Ro 13:11-14; Mt 24:36-44

The First Sunday of Advent | November 27, 2022 | Ro 13:11-14; Mt 24:36-44 | by Ryan Mills |

¹¹Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; ¹²the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; ¹³let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. ¹⁴Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. (Romans 13:11-14, NRSV).

[Jesus said to the disciples,] ³⁶“About that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. ³⁷For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. ³⁸For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, ³⁹and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. ⁴⁰Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. ⁴¹Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. ⁴²Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. ⁴³But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁴Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”(Matthew 24:36-44, NRSV).

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son +, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Welcome to Trinity on this First Sunday of Advent, the New Year’s Day of the Church’s year. When our son John was small, one of his favorite things to play with was an old-fashioned alarm clock with the bells on the top.  And I remember once as he adjusted the hands to set off the bells, he called out in a voice of perfectly-mixed worry and anticipation: “Uh-oh, Look!  When this hand is on this number and that hand is on that number it will be 30 o’clock, and time to wake up!”  But that mix of apprehension and anticipation is what this new season of Advent is all about, and what our lessons today unveil before us.  For the clock of this old world is ticking down, and as we await the coming of Lord Jesus again in glory we ought to have some apprehension, but an even greater anticipation and joy.  When one hand is on that number and one on the other, Christ will be on his way, he will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. So even if we don’t know the *when* of it in any way, we know the *what*, we know the *who*, so “Wake up!” our lessons tell us today, awake from the sleep of doubt and sin, because Jesus Christ is coming soon!

            Jesus tells us right off the bat today that about that day and hour of his final return in glory no one knows: not the angels in heaven, not even he the Son knows, but only the Father. And this is the first thing we need to say when we look towards the End–that no one knows!  When is 30 o’clock, anyway? Every few years someone thinks they’ve predicted the exact end of the world—whether it was with the Mayan calendar in 2012, with the pandemic in 2020, or angry street preachers on the Green today, or even our own weary sense that the craziness of this broken world can’t go on much longer. Poets chime in, they say the world will end in fire or ice, or with a bang or a whimper, but Jesus says it all ends in him, it finds its goal in him, and that when we come to the end the end is him. And no one knows when it will be, neither the angels nor even he knows, and if he doesn’t know, no one else knows, especially you and me!

            But then Jesus describes what the end will be like, and instead of some kind of apocalyptic end of the world scenario, it all sounds kind of normal. Jesus compares it to the days of Noah: a time when violence and bloodshed was great on the earth, like now, when indifference to God was the norm, like now, when people were obsessed with eating and drinking and their relationships, like now, and then out of nowhere came the cataclysm of the flood as a complete surprise. So too will be his coming, Jesus says.

Jesus asks us: if you knew what time your house was being burgled one night, if you knew the exact moment the burglars would break in, wouldn’t you be ready and waiting? But the fact is we don’t know the hour, we don’t know when 30 o’clock will come! We don’t know, all we do know is that we will be surprised at the hour, it appears there’s no other signs or disasters or predictions that need to come true, all prophecy has been fulfilled, and so all that’s left is for Christ to come, and it could happen at any moment, today even. You’ll be surprised, Jesus says, so keep awake.  Martin Luther once said we should live like Jesus died this morning, and rose this afternoon, and is coming again this evening. Even if Christ does not return for a billion more years, there will in fact be an hour long before then when the world ends for each of us: at our death, with our last breath the world is ended at least for us, so live like you’re going to be surprised by my coming, Jesus says.

            If Jesus makes us a little apprehensive today, then it’s only for the sake of the joy of his coming.  Romans tells us that Salvation is nearer to us now than when we first came to believe…salvation is nearer.  Not disaster, not the end of the world, not righteous judgment, though all these things may come with it, but first and foremost salvation.  We’re told today the night is almost gone, the day is so near!  And this is how faith is, isn’t it, that you can’t wait to see your beloved one! You need that coming, that closeness, that sense of the time being near before the door opens and you see them face to face—even if the arrival makes you nervous for good reason!  Those of you who had guests coming in for Thanksgiving, you know the feeling, you look out the window, you count down the hours, it’s all anticipation, you want that time to come–maybe at the end of the weekend you were counting down the time ‘till they left too–but seriously, you just can’t wait because of the joy, even if it brings apprehension with it, even if it means judgment on a house that hasn’t been cleaned all week, it’s worth it, to see, to embrace, to be held by the one you can’t wait to see!

            You just can’t wait, though “you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.”  Did you catch that?  You do not know on what day your Lord is coming.  Not just any old Lord who is disinterested or uncaring, someone else’s Lord, but your own Lord, the one who calls you his own, the one who gave himself away to death and back to make you his very own.

            Your Lord is coming, who was born of a human mother, your Lord with ten little fingers and ten little toes like you, who snuggled and nursed upon his mother, who grew up in every way like us except for sin.

            Your Lord is coming, who walked through the end of the world for you on that Good Friday, as he was beaten and cursed and betrayed with a kiss, as he opened his arms in suffering for all and to all who would come to him in faith. Your Lord is coming, whose world here was ended so that yours could continue forever with him.

            Your Lord is coming, who after that long weekend of waiting on the third day rose again, and who promises that all those who believe in him shall never die, who upholds you in love and will bring you through his coming to the brightness of his kingdom where all will be at peace and all made right and where you will live and reign with him forever.

            Your Lord is coming, even right now: coming in his living Word, and in this gathering of those who can’t wait for him; coming in the needy around us waiting to be served; coming in his true body and in his precious blood, assurance on your tongue that when he comes again you will be his own, he will take you to himself, when you come to the end you will find that the end is just him.

            Because, Uh, oh.  Look!  It’s almost 30 o’clock, and time to wake up!  We don’t know when.  But we sure know who: our Lord Jesus is coming.  Your Lord Jesus is coming, for you belong to him.  Come, Lord Jesus. Amen.

            And the Peace of God which passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, Amen.

The Rev. Dr. Ryan Mills

New Haven, Connecticut

Pastor@TrinityLutheranNH.org