The
signs of the season are all around us.
Just visit the shopping malls, turn on the radio, look at
the commercials on TV, and the message comes through loud and
clear: It’s
Christmas. Or,
since we’re now a more inclusive culture and don’t want anyone
to feel left out, or to feel marginalized because of their
beliefs, or lack of belief: It’s
the holiday season.
But
whether it’s called Christmas or the Winter Holiday, one things
for sure: ‘Tis the season to be jolly, the season for endless
holiday parties, the season for a frantic, breakneck pace that,
come January 1st, leaves you panting with exhaustion.
‘Tis the season for shopping pilgrimages to the mall, the
season for fighting massive crowds of shoppers, the season for
inflated credit card bills and trips to the exchange counter of
your favorite store, because after all, what in the world can you
possibly do with two Rudolf-the-Rednosed-Reindeer
neckties? The signs of
the season are all around us.
But
in the Church, it’s not Christmas.
Not yet. It’s
Advent, a slower-paced and more reflective time.
It’s a time of preparation, not merely for the
celebration of our Lord’s Nativity, but a time to ready
ourselves for Jesus’ Second Coming at the end of the age.
For just as our Lord Jesus Christ came in the flesh, born
of a Virgin in order to die for the sins of all mankind, so the
Scriptures say, He will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who
are eagerly waiting for him.
And
that, you could say, is what the early weeks of Advent are all
about. Before
celebrating the birth of our Lord at the Christmas Festival on
December 25th, we remind ourselves of His Second
Advent, when He shall reappear to gather His Bride, the Church, to
Himself. We remind
ourselves that only those who have faith in Him for the
forgiveness of their sins will dwell forever in His kingdom of
glory. We examine
ourselves more intensively, repentantly reflecting upon the sin
that still dwells within us, the mortality that threatens us all,
the divine wrath that would condemn us forever but for Jesus’
holy life, death, and resurrection.
It’s
Advent, and the signs of the season are all around us.
But these signs are not what you might expect.
They aren’t bright and cheery, like twinkling lights,
ornaments on Christmas trees, and moonlight on new-fallen snow.
For we live in a Creation that has been crippled by Adam’s sin
– a world that lurches spasmodically along from misfortune to
disaster to tragedy.
So
then, what are the signs of the season, the signs that remind us
that our Lord is coming back for His Bride?
Sickness, accident, famine, flood, and death – these and
other things are all early warnings announcing that this present
Creation, corrupted by sin as it is, cannot endure forever.
When you experience misfortune and trial, sorrow and loss,
let these things remind you: We
Christians have no lasting city in this world, but are seeking the
city of
God
, the heavenly New Jerusalem which is to come.
We await with eagerness the return of our Lord Jesus
Christ, for when He who
is our life appears then we also [the Scripture says] shall
appear with Him in glory.
So
Jesus warns us to be watchful and ready for His return.
In today’s Gospel He speaks of signs in
sun and moon and stars. He
tells us that on the earth [there shall
be] distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and
the waves, people fainting with fear and with
foreboding of what is coming on the world. According
to Jesus, even the powers of the heavens will be shaken. It’s
a picture of Creation coming apart at the seams, as God gets ready
to replace the old order of things with something new and
infinitely better.
Every
fierce storm, every destructive earthquake, every deadly plague,
every eclipse of sun or moon, every falling star, is for the
Christian a sign, a reminder: this present world is not our home.
We look for something better. Jesus is returning to take
His Church to the eternal home He has prepared for her.
That’s our hope as those who by God’s grace have been
baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection.
Jesus is returning for us.
Those
who live for this world, and for the wealth, pleasures and
possessions that belong to this world, cannot see beyond disaster
and loss and sorrow to the hope that is in Christ Jesus.
So taken up are they with the toys and baubles that so
easily entrance that they’re crushed when those things are taken
away. And taken away
they will certainly be. Our
most valued earthly possessions can’t endure forever, but perish
with the using. Our
youth and good looks (if we were ever fortunate enough to possess
good looks) fade with the passage of time.
Our health, and even our life, can be snatched away in an
instant. That’s
reality.
But
we look for something better.
Jesus is returning to take us to the eternal home He has
prepared for us. That’s
why our Lord tells us in today’s Gospel, Now when these things begin to
take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your
redemption is drawing near. When
hardship and suffering dog your steps, when disaster snatches from
you the things you value most, when grief and pain become a burden
too heavy to bear, then take comfort that your
redemption is drawing near. For
Christ is returning to restore this fallen Creation to God’s
original intent. He
will make good all losses. He
will wipe away the tears from you eyes.
He will remake you and free you forever from temptation,
sin, affliction and the curse of mortality.
Jesus
says that when trees sprout their leaves we can know that summer
is near. Even so, He goes on to say, when you see these things taking
place, you know that the
kingdom
of
God
is near. The
tragedies, troubles and sorrows of this present fallen world
remind us that Christ is surely coming again.
But
when will it be? When
will our Lord reappear to set us free from the hardship and
heartache of life in a fallen Creation?
When will we by God’s grace enter fully into the kingdom
our Lord has prepared for us by His death and resurrection, the
eternal kingdom that was pledged to us in our Baptism?
When?
Jesus
doesn’t tell us. Rather,
He bids us to abide in the grace of our Baptism.
He warns us not to let our
hearts be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness, and the
anxieties of life – to cast off anything that would pull
us away from His mercy and grace.
Jesus tells us to watch and pray and be ready for the
consummation that could come at any instant.
No,
Jesus doesn’t tell us when the end will come, but He does say,
this generation will not pass away until all has taken place.
In other words, the race of sinful men, women, and
children is not going to disappear before our Lord’s return.
No human efforts to better society and tame fallen human
nature can expect any real success.
The improved technologies which make our lives easier also
provide the Old Adam with greater opportunity for devilment.
Sin and its consequences will remain with us until Christ
comes back to make all things new.
So
our fallen human race will not die off before Jesus’ return.
But neither will the Words of our Lord pass away.
The present heaven and earth will certainly disappear, but
not the gracious, life-giving Words of Jesus.
And that is our hope in the midst of a temporal world.
Nothing can snatch away from us the gracious, merciful,
life-giving Word of Jesus. For
just as our Lord Jesus Christ, true God and true Man, lives
forever after His conquest of sin, death and devil in the
resurrection, so His Word endures forever.
And
that Word is a Word of peace to you, for He is your peace with God. It
is a Word of forgiveness, for the
Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins.
It is a Word of life, for Jesus is the resurrection and the life, and whoever believes in Him shall not
perish but have eternal life.
It is a Word of victory over this world and all of
its troubles, over every temptation, over sin, devil, and the fear
of hell. As the
Scripture says, Thanks be to God who gives us the
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!
That
peace, that forgiveness, that life, that promise of ultimate
victory, are delivered to you in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
What was your Baptism in the Name of the Triune God but a
Baptism into the peace that Christ made for you by His death on
the Cross? What is the
message from this pulpit but a proclamation of the forgiveness of
all your sins for Jesus’ sake?
What is the Sacrament of the Altar but the very life of
Christ that nourishes your faith as you eat His Body and drink His
Blood for the remission of your sin?
Through
these Means of Grace, God will grant you the victory.
You will overcome the world.
You will overcome sin, death and the devil.
You will endure in your faith through the enduring Word of
Jesus. And you will
attain the goal of your faith, the resurrection of all flesh and
life eternal with God when Jesus reappears.
The
signs of the Christmas season are all around us, in the malls, on
TV, and on the radio. But
today, on this First Sunday in Advent, we Christians are mindful
of the signs that herald our Lord’s return.
Though earthly troubles plague us, though the devil accuses
us of all kinds of sins and taunts us with our failures, though
our lives in this world draw ever closer to their termination
point, we can lift up our heads with confidence and faith.
For Jesus is returning.
Our
redemption [indeed] is
drawing near.
In Nomine Patris. . .
