Sermon delivered on the 2nd Sunday before Advent C, November 17, 2013, at St. Augustine’s Anglican Church, Columbus, OH
If you would like to listen to the audio podcast of this sermon, usually somewhat different from the text below, click here.
Lectionary texts: Isaiah 65.17-25; Canticle—A Song of Deliverance (Isaiah 12.1-7); 2 Thessalonians 3.6-13; Luke 21.5-19.
In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
In our gospel lesson this morning, Jesus warns his disciples about the coming destruction of Jerusalem and I want us to look at what that might mean for us as Christians living in the 21st century who are long removed from that event, and who are also members of St. Augustine’s, specifically in light of what our other texts have to say to us. Too often this passage and its parallels in Matthew and Mark have been mistakenly read as end time (eschatological) passages that evoke images of cosmic disasters and Jesus flying around on the clouds like some kind of heavenly spaceman. But as Luke makes clear at the beginning of our gospel lesson, the disciples are asking Jesus about his prediction that God’s temple in Jerusalem will be destroyed. To Jews in Jesus’ day, that in itself would have been considered to be utterly catastrophic, especially in light of Herod’s magnificent rebuilding project. It would be tantamount to us being told about the future destruction of the White House or the Capitol building or other national monuments in Washington DC. Certainly if we believed that were going to happen, it would have the potential to cause us to tremble in fear and lose heart.
Regardless, we are certainly familiar with nation rising against nation and all kinds of natural catastrophes afflicting us. Unlike Jesus’ day, there are rarely rumors of these kinds of things anymore because now we know about these events almost instantaneously. But we are not so used to the other kinds of warnings Jesus issues because they are much more personal. We don’t much like to think we can be deceived about matters of faith but a quick look at the theology of some of the mainline churches in this country tells us otherwise. Some don’t give much credence to the authority of Scripture anymore, doubting or disbelieving massive parts of it, especially those parts that don’t quite support their own particular agenda. Sadly, there are Christians today who do not believe that Jesus really is God’s Son or that he arose bodily from the dead to usher in, at least partially, God’s promised new creation about which our OT lesson and canticle speak. There are Christians who do not believe in the atoning power of the cross, that Jesus died for our sins and rescued us from the dominion of darkness and death. Still others do not believe that Jesus is the only way to the Father, that the Christian faith offers only one of several ways to be rescued from sin and death and transferred into God’s kingdom. I do not have time to examine these things more closely but if we really take Scripture at its word and believe in its authority as God’s word to us, clearly there are many who have been deceived and doubtless they will not be the last. Neither can we sit by complacently and smugly, thinking that it is not possible for us to be deceived about matters of faith.
And we especially have trouble with Jesus’ warning that following him might actually cause those who are nearest and dearest to us to turn on us. But I know first-hand the reality of this warning and none of us want to contemplate having to make a choice between our family and friends and our faith in Jesus. We could go on but I hope you get the point. Jesus is warning us that being his disciple is not going to be a cakewalk, but rather we should expect our faith (and us) to be tested to the limits of our endurance (and if our faith is a cakewalk and we are not being persecuted for Jesus sake, we have to ask ourselves on occasion why that is). Our faith is going to be tested to its limits because we live in a world that is fundamentally hostile to God and his purposes. These purposes, of course, include God’s people because as we have seen, God has chosen to rescue his good but fallen world primarily through human intervention, first in his call to Israel through Abraham but finally and ultimately through the death and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah and the subsequent work of his people.
As we ponder these things, we cannot help but notice that Jesus is urging us not to focus on the end times (the time between Jesus’ resurrection and his second coming), whether it be the destruction of the Temple that was a concern for his disciples or whether it be about the timing of Jesus’ return that is a concern for many of us. Instead Jesus is telling us to keep our focus on living our lives as Jesus calls us to live them right here and now. In other words, we should focus on obeying his command to us to deny ourselves and take up our cross so that we can become like him in our character and behaviors.
Jesus’ message to us goes like this. “You live in a good world gone bad. Therefore you can expect to be tested to the max. But hang on and look for opportunities to witness to me to those who hate both you and me. It won’t be easy. But if you persevere, you will not only be my light to the world as I’ve called you to be, you will also gain your life.” And as Jesus promised his followers elsewhere, they would not have to endure the end times alone. He would be with them in the power and presence of the Holy Spirit (cf. John 20.19-23). In other words, Jesus is calling us to a radical trust in the power and purposes of God, even when we do not fully understand those purposes, and this trust itself serves as a powerful witness to the world.
And we attempt to obey Jesus’ seemingly outrageous request to persevere because we believe he has rescued us from sin and death by dying for us on a cross. Not only that, in the cross of Jesus we find healing and reconciliation with God. The cross stands as a wondrous symbol of God’s unfailing love for us and reminds us that even in our sin and brokenness, God loves us and wants us to be with him forever, starting right now. And as Jesus’ resurrection and our OT lessons attest, we have a glorious future awaiting us. For those of us who love the Lord, what better incentive and reason is there to persevere right now?
So how can we witness effectively to Jesus in these last times, in the face of the world’s anger and persecution? Paul has an answer for us in our epistle lesson—be Jesus’ Church in the world and show it how God’s healed and redeemed people behave toward each other. Paul’s admonition to the Thessalonians seems shocking and unloving to us today. No food for someone who doesn’t work? Yet our uneasiness over this shows that we too might have become deceived on this issue, first because we fail to see what Paul is really addressing here and second because our idea of what is real love is no longer consistent with biblical agape love.
At first blush Paul’s command not only seems unloving, it seems to be anachronistic. We Americans no longer live in an economy of scarcity. Neither are our economic practices as interdependent they were in Paul’s day. We are all about amassing private wealth. But that is not the real message Paul wanted the Thessalonians and us to see. Throughout all his letters it is quite evident that Paul considered the Church to be a family of God’s redeemed people. And as God’s redeemed people who were rescued from sin and death, Paul expected us to behave accordingly. Yes, we are to take care of each other when there is real need but that also requires that we take care of ourselves and not become an undue burden to others.
To illustrate this dynamic, let me give you two examples from the life of our own parish: finances and service. The parish needs money to operate and every year we ask each of you to prayerfully consider what you will give to help support the operation and ministries of St. Augustine’s, with the tithe being the standard of giving. This, of course, depends on everyone participating. But what if some of us don’t give anything? If that happens, those folks are basically saying to the rest of the church that they are going to ride on other people’s coattails and take advantage of their generosity. In other words, if we do not step up and do our part, we place a heavier burden on others financially and this, Paul tells us, is not a loving thing to do.
Likewise for the many ministries we have. Take our ministry to Faith Mission or worship setup. When we refuse to give our time and efforts to these ministries we are placing an added burden on others. We count on them to do these ministries and our non-participation forces others to take on more than their fair share of the work. Now please do not misunderstand. I do not have anyone in mind when I offer these examples nor am I telling you subtly that I think you are doing a lousy job in these areas. To the contrary, I think as a parish we generally live up to the expectations Paul is laying out for us. Nevertheless, we need to pay attention to what Paul says here because it raises the bar for how we as a parish witness to the world.
That is why Paul is so adamant that those who do not do their fair share should be shunned (not kicked out). He says this not because he is vindictive, but because when members of a church family do not contribute their fair share to the life of the family, this is exactly as the world behaves! Paul obviously wants us to avoid that because we march to the beat of a different drummer and the world is watching. How can we witness to the world about how Jesus transforms lives and heals us if we act like we are still broken and selfish people who do not love each other enough to carry our own weight in matters of the life of our church?
There are other ways to witness to the world, of course. Think of the many themes we have looked at in our previous lessons from Luke, for example. Stories like the prodigal son, the good samaritan, and the unjust judge remind us that we are loved by God and called to be his light to the world to bring his healing love to bear on those who hate him (and us). We do this because God has done the same for us and calls us to do likewise. And we persevere in prayer precisely because we live in a world hostile to God and his people and we do not always see how our faithful living matters at all. But as Paul reminds us in today’s lesson it does. Otherwise we would grow weary in doing good and probably come to think that it’s ridiculous for us to even try in the first place. But because we believe in the promises of God, both present and future, Jesus’ and Paul’s admonitions to us should encourage us because we know God is sovereign and will use even our broken efforts to advance the coming of his kingdom on earth as in heaven, even when it is not readily apparent to us. If this were not so, why would our Lord have told us to witness for him like this, especially in the face of severe persecution? Think on these things and take them to heart because they are Good News for you, now and for all eternity.
In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.