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On Monday last week Jennie &
I were at a funeral we didn't want to be at. Nor did any of the other
300 people who were there. And certainly not the parents, brother or sisters
of the 21 year old young man who lay in the coffin. He had not been ill
and he was not expecting his life to end so suddenly. He was in the prime
of life and was doing what gave his life meaning - living and working
in Hong Kong helping young men and women to break free from their drug
habit. As a committed Christian he was fully engaged with what God had
given him to do. And then, through a tragedy, his life on earth came to
an end.
"Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day the Lord is
coming." Is Jesus talking about being ready for our own death, when
we shall meet him face to face? Or is he (as many Christians claim) talking
about His Second Coming or the end of the world or is he talking about
all 3?! If he is warning us to be ready, surely we need to know what to
be ready for? 6 times in ch 24 Jesus refers to the Coming of the Son of
Man. Each time, the message that accompanies it is 'Be ready - don't be
caught out.' So on this Advent Sunday, our focus must be on what it means
to be ready.
But before looking at that question, we need to consider what it is we
are getting ready for. Imagine a business man away on a trip overseas.
He phones home but his wife is out, so he leaves a message. But the line
is poor and all she gets when she listens to the message is. "please
(crackle)… get ready… arriving soon." She gathers that
her husband is returning home with visitors, but she doesn't know when,
how many, or what for? Are they arriving for lunch or tea? Are they staying
overnight and if so, how many nights? Are they important guests for his
business?" The best she can do is get the house ready and prepare
for all possibilities. It's a little bit like that for us. We are the
Bride of Christ awaiting the Bride groom. But when he is coming and in
what manner is not clear. What Jesus seems to be doing in these passages
is warning the present generation and future generations that there are
testing times ahead and they need to expect them. And he runs the warnings
together. For his own people, the Jews in the 1st Century, terrible times
were just around the corner. Within 40 years of his words, the unthinkable
had happened. In the Year AD 70 the Romans brutally took over the city
to crush rebellion. For those living at the time, the end of the world
had come. Families were divided, some were taken and some were left. The
judgement was swift and cruel. Maybe some remembered the words of the
Carpenter's Son spoken before his own untimely death.
But His warnings were for future generations too. For us. And the warning
is the same. That those who ignore the work of God in their midst will
reap the consequences. I have entered into a dialogue with a Pakistani
man who came into the Cathedral about 3 weeks ago. He has a Muslim background
but is very interested in the Bible and in the Christian faith. I am waiting
for an Urdu Bible; meanwhile conversing by email. Here is 1:
"Hello, Thanks a lot for your reply. I believe GOD has addressed
mankind in this book but I am confused about western society. It's really
far away from the teaching of the book.
why is it so?
Best Regards - Asad"
"It's really far away from the teaching of the book." Interesting
that someone from another faith can see how far we have drifted from our
Christian heritage.
Now back to that question: what is Jesus telling us to be ready for? Our
own death? Yes, certainly. None of us knows when that will be. Ready for
His return? Yes, certainly. That may BE our passing from this world to
the next. Or it may be when God steps in to bring in His Kingdom rule
because to allow human rule to continue further would mean irreversible
disaster. And THAT is the Advent hope. Much in the world around us makes
us sigh, even despair; but we have cause to hope. How and when He will
intervene is not given to us to know. But that He will is based on 2 things:
1) Jesus Himself teaches this. He gives us cause to hope in His return.
2) His first coming is the solid basis of hope for His second coming.
It happened!
We live now in the in-between time. The theologians describe this as the
Age to come. God's rule has begun but not been fully consummated - it
is now and not yet.
We are living in the time between the first and second comings of Christ.
Jesus has come in the flesh and has promised to return, to fully bring
in The Age that is to come - God's rule. And there is a parallel for us.
We are here, we have been born in the flesh and one day we will leave
this mortal life and enter the Age that is to come. We are in between.
One day our present struggles will be over, our anxieties about our life,
or the lives of others we care about; our burdens will be lifted, including
burdens of guilt over poor relationships, over weak self-discipline, our
pangs of self-doubt and depression - all our secret fears. These are all
'of the night'. But the Day is coming. It may be tomorrow or it may be
many years away. But the Day of the Lord will come. And it will be like
day. The sun doesn't shine at night. Things remain hidden - our fears,
doubts, our pretences and failures. But the night is ending. The Day has
dawned - Jesus has come in the flesh, but the Son is not yet seen in all
His Glory. But when He is, all of the night terrors will go.
And of course the night time is for sleepers, for those who don't know
the Day is coming. We are children of the Day. We are to be awake. In
Bible terms that means to be alert and watchful. The Day is for working.
Look again at how Paul puts it in ch 13 of Romans: "…"
When you get up in the morning you get dressed. Paul says Put on the Lord
JC. Put on the armour of light. The Day has dawned. It doesn't matter
how long it is before the whole world is flooded with light.
This means of course, that the Day is for working. For setting to it,
whatever it is God has given us to do. There will come a time when you
can no longer offer yourself in voluntary work for Marie Curie (well done
Irene!). No longer offer to help with any of those many jobs that are
needed to run this Cathedral church, no longer able to give sacrificially
to the work here (for heaven is cashless - all gold is shared!), no longer
put to the test. Now is the time to be awake. A follower of Jesus never
retires - not until He comes or calls. And there are so many in this community
here who live by that principle - they work tirelessly, often well beyond
their comfortable limits. What we take on (or shed) in the Stewardship
campaign is in the end only between us and God - no-one else will have
to answer to Him for how we lived in this life. Our job is to seek His
will, not our own will and not any one else's.
When the Lord called for J--, he was ready. 2 days after his death a friend
wrote to his parents: "J-- is a soldier in the Lord's army and he
has fallen in battle, and he is with Jesus." Better to be in the
fight and taken, then sleeping on the sidelines.
"Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day the Lord is
coming."
Lord, make me ready. Amen.
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