Advent 1 - 3 December 2017 - Year B

Grace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

The text for this meditation is written in the 13th Chapter of the Gospel according to St Mark: Verses 24 - 37:

24 “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, 25 and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. 26 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 27 And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

28 “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. 29 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, eat the very gates. 30 Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. 31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

32 “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. 34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. 35 Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning— 36 lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. 37 And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake

In the Gospel reading we see that as Jesus and the disciples left the temple area, Jesus told them that sometime in the future, someone or something will destroy the temple.  When He and the disciples reached their camp ground on the Mount of Olives, the disciples asked for more details, and Jesus began to teach.  He warned them to keep their doctrine pure so that false prophets would not deceive them.  He told them to expect persecution for their faith and encouraged them to remain faithful even in the face of persecution.  He gave them warning signs so that they knew to get out of Jerusalem before the Roman army destroyed it.  In today’s Gospel, He talks about the end of all things.

Jesus’ description of the end of time is literally universal.  That is, He gave the disciples and us a visual image of an entire universe going out of existence.  It is as though someone had a switch that controlled all the laws of physics and turned them off.  The sun going out is not an eclipse.  It is the sun no longer existing.  The moon will no longer exist.  Modern astronomy tells us that many of the stars are millions of times larger than our sun. Jesus states that they will all go away.  One moment everything will be absolutely normal. The next moment EVERYTHING, and by EVERYTHING I mean THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE, will be gone.  The three hours of darkness as Jesus hung on the cross foreshadows this utter darkness.

One of the things that Jesus emphasises is that this will all be a surprise.  No one will have any idea when this will happen.  He said, “Concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” (Mark 13:32)  He restated this thought just a few words later, “You do not know when the time will come.” (Mark 13:33) Then He included this teaching in a short parable, “You do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning.” (Mark 13:35) When Jesus rephrases a teaching in three different ways … one right after the other … this is important.  One of the teachings that Jesus is emphasising in today’s Gospel is, DO NOT TRY TO WORK OUT TIMELINES AND DATES FOR THE END TIMES BECAUSE YOU CANNOT DO IT.

But, human nature being what it is, regardless of this, there are hundreds, perhaps even thousands of authors and teachers who are making a lot of money by telling people that Jesus lied.  You can figure out timelines and dates for the end times.  I typed the phrase “end times prophecy books” into Amazon’s search engine and got over 3,000 hits.  A few of these books are good, solid, Biblically accurate studies, but the far larger majority of them are a waste of ink and paper.  Authors are becoming wealthy by telling gullible readers that they are smarter than Jesus.  Even though Jesus said that even He did not know the day or the hour, somehow, these ‘false prophets’ have worked out some secret code of Daniel or Revelation or some other story, and they know something that even Jesus did not know.

The tragedy here is the damage this kind of foolishness does to the name of Christ.  Some charismatic charlatan gets a following and makes a big deal out of the end of the Mayan calendar, or the Bible code, or some ancient writing, or some other phenomena and then predicts the end of the world on some date.  The date comes and goes and we are still here.  The result is that many among the unbelieving community link this foolishness with the Christians faith and heap ridicule on true believers and the Holy Christian Church on earth.  These end-times con artists not only say that Jesus lied, but they also try to bring shame on the name of Jesus.

That major concern is that all of this speculation acts as a diversionary tactic that leads people away from the main message of the Bible.  If you review today’s Gospel, you will see that there is a concept that Jesus repeated even more than the warning against trying to figure out timelines and dates.  Instead of trying to calculate times and dates, Jesus said, “Be on guard, keep awake. (Mark 13:33) Stay awake. (Mark 13:34) Stay awake. (Mark 13:35) Stay awake.” (Mark 13:37) Five times Jesus encourages us to be ready for the Last Day whenever it comes.

In today’s reading from the Gospel account, Jesus is very specifically telling us to stay away from any speculation on timelines and dates for the Last Day.  Instead, we are to be ready for the Last Day no matter when it comes. But how do we come to be ready?  What qualifies us to be one of the elect that the angels gather to the Son of Man when He comes?  The answer to these questions is the main message of the Bible.

The main message of the Bible is the forgiveness of sins that Jesus earned for us with His perfect life, His suffering, and His death on the cross. You see, Jesus didn’t die on the cross so that we could know the details of all the events on the Last Day.  He died so that we could be prepared for the Last Day.

Preparation for the Last Day means that we must be holy in God’s eyes.  For only those people who are holy will enter the Kingdom of God.  The Bible gives us two ways to be holy.  One way depends on us.  The other way depends on God.

The way that depends on us is easy to say, but impossible to do.  If you wish to save yourself, all you must do is be perfect in every way.  There can be no mistakes, no slip-ups, no “oopses,” no “sorry-about-that’s.” We must be as perfect as God is.  The slightest blemish, spot, wrinkle, or blot on our record, and we fail.  It is all over.  The test pass-mark is 100%.  Anything less is a fail, done, over, next stop eternal torment.  There are no appeals or reviews.  In all of time and space, there has been one and only one human being who has ever achieved this.  Every other human being fails this test at the moment of conception.  As King David said, “In sin did my mother conceive me.” (Psalm 51:5) So although God makes this way available, one and only one human being has ever been able to do it.  It just isn’t possible for the ordinary person.

The way that depends on God involves God the Father sending His only begotten Son into the world to take our place as a human being under the law.  God’s Son Jesus is perfect.  With Him there are no mistakes, slip-ups, “oopses,” or “sorry-about-that’s.”  Jesus has no blemish, spot, wrinkle, or blot.  Jesus is the one and only human being who passed the test with a score of 100%.  As the Apostle Peter said, “He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. “When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.” (1 Peter 2:22–23) So God the Father sent His Son Jesus into the world and Jesus became the perfect human being for us.

On top of that, Jesus submitted to His Father and took up all our sins.  He took up everything from the sins that we consider the worst to the sins that we don’t even notice.  As the Apostle Paul said, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) Jesus then took those sins to the cross where He suffered and died for us. As the Apostle Peter said, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:24) This is the way that God makes us holy.  This is the only way to be ready for the Last Day when it comes.  Jesus Christ, God’s Son must give His holiness to us and He offers that holiness to us from the cross.

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus promised to send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven. (Mark 13:27) He can make this promise because even though He died on the cross, He did not stay dead.  In His death, He conquered death so that the grave could not hold Him.  If He can keep His promise to rise from the dead, He can certainly keep His promise to raise us from the dead and gather us to Himself.

Jesus spoke about the Last Day.  He taught that no one knows when it will be.  Therefore, He taught that we are to be ready for the Last Day at any time.  It could happen today.  It could be another thousand years.  Be ready.

It is the Holy Spirit who makes us ready by creating faith that believes in Christ crucified for the forgiveness of sins.  The Holy Spirit uses God’s Word to build and sustain that faith in Jesus Christ.  It is the Word that we hear with our ears, the word combined with water according to Christ’s command, and the Word that comes with the body and blood of Christ as we eat and drink the bread and wine.  It is by that faith that we are on guard, awake and watchful.  It is the Holy Spirit’s gift of faith in Jesus Christ that keeps us ready for the return of the Son of Man who comes in power and glory.

This faith not only prepares us for the coming of the Son of Man in glory, but, if the Lord waits to return, it also prepares us for that day when we shall leave this world through the door of death.  Just as no one knows the day that the world will end, so none of us knows if we will be around when it comes.  The same faith in Jesus Christ that keeps us watchful and ready for the one, also keeps us watchful for the other.  Whether we leave this world at the end of our own lives or at the end of the world, the same readiness saves us.  No matter which way our end comes, it is God who saves us by the Father’s grace, for the Son’s sake, through the Holy Spirit’s gift of faith.  Amen.

The love and peace of our Great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen

Last Sunday of the Church Year – 26 November 2017 – Year A - (Pentecost 25)

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

The text for this meditation is written in the 25^th Chapter of the Gospel according to St Matthew: Verses 31 – 46:

³¹ When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. ³² Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. ³⁴ Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ³⁶ I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me,  I was in prison and you came to me.’ ³⁷ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? ³⁸ And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? ³⁹ And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ ⁴⁰ And the King will answer them, Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

⁴¹ “Then he will say to those on his left,  ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴² For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ ⁴⁴ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ ⁴⁵ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ ⁴⁶ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught us to pray, “Your Kingdom come.”  We pray this so often that we don’t even really think about how big and important this prayer is.  What we are asking for is that the reign of God the Father to come to us! - And we say it in a routine manner.  The point is, how often do we give thanks to God that His reign does come among us as a comforting thing and not as a cause of terror?

Consider Adam and Eve’s response when God came to them. ^{[Genesis 3:8–10]} “They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” ¹⁰ And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”  Adam and Eve were terrified of God because they had sinned.  They feared His judgment.  After all, the Psalmist reminds us, ^{[Psalm 5:4]} “You are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you.”  For Adam and Eve, the coming of God’s kingdom was the last thing they wanted.

When we examine ourselves in light of the Ten Commandments, we learn that we sin daily and deserve punishment here on this earth and forever in hell.  It seems as though we should be terrified to pray the words, “Your Kingdom come.” -  Why then, did Jesus teach us to pray in such a way if the coming of the Kingdom of God means the coming of judgment?

God’s actions in the Bible teaches that there is another way that He can come … a way that brings comfort and confidence … a way that removes fear and despair.

God came to Jacob in a dream.  He came down a ladder and promised, ^{[Genesis 28:15]} “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”  He appeared to Moses in the burning bush and said, ^{[Exodus 3:12]} “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”  Later on, Moses comforted the people of Israel with these words, ^{[Deuteronomy 31:8]} “It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”  God spoke words of comfort to His people through the Prophet Ezekiel, ^{[Ezekiel 37:27]} “My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”

So it seems that the coming of the Kingdom of God can cause two completely different reactions.  The first reaction is one of terror.  I am a wretched sinner and deserve God’s righteous, eternal wrath.  The second reaction is one of comfort, reassurance, and confidence.  God is with me.  Now I am safe.

We see these two reactions in today’s Gospel reading.  The Gospel texts for these past few Sundays have been working their way through Jesus’ teaching concerning the Last Day.  There was the “Parable of the Five Wise and Five Foolish Virgins.”  Then there was the “Parable of the Talents.”  Today, we heard about sheep and goats.  In each case, there are those who rejoice that the reign of God has come, and there are those who despair at its coming. 

The difference is that our Lord Jesus Christ has an ability that we do not have.  He can look into the human heart.  It is as He spoke through His prophet Jeremiah, ^{[Jeremiah 17:10]} “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”  In today’s Gospel Jesus teaches that it is as easy for Him to judge the heart as it is for a shepherd to tell the difference between a sheep and a goat.  In fact, today’s Gospel teaches us that Jesus knows us better than we know ourselves. The parables for the past few weeks tells us that Jesus will hand out two verdicts on the Last Day. 

In today’s Gospel, Jesus said that He would place some people to His right and others to His left.  Since Jesus already knows the heart, there is no questioning, no testimony, no presenting of evidence.  There is only the verdict and the sentence.

The first verdict is for those on His right.  The King will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”  Those on the right enter the Judges home with a verdict of … forgiven. 

There are a few important things about the judge’s statement worth noting:

First of all, note that the blessing flows from the Father.  It is not something that these people work up for themselves.

Second of all, note that this is an inheritance.  You don’t work for an inheritance.  You receive an inheritance because someone put you in the will.  You cannot earn an inheritance.

Finally, note that God prepared this outcome before any of us were even born.  The kingdom is prepared from the foundation of the world.  This tells us that this eternal kingdom was God’s will for these people from the very beginning.

The second verdict is for those on His left.  “Then he will say to those on his left, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”  Those on the left receive the verdict of guilty.  The sentence is eternal punishment.

In this instance the reason of the curse remains un-named.  The cursed condition is simply a characteristic of these people.

Secondly, notice that this condemnation was not in God’s plan for His people. People end up in eternal fire only because they ignore the teachings of God’s prophets; they turn their back on our Saviour Jesus Christ and reject God’s salvation.  If they are arrogant enough to judge God and find Him offensive, then the eternal punishment is the only alternative.  There is no other place to spend eternity.

As the judge welcomes those on His right into eternal bliss, he recalls the work that His salvation has produced in their lives.  Now here is the important point of the story.  The sheep don’t remember any of it.  The list of the works is a total surprise to the sheep.  “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?  And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?  And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?”  They haven’t got a clue. Their good works came naturally from the presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives. It was not a deliberate effort to earn salvation.

On the other hand, those on the left are angry that Jesus gives a similar list of things that they have NOT done.  You see, they have kept a careful record of their good works and they know for a fact that their efforts were meant for their own moral bank account – Jesus was not part of that.  Even as they stand before the judge of all things, they maintained that they have lived a life of good works and high moral character and are therefore entitled to a place in the Kingdom.

The point is that those who inherit the eternal kingdom do not look to their own good works for their salvation.  Instead, through Holy Baptism and the Sacrament of the Alter, the Holy Spirit finds dead souls and brings them to life through the proclamation of Christ crucified for the forgiveness of sins.  The Holy Spirit keeps those souls alive through that same proclamation of Christ crucified for the forgiveness of sins.  The proclamation of our crucified and risen Lord and Saviour leads the Christian, carries the Christian, and follows the Christian.  The Holy Spirit causes us to relax in Christ.

Good works are the result of the salvation that we already have.  The Holy Spirit inspired the Prophet Isaiah to write, [Isaiah 64:6] “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.  We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”  So even our best most righteous deeds are still sinful before God, but Jesus Christ redeemed our deeds with His suffering and death on the cross.  It is Christ on the cross who makes our deeds righteous.  Those who have had their good deeds sanctified by Jesus, focus on Jesus and not on their works.  Therefore, they notice their good works about as much as they notice that their fingernails are growing.

Jesus warned us and said, ^{[Matthew 6:1–2]} “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.  Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.”  “They have received their reward.”  That is one of the saddest statements in the Sermon on the Mount.  They have traded away their eternal joy for the temporary praise of man.

We are pleasing to God, not because of what we do or don’t do.  We are pleasing to God because of what Jesus did for us.  Jesus lived a life that met God’s perfect standard.  He died a death that paid our sin debt in full.  He rose from the dead as a sign that our Father in Heaven accepted His work for us.  Our salvation has been paid in full: We can rest in the Lord.

As you rest in the Lord, we will be among those who can pray, “Your kingdom come,” and look forward to the day.  We can take comfort in the promise of Jesus, ^{[Matthew 28:20b]} “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”  We can look forward in eager expectation to the day when we hear ^{[Revelation 21:3]} a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.”

While we wait for that day, we will produce good works.  These works do us absolutely no good, but they are precious to our neighbour.  God will accomplish His will in this world through our works.  We will fail often, but if we confess our sins in repentance, we receive the forgiveness of Jesus.  Our Lords calls for us to live for our neighbour, and not to waste time trying to measure our good works, because we don’t need them.  We are heirs to the kingdom prepared for us from the foundation of the world.  We can rejoice that God wants to dwell with us.  Amen

The peace and love of our Great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen