Our incentive to be faithful followers isn’t our anxiety or fear, it’s the hope of being anointed as Christ to love and bring in the reign of God for all.
Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
The First Sunday of Advent, year C
Text: Luke 21:25-36
Beloved in Christ, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
How do we understand Jesus today if we don’t share the same expectation as the early believers?
Clearly the first to follow strongly expected that Christ would return soon, even that the world would end in their lifetimes. Jesus, Paul, other New Testament writers all speak of it. Today Jesus seems to use that as an incentive, warning us to be faithful because all this could suddenly end, and we don’t want to be caught off guard.
But it’s been nearly two thousand years now. The world’s still here, Christ hasn’t ridden in on the clouds to end it. Sometimes we fear we’re in the end times, but mostly we think the world will be here for a while.
In fact, that’s the source of our anxiety and fear. When we see so many problems, so much suffering, or the way our nation is going and who we are as a people, our fear and anxiety come from wondering if we can change anything. We’re afraid because we think that we’re in this world for the long haul. So climate change and oppression and war and racism and sexism and poverty and xenophobia and everything else really matter. We can’t ignore problems in the world because we think it’s all going to end soon, as some in the past did.
So if the world’s not likely to end any minute, is there an incentive to be faithful?
What other reason do we have to serve Christ, if Jesus’ incentive today doesn’t work anymore?
Maybe we’re misunderstanding Jesus. Today’s warnings aren’t the only ones he made like this. A number of times he talked about staying awake and watchful, because the master could return at any time.
But he also embodied the love of the Triune God for the world and God’s creatures. For you. By far most of his teachings are invitations to bear the same love.
Jesus isn’t about incentives, or even threats. Jesus is about love. And we actually know that. We’re anxious about the world because we love it. We care about the climate, the planet. We care about our neighbors – all of them – because they’re human beings who deserve love and grace. Our hearts have already been shaped into the love of God, and that’s why all this matters to us.
Our fear is we can’t do much. So we need to hear Jesus’ words of hope today, too.
Jesus says this generation won’t pass away until all things have taken place.
But if the world didn’t end in the lifetime of those first followers, what’s he saying? Well, what if “generation” means all who come to trust God through Christ? If Jesus is creating the Body of Christ through baptism and the Holy Spirit, and we’re all part of that Body, then “this generation” includes us.
So this is actually a promise of God’s faithfulness. Jesus is saying “God will keep bringing about these things, this reign of God, as long as there are those who follow me. Who are Christ.”
Because the reign of God in Christ includes us, too.
We’re the second coming of Christ that we’ve been waiting for. That’s always been the plan. Jesus says his words will never pass away, and they won’t, when you and I live into them, abide in them. Embody them. Just as Jesus – the Word-made-flesh – embodied them.
Now you are God’s Word made flesh, and every act of love you do makes a difference. Every hand you reach out changes the world. You are much more important and powerful than you imagine. Because you are Christ, anointed in baptism for what you can do to heal and save the world.
And now Jesus’ warning makes sense.
Not to frighten us into obedience; Jesus is clear that’s not how the Triune God operates. But to give a warning of what can keep us from being Christ in the world, and thus deprive the world of our love.
So Jesus says be on guard not to waste your life away with drunkenness or anxiety or dissipation – which is depleted resources and wasted energy. Because you’re needed, I’m needed, to be Christ in the world.
Of course we can enjoy life, even waste time once in a while. But Jesus warns against letting that become our obsession, or our distraction, to avoid the hard things.
As we consider all that’s going on, feeling helpless to do anything, we could let ourselves go into addictions, whether chemical, or phone and Internet, or entertainment. We could spend our time on wasteful things that drain us without refilling us. Or just wallow in anxiety and fear. All to avoid what’s going on. We’ve all likely been tempted by this.
Be on guard for that, Jesus says. Keep your eyes open. Your love is too important to Christ’s plan to have it wasted away. And we can help each other with this, too, watching each other for signs of anxiety or addiction or wastefulness, and give each other a hand of love.
Jesus’ gift is we can find the urgency to follow not from fear of the end but from hope of the beginning.
You are Christ in this world. You are how Christ is reigning in this world. You and I and all who hear God’s call to love. And this is the beginning of the Good News for the rest of the world.
Because if we are Christ’s second coming, the one we thought we were waiting for, then in us the Triune God is going to make all things new. How that’s going to look in the big picture, God knows. But every act of love makes a difference. Every hand reached out changes the world.
And if we don’t see it all happen in our lifetimes, that’s OK. This generation will last until God gets it all done. That’s a promise. And while we’re here, we’re a part of God’s healing and hope.
And we might even see some of the changes happen. Stand up, raise your heads, Jesus says, and look around. You’ll see redemption coming.
In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
