Sermon: Populus Zion (Advent 2) - 2019

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.