A Sermon preached on Advent
I, December 2, at Christ the King, Frankfurt
Jeremiah 33: 14 – 16, 1 Thessalonians 3: 9 –
13, Luke 21: 25 – 36
While it is nice to be here again after my
last visit in October, unlike the Apostle Paul I am afraid that I have not been
praying “night and day most earnestly that I may see you face to face,” nor do
I feel the need to “restore whatever is lacking in your faith.” At least no
more than in my own. But, as in all things, I am sure that “our God and Father
and our Lord Jesus directed our way to you!”
Our readings today, especially the Gospel, seem
to have little to do with what is going on outside the church. Jesus has solemn
warnings for his disciples: “People will faint from fear and foreboding of what
is coming.” “Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with
dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life.” (Luke 21: 26, 34) Yet
outside the church we have the bright colorful lights, upbeat music, and lovely
smells of gingerbread and Glühwein of the Christmas markets. There are many who
would claim anyway that we have a general disconnect between scripture and reality.
In his commentary on Luke’s Gospel, the
theologian Tom Wright writes of this passage “Your friends think you’re odd
still going to church. Everybody knows that Christianity is outdated,
disproved, boring and irrelevant. … They don’t want to know about the lives
changed by the Gospel. They want to load you with the cares of this life; and,
as Jesus warned, with dissipation and drunkenness, literal and metaphorical.
Why study an old book, they say, that’s never done anyone any good.”[1]
It is true that our narrative differs from the
most common secular narratives. Both from the myth of progress so beloved of
secular humanists: That everything is getting better thanks to human ingenuity
and creativity alone. And from the more recent myth of gloom. That our
countries and lifestyles are threatened by migration and by mysterious forces
that we have to take back control from, that we are better off alone, and that
only a strong leader can make “America/Italy/Poland/Britain/Hungary …. Great
again!”
No, in our narrative no human being can save
us. Our Savior is Jesus Christ, the one that we believe the prophet Jeremiah is
pointing to when he looks forward to the day when God will cause
"a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice
and righteousness in the land.” (Jeremiah 33: 15) In our narrative, the world
is good and all that is in it because: “God saw everything that he had made,
and indeed, it was very good,” (Genesis 1:31) but it is marred and threatened
by human sin. In our narrative we do not fear, but welcome the stranger, which
is why Paul prays that the Lord will make the Thessalonians "increase and
abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love
for you." (1 Thessalonians 3: 12) In our narrative, we do not “faint from
fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world,” (Luke 21:26) instead we
act and live in hope, because we are sure in Jesus’ promise that even when
“heaven and earth pass away, my words will not pass away.” (21:33)
Scripture is closer to reality than we
sometimes think. Of course, the passage from Luke’s Gospel refers to the
situation in Palestine and the Roman Empire in AD 60 – 70: when Jerusalem was
besieged and destroyed by the Romans, when there were 5 emperors in quick
succession, each with an army to make his violent case for power. It was a time
of great turmoil and trouble and Jesus’ followers needed reassuring that they
would make it through and that they could rely on a message of confidence and
hope even when all the signs were pointing in a different direction.
Neither scripture nor our lives as Christians
are divorced from reality. Our context may be different from 1st
century Palestine, but the message of confidence and hope still applies today
and to us, and we need it, as the signs of these times are distressing. The dangerous
effects of human sin – pride, lust for power, greed – seem ever more present
and real. But the message of reassurance, then and now, is not so we just sit
back and wait until Jesus comes and fixes things, until, as our Creed says, “He
will come again to judge the living and the dead,” The purpose of the message
is to equip us for action as we wait.
Advent is not just about getting ready for
Christmas. In Advent we also look forward to the Second Coming. We find this
embarrassing at times. Early Christians, including Paul, expected Jesus to
return soon. He didn’t. They were wrong. Often when the Second Coming is
emphasized and preached today, it is used to incite fear or to justify absurd
predictions … or even to justify moving embassies to Jerusalem. They are wrong
too.
In its original Greek the phrase “he will come
again” is in the present tense: He is coming. This is not really about an event
in the far distant future. This is about how we are to live now - as if Jesus
is about to come. Not in fear of judgment, or with our “hearts weighed down
with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life,” (21:34) but in
anticipation and hope. Paul’s prayer for this active waiting is that we use our
time and our lives to “increase and abound in love for one another” so within
and for our community, “and for all,” so for those beyond our walls. (1 Thess.
3:12) I know you do this with your Heimkehrer ministry, your support of the
Weser 5 Homeless Resource Center, and the Romanian ministry that both our
churches share. And you have an extra opportunity to abound in love for all by
giving generously during today’s collection as part of the Convocation’s
Mission Sunday, which will go to support the Diocese of Puerto Rico and their
ministry to those still struggling to recover from the 2017 Hurricane Maria.
Paul also prays that the Lord will “strengthen
our hearts in holiness that we may be blameless before our God and Father at the
coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.” (3:13). This is not something we
do, being blameless sounds a tall order to me, but that the Lord does. Our role
is simply to live faithful, prayerful, active Christian lives. We strengthen
our hearts in holiness be listening to and learning from Scripture, which as it
turns out is not just “an old book that’s never done anyone any good.” We strengthen
our hearts in holiness by participating in Christ at the Eucharist. We
strengthen our hearts in holiness by allowing God’s Spirit to work in and
through us as we serve others. These are all elements of the patient,
prayerful, preparation we are called to not just in Advent. Christian living is
waiting and working for the one who is always about to come.
Amen.
