St. George's Episcopal Roseburg Advent 1, November 28 , 2004 Go To St. George's Home Page |
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Isaiah 2:1-5
Ps 122:1-9
Romans 13:11-14
Matthew 24:36-44
From the Revised Common Lectionary as Adapted for Use by the Episcopal Church
and Authorized by the 74th General Convention of the ECUSA
"But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour. (Matthew 24:36-44)
A New Beginning, Again…
The Rev. Dr. Bill Stroop, Rector
Happy New Year! As odd as that might sound, today is the first day of the new Church year. This is because our church calendar is based on the fixed date of December 25 and the movable date of Easter. Both Easter and Christmas are dates Christians remember as times when the experience of God touched humanity in specific and wonderful ways. In the early centuries of the Church, some time was set aside to prepare spiritually for these most holy of days. Four weeks of preparation for Christmas Day signify the first four weeks of the ecclesiastical year. And we acknowledge the beginning of this season of preparation by lighting the first candle on the Advent wreath.
Advent is the season when we anticipate the coming of Jesus, the incarnation of God in the world. I love this time of year and this season in the church. It is as if time itself is pregnant, waiting to give birth to something new. But the Gospel lesson today does not emphasize that new beginning, with a babe in a manger. It rather speaks to another beginning – a time when early Jewish Christians looked for Jesus to return to judge the world. This is a perennially neglected part of Advent, but one that I think it is important so that we can experience the whole of the Christian tradition.
During the end of the last church year, we read apocalyptic stories from the Gospel of Luke. Apocalyptic language was popular literature during the first century – especially among certain Jewish sects, one of which might have been highly influential on Jesus. Apocalyptic writing taught that someday time itself would end, and that the end would be immediately preceded by a great cosmic battle between the forces of good and evil. The forces of good would eventually triumph over evil, and the Son of Man would come to judge the world.
Among the first century people who adopted apocalyptic language were the Jewish followers of Jesus – including the writer of Matthew. Mainstream Jews had a disdain for apocalypticism; they felt that such end-of-time talk was dangerous and unhealthy. Matthew felt that mainstream Jews were shortsighted and foolish because they felt Jesus' second coming and the day of judgment were imminent.[1]
In today's Gospel, Matthew says the Son of Man is coming to judge the world, and Matthew addresses judgment on two levels. The first is on the personal level: "two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left."[2] This is the kind of judgment that we are probably most familiar with. If I go 45 miles per hour in a school zone, I will be punished. If you fail to pay your taxes, you will be found out and have to pay the taxes and a fine. This kind of judgment is the kind associated with law breaking, and it is as familiar to us as it was to the Jews of Matthew's day.
But Matthew also recalls for us the story of Noah when Yahewh judged humankind. For in those days before the flood, Matthew tells us, "The Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, 'I will blot out from the earth the human beings I have created — people together with animals and creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.' But Noah found favor in the sight of the Lord."[3] Noah, who was born many generations before Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, was not a Jew, and he was judged by God and found worthy. By talking about Noah instead of a Jewish ancestor like Abraham or David, Matthew wants us to understand that the blessing and judgment of God Almighty is for all peoples.
This insight gives us a new way of looking at these texts and seeing their meaning for us today. The meaning lies in what we do and why we do it not in who we say we are. Yes, you've heard me say this before, and you will probably hear me say it again, because this is a fundamental truth that bears repeating. Matthew believed that God's judgment would apply to all, but on what will that judgment rest? There are fundamental questions to be answered here. Questions like, "Does God give us tests to determine whether we are righteous?" Are there rows and rows of student desks in front of the gates of heaven where we will take that final exam to determine whether we can enter the kingdom?
Of course not! God does not send specific tests into our lives. God does not need to do that. The way the created world works challenges the fiber of our being each and every day of our lives. How we choose to respond to those challenges is what matters. How we react when a tree falls into our neighbor's house shows both the what and the why about our actions. Do we do nothing because we know she's well insured? Or do we bring her some soup, and offer to care for her dogs while the roof is repaired?
I believe scripture tells us that what we do matters, and that we must be accountable for our actions. Judgment is really about "accountability." It means that I am accountable to you, my neighbors, my family, myself, and God for my actions. Being accountable is something that transcends religious, ethnic, gender, or age boundaries, and that's why it applies to all people. We are accountable for what we do and for what we fail to do for each other and for God.
Almost 40 years ago, a great prophet arose in this nation and said, "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed ... I have a dream that one day [children will] live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream that one day ... the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together." When Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke of injustice, as he did that day in 1963, he called upon
What we think of as judgment arises out of God's love and care for us. If God did not love us and care about how we mature as spiritual and physical beings, God would not demand that we be accountable for our actions. I think we know this to be true from our own experience of living and working with whom we love.
One time I was having some trouble getting along with some of my classmates at school. As I told the story to my father, he could see that I had insulted my friends out of pure self-interest. When he told me that that was the way he saw the situation, my mouth fell open in dismay and I said, "You just don't understand! How could you side with them? You don't care about me!" I felt judged, and I did not like the fact that my Dad didn't see the situation from my point of view. He explained to me that in fact the opposite was true. It was because he loved me so very much that he cared enough to show me that I was acting out of selfishness.
In the end, it is by our actions that we reveal our faith in something greater and nobler than ourselves. Our actions do not merely imitate God, nor are our deeds seen as simple fulfillments of moral or legal requirements. Rather they are actions that reveal our relationship with the living Christ and the Holy Trinity.
What we do and why we do it are the that allow God's presence to enter the world. And so, my friends, as we begin our preparation toward the season of Christmas, let us remember that Jesus came into our world as a human baby to live and suffer with us out of His love for us. Let us also remember that he came among us and acted in ways so giving and so unselfish that we can look to him and hold ourselves accountable to his care and his love of his people. Let us use this Advent to do what Paul has told us to do. "Let us ... lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us live honorably ... [Let us] put on the Lord Jesus Christ."[4]
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COMMENTS? E-Mail Me
The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning
1 I was glad when they said to me,
"Let us go to the house of the LORD!"
2 Our feet are standing
within your gates, O Jerusalem.
3 Jerusalem -- built as a city
that is bound firmly together.
4 To it the tribes go up,
the tribes of the LORD,
as was decreed for
to give thanks to the name of the LORD.
5 For there the thrones for judgment were set up,
the thrones of the house of David.
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
"May they prosper who love you.
7 Peace be within your walls,
and security within your towers."
8 For the sake of my relatives and friends
I will say, "Peace be within you."
9 For the sake of the house of the LORD our God,
I will seek your good.
Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
"But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.