Dec 1, 2002

Today we celebrate the first Sunday in Advent. One candle is lit in the wreath, soon all four will be burning and then Christmas is here. Advent is a time of expectations, preparations and joy. And maybe it also is a bit of stress to be honest. Recently a journalist from the Norwegian magazine "Vi over 60" called and asked if the Norwegian Christmas traditions still were maintained among Norwegian Americans. I’ll not answer, but ask another question according to today’s text: Is the expectation of the return of Jesus still alive among us?

We’re good at focusing on the first coming of Jesus to this world. The story of the child in a manger is moving and beautiful and will never lose its hold of the minds. Father Christmas and the reindeers have to have us apologized, they’re only like cheap paper figures compared to the holy family. I think we’re pretty good at focusing Jesus as the one who comes every time we gather in his name. When bread and wine are shared and the word is preached, Jesus is present. Without the presence of Jesus we wouldn’t have had a Christian church in the world. But what about the return of Jesus at the end of time is the church still focusing on that? Or may be we need the encouragement Jesus gives us today: Keep awake!

In the first Christian generation the expectation of the return of Jesus was very much alive. At one point a rumor spread that Jesus had already returned. It must have been a scary message. The one who passed it by would know that he himself was left behind. Paul had to calm down the congregation of Thessalonika: Don’t be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed…that the day of the Lord is already here, 2 Thess 2.2. Some times the idea has struck me, specially when I have been alone in the nature or when I have driven alone at the freeway early in the morning: What if Jesus already have returned and picked up his people, and here I am alone… Have you been thinking like that?

The idea about the return of Jesus and the end of the world may in different ways be scaring. But Jesus didn’t want to leave us in fear. It’s enough things that may give us fear today: I think of the threat of terror, the possibility of war with mass destruction weapons used at a full scale and the threat of environmental disorder. Today’s judgment preachers are scientists who tell us that we ourselves threat our own planet. Many people today live with fear for the future. Jesus wants to give us confidence for today and hope for the future. Some have said that it’s written 365 times in the Bible "Do not fear." It’s good to keep in mind every day of the year. But Jesus did also say that difficult times would come. He described a situation of persecution. "You will be hated by all for the sake of my name," Mark 13.13. Many Christians in the world today are living under pressure because authorities don’t tolerate Christianity. At our congregation at Gjovik we had a bunch of refugees from Sudan. Some of them told about family members who had been killed for the sake of their faith. The most extended persecutions of Christians in history have taken place in what we recall as our time. What about us here in the Christian west? We’re hardly threatened on our life, but maybe some of us has experienced to be bullied, backbite or frozen out because we were Christians? The last times will be characterized by moral disorder. Paul writes about this in 2 Tim 3 and he describes also political lawlessness and anti Christian government, 2 Thess 2.2. Jesus predicts an international scene where people will raise against people. One may say that it has been wars at all time, but the point of Jesus is that people will live against the will of God. Talking about war, some say the Middle East events are special signs of the last times. In the OT we read several promises saying that Israel will return to their country, Esek 37.21. Many have thought the gathering of the Jews in Palestine the last hundred years and the establishing of the modern state of Israel was a direct fulfillment of God’s promises. But such an interpretation is problematical. The promises of return and gathering in the land were partly fulfilled five hundred years before Christ when the Jews returned from Babylon. But the promises were not totally fulfilled. The words about peace under the rule of Messiah were not fulfilled then, and it didn’t happen in 1948 either. Jesus never claimed to be a Messiah of this world. He never addressed his people on behalf of the promises of a new state, but he did predict a national catastrophe where the temple would be destroyed, Mark 13.2. In Christian thought the messianic peace kingdom is what will come by the return of Jesus. It’s not an earthly project. How should we then think of Israel today, is it still a sign of the last times? Yes, the gathering in the land might be seen, as an expression that the Jews are still God’s chosen people, and Paul writes that all Israel shall be saved, Rom 11.25. It’s the conversion of the Jewish people to Jesus Messiah he talks about. But it doesn’t give the state of Israel a divine basis or a right to put away international law.

Today’s text mentions cosmic signs of the return of Jesus, stars falling down and signs in the sun and the moon. It’s exciting to compare the talk of Jesus with our knowledge of the universe. Heaven and earth will pass away; may those words be related to black holes and the big bang? Yes and no. Like the story of creation the signs of the last times have a form of pictorial speech. It’s as if plain words are not able to describe the last times. In today’s text we get two parables. The fig tree’s branches become tender and put forth its leaves. Then we know summer is near. Principally the period from the ascension of Jesus to his return is the last time; we don’t need to speculate about concrete signs because we’ll never get the accurate time. But the fact that Jesus is coming is for certain, and we shall always live in the expectation of this. Jesus’ picture of the coming summer is a good one. It tells us that the coming things are about new life. The butterfly is a symbol of eternal life. It’s like a miracle when the disgusting caterpillar changes to a cocoon and finally reveals as a beautiful butterfly. Heaven and earth will pass away, these words describe the creation that was good, but became subjected to futility due to sin, Rom 8.20. Jesus talks about the renewal of all things, Math 19.28. That means that a recreated and cleansed cosmos will come forth. But as the butterfly is the same as the caterpillar, the new heaven and earth will be the same as God created in the beginning. God as creator, the return of Christ, and the end of the world lie beyond what can be described scientifically. Even so it is real.

What about the return of Jesus, should we sit down and wait on the roof? No, the parable describes servants. We have a task in living according to Gods will here and now, take care of the world we have been given and do the best for people we live together with. To be awake means spiritual readiness, and doing good where God has put us. And then Jesus returns when God will.

The Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church ·  924 E. 21st St, Minneapolis, MN 55404-2952 ·  (612)874-0716