, Jesus also gave some commands to his followers. “Watch out that none of these false teachers deceives you. Hold on to the truth”, he said. “Be prepared for tough times. Stand firm, and trust God to help you in times of trial. Hang in there, and keep following me”, said Jesus.
That’s all very well, but up to this point, Jesus really seems to be avoiding the $64000 question. When will the real thing happen? What will be the date of Jesus’ return? When will the sun and moon be darkened, and the stars fall, to use his imagery? When will the Son of Man come in the clouds with great glory? When will God’s people be finally gathered into his glorious kingdom?
Well, says Jesus, it will be soon! After all, you can look at the leaves beginning to come out on a fig tree and tell that summer is coming soon. In the same way, the signs that have been fulfilled indicate that the Second Coming will be soon.
The problem is: what does “soon” mean?
You may hope that this sermon will finish soon: in a few minutes rather than a few hours. You may think that Christmas is coming soon: in four weeks’ time. You may believe that climate change will cause sea levels to rise and cause destruction very soon: but is that years or decades or centuries? Soon means different things according to your perspective. And God’s view of time is different from ours. As the scriptures say more than once: with the Lord, one day is as a thousand years.
Here is the way I look at it. Christ’s return is the next major event on God’s agenda for human history. There are of course all sorts of major events in human history, but from God’s perspective they are of secondary importance compared with Christ’s return.
What then about that question: when will it happen? Jesus tells us: “About that day or that hour no one knows… You do not know when that time will come.” And Jesus’ words are echoed in the letters of Paul and Peter. We don’t know, and we will not be told in advance the date of Jesus’ return.
Nostradamus didn’t know. Astrologers don’t know. The person with the latest theory doesn’t know: and you can find a few on the world wide web if you have nothing better to do! We do not know when it will happen, and we are not meant to know.
But if we don’t know when he is coming, how can we make sure we are ready for that great day? Well, that is the real point. Jesus wants us to be ready at any time : he wants us to live in readiness .
When Jesus returns, it will be a matter of “Coming, ready or not”. Just because the boss is out of sight doesn’t give his servants an excuse to loaf on the job. They need to get on with the work they are supposed to be doing, so that whenever the boss gets back he will find them on the job as they should be. He doesn’t give them an appointment so that they can start their work five minutes before he arrives.
Let’s imagine that somehow a clear authoritative message came from heaven to all people that Jesus would return on say December 31 st 2020. Human nature being what it is, can’t you imagine a flurry of spiritual activity around December 30 th 2020? But that is not the way God wants us to live. “Be ready always”, says Jesus, “because you do not know when the time will come.” And in any case, few of us are able to control the date of our death, which of course opens the way to those same great events.
And how do we live in readiness? We live by faith. In those opening verses of 1 Corinthians, Paul writes of grace and peace: we live in peace with God through God’s grace. By faith we open up to God’s gracious forgiveness, his welcome to us, made available through Jesus Christ. But faith that is real must be lived out: Jesus made that clear; Paul and James and John in their letters also made it clear. In faith we live as Jesus’ followers: not perfect, not flawless, but genuine in our desire to serve and honour him, and in our readiness to show love to our neighbour.
We are assured of salvation as we trust in Christ and his love: we express the reality of our faith as we serve Christ and serve others.
The Second Coming may be a strange doctrine to us, but it expresses to us a great reality, and a wonderful hope which is beyond the limits of our human understanding. We don’t have to be caught up in theories about the details, certainly not about the timing. But let us heed Jesus’ call to trust in him, and his call to faithful loving service as we follow him.
Paul Weaver