Advent 2 – December 7th,
2014 – Malachi 4 and Luke 21
In the Name of Christ Jesus, our Advent King +
In the Name of Christ Jesus, our Advent King +
Malachi was the last of the Old Testament prophets. In fact, our Old Testament lesson today are
the very last words of the Old Testament.
Malachi proclaimed these words right around 500 BC, give or take a few
years. And then, that’s it. For 500 years, from Malachi to John the
Baptist (the Elijah here promised), you don’t have any more prophets in Israel. The Word had been proclaimed, and that was
what was needed until the Messiah would come.
So – what did people need to hear, what did they need to know? The text starts off ominously – “For
behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all
evildoers will be stubble. The day that
is coming shall set them ablaze, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave
them neither root nor branch.”
Well, that’s sort of blunt and dire, isn’t it? Kind of a strong contrast to all the ho-ho-ho
music we get on the radio this time of year.
And at first glance, this seems so inappropriate – why when preparing
for Christmas should we talk about the end and judgment when it gives us the
willies and makes us scared? Well,
that’s the problem – the end shouldn’t cause you fear, my friends in Christ
Jesus. Listen.
“But for you who fear My Name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with
healing in its wings. You shall go out
leaping like calves from the stall. And
you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your
feet on the day when I act, says the LORD of hosts.” You are in Christ Jesus – we all gathered
here today in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit – we
are baptized, God’s own people. And all
we have to look forward to is joy, and healing, and total and complete
victory. You see, we often mishear the
warnings about the end days, and this is because of centuries of bad
doctrine. Once you get to the middle
ages, we fell into some messed up thinking about the second coming; we became
terrified of Jesus and His return because of that stupid, false, made up,
unscriptural teaching of purgatory.
Instead of joy and leaping like calves, Christians thought Christ’s
return would mean millions of years in detention, burning in purgatory. That’s not the point in Malachi, not at
all. No, his message for the faithful is
this – yes, you still see wicked folks around you – but don’t worry about
them. You don’t have to try to outwit
them or defeat them or even punish them.
God will take care of that – boy will He ever! But as for you – wait on the Lord. Show love to one another, seek and give
forgiveness and mercy, and trust upon God – know that God is stronger than the
world (for that is what the “fear of the LORD” is) and that He will deliver you
when He comes.
And in the intervening 500 years, the children of Israel
saw enemies come and go. Alexander the
Great came – but there was no prophet.
No, your instructions are the same – don’t worry about the enemies;
rather, remember the Word of God, His promises to you. Then other enemies conquered, the Selucids,
and they did horrible stuff. Still, no
prophet – carry on, I will support you.
Then Herod’s family and then the Romans, and still Israel was given to
wait, wait 500 years… 500 years takes us back to before the Reformation. A long time of waiting – but the promise is
still sure. The Messiah will come, and
you’ll have the forerunner before Him, and He will take care of things.
And then we move forward to our Gospel Lesson. And this is in the midst of Holy Week, this
is after Palm Sunday, on the way to Good Friday. And Jesus knows what is coming. He is going to suffer and die. That’s why He came, that’s what needed to be
done so that come the last day you all can go leaping in joy. And yes, He will rise, but He won’t be
establishing an earthly kingdom.
Instead, there will be a wait, again.
There will be time given so that more and more can come to faith –
including every single one of us in this room.
But in the meantime, before His second coming… the waiting is going to
be rough. And so, He teaches, He tells
us how to view and understand the world around us. “And there will be signs in the sun and moon
and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the
roaring of the sea and waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of
what is coming upon the world. For the
powers of the heavens will be shaken.”
What’s life before the second coming?
Well, the world is going to fall apart, and people are going to freak
out about it. I’ve been here 10 years –
and we’ve seen tsunamis and hurricanes and earthquakes, and people freaking out
over it. Global warming, climate change,
fracking – and this isn’t even getting into wars and rumors of war and nuclear
power plant meltdowns and ISIS and
terrorists. The world is a messed up
place. Got any doubts – turn on the
national news any given evening – it ain’t going to be pretty.
So –
what is to be our response to this – what is our reaction when we see all this
junk in the world? Tremble with
fear? Wring our hands? Panic and get angry? Not according to Christ Jesus – “And
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, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing
near.” What does all this
tragedy and trouble point us to? Christ
shall come again. And how are we to view
His coming – straighten up. Don’t hunch
down in fear, get up, be ready, don’t cower in fear – raise your head. Why?
Because redemption is coming, redemption for you. Christ Jesus, who has conquered death with
His own death upon the Cross, He is coming and it is going to be good. Again, the idea of the last day is meant to
be a joy, a comfort to you as Christians – because all this lousiness of life
in this world will be done away with, and we will have the resurrection of the
body and the life of the world to come where none of these things will bother
us – where the “former things” that vexed us will be remembered no more.
And
Jesus gives a parable. “Look
at the fig tree, and all the trees. As
soon as they come out in leaf, you see for yourselves and know that the summer
is already near. So also, when you see
these things taking place, you know that the Kingdom of God
is near.” How many of you are
going to say in Spring, “Oh drat, look, there are leaves on the trees, I was
hoping we’d have 5 more months of it being freezing cold and windy”? No, this is a good thing. A cause for rejoicing. Christ will come. “Truly, I say to you, this generation will
not pass away until all has taken place.
Heaven and Earth will pass away, but My Words will not pass away.” And here we get a passage that can be
somewhat tricky. Some people say, “Well,
all those people there died before Jesus returned… what went wrong!” Nothing at all. What is “this generation”? For a hint, I’m going to bring up a
theological term – we will talk about “Baptismal Regeneration” – the idea that
we are born again in Baptism. Jesus is
talking to the faithful in Jerusalem,
to the Church – and the Church will endure until the end. There will always be Christians waiting for
the coming of the LORD – they might not live where they used to, but the Church
will remain. Why? Because the Word of the Lord does not pass
away. The Gospel is still
proclaimed. Baptism – it still brings
people into Christ’s Kingdom. Christ
still comes to us in His Body and Blood in the Supper – these things remain –
the Holy Spirit still calls people by the Gospel and richly and daily forgives
our sins here in the Church. So this
wasn’t a “it’s coming right now” point – but again, like Malachi - don’t worry
about the wait. Don’t worry about the
time inbetween. I will preserve you,
then I will come, and it will be good for you.
And
one final note. “But watch yourselves lest your
hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life,
and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. For it will come upon all who dwell upon the
face of the whole earth. But stay awake
at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things
that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
Ut-oh! We need to
escape! It’s a trap! Watch out!
Panic! No… not quite. It is a warning, a reminder. People can fall away from the faith. They can just stop caring, they can just live
it up and get blotto-ed, they can just be too busy and successful to care. And that’s when it’s bad. But Jesus mentions two things, two ways of
being prepared, of “staying awake” as it were.
Prayer and then also standing before the Son of Man. Oh my, if only there were some place where we
Christians came together to pray, where we stood before Christ Jesus Himself
and received strength from Him. If only
there was some place where, instead of having my heart weighed down, I was
told, “Lift up your hearts.” If only
there was some place where God would strengthen us in faith towards Him and in
fervent love toward one another. Did I
lay it on too thick? Jesus here is
pointing us to Church, to coming to this place where we gather in prayer and
then receive from Him His own strength, His own righteousness, His own
forgiveness. The Church isn’t an
afterthought. The Supper isn’t an
afterthought. It wasn’t as though the
Apostles were standing at the Ascension and said, “Oh, um, hmm… Guess we better make something up.” No, God has always gathered His people
together around His Word. And you today, you are no different. You are in
Christ, gathered in His Name – and you are prepared for His coming, whether it
is coming to this Altar today to bring you forgiveness or whether it is His
coming on the Last day to give you the resurrection and the life. It’s okay – in Christ it is all good, and all
good for you. Be at peace in Him.
We believe
that He shall come again to judge the living and the dead, and that His kingdom
will have no end. Not only that, but we
know that this is a good thing, because you are forgiven by Christ, you have
been joined to Him in Holy Baptism, and until He comes again He will continue
to come to you in His Word and in His most Holy Supper. And yes, the world around you often will fall
apart – so be it. You belong to Christ,
and because of Him, because of His Word of life, you will endure even when this
heaven and this earth have passed away, for He will take you to the new and
better heavens and earth. Come quickly,
Lord Jesus. In the Name of Christ Jesus,
our Advent King + Amen.
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