Ready & Waiting
Luke 21:25-37
November 30, 2003 (Year C, Advent 1)

I love the Season of Advent.  While the secular culture focuses on noise, anxiety, hustle and over-consumption of every stripe, Advent calls Christians to sober and quiet reflection.  In this time we focus on Christ’s Second Coming and whether we are ready for that great day.  There is so much in Advent and the Bible readings associated with this time of the Christian year that foster a distinctly Christian way of viewing the world.  Key themes of theology and discipleship come to us through our focus on the Second Advent of Christ.

I.  First of all, Jesus tells us that history is going someplace.  God has determined that the existence of this universe and humanity is directed towards a particular goal.  This is distinct from the prevailing view of the Greco-Roman world of Jesus’ day which held that history endlessly repeated itself.  The Stoics taught that about every 3000 years or so the world ended in a great fire and was then rebooted to run the same programme all over again.  Like hamsters eternally jogging along in their little treadmill, never going anywhere, we are always moving through time but never really getting anywhere.

A.    Similarly secular people today live in a world where there is no ultimate purpose to existence.  You live and die and that’s it.  After a few more billion years the universe winds down to an ever expanding entropic deepfreeze in which all matter is reduced to a sub-atomic soup hovering around absolute zero.

B.    Against both of these worldviews Jesus tells us that the world has a purpose – a goal – and that we humans share in that great purpose.  Jesus will return in glory and we ho belong to him will not face an end marked by the terror of judgment, but rather our ultimate and complete redemption.

Luke 21:27-28 (ESV)  And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.  [28] Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."

C.    This will not be a “secret coming” as some sects and false teachers suggest.  Rather, Scripture and the Great Tradition teach that Jesus Christ’s return will be preceded by universally recognizable signs that will create dismay and anxiety for all the nations.  They may not recognize the events as the prelude to the parousia, but they will recognize that something monumental is happening.  The very fabric of the cosmos will declare that something literally earthshaking is taking place. 

Luke 21:25-26 (ESV)  And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves,  [26] people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 

D.    All this culminates in the unmistakable, universally visible return of Jesus in Glory.

Luke 21:27 (ESV)  And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 

II.  Jesus offers his followers ENCOURAGEMENT and WARNING about that day.  First of all he encourages us to watch for the signs he has mentioned.  Not in the sense of trying to predict the exact time of his coming but in the sense of waiting expectantly.  We are to watch and hope for his return.  Today many families know that sense of watching and waiting as they eagerly yearn for the return of a spouse or parent from Iraq or Afghanistan.  I remember yearning for my mom and dad to come home when I was 7 years old and they had traveled to Spain.  Everyday I would ask my grandparents if today was the day they would return.  The day that Papa said that mom and dad were coming home I stood at the driveway all day long waiting for them.

A.    Jesus encourages his disciples that they can trust this promise.  We can rely on God’s Word.  As surely as Christ’s first coming was foretold in Scripture and fulfilled, so also will his 2^nd coming be fulfilled.

Luke 21:33 (ESV)  Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

B.    Jesus WARNS us not to get distracted.  His coming will be sudden and unexpected even though the signs will be there.  We need to be on the alert because if we are not prepared we will not be able to “stand before the Son of Man” when he comes.  The distractions draw us away from what is important to the pettiness of this life.  Isn’t it ironic that the very things we associate with the coming of Christmas are the tings that can prevent us from being ready for the coming of Christ!  We can be distracted by…

·        Dissipation – Over consumption of food, over-indulgence in revelry, filling our lives with possessions.

·        Drunkenness

·        Cares of this life – anxiety and worry.

   Petty people are ugly people.  They are people who have lost their vision.  They are people who have turned their eyes away from what matters and focused, instead, on what doesn't matter.  The result is that the rest of us are immobilized by their obsession with the insignificant. 

   It is time to rid the church of pettiness.  It is time the church refused to be victimized by petty people.  It is time the church stopped ignoring pettiness.  It is time the church quit pretending that pettiness doesn't matter. ...

   Pettiness has become a serious disease in the Church of Jesus Christ--a disease which continues to result in terminal cases of discord, disruption, and destruction.  Petty people are dangerous people because they appear to be only a nuisance instead of what they really are--a health hazard.  [Mike Yaconelli in The Wittenburg Door (Dec. 1984/Jan. 1985).  Christianity Today, Vol. 31,  no. 12.]

C.    Jesus’ remedy for the pettiness that can consume us is that we remain ALERT – be aware that an end is coming.  Whether we live to see the parousia or we are taken home before that time an end is coming  to all of us.  Add to this PRAYER.  Prayer refocuses our lives back on God.

III.  One of the great blessings that comes with frequent celebration of Eucharist is that we are forced to examine our lives again and again.  As we prepare to receive the Sacrament we are challenged to let the Holy Spirit convict us of those areas where we need to repent and seek God’s forgiveness.  You see, Christ comes again every Eucharist in humble glory – not clothed in the clouds, but veiled in Bread and Wine.  At this table we encounter the risen Christ in a real and palpable way.

A.    For those who are waiting expectantly for Christ’s return and are open to the conviction of the Holy Spirit this is a wonderful foretaste of that Great Day.  Last week Melinda told part of the story of what happened the day Hannah fell from the 2^nd floor window of their home.  I want you to hear all of it.

It began several weeks ago when the Alleyne family came forward to receive the Sacrament.  I served Melinda, Joshua, and Janice – but little Hannah, who is four years old just looked at me and walked past.  After the service Hannah told her mother that she was mad at “that man.”  (She usually calls me Pr. Ben.)  Melinda asked her why and she replied, “He wouldn’t let me come to Jesus!”  As Melinda inquired a little more she realized that Hannah was talking about me not serving her at Eucharist.  Melinda told her that different churches have different rules and sometimes they want to make sure you “know Jesus” before you receive communion. (In our tradition, all baptized Christians are welcome to the Table.)  Hannah replied, “I know Jesus!”  Melinda said, “I know that Jesus is in your heart honey.”  Hannah insisted, “No!  I really know Jesus.”  Then she went on to tell her mother that when she fell from the window and landed on her head (Hannah suffered a severe cranial fracture and brain trauma in the fall which has since been miraculously healed) an angel came and took her to Jesus.  When she met Jesus he told her that she would have to go back to her mother for a little while because “You mother can’t live without you right now.”  Melinda said that this took her breath away as it was exactly what she was saying to the Lord in her heart as cradled her injured child. 

What I want you to see in this story is that the little girl recognized the REAL PRESENCE OF CHRIST IN THE EUCHARIST.

B.    But we need to realize that this meal can also become a moment of judgment if we come to the table with an unrepentant heart refusing to release our sin, our grudges, our idolatrous worry and pettiness.

C.    That’s why we need to examine our hearts, asking the Holy Spirit to reveal anything we need to confess to God and repent of before we sup with and upon Christ. 

CONCLUSION:  Many of us have been separated from our loved ones for almost a year due to military deployment.  Just think about those families during the second World War, when men and women who served their country would go off for 2, 3, even 4 years came home. Some while back I told you the account of a Marine serving his country during that time. When he left for the war, his wife was expecting a child. Shortly after his departure the child was born - a beautiful little girl.

   That faithful mother would never let the little girl forget her father.  Every day she talked of the girl's father and showed her pictures of her father. She talked about the father's love and care for her, and about how someday her father would come home.

   When the little girl was 4 years old, she was playing in the front yard. A man came to the gate. She looked up. She looked into his eyes with love, and he looked into her eyes with love. Then she said, "Daddy, you're for real. Daddy, you are for real!"

That’s why we eat this meal and gather around this table and hear these same, faithful, words every Sunday.  It’s like that mother showing the pictures of the father to that little girl.  In this meal our hope is kept alive, and our expectations are kept burning… Christ has died, Christ is Risen, Christ will come again!

Back to Sermons

Luke 21:25-37

25 "There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. 26 Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. 27 At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."

29 He told them this parable: "Look at the fig tree and all the trees. 30 When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. 31 Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.

32 "I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

34 "Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. 35 For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. 36 Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man."

37 Each day Jesus was teaching at the temple, and each evening he went out to spend the night on the hill called the Mount of Olives,
NIV

Back To Top

   Print This Page  | Bookmark This Site!  | Email a Friend!  |  E-Cards

Questions, suggestions and problems concerning the Cornerstone United Methodist Church Website should be directed toward the Cornerstone Webmaster at: webmaster@cornerstoneumconline.com

This Website Has Been Visited

Since Beginning Operation.
Thanks for Stopping By!