History, Mystery and Majesty
Pastor Mathew Magera – 11/29/15 – Sermon 129
St. Thomas Lutheran Church, Trufant, MI
To God be the Glory!
Grace and peace to you from
God our Father, from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
This is not exactly what you
would expect to hear on the first Sunday of Advent, am I right? There's no
Mary, Joseph, no shepherds or kings. Heck, even John the Baptist is missing. As
it stands, in our Gospel reading, Jesus is already a grown man and pretty close
to be heading to the cross. If we turned on the radio right now, we could
probably find some station playing joyful happy Christmas music. Yet, in here
it's "The end is near!" Given the choice, I'd probably choose
listening to Christmas music. But, yes, it's the end times, and no I didn't
pick the readings. And no, given their content I also decided not to change
them either. It is what it is, the end times.
When it comes to the signs
of the end of the world, there are typically two types of people that emerge on
the scene. There are people who confidently tell you exactly what is going to
happen that will ultimately end the world and there are people who confidently
tell you exactly when the end of the world is going to happen. Then, they try
to prevent it. If there is a threat, they tend to run from it, like going to
stay with their in-laws for a month. But, when apocalyptic signs break loose,
people get excited about their theories of time and events and they have good
reason. Time is something we can see. In fact, I wonder how many times more
someone will look at their watch during church than they will for the rest of
the day. Time is something we can measure. Events like earthquakes, storms,
rising temperatures, violence, death, these are things we can feel.
Along that line, there are
websites that prepare people for the end of the world. There are doomsday
clocks all over the web. I remember when I was in college taking a course on
apocalyptic theories and literature, I happened upon a website called Rapture
Ready. It calculated the proximity of the rapture based on current events.
There were organizations set up by atheists to care for pets left behind by
Christian families. Of course, there was a fee involved. Some people have even
predicted the day the world would end. We might remember some of the most
popular including Y2K and the recent end of the Mayan calendar. Now, Lutherans
don't hold to theories about the rapture because it isn't quite biblically
clear, but Lutherans do hold to the fact that Jesus is coming back and he is
coming soon and that there will be a new heaven and a new earth for the old
heaven and the old earth will pass away. Regardless of what people say or
believe, if we were to share our honest feelings about the end of the world, chances
are we would express some degree of fear. Talk of the end scares us, whether it
be the day Christ returns for judgment or the day we take our final breath,
readily, or not.
A Bible study group was
discussing the end of the world. The leader of the discussion said, ”We will
all die some day, and none of us really know when. If we did know when, it's
possible we would all do a better job of preparing ourselves for that
inevitable event.” Everybody shook their heads in agreement with this comment.
Then the leader said to the group, “What would you do if you knew you only had
4 weeks of life remaining before the end of the world?”
A gentleman said, ” I would
go out into my community and minister the Gospel to those that don't know
Jesus.”
“Very good!” ,said the group
leader, and all the group members agreed, that would be a very good thing to
do.
One lady spoke up and said
enthusiastically, “I would dedicate all of my remaining time to serving God, my
family, my church, and my fellow man with a greater conviction.”
“That”s wonderful!” the
group leader commented, and all the group members agreed, that would be a very
good thing to do.
But one gentleman in the
back finally spoke up loudly and said, “I would go to my mother-in-laws house
for the 4 weeks.”
Everyone was puzzled by this
answer, and the group leader ask, “Why your mother-in-law’s home?”
“Because that will make it
the longest 4 weeks of my life!”
When
we hear of the end times, there’s a good chance we might want to run from it
and hide. We want to avoid it. We’re scared. We’re scared of the wars. We’re
scared of the shootings. We’re scared of terminal illness. We’re scared of
ceasing to exist or when existence itself ceases. We’re afraid.
So, it’s quite natural for
us to respond to these readings this morning with fear. But, Advent isn’t a
season of fear, you might say. It’s a season of hope. Yes and yes. It’s true
there is plenty of talk about the end times as to when it will happen and what
will take place that will usher in its coming. But, our readings today intend
to lead our focus away from the what, they intend to lead our focus away from
the when. Instead, they intend to lead our focus onto the who. These readings
don't follow the typical patterns of our human nature. They don't prescribe to
know what is going to happen in the end. They don't prescribe to know when the
end is going to be, but they do know who will sustain us in the face of
disaster. The what and the when are things we can physically experience but the
who is beyond our physical world, beyond what we can see. Advent itself chooses
also to focus on the who, that is, Jesus.
Therefore, when it comes to
advent, one of the reasons I think we start off this way is because often times
we might hear that advent is not only about Christmas but it is about Christ's
second coming. Yes, it's true, but we still go right into thinking about when
it might happen or how it might happen. When our Bible readings for this
morning don't even give the slightest of clues as to what and when and yet focus
solely on the who, I think it might be telling us that our hope, the word that
surrounds the season of advent, may be misplaced.
One of my seminary
professors believes advent is about three different kinds of hope we experience
during advent, three different ways we hope for the coming Christ. These three
hopes are categorized by three distinct names. History, mystery and majesty.
All three of these are found in our readings today so my hope is that a clearer
understanding of where our hope should be might help us to experience the hope
of advent a little more deeply this year.
Hope of
History
The hope of history is one
we understand the best, it's the life of Jesus himself. The hope of the
Christmas story as we know it. Bethlehem, angels, sheep, shepherds, the stable,
Christmas carols, this is the hope of history. In Jeremiah 33, the prophet is
speaking during a time of great disaster when hope is not felt. He is speaking
during times that are not promising to the people, but he has a message of
hope. He's saying that God will soon restore them but he doesn't put his focus
on when or what will happen. Instead, the prophet focuses on the who. When God
will fulfill his promises, he will do it through a person. This is a prophecy
of the Christmas story. The Bible says, "he will execute justice and
righteousness in the land." Jeremiah is pointing to a human person, this
branch from David. This is a family tree we're talking about. King David, one
of the greatest kings ever known is an ancestor of Jesus, so this branch from
David is Jesus' family tree.
During advent, we hope with
the people of God back in Biblical times. We hope for a savior coming into the
world to rewrite our history and transform our future. We have hope in the
history of Jesus as we light candles and prepare for Christmas when we remember
that night in Bethlehem when the world completely changed when a virgin gave
birth to the Son of God. Jeremiah calls him "The Lord is our
righteousness" and ou bet we can count on him. That is the hope of history
we hold on to during the season of advent.
Hope of
Majesty
The hope of Majesty is
probably the next on the list that we understand, it's the second coming of
Christ. If we aren't talking about Mary and Joseph, shepherds and kings, we're
probably talking about that day when Jesus will return to judge the world and
to usher in his glory. So, rightly so, during the season of advent we hope for
the majesty of Jesus as we await his coming again. In our Gospel reading this
morning, Jesus is teaching his disciples about the signs that will lead to his
triumphant return. However, we might be ready to start pointing to things in
our world that will signal his eventual return. This is not what Jesus was
intending. You see, nature itself is decaying. Think about theories of global
warming, how the changing of the tides affects the land, how earthquakes and
volcanoes can upset the flow of life. And our natural reaction to these signs
is fear. We know there are going to be terrible signs for the coming of Christ
again but we don't like it and we are afraid. But nature isn't even the end of
it. If we saw the wars in this world, the ISIS attacks and believed that Jesus
was coming tomorrow, it would change how we act. Jesus wants us to see these
events as signs but not as reason to worry or to stop what we're doing. That
day is coming, it is near but in the meantime we have work to do. What Jesus is
saying to us is, when all of this happens, don't look at your disaster. Don't
look at your Thrivent policy and wonder if it’s going to cover the damages.
Look for the who, look for Jesus. When everything is falling apart, plant an
apple tree. This was Martin Luther's advice. Wives, when everything is falling
apart, give your husband a big kiss. Husbands, when everything is falling
apart, put your arms around your wife and embrace her and rejoice because when
the world begins to fall apart, we know the reign of Christ is just getting
started. For anyone else, a disaster is a reason to hide but not for Jesus. For
Jesus, it's time to shine.
During advent, we hope for
the second coming of Christ. We hope for a savior coming into the world again
to affirm the promises that were made oh so long ago. We hope for a savior
coming back to the world to lead us into our eternal future. In this, we are
actually living into the same hope of the Old Testament prophets. The signs
they are seeing and the hope they have in the history of Christ are the same
signs we see and the same hope we have in the majesty of Christ. That is the
hope of majesty we hold on to during the season of advent.
Hope of
Mystery
The hope of mystery is
probably the least familiar to us but it is none the less important. The hope
of mystery is not a hope of the Christmas story. It's not a hope of our past.
The hope of mystery is not a hope of the second coming. It's not a hope of the
future. The hope of mystery is the hope we have in Jesus to come to us right
now. We often call this a mystery because compared to the Christmas story and
the second coming, between those two endpoints we don't have the physical
ability to see Christ. We can't see him seated in this sanctuary right now. His
presence among us is a mystery. If you've ever heard the term the mystery of
the faith, it's not a Sherlock Holmes adventure, it's a term that describes the
faith we have right now. The mystery of the faith is centered in the idea that
God's presence with us is hidden. We know it's there but we can't see it. From
our reading from 1 Thessalonians this morning, we hear a request, "now may
our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you and may
the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another." This is a
prayer being offered with a hope in something that cannot be seen.
Have you ever seen a statue
or a monument that was about to be revealed? It might have been covered with a
sheet or something to hide it from our field of vision until the proper time.
You could look at it and know there was something under it. You might know a
little bit about it from what people have said about it. You won't know 100%
exactly what it is, but you can see evidence of what is about to be revealed by
how it makes the covering look, sticking out in certain places, wide vs.
narrow, tall vs. short. This is how we encounter God right now. This is the
hope of mystery. We have faith that God's presence is like a statue or monument
that has yet to be revealed to us. We know a little bit about this statue
because of what we have in the Bible, people talking about it, but because we
can't see God 100% with our eyes, we have a certain faith and hope that God's
presence is still with us even though we can't see Him. We have this hope in
Holy Communion. We have hope that above, under, and within the elements of
bread and wine we have God's presence. We hope in the sacrament of Baptism that
God's presence will be with the new child of God. We hope in our final breaths
that God's presence is there ready to usher us into the life to come. We hope
during our trials and tribulations, our sickness, our joblessness, our pain,
our suffering that God's presence is with us even though it is veiled up and
hidden from our eyes. This is the mystery of the faith, that God, Father, Son
and Holy Spirit love us and care for us and created us and forgave us will continually
be with us during this walk of life. Now what is very important about this hope
in what cannot be seen, Paul is not praying that the people in Thessalonica
would get out of the situations they are in, but rather that their faith would
deepen in their situation. It's easy for us to get discouraged if we pray for
healing and we don't see evidence of that healing taking place. Paul wants us
to pray for people and pray that their faith would deepen in their situation,
not saying that praying for healing is a bad thing but if there is anything
they need during uncertain times, it is a deeper faith in Christ.
During advent, we hope
together for God's presence to be with us in our worship, in our daily lives.
We hope for a savior that can comfort us, rejoice with us, mourn with us. This
hope becomes real when we gather together, when we pray, when we sing praise.
This hope becomes real for us when we are in the hospital whether we are the
one in bed or we are visiting someone who is. This hope of the mystery of
Christ is lived out each and every day and during advent we hope for the
continuous presence of the hidden yet truly present God of this world. That is
the hope of mystery we hold on to during the season of advent.
* * *
So Advent is a time of hope.
We hope in the Christmas story and the birth of Christ in Bethlehem as Jeremiah
prophesied, the hope of history. We have hope in the coming again of Christ at
the last day as Jesus predicted signs that must take place, the hope of
majesty. We also have hope in the presence of God in our midst today, the hope
of mystery. And if there is anything we probably need to hope for most during
this advent season, it is that one. But, not everyone is focused on the same
one. You might experience advent best this year by looking at the Christmas
story. You might experience advent best this year by looking at the second
coming. You might experience advent best this year by looking for the presence
of God around you right now. Advent is about each and all of these hopes.
And if there is anything
that can help us hope together during this advent season it is our Psalm
reading this morning. To you Oh Lord, I lift up my soul. If there is anything
we do this Advent season, let us lift up our soul before God, give God who and
what we are. Let’s not be afraid of what is going on around us. Let's not hide
from Advent at our mother in-laws house but let's embrace the hope that this
season is about. The point of Psalm 25 is to dedicate our lives to God and
advent is a time we can do that, to place our trust in the history, the mystery
and the majesty as we embark on this new church year together in a renewed
faith and a confident hope in the coming of Christ. Stir up your power, Lord
Christ, and come. To God be the glory, now and always. Amen.