The First Sunday of Advent, Year A, 2010

Matthew 24: 36-44

The Rev. Ronald N. Johnson

Today is the first Sunday in Advent.  The word, “Advent,” derives from the Latin word for “coming near,” or approaching.  In the popular mind, this is a season for getting ready for Christmas.  However, that really is not what Advent is all about, and so in a way, the association of Advent with Christmas is unfortunate, because if left to the popular mind, the association strips Advent of its meaning.  If we go way back in church history, Advent started as a way of providing a penitential season before Christmas, but very soon Advent became a season to prepare for the Lord’s Second Coming, and that tone still largely shapes the season theologically.  As such, Advent prepares us for the reign of Christ as King, and tells us that if we want to be part of that Kingdom, we need to plan ahead and order our lives, now.

If you listened closely to the lessons today, you heard two different themes.  Each speaks to one of two different poles of our understanding of Advent.  Isaiah tells of a day that is coming when human kind will no longer have war.  Nation shall not lift up sword against nation; neither shall they learn war anymore. 

We have known so many wars in our life times and in our nation’s history. 
There have been few years in history when tribes, or people or nations somewhere did not make war.  Can there ever come a time when we will all lay down our weapons and resolve our differences peacefully?  That is the great Christian hope – true peace on Earth.  We hope that with the Second Coming of our Lord there will be peace forever more.  That is one theme of Advent.  In that sense, Advent is a reminder that while practically we are getting ready to celebrate the Nativity, what we are really preparing for is our Lord’s Second Coming and his eternal peace.  However, much more pragmatically, from our perspective, we are hopefully also preparing for that special meeting with our Lord that must occur when we transition through death.  The Christian hope is that it will be a peaceful and that our Lord will find us ready and acceptable.

The opposite of that hope, of course, is dread.  What if we are not ready?  What if we are not prepared to meet Jesus? What if our Lord does not find us acceptable?  The Christian message is this; the only guard against death is salvation in Jesus Christ, and while the work of salvation is our Lord’s alone, the responsibility for preparing ourselves for salvation is ours alone.

The reading from Matthew, this morning, reminds us that the judge of nations shall come at an hour that we do not know. In Matthew, our Lord reminds us that two men will be in the field; one will be taken to heaven, the other left out.  Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken into heaven, the other left out.  The Gospel asks this question, “Will you be ready?”  As Jesus said, in the gospel reading this day, if the householder had known when the thief was coming, he would have been prepared and the thief could not have broken in.  Advent reminds us to prepare to meet Jesus now, because we do not know, we cannot know, the day and time of our deaths.

The journey of the soul, in this life, is a journey in the tension of two poles.  One is the hope for salvation; the other is dread that sin might somehow prevail.  For those who transition from life through death unprepared, there is nothing more than death.  There is no hope.  Listen to Saint Paul’s comments to the church that he founded in Rome.  We heard them in the Epistle this morning.  Paul is reminding them that the time is short.  He tells them that love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, they should prepare for Jesus by standing in love.  Salvation, Paul says, is near.  The night is far gone; the day is at hand.  Cast off, then, Paul says, the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.

Advent is a time for putting on the light.  The symbolism of the candles on the Advent wreath is intentional.  Symbolically, we are lighting the way in our souls for the coming of the Messiah.  We are waiting upon God.  We will have our meeting and it will be sooner rather than later.   As Paul said, the night is gone. The day is at hand.  Our concern is with meeting Jesus, now, in this life, and being with him in our transition through death.

Our preparation began with our baptism.  It has been affirmed again and again as we’ve walked the Christian way.  We have been encouraged and nourished, along the way, by the absolutions of our sins, by the bread of life of the Eucharist, by the word of God active and alive in our neighbors and us.  But, the season of Advent reminds us that the pilgrimage is not yet over and we cannot rest until the journey is done.  Amen.