Sermons

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The Beginning of the End
First Sunday of Advent
December 3, 2000
Pastor Dan Baumgartner     
Luke 21:25-36

Today’s scripture is from Luke chapter 21, beginning with verse 25. These are the last teaching words of Jesus in the gospel of Luke. What follows is the beginning of the story of Jesus’ final arrest, trial and crucifixion. Jesus’ disciples have just asked him two questions about the future. They, like we, longed to know what would happen in the future. And Jesus’ answer comes in two parts. First, Jesus talks about his followers’ immediate future…the difficult times that will surround the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD. And Second, in our passage for today, he discusses the long-term future, the end of time as we know it. Listen:

Luke 21:25-36

One of our kids’ favorite books for some time was a book of stories of Dr. Doolittle. And in one particular book, as Dr. Doolittle was prone to have, was a very, very interesting animal who sailed on the adventure boat with the doctor. The animal was called a “PushMe-PullYou.” It was called that for a very good reason…because it had two heads, one on each end of its body. The PushMe-PullYou was invaluable as the lookout on the boat…because it could see both forward and backward at the same time! And so, it could make wonderful statements like this as it scanned both horizons of the sea: “I see no danger in front of us! And I see no danger behind us.”

As we begin the Advent season, it strikes me that we are asked to be something of a PushMe-PullYou, too. We are waiting for an arrival -- that is what “Advent” means. And normally, we think of waiting for the arrival of the birth of Jesus Christ. That is exactly right. Yet, at the same time, the gospel reading for this first week of Advent reminds us to wait and watch for another arrival. The second coming of Jesus Christ.

It is almost, you see, as though we are standing in the middle of a path, in the pitch black. Can’t see anything. Fortunately, we have a flashlight in hand, and we can turn and shine the flashlight on the path behind us. We remember the arrival of Christ in the world…the incarnation, the Christmas story, God breaking into our world. But our reading reminds us that we also must turn and shine the flashlight out in front of us, so that we know what is coming. And what our flashlight shows is what has been the cause of hope for every Christian down through the ages…that Christ will come again. And that will change everything. And so we wait. And so we say “Come, Lord Jesus.” 

The human desire to know the details of the end of time seems to know no bounds. Several times every century, someone decides that they have unlocked the Biblical secret to exactly when the end will come.  Several times every century, a movement starts where people move out of society to go and await the end together. 

In the early 19th century, William Miller ascertained that Christ would return on March 21, 1843. When it didn’t happen, he recalculated to October 22, 1844. Tens of thousands of people read 5 million pieces of distributed literature, some moved to the hills and waited for Jesus to come. He didn’t. 

Or, in 1874 Charles Taze Russell claimed that the Second Coming had already happened, and that the world would end in 1914. The Russellites’ famous slogan was “Millions now living will never die.” They did. 

In the 1970s and 80s we devoured Hal Lindsay books like “The Late Great Planet Earth,” which “unlocked the mysteries of the end times.” 

Today, if you walk into Barnes and Noble, you will undoubtedly see a rack of books from the “Left Behind” Series. It’s a series of novels which speculate on the possibilities of what will happen during “the rapture,” when Christians are removed from the earth in time of tribulation.  Millions and millions of books have been sold.  It seems that we are very interested in the possibilities.

The things that Jesus talks about for the end of time:

a) The way Jesus talks about the end of time tells us that there will be signs. There will be signs in the world of nature. Things to watch for, and to watch how humans handle things. Strange phenomena in the heavens.  The natural world, particularly the sea will roar and toss, causing anguish and confusion amongst the people of the earth. And as a result, people will be terrified. Life as we know it will be thrown on its ear.  These are signs, Jesus says, as surely as the new shoots on the trees in spring say summer is near. And so, we keep our eyes open for what God is about.

I’ve told you before about a couple of canoe trips I went on in Northern Minnesota. About how we would paddle across a pristine lake, then get out and “portage” to the next lake. That meant turning the canoe upside down and carrying it on your shoulders, so your head was hidden inside the upside down canoe. 

Now, one portage we took was a long one, and we had to be guided by a couple of signposts. We were heading to reconnect with a little stream, walking along a trail. But soon we noticed that our trail was curving away from where the stream ought to have been. And then we noticed that the trail was heading into dense brush. And finally we noticed that the trail was ending. Still we pushed ahead, until finally we realized we were in the middle of a forest…and me, with an 18-foot canoe on top of my head. We had missed the sign. We saw it after we backtracked. Clear as a bell, “Canoe entry point,” with a big arrow. Having that canoe on my head allowed me to walk right by it without seeing it.

Jesus says, “There will be signs of the end.” Pay attention, be watchful.  But interestingly, he doesn’t say “run away and hide and wait.” He says don’t let your hearts be weighed down, don’t be in a fog, don’t be like a drunken man wandering around, don’t be stuck worrying about the things of life…that don’t matter. Don’t keep your head in a canoe and be oblivious to what is happening. 

The way that Jesus talks about the end of time helps us to guard against the very popular and hopeless manner of thinking that says “life is random and pointless.” Instead, it says that history is moving in a direction, and an end of time will come. And the direction that history moves in…is God’s direction. It may move slower than we wish, and Jesus is very clear that Christians are not spared being in difficult times…but there is an end. 

b) And there is another sign to mark the end. It is the coming of the Son of Man to earth. In a cloud, with power and glory, the Messiah will come. “Son of Man” is one of Jesus’ favorite titles for himself. He will come. For those who know Him already as Lord and Savior, it will be a great day. A day not to cower down, it says, but to lift up your heads and see your salvation. A day when you greet with relief Someone whom you know already, when you hear a voice that is familiar. 

A while back, I went to Phoenix, AZ, to visit a friend. I wasn’t 100% sure he had my message to pick me up. I got off the plane, and started to scan the lobby area. Nothing. No one familiar. After several minutes of looking for a familiar face, I was a little uneasy. It dawned on me that I didn’t know a single other person in this large city. But before too long, I heard a familiar voice call out “Hey, Baumgartner!” And I followed the sound to a familiar face, there to welcome me. I think it will be that way with Jesus for us, too. We’ll lift up our head, and stand up…for our salvation will be there. And so the Church says, “Come, Lord Jesus.” 

The way Jesus teaches the end times does not encourage us to go and hide. It encourages us to live as people of faith. And, in fact, it encourages us to live with our eyes wide open, since we do not know the day. In fact, in Matthew Jesus says even HE doesn’t know the day! And so we follow God’s Spirit in the present, and engage the world…to live compassionate, caring lives. 

Matthew’s gospel tells us that when Jesus does come, he will look for those who loved, who lived out compassion, for those who fed the hungry, gave water to the thirsty, who welcomed the stranger, who clothed the naked, who cared for the sick and visited the prisoner. That’s not going to leave us much time to go off and hide. But…there will come an end.

That should be a word of relief as well. Life is sometimes difficult. Life is often difficult. You only have to pick up a newspaper. Story after story of people being beaten down. Of beatings, robberies, war, murder. Of tragedy. Just yesterday's paper had stories of six children who died in a fire, of a terrible murder in Everett. You only have to talk to those people in your life to hear stories of cancer, of loved ones dying, of parents with Alzheimer’s. There is pain and difficulty and suffering. 

It’s these things that make us cry out, “My God, how long?” The second coming of Christ says “there will be an end…enough is enough.” Christ will come, and things will be set straight. And in that day, Revelation tells us… “the dwelling of God will be with men. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain…”

So why does it tarry? Why not now? I don’t know. But the best clue we have is the heart of God, the heart that Peter described when he said, “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day…the Lord is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

And so we look for these two arrivals. We look back and celebrate God breaking into our world. And at same time, we look forward to our hope… the coming of Jesus Christ at the end of time. We are hemmed in, ahead and behind, by the love of God, revealed in Christ. We are surrounded, past-present-and-future. The end of an ancient poem attributed to Patrick of Ireland says this well:

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

We are surrounded by God. The last words of scripture in Revelation, the words of Jesus, “I am coming soon.” Then it says, “Amen. Come Lord Jesus.”

And so we, in December of the year 2000, on Queen Anne Hill in Seattle, join with the church through the ages when we say: Come Lord Jesus. Let’s say it together, 3 times:

Come, Lord Jesus. Come Lord Jesus. Come Lord Jesus. Amen.