I don’t know about you, but I really get irritated at video-tapes anymore. I mean, you go to the video shop and pick out the tape you want to view. You get your popcorn or your cheese and crackers all ready. You plop down on the sofa and hit the button and do you get to watch your movie? Oh, no. You get to watch clips of about five other movies: Coming soon to a theater near you! And then clips from about five more that you can now own for home video library. By the time the movie you wanted to watch comes on the screen, you’ve already eaten your snack and drunk your shake. And don’t tell me that’s what fast-forward buttons are for. Cause if it’s a movie you’ve never seen you don’t know what its opening scene is like and I always like to see the movie from start to finish. Anyway, there you are. Sitting and waiting. Waiting for the show to begin. Waiting for the screen to say: “And now for our feature presentation.”
Yeah. Waiting for the show to begin. That’s what we Christians are doing in these Advent days. We’re waiting for the show to start. We know that Christ has come and has suffered and died for our sins. We know that He has risen again in glory. We know that His work of redemption is all through, but His work of renewal has barely begun. Oh, it’s begun in us - begun the day we were baptized - and we can’t wait for it to be completed in us, but we’re really waiting for that awesome moment when He appears in the clouds of light to make all things new again, to bring an end to sorrow and to usher in eternal joy.
And when we see the creation falling to pieces around us, like Jesus described in today’s Gospel, that’s the sign that the time of waiting is at an end. It’s the heavenly “And Now for our Feature Presentation.” While the unbelievers are screaming and running for cover as everything they thought was stable and rock solid is shaken to the core, we who wait for Jesus Christ will lift up our heads and shout for joy, because the End is here. The End of what? The End of waiting. You see, the real joys will have finally begun.
Jesus tries to get across the joy of that day to his followers in the parable of the fig tree. You see, when Jesus thinks of the End, he doesn’t think of the fall and winter, of death and decay. When He thinks of the End, He thinks of the Spring and Summer and all things fresh and new again. He says: “Look at the fig tree, and all the trees. When they are already budding, you see and know for yourselves that summer is now near. So you also, when you see these things happening (the signs in the sun and the moon and the stars. The distress of nations and the roaring of the sea and men’s hearts failing them for fear), when you see these things, look up! Lift up your heads and know that the kingdom of God is near. That the moment for God’s eternal summer is now upon you.”
The Old Testament reading pictures the joy of believers in that day. God promises through the prophet: “Behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven and all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up. BUT to you who fear my name the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in His wings; and you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves.” You farmers know what the prophet was talking about. You know how crazy and silly those calves act when they’re let out in the spring. They run around and kick up their heels for sheer joy of life itself. That’s how it will be for those who trust in Jesus Christ at the day of His return. When He shines the light of His face on this earth again and we see it in our own flesh, the our healing will be complete and our joy will have no end.
But look, there’s a warning in the Gospel reading. Jesus said: “Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing and drunkenness, and cares of this life and that Day come on you unexpectedly.” (vs. 34). You see, hearts that are weighed down are hearts that no longer look up, no longer wait in expectation for the joys of that day, hearts that instead try to find all the joy of life in overdosing on the pleasures of this life. In these Advent days Jesus calls for us to pitch overboard all the preoccupations that take our attention away from the skies and He bids us fix our heart and our hope there and to look up often and watch and wait.
You might think: Yes, but his people have waited for almost 2,000 years, and still He hasn’t come. Well, yes and no. No, He hasn’t come and stood upon the earth in that visible glory that will make all things new. But yes, He has answered the prayers of His people. He has come and given them the foretaste of the joys that will be theirs in heaven. You know what I’m talking about: His table, His sacrament.
At this Table Jesus Christ still comes to His people, the same Jesus who was born in Bethlehem and that Mary held in her arms, the same Jesus who hung on Calvary’s cross carrying your sin and mine, the same Jesus who rose again in might and majesty on Easter morning, the same Jesus who sits at His Father’s right hand, the same Jesus who will stand yet again on this earth and in the collapse of everything will create a new heavens and a new earth and bring His people into the eternal home He has prepared for them. It is the same Jesus who comes to us in His body and blood under bread and wine. He comes to promise us: “No, I haven’t forgotten you. Hold on to me as I hold onto you. The time of waiting draws to a close and the time of fulfillment is near at hand. Wait in faith and wait in hope.”
So in Advent we wait. So in Advent we remember to do what we ought to do at all times, to turn our eyes to the skies and watch and long for the day of the restoration and healing of this creation. So in Advent we look forward to that day when the previews are over and the feature presentation finally begins. Amen! Come, Lord Jesus! Amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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