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First Sunday in Advent, 12/02/2007
Sermon on Matthew 24:36-44, by Walter W. Harms
IT'S COMING!
It's coming, alright! And I don't mean Christmas. I mean the
"advent," the Latin word for coming-the coming of the Son of Man. He
came once, about as lowly as you can get-a helpless infant with no
prospects of having any kind of meaningful life.
When he comes again, it will be entirely different. Trumpets, shouts
of praise, angels filling the sky, the dead being raised all around us.
He will return in majesty, honor, glory and power to take to eternal
life in heaven all those who are prepared for his coming, his second
advent.
So we take time at the beginning of each new "church" year to remind
ourselves not that he came once in Bethlehem's stable, not that he
comes to us every time we hear the Good News of his rescuing us from
sin and in the Blessed Sacrament of his Body and Blood, but that he
quite literally is coming back.
There will be an end to all this, all that you see. Every physical and
material possession will in an instant become meaningless. It won't
make any difference whether you ever got an education or left high
school for whatever reason. All the "toys" we treasure-the car, the
boat, the house, the portfolio, the investments, the good retirement we
have-won't have any meaning, any worth, any attraction ever again.
Jesus' followers asked about the timing of all this and we all know how
important timing is. Get to the stores early or the bargains are gone.
The sooner you have the preparations done for whatever kind of
Christmas you intend to have are done, the sooner you can relax and
enjoy all the parties and gatherings of the season.
Timing is important. To know when all of this is going to take place
is critical to how we spend our time. Many a person has regretted not
spending more time with a loved one once they are departed, but, of
course, we didn't know the time. Think about that for a moment.
Well the news for you today is that.... No one knows the time of this
event. There is no one, well, there is one who knows, but no one on
this earth knows. Jesus says that he didn't even know when all of this
would take place. This person to whom we ascribe the loftiest titles
didn't know when he would be returning to earth.
Only the Father in heaven knows when it will happen.
This is important to remember. There have been lots of individuals,
many organizations using the term Christian in their name who have told
their followers the time of the Second coming of our Lord. One group
said that before the people in their group born in 1912 or before would
be alive when he comes. They have had to revive their schedule,
several times!
I want you to know that if anyone, anyone says they know when the Lord
of the universe is coming back, you should immediately know that they
are false prophets, and are from the dark side, the evil, the demonic
side of life. They know more than Jesus? They know more than what
Scripture says? They know more than the apostles of our Lord knew?
If you listen to these groups, the only result you will have is terror,
a total retreat from life and a brain washing that is evil.
So back to the timing. What are the conditions before the timing?
Like the days of Noah before the flood. People were having a good
time. Good food; lots of good drinks. The routine stuff of
life-birth, marriage, career, retirement at 500 years of age or less
because they lived longer back then.
The landscape of life back then could be exchanged for the landscapes
of our lives today and you know what? Except for the "modern" stuff we
have you wouldn't know the difference.
Of course, there was that crazy Noah, building that, what did he call
it? "ark" in his back yard. Phew! That had been going on for 120 years
and nothing happened. Samo, samo!
That is until that rain came. Then, of course, that ark began to
jiggle a little as the water reached it. Not long after came that
first knock, then a frantic knocking, then screams, and then deadly,
and I do mean deadly silence.
Now doesn't that just create terror in your heart? Just what I wanted
to create as I tell you about the timing of the coming of the Son of
man again.
Then there were those farmers hoeing away at the weeds which wanted to
suck up all the nutrients and moistures from the veggies and grains.
You can just see them stopping occasionally to wipe their brows, check
the time by looking at the shadows, and taking a little water from the
jugs they carried.
One stopped and looked. Well, what had happened to the neighbor in the
field just across the way? Gone! Gone, just like that!
Or the two ladies grinding grains for their tortillas. Just chatting
away about the weather, the children and grandchildren, about who was
going to marry whom, and the peccadilloes of their husbands. One turns
to add a touch more grain to the hand mill, and wonders why the mill
has stopped. The other person is gone, vanished without a trace.
Without a trace, unless you know how it will be at the second coming of
the Son of man!
How many of you take precautions today against unwanted visitors? You
know, extra locks on doors, peep holes in the doors, bars on the
windows, alarm systems, motion detectors. How many of you are cautious
about making sure the house is locked up before going to bed at night?
I can guarantee you our society has changed. Growing up, we never
locked the doors, not even when we went away from home. Now? Super
protective. Why? You never know when a thief might be coming.
Wouldn't it be scary to wake up and find someone in the house? If you
have known you would have been prepared. But, but, but you just can't
know that, can you? So we take precautions.
Like a thief breaking into a house, so will be the coming the second
time of the Son of man.
So now we have it, we don't know the age, we don't know the day, we
don't know the hour when the Lord of heaven and earth will return.
Shudder in terror, fear, hopelessness, or worse.
Just a few days ago there was a bomb threat against a mall in the Los
Angeles area. An interview of some of the shoppers discovered that
some were afraid, but most said they wouldn't let fear rule their lives
or they would never do anything. They would continue to shop until
their dropped.
Our Lord Jesus does not want us to have a blasé attitude toward his
coming back. You can count on it that he doesn't want us to be afraid,
to be in terror, or to have a sense of hopelessness because you can
have your hands folded in prayer all the time. You can think pious,
prayerful thoughts throughout the day.
So he tells us to keep watch, be ready for his return.
I don't know about you, but I know that I really wouldn't want to face
the God of the universe. I like the things I have acquired. I like my
relationship with family and friends. I don't want to give much up.
But to keep watch and be alert and awake, could not mean that every
instance of the day and night I have to be aware of God and his love
for me.
It means that I value my Jesus and what he has done for me more than
anything else. I am a sinner who fouls my own nest and often is
totally unaware of what I should be doing for my neighbors here or
around the world. I am not even sure that I would recognize sin
sometimes if it bit me.
I am basically estranged from God. I don't like God knowing what I do
or how I think, but I can't do anything about it.
So I trust that my relationship with God is always alright because I
have been baptized into Christ Jesus. All that Jesus did for me by
dying on the cross-paying my debt to God, reconciling God to me,
destroying death by entering it and breaking it and so much more-is
mine, now, all the time.
I live in a world where I did marry, do like to eat and drink, like to
work and sweat, like to acquire stuff and toys and gadgets, need to
have investments and pensions and so much more, but these are needed to
live in this world.
I am aware that all the sterling silver, fine china, crystal, cars, my
health, my wealth is not of primary importance. Jesus is my Lord and
my God.
Without him, I do not exist. Without him and what he has done and does
for me, I am a total enemy of God. Without him, I have no peace in
war, no confidence in broken health, no hope as death approaches, and
nothing to look forward to.
Today is the First Sunday in Advent in this the first Sunday of the new
Church Year. The church, you and I and all believers in Christ, take
time to reflect as we begin a year that we know not the age, the day or
the hour of his coming again.
We pause to take inventory of our priorities in this world. We pause
to keep awake to his coming again. We look at his coming with joy,
with the fulfillment of all promises he has made to us, and to the
blessed reunion with all the saints.
It's coming. We are always in the "advent" season. Ahead us looms the
dayspring from on high-the only person who gives life and hope is
coming to rescue us.
Come quickly, Lord Jesus! Amen
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