Jesus said: “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. People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken.”
Frightening words.
Over the past two weeks I have had the joy of spending time with all my children and grandchildren. It has been a whirlwind of activity, laughter, joy, and even tears. It was a lot of fun, but at the same time as I laid down each night, I couldn’t help but to think about the future for my grandchildren considering the times that we are living. It is not a new apprehension that permeated my mind and heart, but an old one that I used to carry for my children. It is the same haunting feeling . . . a feeling alluded to in our scripture reading this morning.
In the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 24, he is even more implicit in his words: “Do you see all these things? Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down . . . you will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places . . . you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me . . . betrayal . . . false prophets . . .” (See Matthew 24)
Apocalyptic times . . . end times. I have heard the murmuring of the people my whole life that we are in the “end times”. I have heard it uttered within our own congregation. Pandemic. Dramatic changes in the weather or global warming. Wars and more wars. Earthquakes and other natural disasters. Civil discord and nations rising against their own. We live in divisive times . . . frightening times when the signs of Jesus’ words seem to be as real today as they were when he first spoke them. And, of course, we have all been told that the “signs” have been there for every generation.
Nothing has changed. We have been standing on this precipice for what seem like ever. The holy nexus.
Maybe there really is nothing new under the sun. In my lifetime I have never known a time of sustained peace, nor have my children or grandchildren. War is a part of the world we live in. So have the rumors of war . . . the threat of nuclear war, the Cuban Missile Crisis, 9-11, the on-going conflict of the Middle East. We have witnessed countless natural disasters within our own nation and across the world. Hurricanes of the like never seen before . . . earthquakes . . . droughts lasting years . . . uncontrollable fire. We have seen a divisiveness among humanity . . . people turning against each other. We are in a midst of a global pandemic. And the future isn’t looking much better. We stand with past, present, and future generations . . . fretful of the words spoken by Jesus.
There is nothing new here. “Look at the fig tree and all the trees. When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the Kingdom of God is near.” And so, it is for each generation . . . there is hope . . . there is a possibility . . . and there is opportunity. The Kingdom of God is always there . . . just around the corner . . . just over the horizon, and we are always standing on the precipice.
All we have to do is to grab it . . . to take that step.
It has been said that we cannot change yesterday, nor can we control tomorrow . . . all we can do is live today. All we can do is to live in the moment . . . in the present and in the presence. We live and we can’t change yesterday, and it does no good to worry about tomorrow . . . be ready and grasp the opportunity today. Remember, over in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 24, verse 42, Jesus says: “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son . . . Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day the Lord will come.” We are always on the “holy nexus”. The future is up to us as the followers of Jesus.
Each year we kick off the church year with the season of Advent . . . a season of watchfulness and preparation that points to the possibilities of what is yet to come. Every year we start this stroll into the holiday season with these fretful words of what we perceive as apocalyptic proportions. And yet, they are not. Instead, they are words of hope. Hope that we can make a difference . . . hope that we can move even closer to the Kingdom of God.
Jesus does not ask us to sit back and wait for the end to come. No, Jesus asks us to act. To seize the moment . . . to seize the opportunity . . . to work towards bringing about the Kingdom of God. To do what can be done now . . . in the moment. After all, we cannot change what happened yesterday or worry about what has not yet happened tomorrow, but we can take care of what is happening right now in our lives. We can work towards following in the words and actions of Jesus. We can begin to live our lives in love.
This never-ending kick-off to the church year that we call Advent is also a call to persistence. A persistence to love . . . to love God . . . to love one another. We should never give up on loving because we never know when we will cross that imaginary line when the Kingdom of God is realized. Jesus tells us it is coming, and we must believe . . . believe that if we just keep on loving right where we are that it will make a difference.
Once I believed that these words spoken this morning in our scripture reading by Jesus were words of warning. But now I see them in a different light . . . they are words of hope . . . a call to action . . . a persistence . . . to love. Though I fret about the world my grandchildren are moving in, I have hope. I have hope that even though they do not yet understand the world or its ways, they understand what it means to love. Each time I am with them I experience that love. Love will make the difference. I thank Jesus for reminding us once again as we begin the journey of Advent. Amen.
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