Sermon: First Sunday of Advent, Luke 21:25-36
December 1, 2024
Faith-La Fe Lutheran Church
Pastor Jonathan Linman
We live in crazy and uncertain times, right? That’s been a refrain of recent Sunday bible passages pointing to the end of the world. And it’s a constant in the daily headlines as we are bombarded with story after story of trouble. The cascades of intersecting crises swirl around us like a debris cloud in a tornado. Things are ever changing and shifting under our feet. We don’t feel like we have solid ground on which to stand. We fear for what tomorrow may bring. It’s hard to make sense of it all. And it weighs on us heavily.
Thus, the words of Jesus in today’s gospel reading ring with truth and accuracy: “On earth [there will be] distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world.”
What’s a natural, all too human reaction to all this craziness? To get drunk. To get drunk in one way or another, as an attempt to numb ourselves to all of craziness.
People who are in recovery know this all too well. Only after hitting rock bottom do people in recovery come to realize how it is that they used alcohol or drugs or other forms of addiction to seek to keep their pain at bay and under control. Hindsight is 20/20 for those in recovery. But when we’re in the midst of various forms of drunken stupor, we cannot see the big picture, the truth about ourselves and the world.
And of course, it’s not just drugs and alcohol that people are addicted to. People can be workaholics. They can be drunk on status and power. And addicted to sexual expression. Or their hobbies. You name it, we humans can be addicted to it. Some forms of addiction are more destructive than others, but it all adds up to seeking to put our heads in the sand to avoid what troubles us.
We can also be weighed down by dissipation. Now there’s a word we need to look up in the dictionary. The origins of the word dissipation are from Latin, meaning to throw apart, to scatter widely. In ancient usage, it was a medical term to refer to the nausea that follows debauchery. In other words, a sick hangover.
But dissipation also can refer to decadence, and squandering of money, energy and resources, waste and misspending. Well, there’s a lot of that going around, too. Just think of Black Friday and all of the consumerist spending that goes on across the land. In many ways, we in Western civilization are consuming ourselves to death.
And those who don’t choose the ways of debauchery are prone to being weighed down by the worries of this life. Again, it all results in distraction from what’s really going on all around us. Human beings are masters of denial and delusion.
Jesus, of course, offers good news to help us face the realities before us, to give us courage to look directly in the face of that which terrifies us. Amidst all the foreboding, he offers this good news of encouragement: “Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” Stand up. Raise your heads. Don’t cower. Don’t hide.
Because when things get bad, they’re on the very brink of becoming good, great even. Amidst all the craziness, redemption, our salvation, is near at hand.
Jesus is saying all of this in Luke after he had entered Jerusalem for his final days of earthly ministry. He had just predicted the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. Things were about to get really bad for his people and for him – his death was imminent. But then on the heels of all the tragedy, things quickly got really good for him and for us in his resurrection from the dead after three short days.
Jesus’ death and resurrection usher in the realities that make for the fulfillment of the Jeremiah’s prophecy which we heard today: “In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, who shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.” It’s the cross of Christ that is the righteous branch that makes for the tree of life which gives us and the world new life, offering us God’s merciful justice and saving righteousness. New life in Christ springs up from the rocky, seemingly Godforsaken soil of Golgotha, the place of crucifixion.
And what happened back then, of course, is available to us today, right here, right now. Jesus reassured his followers when all hell was about to break loose: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” Indeed, Jesus’ words of grace have not passed away. We’re hearing them right now. We are bathed with those eternal words in baptism. We eat and drink those eternal words in the Eucharist.
Through these means of grace, we grow in faith and in trust to see things with Jesus’ eyes and from God’s perspective. We see how the story ends with the triumph of grace, superseding all the tumult and terror of our days. And we trust Jesus’ promise: “Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place.” We are in that generation, folks. It may seem like a long, long time from our perspective. But all this began to take place on the cross and in the empty tomb, and now we await Christ’s return to bring to completion what he started 2000 years ago. And 2000 years really is not such a long time at all even in terms of human history.
Christ’s eternal word causes us to sober up in the Spirit, and to be alert and prayerfully on guard, strengthened for enduring all the crazy stuff that is taking place all around us. Thus we stand confidently before the Son of Man in faith. For we know what to expect. We see the big picture. We know how the story ends because Christ is victorious over sin, evil, and death.
Standing up and raising our heads before Christ, the Son of Man and Son of God, we are emboldened to do our missionary work, the work God in Christ entrusts to us. We hear the marching orders in today’s second reading when the Apostle Paul encourages the people of the Thessalonian church: “May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all… And may the Lord so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.” (1 Thessalonians 3:12-13)
As ever, it’s always about love, God’s love, for us and for the world which we make known in our words and deeds. In the face of hate, we proclaim love and do works of love.
We do works of love whenever volunteers from Faith-La Fe roll up their sleeves with the many and various Thrivent service projects spearheaded by Fred. We just had Meatsgiving and feeding folk at Mount of Olives Lutheran Church. We have gathered more than half a dozen big bags and boxes of items to assist in clothing the homeless at Grace Church downtown. We’re soon to make Christmas happier for needy children at the Neighborhood Ministry Christmas Fiesta through the gift of toys. All of this is God’s love in action. God’s work. Our hands.
And today we are soon to make a decision, which if approved, will lay the foundation for more robust teamwork from your pastors which will help us shepherd you and our congregation in our mission and ministry to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God.
And we do this standing tall in confidence that God in Christ will accompany us, indeed, lead us, into uncharted territory and the stormy seas of life not with foreboding but trust and assurance that in Christ all shall be well, come what may.
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus, Come.
