“Ready and Waiting”
Isaiah 2:1-5
The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 2In days to come the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it. 3Many peoples shall come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that The Lord may teach us God’s ways and that we may walk in God’s paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 4The Lord shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
5O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!
Matthew 24:36-44
36“But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, 39and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man.
40Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. 41Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left.
42Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. 44Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.
The Word of the Lord Thanks be to God
“Ready and Waiting”
“Dad, wake up, the guests are almost here?”
“Honey, it’s 7:00, they won’t be here until 1:00.”
“Dad, when are they going to be here?”
“Honey, we still got a few more hours…why don’t you help Bubba get ready.”
“Dad, when are they going to be here? I just can’t wait.”
“I don’t know honey…when they get here. Why don’t you set the table while you wait?”
“Dad, when are they going to be here?”
“Soon, Sarah…Why don’t you clean the windows on the door while you wait.”
Welcome to our house on Thanksgiving. Every time we turned around our youngest, Sarah, was there. She knew her aunts and uncles were coming and most importantly, she knew her cousins were coming, and she just couldn’t wait to see them. We tried to keep her busy as she waited, which helped for a little while, but she was always back with excitement and frustration in her voice. “When will they be here?”
Those who read the Gospel of Matthew for the first time knew something about this kind of expectation and frustration. The Gospel of Matthew was written about 40 years after Jesus’ death. When he died the disciples were under the impression that he was going to come again soon, that they would see him again within their lifetimes. They went out into the world telling the stories of Jesus’ life, telling new believers to watch for his imminent return.
As they are watching, these first readers of Matthew’s Gospel see all kinds of things. They see those closest to Jesus begin to die, they see the Jew’s rebel against the Roman empire and they watch as Jerusalem and the temple are destroyed by Titus. They have been watching for Jesus’ return and they are asking, “When is he coming back? Will he be here soon? Is he coming at all?”
To these first hearers and to the impatient 6 year olds in each of us Matthew writes his Gospel message.
We have to listen carefully though to hear the message because the real gift of this passage is often lost in the white noise of the little apocalypse and overwhelmed by our schedule laden lives. I find that many people have a hard time hearing any kind of good news from this “Little Apocalypse,” that is what scholars call this section from Matthew, because it is filled with descriptions of the way things will be when Christ comes again.
“40Then two will be in the field; one will be taken; 41Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken; 42Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.”
Those who read the Bible literally tremble when they read these words and those who make every effort to read scripture critically, still have a hard time getting past the imagery to heart of the message.
We see references to the times of Noah and we remember all of the people who were living their normal, everyday lives that didn’t get invited onto the ark. Then we hear about how some will be “taken” and some will be “left,” and we wonder where is the grace. But when we look beyond those illustrations, which are used to grab people’s attention and inspire faithfulness not fear, we see the promise clearly outlined.
“But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father…so too will be the coming of the Son of Man.”
The Son of Man IS COMING AGAIN!
“Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again”
We sing those words whenever we celebrate communion and we don’t spend much time thinking about them as we move through the communion liturgy, but they proclaim a belief that Christ, who was born of a woman, lived for us; his love-filled life challenged the powers of this world to the point that they killed him and when all the hope in the world was gone, God acted again to call forth Christ from the clutches of death. Not too long after his resurrection, this Child of Love ascended into heaven with the promise that he would come again.
We live in the light of that promise and as we enter the Advent Season, as we prepare to celebrate the birth of the One who came so long ago, we are reminded to keep our eyes peeled for the Light of the One who has promised to come again. Matthew does us the crazy making favor of reminding us that we don’t know exactly when he is coming though. We can’t put the date and time into our calendars which drives us insane.
I mean, since I have been preaching this sermon my iPad, phone and computer have dinged at me three times to remind me of appointments and things I have to do today and in the coming days.
That’s how we live. Our calendars are FULL of important things that demand our attention and focus; things that are important and life-giving and things that drain and distract us. Matthew’s timetable drives us crazy because we want to make sure our schedules are free, that we are open and ready when Christ makes his next appearance. But scripture is vague about the topic because Matthew knows us better than we know ourselves.
What happens if Christ’s coming just happens to coincide with something flagged as important on our calendars? “Oh, I have tickets to see Wicked that night…; Ewww, Sorry, that’s my daughter’s scheduled due date…; Uuph…That’s my busy season at work…”
“That is why Jesus will come back like a thief in the night: so that we don’t have time to lock him out.”
I think it’s safe to say we wouldn’t do it on purpose. We just wouldn’t step back long enough from our overcrowded lives to make space for Christ’s arrival. Just like those early Christians we want Christ to come again, but we want him to come on our terms; we want him to meet our expectations; we want him to fit our schedules. Because that’s what he did the first time. Being born to an unmarried teenager in the barn outside of an overcrowded inn is exactly what the world was looking for in the first coming of the Messiah.
Matthew tells us that Christ will come again, but we need to stay awake and be ready because the coming of the Son of Man is going to be unexpected. Matthew invites us to live a life of expectancy for the day when Christ will come and once again judge between the nations, and arbitrate for many peoples. We are called to live a life of watchfulness for the day when we shall beat our swords into plowshares, our spears into pruning hooks, when nations shall not lift up swords against nations and we won’t learn war anymore.
We are called to stand on our doorsteps, with our faces pressed against the glass searching for signs of the one who is to come. But more than that, our wakefulness and our expectancy need to be shaped by practices that will help us reflect the warm glow of God’s future in our present reality so that all people may walk in the light of the Lord!
This Advent season your Fairmount community is trying to embody practices that will help us stay awake to the possibilities of God in the world. In your bulletin you will find an insert with daily scripture readings and guiding questions that we hope will create in you an expectancy for Christ’s coming again. Throughout Advent we have opportunities for worship and community that will help us embody the peace Christ yearns to see in the world so that we can be more mindful of ways we can share Christ’s peace with others.
May the light of this candle of hope burn brightly in our hearts this day, burning away our domesticated expectations, so that we may live life in the light of the new gifts that God is about to give.
Amen!
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