Populus Zion 2009

POPULUS ZION

Second Sunday in Advent

6 December Anno + Domini 2009

"The Advent of the Eternal Spring”

Luke 21:25-36 (Mal. 4:1-6; Rom. 15:4-13)

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Here at the failing of the year, we cannot help but think of the failing of time, of the closeness of death and the end of all things.  As the trees stand bare and empty, lifting their naked arms to the sky, we recall the end.  As the grass is brown and yellow, a dead and lifeless thing, we recall the end.  As the fields are empty and the sky is grey and the wind blows, we recall the end.  Striking, then, is the contrast in today's Gospel.  When Jesus speaks of the End, He does not look at the Fall of the year or the winter, but at its springtime.

"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.”  Spring and buds and blooms mean that summer is near.  And so these cataclysmic signs foretold by Jesus mean that God's forever summer is ready to break upon the world.  Thus the Advent posture of the people of God is not the dismal dread of doomsday, but the sharp-eyed and head-raising expectation of the Kingdom of eternal joy.

Who can describe what goes on in the heart of man when the first smells and hints of spring arrive?  We laugh for the sheer joy of it.  After a long, hard winter, especially for us northern folks here in Michigan, we love when the buds begin to bloom and the springtime is here.  We are like the calves let out from the stall, kicking up our heels in delight, when the Sun of Righteousness rises with healing in His wings (cf. Mal. 4:2).  Just so does the Christian welcome the End.  The End does not mean that the show is over, it means that the waiting for the show to begin is now behind us.  End means completion, fullness, joy.

Yet we may not ignore the warning of the text.  End means completion, fullness, and joy to those who are watching and waiting, praying and longing for the Advent of the Eternal Spring.  Not so for the arrogant and evildoers, those who refused to heed the call to repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  For them, the End will be terrifying, for they will be set ablaze to burn in the Lake of Fire forever (cf. Mal. 4:1).  The sight of the Lord coming on the clouds for Judgment will horrify them, for they will realize then that they had rejected the One who paid for their sins and won them salvation.  It will be too late for them on that Day, and they will spend eternity suffering in pain and torment.

"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,” says the Lord of the Church (Lk. 21:34).  This is the posture of the Advent Church - she prays:  "Come, Lord Jesus!  Quickly come!”  The heart that can pray that has nothing to fear on the Last Day.  For on that Day, we will be delivered from the power of sin forever.  As Dr. Luther says:  "If you long to be freed from sin, then you have nothing to fear about that Day.”  But if you love your sin, and coddle it, and treasure it in your heart and don't want to be separated from it - beware of that Day like the plague!  For it will wed you to your sin and its punishment for all eternity.

So it is that we Christians must admit that we are weak as we wait for that Day.  Our hearts are halved.  With part of us we ache for its joys.  With part of us we fear the Day, for we know how sin still plagues our lives.  We have always to balance our praying "Thy kingdom come” with "forgive us our trespasses.”  What on earth shall keep us and get us through?  What can help these wretchedly divided hearts - so longing for the Kingdom to come and so fearful of having to say goodbye to this world?

"Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away” (Lk. 21:33).  The words of Jesus are our only hope.  They are rock solid.  Stronger than this earth.  Stronger even than heaven.  His Words do not cease ever - they never pass away.  A life that is built upon them is a life that is built secure.  A heart that hopes upon them is a heart that hopes secure.  His Words tell of the coming Kingdom.  His Words bring the coming Kingdom to reality here and now.  Already and not yet.  His Words gain the victory in our sinful, divided hearts.  For His Words show us our sins and lead us to repentance, that we cry out, "Lord, have mercy upon me, a poor, miserable sinner.”  There's the difference, my friends, between the arrogant evildoers and the faithful of the Lord.  The difference is not a matter of more or less sinfulness, but of forgiveness, which comes through repentance and faith.  For the same Lord whose Words lead us to repentance also reveals Himself to be the Savior we so desperately need.  His Words work in us the faith in Him we need to escape Judgment and to respond in joy on that Great and Terrible Day to come. 

Taking His Words seriously, then, we do not wait for His Day without being forewarned.  The Scriptures are there so that we might have hope (cf. Rom. 15:4).  The universe will fall to pieces (and before it does, our own universes may fall to bits as well), but when that happens, His people have hope.  In the falling apart of everything, they smell the green sap of an Eternal Spring about to break upon this creation.  Already in the Resurrection of their Lord from the tomb on the third day, they smell it.

For before Easter morn, were there not already signs in the moon and sun and stars?  Did they not hide their faces from the dread Sacrifice that writhed in hell on a cross?  Lift up your heads and see your redemption.  The Man on the Tree.  Dying with your sin and your shame and your death and your hell.  On Ascension, lift up your heads and see your redemption.  The Crucified One, now Risen and Reigning in endless glory.  At the Table, lift up your eyes and see.  Your redemption draws nigh.  "Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.”  At His Table, the Age to come is already here.

At His Table, you can already breathe the air which the righteous will breathe at the Resurrection. The air with the scent of Eternal Spring upon it.  Therefore, dear friends in Christ, lift up your heads!  Lift up your hearts!  He comes.  In His Body and Blood, most definitely He comes.  Though what now is hidden, will then, on that Day, the Day of the great and glorious Day of our Lord to come, will then be revealed in full - His Body and Blood no longer hidden in simple bread and wine, but visible in full glory for all to see.  For those who love His appearing: already now in the Blessed Sacrament of His Body and Blood, that Day will bring unending joy and the beginning of eternal spring; for those who hate His appearing now, unending sorrow and the beginning of eternal winter, of endless death.

His Words reveal all of that.  His Words are what endure.  His Words are true though everything else is false.  His Words give what they say:  My Body and My Blood for you, for the forgiveness of your sins.  Nothing more sure than that, dear friends in Christ.  A life built on those rock solid words is a life ready for the End, which is the Beginning - Forever.  "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may bound in hope” (Rom. 15:13).  In Jesus' Holy and Precious Name.  Amen!

Now the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, unto life everlasting.  Amen.

NOTE:  This sermon is based, in large part, on a sermon written by Rev. William Weedon, pastor of St. Paul Lutheran in Hamel, IL.