The Day of Redemption is at Hand -- A Lectionary Reflection for Advent
Jeremiah 33:14-16
1 Thessalonians 3:9-13
Luke 21:25-36
The Day of Redemption
is at Hand
Advent has once again arrived. We’ve completed another cycle and are ready
to begin another cycle in our journey of faith.
We start with a sense of expectation, anticipation and hope. Those of us who have taken this journey
before know what to expect, but that doesn’t mean we must become complacent
about the journey. We can, if we choose,
embrace the journey and its story with the same expectation as that person
taking it for the first time. So, with
Charles Wesley we sing:
Come,
O Long expected Jesus, born to set your people free.
From
our fears and sins release us; Christ in whom our rest shall be.
You,
our strength and consolation, come salvation to impart;
Dear
desire of many a nation, joy of many a longing heart.
The season
of Advent announces that a new day is dawning, but it also reminds us that it
has yet to arrive in its fullness. There
is more to come, so don’t be satisfied with the present moment. Instead, stay awake; be alert, so that you
will be ready when the day of the Lord arrives.
As with Lent, this is a season of preparation, but there is
less of the penitential tone and more excitement and expectation. But the season begins with warnings and an
invitation to take a different direction with life. It’s an invitation to embrace the means of our
redemption. As a more recent Advent hymn
writer (more recent than Wesley), puts it:
All earth is waiting to see the Promised One,
and open furrows, the sowing of our God.
All the world, bound and struggling seeks true
liberty;
it cries out for justice and searches for the
truth. (Alberto Taule, 1972).
Advent, Year C, opens
with words from Jeremiah, 1 Thessalonians, and the Gospel of Luke. There are words of hope and expectation, but
also words of warning. They tell us to
be aware of the signs of the times, and yet a warning not to get caught up in
them. But, be ready when the time comes
for the Human One (Son of Man) to be revealed.
The promise of hope
begins in Jeremiah 33, where the prophet declares that a time is coming when
the Lord “will fulfill my gracious promise with the people of Israel and Judah”
(Jer. 33:14 CEB). A people that has
lived in exile and occupation receives word that God has not forgotten
them. The promise of the covenant remains
in effect. God will not forget, but
instead God will provide the means of their redemption. The nation will be restored, by the one who
will be called “The Lord Is Our Righteousness.” It is a word of grace that infuses
the hope Jeremiah proclaims. It’s a
necessary word, because the people living in exile were losing hope. Their lives have been dealt a great blow, and
their faith in God was faltering. But
Jeremiah remains undaunted. A time is
coming – and soon – when God will “raise up a righteous branch from David’s
line, who will do what is just and right in the Land.” This is the day of Israel’s salvation and its
embrace of the safety of God’s presence.
When that day arrives, the people will confess “The Lord Is Our
Righteousness.” You would have thought
exile would have left Jeremiah a bit nonplussed, especially since his own
people tend to reject his leadership.
But such is not the case.
Salvation is at hand. Israel
heard this message of redemption in relation to its land, its home, but what
about us. What is our form of exile? Where do we feel alone and abandoned? What word of hope do we need to hear? Jeremiah says to us – the one who is our
righteousness will come, for God is true to God’s promises. Take hope, keep the faith.
Jeremiah offers a word of
hope, and Paul adds to this a word about love.
This passage from 1 Thessalonians speaks of a deep and abiding
relationship between founding pastor and the continuing congregation(s) in that
Macedonian community. Paul speaks of the
joy that he and his companions have as a result of their relationship with this
church, and they long to be reunited – day and night they pray that they could
return and be present with them, so that they might complete what is lacking in
their faith.
Love is the foundational
word in this passage. Paul speaks of his
own love for them, and prays that their love for each other will increase and
be enriched, just as Paul has loved them.
This word about love is deeply relational, but Paul uses this
relationship to spur them on to greater heights of faithfulness. He prays that they would be found blameless
in their holiness. They’re obviously not
there yet, but are we? What is clear is
that in this time of anticipation and expectation, community is important. Paul believes that their growth in spiritual
maturity is to be discerned within the strong bonds of this loving
community. Paul feels a sense of
responsibility for them, and thus he does pray that he can be with them again
to complete what is lacking in their faith journeys, so that they might be
prepared when the Lord Jesus comes with his people. As we
hear this word on the first Sunday of this new liturgical cycle, do we (you)
know what needs to be completed? Do you
know where God still needs to work in your life? On this first Sunday of the new cycle, we can
and should look back at our lives, so that we might be better prepared to
receive God’s Word for our journey ahead.
There remains work to be done –
but not just on our own part, but on the part of God who visits us with divine
favor.
Our reading from the
Gospel of Luke has a clearly apocalyptic tone. Luke places this message in the midst of Holy
Week. Jesus has entered the city in
triumph, but now, teaching in the Temple, the opposition begins to mount. Jesus, in Luke’s telling of this story, has
announced the destruction of the Temple and the city of Jerusalem
(21:20ff). It is a word of warning. There’s nothing soft about this word. The question is when all this will
happen? What should we expect to see occurring? It’s a question asked in every age of history
– is this the time of God’s unveiling of the new heavens and the new earth?
The passage begins in
verse 25 with a word about signs in the sun, moon, and stars. A day is coming when the seas will roar and
the heavens shake. Then, you will see
the Human One, the Son of Man, coming in glory.
When Luke wrote this gospel, Rome
had already succeeded in destroying Jerusalem and the Temple. Christianity was beginning to take shape in a
new more Hellenistic form. People were
settling in for the long haul. And we’ve
been settling in for a very long time.
We read apocalyptic texts and either read our own realities into them or
simply ignore them.
But here we are on the
First Sunday of Advent (or thereabouts), reading these words of expectation. There is foreboding in them, but also
hope. But what should we take from this
passage? What is the word of hope we take from
this? Perhaps we’re not at that
eschatological moment, but we know anxiety and fear. What word of hope do we find here that will
not only sustain us, but empower us?
Part of the answer is
found in the parable of the fig tree, which reminds us that we’ll know when the
day is arriving. We’ll be able to see
what is at hand? When the fig tree
begins to sprout leaves, you know that summer is near. We, who live in colder climes, know that when
the blossoms appear, winter is dissipating, and we grow expectant. A frost may come along and spoil the party,
but we know that sooner than later, a new day will come. So, when you see signs that God’s kingdom is
making headway – pay attention. This is
the time when the old passes away and the new emerges.
There are words of
warning, calling for alertness as the day of reckoning will come without
warning. There’s no time for drunkenness
or drinking parties. But not only that,
don’t let your hearts become dulled by “the anxieties of day-to-day life.” My sense is that for us, our hearts are
dulled less by our partying, and more likely by the anxieties produced by life. There are bills to pay, things to do, life is
busy and we feel unable to keep up – and thus anxiety emerges, keeping us from recognizing
the kingdom taking place in our midst.
When we hear words like
this, especially the more apocalyptic forms, it’s easy to toss them aside as irrelevant
to life. There are those who have their
heads in spiritual clouds and pay no attention to what is going on earth, but
is this necessary? Perhaps the kingdom
is taking shape in our very midst – so may we stay alert to that possibility
and while we’re doing so, pray that we’re strong enough to endure the coming of
the Human One!
Let us live forward in
hope of our redemption!
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