For Sunday, Dec. 2, 2018
Advent 1, Year C, Luke 21:25-36
[And Jesus said,] “There will be strange signs in the sun, moon, and stars … People will be terrified . . . Keep alert at all times. And pray that you might be strong enough to escape these coming horrors and stand before the Son of Man.”
Nelson
Today begins a season of waiting that leads us to the celebration of the birth of Jesus. We call it the season of Advent, and most of Advent talks about Jesus coming to earth as a babe in a manger. But today’s readings are far from the image of a babe in a manger. We begin the season of Advent looking toward the Second Coming of Jesus.
The chosen people waited for the Messiah, and when He came, they didn’t recognize Him. He didn’t come the way they expected. In hindsight, we enjoy what they didn’t recognize: the stable, the animals, the angels, the shepherds. But today, the Gospel message is from Jesus Himself, having nothing to do with a baby in a manger. Jesus talks of His Second Coming, a strange message so close to the joys of a child wrapped in swaddling clothes in a stable, visited by shepherds and angels. But nevertheless, the church gives us this important message to hear and heed.
Jesus says there will be widespread disaster, and not just a disaster in one place on the earth (tragic as that may be) but something involving, “the sun, the moon, and the stars.” Jesus says that the times would be so severe that people would “faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world” because “the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” And when all of this is happening, Jesus will come “with power and great glory.” Such are the words of Jesus Himself. Then He tells them a parable. “Look at the fig tree,” he says. “When you see it sprout leaves, you know that summer is already near.” “Even so, if you see these heavenly things taking place, you can know that the kingdom of God is near, so near that the generation then living will not pass away until all things have taken place.”
Jesus is warning His people that when He comes again, it will not be as a lowly child in a manger. There won’t be timid shepherds and glorious angels. There will be signs that will be frightening, and no one can really interpret them. Could it be possible that we won’t recognize Jesus when He comes again? I think that would be highly unlikely. The signs and wonders of which Jesus speaks will indeed be recognized by any living creature on Earth. The question is: will we recognize them in fear and trembling because we did not heed His word and follow His commandments, or will we see these signs and rejoice that His kingdom has finally come?
Don’t sell the farm on anyone’s interpretation of these signs because they are more complex than we can understand. What’s worse, often the people who interpret them tend to put their own spin, their own prejudices, on what we’re looking for. This, alone, is what we know in truth: Jesus assures us that He will return. He says that we should encourage ourselves with this knowledge. He says we should ‘stand up and raise our heads’ because our redemption is drawing near. He says the sign of His return will be known like the sprouting of leaves on the fig tree in the springtime. And He says that if those signs come in our generation, we will know that His coming is near. On that, we can trust; our God is always faithful to His word. So, watch … be aware …and wait. Do not worry about earthly things but be mindful of heavenly things. Our Lord and Savior will come. The secret to being ready is to live for the Lord every day, in all that we do, say and think; that’s how we wait for Him – not in fear, not by sitting on a hilltop, but by living as He has called us to live.
– The Rev. Elizabeth L. Nelson is the rector of St. Francis of Assisi Episcopal Church in Lake Placid.