A Joyous Advent? Luke 21:25-36

Luke 21:25-36

25 “There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. 26 People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. 27 At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

29 He told them this parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees. 30 When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. 31 Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.

32 “Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

34 “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap. 35 For it will come on all those who live on the face of the whole earth. 36 Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.”

One would think that in the midst of advent, all things would be joyful. If Advent is leading us to the joy of Christmas, why aren’t our readings positive and joyful?  Our reading today seems anything but. As many times as I have had to preach on this text, I have never liked it nor become comfortable with it. 

One of the things preachers do, especially with difficult texts, is pull up commentaries to see what others have to say about it. But this year God gave me a commentary that hit home. And I am not alone.

The truth is, that in real life, Advent and Christmas are not always delightful. Sometimes life brings us things that shake our very being. Instead of sending us forth into the season with certainty and purpose, these times leave us distressed and confused, as our reading says.

A couple of weeks ago we received a call that Bruce’s brother, Dan, was found unconscious and was rushed to the hospital. He had had a catastrophic brain bleed. They gave him hours to live. We took off for Kansas City but arrived an hour too late to say goodbye. The next days were taken up with the funeral and helping his daughter clean out the house. 

I know that this congregation has also experienced such loss. In fact, if we consider the events in our schools, our country, our world, we begin to understand exactly what Jesus is talking about here. “People will faint from fear and foreboding for what is coming upon the world.” 

No, holidays do not always promise laughter and joy. All the advertisements neglect to tell us anything about this side of the Holidays. 

So perhaps we can find something in our reading that can speak to us in the midst of our own angst. Something that causes us to look up and find hope.

It is important to remember that, despite the beauty of our manger scenes, Jesus is not born into a time of peace. Jesus is born into a country that is ruled by a conquering nation. Its rulers are selfish and cruel. They lack morals. The Roman empire is known for its immorality, war, crucifixions and lust for power.  

We declare Jesus as the Prince of Peace, but the world around him did not know or receive that peace. 

So what is the peace then of Christmas? What is the peace that Advent is meant to point us towards? Where is this peace in the midst of our Gospel reading? 

Read again verse 28 and hold it with you no matter what life brings your way. 

“When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (NIV)

Life is hard. Just ask the disciples. None of them found peace, love, and joy in this world. They were jailed, beaten, tortured, and murdered. So where is this Christmas promise? 

Jesus tells us the kingdom of God is in us, in our midst. It is within us that we find that peace. And it is from there that Christmas becomes the beauty and hope that we have been promised.

Our consumer culture tells us that the more we buy the better Christmas will be. Those of us who have lost someone, who are in financial distress, who are weeping over the events of our world, know better. We can’t buy our way out of those places. We can, however, lift our heads to trust in the kingdom that is unseen yet waits to flourish within us.

This is the promise of Christmas. This is what Advent points us toward. This is why Advent begins with the truth of this world. This is why Jesus warns us about the melee that life brings, so that we will know not to give up or be trapped by its ways. For the Kingdom of God is here within us.

In the midst of all this gloom and doom, I want to end with the hope of Love. Ann Weems writes in her poem ANGEL-FILLED ADVENT:

Wouldn’t it be wonderful

if Advent came filled with angels and alleluias?

Wouldn’t it be perfect

if we were greeted on these December mornings

with a hovering of heavenly hosts

tuning their harps and brushing up on their fa-la-las?

Wouldn’t it be incredible

if their music filled our waking hours

with the promise of peace on earth

and if each Advent night we dreamed of

nothing but goodwill?

Wouldn’t we be ecstatic

if we could take those angels shopping

or trim the tree or have them hold our hands

and dance through our houses decorating?

And, oh, how glorious it would be

to sit in church next to an angel

and sing our hark-the-heralds!

What an Advent that would be!

What Christmas spirit we could have!

An angel-filled Advent has so many possibilities!

But in lieu of that

perhaps we can give thanks

for the good earthly joys we have been given

and for the earthly “angels” that we know

who do such a good job of filling

our Advent with alleluias!

Ann Weems

If you believe you will see the glory of God no matter what. John 11

John 11

32 Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved[e] in his spirit and greatly troubled. 34 And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus wept. 36 So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”

38 Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” 44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Lazarus is dead. And Jesus knows it. 

He is walking along the road to go to see his dearest friends when he first gets the word that Lazarus is not well and about to die. His disciples encourage him to hurry so that Jesus can get there in time to heal Lazarus. And Jesus stays the course without quickening his pace. He tells them Lazarus has fallen asleep. And the disciples, taking Jesus’ words literally, say that this is good. If he sleeps he will get better.

Realizing that they did not get the point Jesus tells them, “Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe.”

Lazarus is dead and Jesus knows it. And he is in no apparent hurry nor does he seem to be terribly upset while on the road to Mary and Martha.

But when he gets there the scripture tells us Jesus was deeply moved and greatly troubled. You know this feeling. This is about the emotional turmoil that makes the stomach, the gut, the abdomen groan and churn. 

In Jesus’ day the seat of emotions is not the heart but the bowels. And I get it. When I am deeply upset, fearful, stressed, it is my gut that hurts. Jesus feels the movement, the troubling of his spirit so deeply his stomach churns. It isn’t just in his head where sad thoughts sit. It isn’t just a sadness that makes him mournful. It is so deep he feels it in his gut. His digestive system groans.

Why the sudden change? Finding Lazarus dead was not a surprise. 

We read: When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. 

Oh Mary, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”

Jesus has come to bring a glimpse of the kingdom of God. A Kingdom that he tells them does not exist somewhere out there but here, in their midst, within themselves. A kingdom that changes everything. One that does not see death as the end but rather as a step into another part of this same life.

And he groans, he weeps because they still cannot see. They still have not let these words become part of who they are. And without that full realization, without the unity to the truth, they live in the midst of despair. And he wants so much more for them. So much more. And he weeps for them.

Jesus in the manifestation of God. Jesus shows us who God is. The very essence of love and hope and faith. Jesus comes to us to show us what it is like if we see God in this world. Death, where is your sting?

This message is a beautiful message for any of us who have lost someone dear to us. We must not despair. The world is not as we think it is. There is more, so much more. And if we are united with God and Jesus then we know this. Deep down, where emotions move us, we know this.

But this is not just a message for death of the body. This is a message for the death of hope. This is a message for those in despair.

On Wednesday morning some will walk in this place of despair. Some will weep. Some will be deeply moved and greatly troubled in their gut. This is a message for us on that day as well.

Despair brings shock, anger, denial, depression. It does not come from the God of Love.

“Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”

God is with us. God has not left us. Not now in the midst of all the foolishness being said on tv, facebook, twitter, in the streets, not later when some will be celebrating and others will be weeping. Even then we are called to believe and to watch for the glory of God.

Jesus wept. It was not a tear running down his cheek. He wept from the deepest source of sadness. 

God weeps too when we do not , will not, can not believe that his kingdom is in our midst. His glory is revealed daily around us. When we succumb to despair and blame. Remember Mary blamed Jesus for not being there and saving her brother.  

And a warning to you, this weeping will be for either group, no matter how they voted. Remember that if you are celebrating, God is weeping for them.

“I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

If you believe this then even when all that you have loved and hoped in seems to have died, you will know that there is life. There is the kingdom. There is love.

If you believe you will see the glory of God no matter what.