Jesus is Coming Soon; Look Busy: Sermon Luke 21:21-36

Dear God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and feet and work through them; take our lips and speak through them, take our hearts and set them on fire for you. Amen

Today marks the beginning of the Advent season which is a time of preparation both spiritually and physically. Spiritually we prepare ourselves for the celebration of the birth of our Savior 2,000 years ago. Physically, we are buying presents, buying groceries, cleaning our houses, putting up decorations, going to parades, plays, parties, pageants, and cantatas. I grew up in a church that did not celebrate Advent and so when I became active in the United Methodist Church I had to gain an understanding of what Advent really is.

The word Advent comes from the Latin, adventus which means “a coming into being.” Advent is a season of anticipation as well as preparation. Advent has two meanings. One we anticipate the coming celebration and remembrance of the birth of Christ the Messiah to a girl named Mary at a place called Bethlehem. This is what John referred to as the “Word becoming flesh and dwelling among us”, which is what we celebrate at Christmas. The people had been promised a Messiah in the Hebrew Scriptures, someone who would come and redeem them and bring Israel back to its past glory. A messiah was born, although not in the way that most people anticipated.

Advent is completely and correctly tied in and connected with Christmas, but there is also another meaning behind Advent. Advent also looks to the return of the one we call Christ. This is also known as the Second Coming. This is a controversial topic and one a lot of preachers would just as soon not talk about anytime during the year but especially during the holidays. It is worrisome because it means change is coming and it is inevitable. Another reason that a lot of people are apprehensive about the Second Coming is because of the judgment that will follow. When Jesus comes back we know that our time is up and we will be judged, some have used this to scare people straight, you better change your ways cause tomorrow might be too late. Well I really hope you know that I am not that kind of pastor and that my message is always positive and proactive and hopeful. In fact that is the meaning of the First Sunday in Advent, hope. That is what the first candle represents and that is what we are going to talk about today. How to live hopeful lives in a world that has all but given up hope? We are Advent people, not because we have a wreath or decorations, but because we live in anticipation of a return of a Savior. We await a renewal of our world.

What does it mean to be an Advent people? First it means that we are looking for Christ’s return which means we are also looking for signs of his return. This is also what the disciples were looking for. Our Scripture reading this morning is the second half of the conversation where Jesus predicts the destruction of the Temple, we talked about that a couple of weeks ago. The disciples ask, what will be the signs that this will occur. Jesus replies somewhat vaguely and mysteriously. Jesus said that you will see signs in the Sun and in the stars and planets. Remember, a star heralded his first coming to earth and astronomical signs will signal his return. Jesus also says that just as when the fig tree sprouts you know spring is approaching, you will see the signs of his return.

These Scriptures have allowed a lot of people to be misguided and misinformed; I believe that someone from each generation from the time of Jesus has claimed that his return is approaching. Many have spent there entire lives simply in wait for Christ’s return. They wait upon the sound of the trumpet that heralds the coming of Christ. There was a group of people in the 1800s that took this to the extreme. A preacher named William Miller claimed that he had calculated the year and time that Christ’s return would come. He and his followers sold their possessions and went out wait upon a hill so they might be among the first to see Jesus in his return, of course it didn’t happen and this episode is called “The Great Disappointment”. Many people today claim that we are living in the end times and although none were a zealous as Miller there are still some negative repercussions to this kind of idea. First, if we believe that Jesus is coming soon then there is no reason to talk care our planet. We can pollute and pollute because God will send in the heavenly clean up crew and make everything new again. This logic is flawed on several levels. First, if we cannot take care of the creation that God has made this time, why would God give us something new to mess up? Perhaps, God is waiting until humanity as a species can get itself together and live and work as a community. Maybe we have a part to play in the renewal of God’s creation. Secondly, if Jesus is coming soon then we don’t really have to work toward helping one another out we can just do it when it is convenient.

The whole Second Coming and rapture theology has gain a lot of notice in popular culture. I would challenge anyone to drive down the Interstate and not see a sign speaking of the return of Christ. They are everywhere; in fact they are so popular that there are bumper stickers that have started to poke fun at them. One that I have seen recently said “Jesus is coming: Look Busy.” In other words don’t actually do anything but just look like you are working for the kingdom. This seems kind of silly at first, but if you think about it the church as began to simply look busy instead of doing something. Poverty is still rampant throughout the world. Healthcare and medicine are becoming harder and harder to gain access to. Many people die daily worldwide of easily preventable diseases and in wars fought because of greed. The church obviously has work left to do.

We, as Advent people, must look for Christ, we anticipate Christ’s return, but we also work as Advent people. We cannot stand on the sidelines waiting for something to happen. Acts 1:11 talks about the Disciples just standing on hill after Jesus had ascended into heaven. They just stood there as if they expected Jesus just to come right back. Then an angel had to come down and tell them “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” In other words, the angel said “Hey guys, stop staring at the sky, Jesus will come back when God is ready, but for right now you’ve got work to do.” We cannot simply await the coming of Christ nor can we ignore the fact that it is going to happen. Instead, we must live every day to the fullest. We must live and work in hope and faith.

God’s kingdom is in the here and now, it is called the church. The church is a group of faithful and hopeful people who work in God’s creation, not just to bring people to Christ, that is a purpose, but to also bring healing to God’s creation. We work to alleviate poverty in the world, to bring medicine to those who need it, to help to save those who are dying. This is the job of the “big C” Church, the body of Christ, the kingdom of God in the here and now. Our hope is in the return of Christ, we like the disciples look toward that return, but in the meantime we have work to do and we must work with the love of God and the hope of Christ in our hearts.

Let us pray…

Grant, O Lord,

that what has been said with our lips we may believe in our hearts,

and that what we believe in our hearts we may practice in our lives;

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.