This sermon was preached on Sunday 1st December 2024, the first Sunday in Advent at St Peter and St Paul Church, Langham.
Luke 21:25-36
Jesus said to his disciples: ‘There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken… Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.’[1]
Wow. Welcome to church, everyone. It’s Advent Sunday. It’s the first day of Advent, including our chocolate advent calendars. It is the first day of our Christmas events at church as we have the big nativity lights switch on after the service. It is also the first day of the church calendar – Happy New Year! So why are the readings today such a downer? I mean, come on! Isn’t Christmas supposed to be a happy time?
At Christmas, we remember the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ as a baby born to Mary and Joseph, which is a good and happy thing. The season of Advent is a time of build-up and preparation for Christmas as we celebrate how Jesus came to this world two thousand years ago. But Advent doesn’t just look back to the past when Jesus came to us in a stable in Bethlehem. It also looks to the future. As we remember when Jesus came to us in Bethlehem, we look forward to when Jesus will come again, when we will ‘see the Son of Man coming on the cloud.’[2] While this season is a time to celebrate Jesus as Emmanuel, God with us, we shouldn’t confine our focus solely to the past. Advent invites us to reflect on our hope as Christians that Jesus will come to us again. We talk about this every week as we say the Creed together.
In the Creed, our statement of faith, we talk about Jesus coming to this earth as a baby born of the Virgin Mary and crucified under Pontius Pilate. This is the first time Jesus comes to us. But we also talk about when Jesus returns. ‘He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.’ This point where his kingdom will have no end is the same point being talked about in our Daniel reading last week. How Jesus, the Son of Man, will come upon the cloud as he comes in glory to claim his kingdom. ‘His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, and his kingship is one that shall never be destroyed.’[3] We call this moment of Jesus’ return the ‘Second Coming.’
You might think, ‘Hold on. I thought God’s presence was with us now because Jesus came to this world. That’s what you said last week, Shakeel.’ And you’d be correct. That is what I said. I spoke of how God’s presence is with us today and has been with us ever since Jesus came to this earth. However, since Jesus returned to heaven, our experience of God’s presence is predominantly realised through God the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus sent us at Pentecost. But the second coming refers to when the incarnate bodily Jesus returns to us again.
Last week, we focussed on the way Jesus came in glory and the awesomeness of his presence. But we didn’t talk much about when Jesus would come in the second coming. When will the second coming happen? To be honest, for all Jesus and the New Testament say about the second coming, it is quite little on details and specifics. We know it will happen in the future, but we are not entirely sure when. But Jesus did give us clues about signs of the second coming.
Jesus said to his disciples: ‘There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see “the Son of Man coming in a cloud” with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.’[4]
So, this is a weird passage, but what we can see Jesus say is that the second coming will be preceded by a variety of signs indicating the arrival of the second coming. Jesus says there will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and there will be a confusing roaring of the sea and the waves. It sounds like the symptoms of climate change. After all, Jesus said, ‘People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.’[5]
Can I please say that I don’t know if the climate change we are experiencing is a sign of the Second Coming. It is so hard to determine whether the events around us are some of the signs Jesus talked about or just a coincidence. In Mark 13, Jesus talks about the signs of wars and rumours of wars, nation rising against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. A lot of that is going on at the moment, and if you look back at the past one hundred years, it’s no surprise that many Christians thought that the gigantic wars of global reach were the signs of Jesus’ Second Coming. Christians throughout the centuries have thought that the circumstances of their epoch were also signs of the Second Coming. But I do know that Jesus says that once these things have happened, the people will see the Second Coming of Jesus as he comes in a cloud with great power and glory.
So, what do we do with what Jesus is telling us? If we don’t really know what the signs of Jesus’ return will look like or when they will have, what are we supposed to do with what Jesus has told us? Don’t worry. Jesus gives us a solution for what to do with all our confusion. He says, ‘Be alert at all times’ so that when the day of the Second Coming arrives, it will not ‘catch you unexpectedly, like a trap.’[6] The whole point of Advent is that we are watching and waiting expectantly for the coming of Jesus. In Advent, we especially adopt and practice Jesus’ instructions to ‘be alert at all times’ for Jesus’ Second Coming.
So, how do we practice alert expectations? In the last few verses of our gospel reading, Jesus names two ways in which we can practice alert expectation. Number one, guard your heart. Guard your heart and protect it from things that will weigh you down and distract you from being alert and expectant for Jesus. Jesus says beware of your heart being weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the worries of this life. Looking at the world around us, we can see so much of this present in people’s lives, and it doesn’t take a genius to see how these things distract people from looking at the big things in life and asking the important questions of where God is in our lives. I’m sure all of us can name times when the pleasures and stresses of the world have distracted us so that we lose sight of God. Jesus tells us to guard our hearts because he knows that these worldly things easily lead us away from being alert and expectant to see Jesus. Number one, guard your heart.
Number two, pray for strength. Jesus tells us to pray for God’s strength to escape all these distractions that keep us from being alert and expectant and also for God’s strength to get us through the scary and uncertain times that proceed the Second Coming. We pray for God’s strength because we know that we cannot live the Christian life in our own strength. We can’t endure all that life throws at us and still keep our eyes fixed on Jesus with expectation. We face sickness or problems in our family, or we can’t find a job. Something comes and knocks us down. It is only God that gets us through. Only God gives us the strength of faith and character to throw off the distractions and obstacles that come our way. We pray for God’s strength because we rely on him to guard our hearts and keep our eyes alert and expectantly fixed on Jesus.
So, let’s be honest, I don’t think any of us are feeling cheery after that. And though this is heavy stuff, I don’t want you to feel sad or afraid at the start of Advent, nor does Jesus. Jesus wants us to find joy and delight in this season of expectation as we adopt a tunnel-vision focus of alert expectation. In Advent and the build-up to Christmas, we actively plan to celebrate Jesus coming to us. Throughout the rest of the year, we get easily distracted by other things and forget Jesus. We forget how excited we are to see Jesus.
If Jesus was going to walk through the door right now, would you be excited? We all would be excited. We would be buzzing to think Jesus is going to walk through that door any second. Advent invites us to rediscover this excitement. It invites us to remember the God who we are waiting for. Remember who he is to you and how he makes you feel. It is exciting to know that Jesus will come in person to us again, and when he does, he will come in all his glory and goodness. We will live with him forever in his kingdom, and it will never pass away.
Be alert this Advent. Rejoice in Jesus’ first arrival two thousand years ago and expect his Second Coming in the future. Lo, he will come with clouds descending, and we will enjoy the glorious splendour and majesty of his presence. I can’t wait, and Advent only increases my excitement and alertness to see God’s presence now in our lives and to look ahead to his return. I pray that God will guard your hearts and grant you his strength to see more of him with hope and expectation this day.
Amen.
[1] Luke 21:25-26, 36 [NRSV].
[2] Luke 21:27 [NRSV].
[3] Daniel 7:14 [NRSV].
[4] Luke 21:25-28 [NRSV].
[5] Luke 21:26 [NRSV].
[6] Luke 21:34 [NRSV].
Shakeel Nurmahi 