8 December 2019
Text: Luke 21:25-36
In the name of +
Jesus. Amen.
Our
Lord preaches to us concerning the last days. He uses words like: distress, perplexity,
fear, and foreboding.
He
speaks of signs in the sky and on the earth. And then He tells us that rather than be
beaten down by these things, instead “straighten up and raise your heads,
because your redemption is drawing near.
We
have certainly seen an increase in the fear and sense of doom in our world all
across the spectrum of human thought. There
is distress across the board, whether people fear climate change and rising sea
waters, or they fear a government ban on firearms. Some people fear living in a tyranny run by Christian
fundamentalists, while other fear a life of being persecuted for the sake of being
Christians. Some suffer distress at the
thought of one political party running the United States, while others are
anxious over the thought of the other party winning elections.
It
is safe to say, that this sense of pessimism and dread is essentially held by
everyone. Virtually nobody believes that
the world is moving in the right direction.
Notice
that our Lord doesn’t promise us that we won’t have persecution (He actually
says the opposite) or that things just seem gloomy (no, they actually are). Nor does He tell us we can fix it by just
being nice, or by empowering the government, or by taking power away from the
government. He doesn’t tell us that if
we just proscribe the right gun laws (whatever they may be) or institute the
right political and economic policies (whatever they may be) – we can live in a
happy hippy John Lennon “Imagine” Utopia. Rather He tells us that there will come a time
when the entire world will be in the midst of a global panic attack, and
hysteria will reign supreme – and it is when this happens that we should start
thinking about what is really going on.
Jesus
is coming!
Of
course, we all believe this. We say it
in the Creed every week. But we often
seem to forget it. We join in the hysteria
and we lose heart. We get caught up in
the world’s drama, and things that are so important to unbelievers – things which
shouldn’t really matter to us at all – become just as important to us. And so when our unbelieving friends are in a
state of emotional frenzy, so too are Christians.
Jesus
says to stop it. Look up! Look to the heavens! This is still God’s world, even though the
devil continues to pull strings in our fallen lives. Jesus is coming! And He tells us what is going to happen. And though nobody wants to suffer or deal with
unpleasantries – what really causes anxiety, dear friends, is not knowing how
things will turn out. But we do! We know how it turns out! It is as though we are watching our favorite
movie for the twentieth time. We know
the ending already.
Jesus
is coming!
And
He is coming to save us, to redeem us: “your redemption is drawing near.” And so Jesus tells us to look around at the
world around us. He bids us to have “situational
awareness.” We all can tell the seasons
by what the leaves on the trees are doing. “So also, when you see these things taking place,
you know that the kingdom of God is near.”
So
our Lord teaches us to look at the world around us. We should take note of the hysteria and worry
of people around us. But we also need to
be aware of what we’re looking for, and that means understanding the Word of God.
We need to be familiar with what our Lord
says will usher in the end of the age, but we also need to understand the Big Picture.
We need to know the Bible from Genesis
to Revelation. We need to understand who
Jesus is and why He was born in Bethlehem. We need to know why He was crucified, and what
it means when we say He rose again from the dead. We need to fully understand what Jesus means
by “redemption.” Because if we don’t, we
will just join the mob across our country and world of people who are running
around like headless chickens scared of their own shadows.
Do
you want to be at peace? Then you need
to know the Word of God. You need to
look at the signs of the times. You need
to allow the “peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,” to “guard
your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
This peace is delivered to you in this sanctuary, hearing the Word
proclaimed and preached, and partaking of the foretaste of the feast,
participating in the miracle of the Lord’s presence with us in His body and
blood. While the world whips itself up
into a frenzy, our Lord comes to us to assure us while we kneel here being
assured by the very One who told us to “straighten up and raise [our] heads,
because [our] redemption is drawing near.”
Meanwhile,
as we wait, our Lord also tells us how to avoid the world’s trap so that we don’t
join them in their hysteria and anguish: “Watch yourselves, lest your hearts be
weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life.” We need to see the big picture even when we
carry out the ordinary things of life. Self-medicating
– whether through alcohol or drugs, illegal or legal – will not bring you
peace, dear friends. For we need to have
our wits about us, lest “that day come upon you suddenly like a trap.”
Jesus
is coming!
The
entire universe is going to change, be rebuilt, be made anew – perfect and
glorious. It will happen according to
the will and timeframe of the Father. We
don’t know when, but we know it will. So,
“stay awake at all times.” What the
world calls “woke” is just groupthink and conformity. To “stay awake” means to be aware that Jesus
is coming, to rise above the world’s pettiness and political correctness. It means that we fix our eyes on Jesus,
because Jesus is coming!
Staying
awake is a day to day discipline. We
need to make the Word of God part and parcel of our lives. There are many ways to do this. The One Year Bible is a way to read the
entire Bible in easy-to-digest daily readings. The Treasury of Daily Prayer provides daily
readings and meditations and the ancient prayer offices of the Church. Portals of Prayer provides a very brief Scripture
reading and meditation for every day. These
are ways that you can stay awake and find peace in a chaotic world. These are practical ways to do as our Lord
says: “straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing
near.
Jesus
is coming! Amen.
In the name of the Father
and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
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