Trinity Lutheran Church

Luke 21:25-36

December 2, 2018

1st Sunday in Advent



We see what we see, or what we are told to see, consequently we don’t see beyond. We hear what we hear, or what we are told to hear, and consequently we don’t hear beyond. There are all kinds of examples of this. I’ve seen the illusive image of Jesus face and name examples. The Fedex logo is another. My son Austin pointed it out to me. Some of you may know what I’m referring too. It’s a Fedex logo. But do you see the arrow between the e and the x. Now I see the arrow everytime I see a Fedex truck.

These sayings of Jesus about signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, … the fig tree.. Be on guard … like the sayings from Mark 13 a few weeks ago about the temple being thrown down have traditionally been read as end times passages, about the end of the world, Jesus second coming, a warning to be ready, faithful and pure before the rapture and Jesus appearing in the clouds. I’ve read the literature. I know what I’m supposed to hear. The narrative told is that this is what is coming when we hear Jesus words. Consequently these sayings are heard as doom and gloom, warnings to unbelievers to repent, people will faint with fear and foreboding.  The coming of the Son of Man in a cloud with power and glory is the coming of Jesus the judge, Jesus the divine warrior, Jesus ready to smite the unbelievers. I’ve heard people comment, not much hopeful here. But as you might guess, something is missing, words unheard because of what we have always heard, and a vision unseen because of what has always been shown. Buried in the sayings we are told to read as end times are the promises that hope and life and faith are near, indeed nearer than we think. It’s like the arrow in the Fedex logo, we think we know what we have seen or heard until we see and hear something else. I want you to hear something else and hear it again every time you listen.

What is coming? The end? Judgement? The Rapture? What is drawing near? Shining like a light in the darkness Jesus says something else. Listen… your redemption is drawing near … summer is already near … the kingdom of God is near. That sounds very different. Three times Jesus says that what is drawing near is more like love, life, and hope for this fallen world than judgment, doom and warning. I don’t believe that Jesus said those things as he gazed into a distant multi-millenia future, or some kind of time means nothing to God so near is relative kind of thing. I believe Jesus said those things as he anticipated the rest of his own story, his passion, death and resurrection. The approach of those days was the drawing near. Those coming days were days of redemption, the drawing near of the time of new life like the coming of summer, and the nearness of the kingdom of God. Even though what was seen was suffering and death, what was happening was redemption and mercy. Truly the generation who heard Jesus say those things did not pass away until those things came to pass, redemption came with forgiveness, new life came in the resurrection, the kingdom of God came in the church, the body of Christ to live the way of God in the midst of the empires of the world. The fulfillment of Jesus words was not for some distant time. The fulfillment of Jesus words came about within a few days of his utterance.

Pastor Blenkush made the comment a few years ago about the sprouting of the fig tree putting forth leaves as Jesus call to us not to look for signs of his coming, which is passive and speculative, but rather to be signs of his coming, to be what we are the leaves that sprout from the tree of life that Jesus is, to be a voice louder than the roaring seas and its waves and signs brighter than the sun and the moon and the stars. Where there is distress and confusion, where people are afraid and anxious about a world that seems to be coming unglued, we become signs of Jesus coming, Jesus presence, signs of redemption, new life, and the kingdom of God in this sinful, sick and imperialistic, competitive world.

The point is redemption has drawn near and is in us, and new life has come and is ours, and we are here to build the kingdom, not to wait for it. Embedded in sayings typically read with fear and warning are words of redemption and life. Consequently I don’t listen much if at all anymore to speculation or warnings that the end is near, but rather look to see how new life and hope are already here. Advent is a word that indicates something is coming, something is near. We light candles in the dark and increase their glow as the days grow cold and dark. Even though it is the dark we see and the cold we feel, we shine a light and extend the warmth of love because we have seen and felt beyond what is merely seen and known. Born in our lives, drawn near to our hearts, is the life of Christ the one who came, the one who stayed, and the one who is still with us. Followers of Jesus in every generation, from the disciples of long ago to disciples of here and now are the generation that does not pass away merely anticipating or waiting for these things, but the generation for whom redemption, new life and the kingdom of God has become a reality to live for those who know the other, who know fear and trembling. The power and glory of the coming Jesus raises us to stand up, to look up and to live up the redemption that has been brought near and will not pass away. There is no end for the church of God, there is only and ever a new day in which God draws nearer to the world God loves through the people God has redeemed. Amen.