ADVENT I - C - 15 LUKE 21. 25-36
The Advent season is the beginning of a new Church
year; a year in which we will recant in word, sacrament, and song the ancient
story of our salvation once again. Although Advent is a new beginning the
gospel reading for the first Sunday of the new year is always about the “end
times” where, as St. Luke says, “the Son of Man,” will be seen, “ coming in a
cloud with power and great glory” to which the Collect adds “to judge both the
living and the dead.”
You have heard me say before that this brief season,
only four weeks long, is one that runs backwards. In essence it does. We begin
with Christ’ warning to be watchful for the “day” of His second coming so as
not to be caught by surprise. We end this splendid little season of expectation
and anticipation with His first coming in great humility as a babe in a manger.
The Latin
word “Adventus,” from which we get our word Advent, translates “coming.” All of
today’s readings speak of His coming. The prophet Jeremiah proclaims God’s
promise of a “righteous branch” that will spring up for David and execute
justice and righteousness for God’s people. It was a promise God’s people
needed to hear as it raised their hopes and expectation of a day of salvation;
a promise delivered to them while they were still in exile.
St. Paul writes to the church at Thessalonica to
encourage and strengthen the Christians there to maintain their holiness and
their faithfulness so that “they may be blameless before their God and Father
at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.”
Jeremiah’s timely proclamation brought hope to
Israel. The people looked forward to that “day;” as St. Paul’s words to the
Thessalonians brought encouragement to the young Christians in that place to
remain faithful and anticipate the coming of the Lord.
Our gospel reading for this first Sunday in the
Advent season is St. Luke’s take on Jesus’ prophetic announcement (warning) of
the day of His coming when “he will appear in a cloud with power and great
glory to judge the living and the dead.”
Both Matthew and Mark have similar passages concerning the end of the
age as we know it. In today’s passage Jesus warns us to be “on guard;” to “be
alert, for that day will come when we least expect it.”
He also encourages us to pray for strength to meet
the prelude of cataclysmic events that will precede it, so that we will be able
to escape “all these things” and “stand before the Son of Man.” For some, it
will obviously be a dark day, not one to anticipate or to look forward to but
rather one to fear; for others it will be a day of rejoicing, but only if we
are truly prepared for it.
Many today, however, believe that this “day” will
never come. After all they say, there has already been two thousand years of
Church history and no second coming has occurred. The heavens and earth as we
know them have not passed away and life goes on as usual. But this is at the very heart of the warning
Jesus gives in today’s reading.
Christ makes it abundantly clear that it is not a
matter of “if” such a day will come, but rather “when” it will come. “All these
things will take place,” Christ proclaims. That should be a sobering thought to
all of us. Jesus’ emphasis here is on “watchfulness” and the practice of virtue
rather than constructing timetables, or trying to second guess God.
The “signs” Christ says will be abundantly clear;
signs in sun, moon and stars that will bring confusion and distress among the
nations. Watch for them Jesus says and don’t be weighed down by the cares and
anxieties of everyday life to the point that you are taken by surprise and find
yourselves unprepared for that day.
In addition we find in Matthew and Mark’s account a
warning not to follow false “saviors” who say they have all the answers for why
these things Jesus predicts are occurring and who go on to say there is no need
to worry. However, waiting and watching, expecting and anticipating the Lord’s
return, is what the season of Advent is all about.
The spiritual reality is we are living between
Advents: Christ’ first coming in great humility as a babe in a manger and His
second coming in power and great glory with his holy angels to judge. It is
what we do between these two “Advents” that determines where we will spend
eternity. For one day we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ and
give an account of ourselves.
Jesus’ warning is really an exhortation to watchful
waiting in which we are to avoid being weighed down by the cares and pleasures
of life. We are to avoid having our spiritual senses dulled by diversions to
the point that our expectations of Christ’ second coming wanes, and we become
complacent in our anticipation of that day and find ourselves caught by
surprise. Patience is the key.
“Be on guard, be alert and pray for strength to meet
those days; to survive those days Christ says to all who will listen. That is
what it is all about a steady trend of prayer, hope, scripture, sacrament, song
and witness, day by day, week by week, year in and year out until He comes
again. Patient watchful waiting, anticipating and expectation is what we are
called to be engaged in between Advents.
Today we begin a new year of grace by being reminded
of the “end times” when all will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with
power and great glory to judge both the living and the dead. Not a day to be
feared for the faithful, but a day of rejoicing and hope; a day to stand up and
raise our heads, because we will know that our salvation is near.
May God give us the grace and strength to continue
our watchful waiting praying that we will be able to endure what lies ahead, so
that when the end does come, we shall be found holy and blameless and worthy to
stand before Him who is to be our judge, in the hope that we may rise to life
immortal; through him who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever. AMEN+
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