Unto Us a Child Is Born:Getting Ready

Isaiah 2:1-5; Matthew 24:36-44

          Matthew 24 is one of those passages that would keep me awake at night when I was a teenager.  I would hear fire-breathing sermons about the dreadful, imminent return of Jesus.  He was coming to judge the world, we were told, separate the sheep from the goats.  It could be any day, any moment.  My youth choir sang a song about two people working in a field.  One will be taken to the heavens, the other left to suffer untold misery.  So keep awake, be ready, we were told.

          Well, I stayed awake alright!  Worrying if I was good enough.  Fearful I would be found to be a goat rather than a sheep.

Some have exploited this passage.  One of the most famous was a 19th Century preacher named William Miller.  He had a dramatic conversion experience and began intensely studying the Bible. He started with Genesis 1:1 and studied each verse of the Bible, not moving ahead until he felt the meaning was clear.  That’s how he discovered the mystery of all mysteries—the date of the Second Coming of Jesus.  In 1831, he began preaching that Jesus would return and the world would come to a cataclysmic end in 1843.  He attracted as many as 100,000 followers who believed that they would be carried off to heaven when the date arrived. His followers were called the Millerites.  When the 1843 prediction failed to materialize, Miller recalculated and determined that he was off by one year. The world would actually end in 1844. A follower named Henry Emmons wrote, “I waited all Tuesday, and dear Jesus did not come … I lay prostrate for 2 days without any pain—sick with disappointment.”

Did you know William Miller has a Huntsville connection?  Some of his followers took up his work.  They called themselves the Adventists, a word that means “coming.”  Some of them eventually took the name Seventh Day Adventists.  Oakwood University belongs to that denomination.

          I’ve always wondered how people who make these predictions interpret the first verse of our text from Matthew 24: 36

But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

I tend to go with the immediate, obvious meaning of a text, and that one is pretty obvious to me.  No one knows, including Mr. Miller.

          So, what are we to think about the Second Coming of Jesus?  My sense is that most people today don’t quite know what to think about it. I hear some who claim to believe it literally, that one day soon, very soon, they say, we will hear the blast of a trumpet, the heavens will open, and Jesus will descend on a cloud of glory to end human history as we know it.  That’s what they say they believe, but I find it interesting that they are also funding their retirement account, as if they expect to be around for a while!

Others argue that it is just ancient mythology, religious stories that were never intended to be taken literally.  Over 2,000 years have passed, they say.  Give it up.  It’s not going to happen.

And somewhere between these two extremes there is a loud silence from those of us who take the Bible seriously and who also think critically. So, on this Advent Sunday, what is the meaning of this text from Matthew 24?

          According to our text, we must be agnostic about the timing of Jesus’ return.  Any time you hear someone claiming to have some kind of special knowledge about the end of time, remember what Jesus said in this text.  No one knows, not Mr. Miller or any of the others who have made similar predictions.  Jesus said that even the angels of heaven and he didn’t know.  So that’s something we can give up.  We don’t have to figure out when it’s going to happen.

Instead of crunching numbers and trying to unravel mystery, Jesus challenged his followers to live in a state of readiness, as if this day is our last.  He reminded his hearers of the people in Noah’s day.  They were eating and drinking and getting married.  In other words, everything was perfectly normal, until it started to rain.  The great flood came suddenly and washed them all away. They weren’t ready.  Jesus said that two people will be working together in a field.  On that day, one will be taken and the other left.  Two women will be working at a grinding mill; one will be taken and the other left. So be ready this day and every day.  That’s the message of Jesus.  Live every day in a state of readiness.

He used a home robbery to illustrate his point. Jesus said that if a homeowner knows that a thief is coming on a particular night at a particular time, the homeowner can make precautions on that particular night and prevent the robbery. But a robber never calls and tells you he’s coming, right?  The robber comes when you’re not prepared, so the homeowner must always be alert.  He must always be ready. 

What do you think would happen if we learned that today really is our last day?  I suspect that televisions across this land would go dark.  Cell phones would be silenced.  Computers would be unplugged.  All those things that consume our attention would be put away, and we would engage the people around us.  We would tell them that we love them.  We would ask for and grant forgiveness.  Some of us would take a walk in the woods, listen to a favorite piece of music, or spend time praying.  If we learned that today is our last day, we would tend to those things that really matter.

Reinhold Niebuhr has been called the greatest theologian ever to touch American soil.  That’s quite a tall claim.  No doubt he and his brother Richard were both great theologians. This is what Reinhold Neibuhr says about the Second Coming of Christ. He says that Christians should live as though Christ might return within the day, before this day ends.  And he says that we should plan as though he might not return within our lifetime.  Live as though he will return before the day ends, but plan as though he will not return within our lifetime.  Now, I think that is a pretty good way for us to live with this teaching about the Second Coming of Christ.  Live as though he will return before this day is over but make plans as though he will not return during our lifetime.

That’s what this text means for us.  Living in a state of readiness means that we tend to those things that really matter.  It is a gift we can give ourselves. 

I remember a poem I read years ago.  I have read it to you before, but it merits repeating.  It is in a book by Leo Buscaglia, and it is titled “The Things You Didn’t Do.”

Remember the day I borrowed your brand new car and I dented it? I thought you’d kill me, but you didn’t.

And remember the time I dragged you to the beach, and you said it would rain, and it did? I thought you’d say, “I told you so.”  But you didn’t.

Do you remember the time I flirted with all the guys to make you  jealous, and you were? I thought you’d leave me, but you didn’t.

Do you remember the time I spilled strawberry pie all over your car rug. I thought you’d hit me, but you didn’t.

And remember the time I forgot to tell you the dance was formal and you showed up in jeans? I thought you’d drop me, but you didn’t.

Yes, there were lots of things you didn’t do. But you put up with me, and you loved me, and you protected me.

There were lots of things I wanted to make up to you when you returned from Viet Nam. But you didn’t.

(Living, Loving, and Learning, pp. 76-77)

          What do you need to do today?  If this was the last day of your life, what would you do?  Then do it.  All of us.  Let’s do those things that really matter.  Let us be ready.

Closing Prayer 

          Lord, we need the reminder.  We tend to get overwhelmed by life and we miss what really matters.  So we thank you for calling us back.  Amen.