Sermon: Populus Zion (Advent 2) - 2020

6 December 2020

Text: Luke 21:25-36 (Mal 4:1-6, Rom 15:4-13)

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

“For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble,” says the Lord, speaking through the prophet Malachi. 

Just as all things have a beginning, so too they must end.  Scripture is very clear that we have been in the “last days” since the coming, the Advent, of our Lord, His victorious death on the cross, and His glorious resurrection from the dead.  We confess every week in the Nicene Creed: “He will come again in glory to judge both the living and the dead, whose kingdom will have no end.”

This sounds ominous. 

But of course, our sinful flesh’s way of dealing with this reality is to act like that day will never come.  We get so entangled in the cares and riches and pleasures of this life that we forget that we are only pilgrims here, that our true citizenship is in eternity.  And just as the people waited and waited for the Lord to come the first time, the same is true now.  But it will happen.  He will return in glory.  He will destroy the evil, and He will call His own to Himself to live forever.  And so there will be a judgment.  And the dead will be raised.  And as we say in the Apostles’ Creed, we believe in “the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.”

For us Christians, we who have been called and sanctified by water and the Word, we who have faith and who return daily to our baptisms by living in the repentance of our sins, seeking His forgiveness – the coming judgment is no terror.  In fact, we look forward to that day like a wide-eyed child awaiting Christmas.

But the Lord is candid with us.  This world is decaying.  The increasing waves of trouble that we see all around will get worse.  We must not put our trust in princes, nor store up for ourselves treasure in this world, seeing in our own wealth, wits, or works as where to place all of our trust.  Of course, we should be wise, we should continue to live piously and with prudence, even as it seems like the earth is coming apart at the seams.  But no matter what, dear friends, we keep our eyes fixed upon Jesus, the “founder and perfecter of our faith,” our Redeemer, the one who loved us from the foundation of the world to the point of enduring the shame of the cross, and shedding His blood to save us.  We look to Him and not to ourselves.

Our Lord tells us that “there will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity.”  The world does not trust in Jesus, nor does it derive comfort from His Word.  But listen to what Jesus concludes from this coming distress: “Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”  Help, dear friends, is on the way.

There was joy in the concentration camps of World War II, if you can imagine that.  For there was joy when the prisoners heard the allied tanks rolling in, the liberation forces shooting their way behind enemy lines.  They rejoiced because they knew that their redemption was drawing near, dear friends.

Just like us.

Our Lord tells us to study the Scriptures and to look around at the world, to the signs of the times.  And just as surely as we can look at the fruit trees and know what season it is, we can look around us and know that our redemption is drawing near.  And the Lord’s Word is infallible, dear friends, as our Lord Jesus Christ declares: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.”

Remember why the Scriptures were written, dear brothers and sisters: “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction,” says the apostle Paul.  “That through endurance,” he continues, “and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”

Hope is what we Christians have even in these trying times, and it is what the world lacks.  The world looks for saviors in politics, in the celebrity world, in science and technology, in experts, and in billionaires who must surely be our betters, and certainly must want what’s best for us.  But we know better, dear friends.  We know where to find encouragement and joy and hope: the Word of God.

And St. Paul prays that the “God of endurance and encouragement” grants us “to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  “Harmony,” dear friends.  This is what we Christians are blessed with in our life together: “harmony”.  The world is filled with rage and discord, and people are tearing each other apart.  But in Christ – and only in Christ – do we have harmony and accord. 

For in Christ we have hope: the guarantee of a better tomorrow, and we have peace: the peace of God that passes all understanding, and we have love: the unconditional love of the God who dies for us, and the love that we have for one another as brothers and sisters brought together by our Lord Jesus Christ: together for eternity, victors over every evil, over sin, over Satan, and even over death itself.

This hope is what the world lacks.  But instead of joining us to share in it, the world fights us and tries to destroy us, because they are offended that we do not share their misery and hopelessness.  They preach at us and scold us to “be mindful,” and “be kind” and “be compliant” and “use the right pronouns” and “hold the right opinions” and “trust the science” – and why, dear friends?  So that we can be happy and full of joy like them?  Such people are the most unhappy and miserable of all men.  They need Jesus.  They need forgiveness.  They need a true Redeemer.  They need the promise of a new life that will never end. 

Our Lord warns us not to become beaten down: “But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap.”  This is why our Lord encourages us, bidding us to trust Him.  He has it all under control.  “Straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near,” dear brothers and sisters redeemed by Christ!

And once again, the words of St. Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, powerful words that are not just a pious wish but are rather a reality in the making, these words resonate down to the very bones of every baptized Christian who ever drew a breath and who ever will on this earth: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”

Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.