Advent 2
Dear friends in Christ. Last Sunday we heard the Advent announcement, the fulfillment of the prophecy from the OT prophet, St. Zechariah: Behold, your King is coming to you, lowly and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey. On that first Palm Sunday, Jesus rode into Jerusalem, on purpose, on a donkey to make it clear that He is the King, the Messiah that was prophesied. Here the King/ Messiah is lowly and humble, riding to be enthroned—enthroned on a cross and wearing a crown of thorns. That was the entire way of His First Coming—in lowliness and humility, coming to serve us by suffering and dying for us; and precisely by that to establish His kingdom, the Church.
This lowly, humble way that Jesus came to set up His Church is also the way that He still comes to us today. He comes to us in the still, small voice of His Word, in the drops of the water of Holy Baptism and in the simple, ordinary bread and wine. But today’s Gospel is different. It places before us Jesus’ Second Coming/ His return to judge the living and the dead. The Lord who once came in humility, in the flesh to redeem the world will come again on the Last Day to hold the final judgment. Although He came the first time with His entire life on earth being marked by lowliness, poverty, and servanthood, His coming on the Last Day will be just the opposite: His coming in judgment will take place in great power and glory. Although His coming in the flesh in the womb of the Blessed Virgin was not seen by any human eye, His return will take place before the eyes of all the peoples—some to their horror, others to their joy. Although His first coming, in the flesh, was well prophesied, no real general outward notice was given: the angel Gabriel announced privately to St. Mary that she would be Jesus’ mother, the Mother of God; at best, you had at Jesus’ birth the angels announcing His birth to a handful of shepherds and the star noticed by a few wise men from the east. How different it is, though, with Jesus’ return to judge! In today’s Gospel Jesus tells us of these signs. Each of these signs is a call/ announcement that Jesus is coming in great power and glory. And as we examine our text, we will see that this is a message both of blessed joy and a message of earnest warning.
1. Jesus begins in today’s Gospel: “There will be signs in the sun, moon, and stars. And on the earth nations will be in anguish, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the surging waves, people fainting from fear and expectation of the things coming on the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” How powerful and how majestic are these signs. And by that they point to the majesty and power of Jesus. For the Christian, this is a tremendous comfort because what do we see in and around us all the time—the seeming triumph of the enemies of our Lord and His Church; it seems that evil is conquering; it seems that Jesus is still lowly and humble and unable to do anything. But the power and majesty that Jesus will display on the Last Day is the same power and majesty that He has and that He uses today.
All these signs that Jesus points to in today’s Gospel have occurred from the very beginning and are very general. There will be signs in the sun, moon, and stars. There have been and there are eclipses and comets etc. and there will be. These things can very often be predicted. But what does Jesus do here? –He gives these things significance as signs/ markers of His return. It is interesting because even though there are these signs in the sun, moon, and stars, Jesus clearly says about the Last Day [Mt. 25.36]: But of that day and hour no one knows. The point? These signs are specifically meant by our Lord to be general and occurring over a long period of time. He intends these signs to call people of all generations to remind them that He is coming again in great power and glory and so to repent and be prepared for it.
Notice as well, with these signs creation is seemingly falling apart. There will be signs in the sun, moon, and stars…the roaring of the sea and the surging waves… the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Even this is a message of joy because creation, too, wants to be free from the curse and stain of sin. St. Paul picks up on this when he writes [Rm. 8.19-21 AAT]: For the created world is waiting on tiptoe to see the unveiling of God’s sons. For this created world must waste away, not because it wants to but because its Master would have it so, but it does so with hope that this created world also will be freed from the slavery of decay in order to share the freedom of glory with the children of God. The point? Come the Last Day, the day of Jesus’ return in power and glory, the curse and effects on sin will finally be done away with. Even the creation is looking forward to this; and the creation itself proclaims it. Although the creation is seemingly being torn apart, it is like the egg being destroyed so the chick can emerge.
Precisely with all these signs in nature that it is seemingly falling apart, the power and majesty of Jesus’ return is all the more clear. What seems more firm, solid, reliable than the sun and moon, etc.? But when they falter, what do we see? –Jesus in all His power and glory. The veil is removed and there we see the One who truly is all powerful, [Hb. 1.3] who sustains everything by His almighty Word.
Our text: And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. On the Last Day when Jesus returns, what a day of blessed joy for His dear Christians! The One whom we, by faith, trusted in and recognized as the true God and the Savior of the world will show Himself as He truly is: with power and great glory. The despised and rejected and humble Christ will be stripped of His former humiliation and all will have to recognize Him as for who He really is—the Lord of all. His humanity will shine forth His divine omnipotence and glory for all to see and hear. The Christian, on the Last Day, at the sight of Jesus in all His power and great glory, will with great joy—a joy beyond belief—will bow before Him and [Ph 2.10-11] confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father; the unbeliever, too, will have to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father but to their shame as the One they rejected.
So, when the Lord uses nature and its seeming collapse—all sorts of disasters, natural phenomenon, etc. to proclaim to us Behold, your King will come in great power and glory, we rejoice: But when these things begin to happen, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is near. It is a message of joy. We have no reason to fear or be terrified to stand before our Lord Jesus in all of His glory. Why not? Because He—the almighty God Himself—is also our dear loving Savior, the One who came in all humility the first time to live a holy sinless life for us, to take our sins upon Himself and to suffer and die for them. The One who by His holy life and innocent suffering and death brought us peace with God, reconciliation with Him, forgiveness of sins and eternal life is now coming to bring us with Him into heaven soul and body. On the Last Day Jesus is coming with our redemption, our final, complete redemption from sin, devil, death and all suffering of this present age.
With all these signs in nature of its seemingly being torn apart, with other signs that Jesus talks about elsewhere like wars and rumors of war, earthquakes, etc., yes, [Rm. 12.15] we weep with those who weep, but we don’t get distraught; instead, we know that these things are signs pointing us to our final redemption, the day of Jesus’ return; we stand up and lift up [our] heads, because [our] redemption is near. Instead of getting all worried when reading/ hearing the news and all the bad things going on, may our courage be renewed instead. Let the fear and uncertainty lead us to focus on Jesus’ return and our final redemption He brings.
Our lives are not focused/ centered on this earth. Instead our gaze is fixed on heaven, as St. Paul writes [Ph 3.20-21]: For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body.
In our text Jesus then gives a parable to illustrate even further His point to watch for His coming: Look at the fig tree and all the trees. As soon as they are sprouting leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is actually near. So also, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near. Jesus’ point is this: like the fig leaves indicate the cold of winter is done and the warmth of summer is coming, these signs pointing to His return are a good thing. To be sure if you follow reason these signs terrify, but judge them according to the word and faith then the message of Jesus’ return in great power and glory is one of great joy.
2. This message of pure joy for us is also a serious message: And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And it is certain: Amen I tell you: This generation will not pass away until all these things happen. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. We dare not disregard the fact that Jesus will return with power and great glory.
As Christians, this is a message of pure joy; but because we also still have our old sinful nature with us until our dying breath, we also need to hear Jesus’ warning: Watch yourselves or else your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and the worries of this life, and that day may come on you suddenly. We need to wage war against sin and the sin within us. We need to stand against our spiritual enemies of the devil, the world and our own sinful nature; we need to fight temptation so that sin and our old sinful selves do not dominate us. Watch yourselves. When we keep giving in to sin and do not fight against it our hearts [are] weighed down. How then can we pray, believe and hope in the Lord, look for and expect His coming? If we live lives of sin, going from one sin to another, not only are we resisting and squelching the work of the Holy Spirit but without His guidance and with our minds unclear due to carousing, drunkenness, how can we recognize the signs and the dangers; or filled with the worries of this life, how can we trust in the Lord?
And that’s why we need Jesus’ words here to us also as the most earnest warning: And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. We must be on guard of the devil turning the great joy of this message that [our] redemption is near into something that lulls us into complacency, into a false/ carnal security so that we don’t watch and fight against sin, so that we are like that animal unaware that a trap is waiting for it: For it will come like a trap on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth.
Let it sink in: And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. That’s the almighty God Himself who is coming! How could I not want to be ready and watching for His return? How could I not do all to be prepared? To be prepared means to live a life of repentance and to have faith, to trust in Jesus as your Savior from sin, death, devil and hell; it means recognizing Him as true God and your only Savior; it means to look for and yearn for it, for heaven and the joys awaiting us. To be sure, because we are sinners we are apt often to forget about Jesus’ return. But what does He say? Stay alert all the time, praying that you may be able to escape all these things that are going to happen and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man. Be alert and pray! In grace, Jesus sends His Holy Spirit and equips us and strengthens us in the faith and to watch. He Himself comes to us in the Blessed Sacrament with His body and blood, unites with us, gives us a foretaste of the blessedness of heaven, strengthening us and keeping us during the wait as we hear: Behold, your King will come in great power and glory. INJ