Shepherd of the Springs
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod

Theme: The Coming of Christ: Salvation or Snare?

But take heed to yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a snare, of it will come upon all who dwell upon the face of the whole earth. But watch at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that will take place and to stand before the Son of Man.  Luke 21:34-36

Advent’s preparation of repentance for the coming of the Lord has a three-fold focus in the historic lection of the Church. Each week they direct us to prepare for the coming of the Christ, but turn our attention in three directions - His coming as a babe in Bethlehem 2000 years ago, His coming into our hearts and lives in the Gospel and sacraments by the power of his Word, and His coming in glory at the end of time. This weeks Gospel invites our attention to this his last coming to close out this age. In each of these three events, our Lord and Savior enters into our world to carry out a major aspect of the Father’s plan to save us from the problem of sin. In Bethlehem, Jesus comes as a babe to identify with sinful humanity, to reveal the Father’s graciousness to us, to die to sin, and to be raised up for our justification. Bethlehem’s child comes to reconcile the father to us. He brings the peace of God to earth as he works it out by his obedient life under the Law and his obedient death under the curse of our sins.

But then also, Advent invites us to prepare for the risen and ascended Lord who comes to invade our space and time . . . who would be not just Immanuel for the Shepherds and the Wise Men, but would be God with us. By the power of the Word and mere water, Jesus comes to us to carry us to His cross where we to may be caught up with him, dying to sin and being raised up unto a new life with God. Bethlehem’s child has already reconciled the Father to us not counting our trespasses against us - and now in our space and time, the power of his Gospel has, by faith, reconciled us to God. God’s peace on earth has become our peace with God in his atonement for sin and bestowed righteousness - from rebellion to faith, from alienation to friendship with God, from being no people to becoming the people of God.

But we know that the Father’s plan to save us from all of the effects of sin and evil is not yet complete. The Son is posed to come again to lift the curse, restore paradise, and welcome His people into it as their home. How about you? Are you ready to go home? In the 21^st chapter, Luke tells us that Jesus will not be returning to accomplish this climactic finish to the plan of salvation until some rather frightful things take place first. This fallen world is headed to ruin and the things that must take place which will bring tribulation to God’s people and destruction around the world are signs that our redemption draws near. The world as we know it is not going to get fixed. It is going to get replaced. It will not evolve into the coming Kingdom of God, it will crumble and give way to the new heavens and new earth. No continuity between this life . . . and the life to come. For this reason, Jesus warns us not to get lost in a preoccupation with concerns about the course of things here in this fallen creation. Remember the parable that Jesus told about the guy who sought security from the things of this world in agriculture. He invested in acreage and its productivity such that ten barns were needed to store all of his grain. He was a fool to think that the financial equity from his crops would secure for him comfort and security in a world full of upheaval and uncertainties. His death would come that very day that the ten bars of equity were achieved. The barns, the grain, and their worldly value would remain. It was his demise, not that of his wealth, that proved his undoing.

But the point of this parable is only the half of it. When Jesus speaks of the latter days here on earth, his accent points not only to our frailty, but also to the frailty of the world itself. The curse of the ground from Adam’s sin will not only brings death to the human condition, it will eventually claim the entire natural order. We confess with Luther in the first article of the Creed about God’s providential care - his gracious provision for all our temporal needs that sustain our bodily life - with the words, and He still preserves them today. He will not be doing this indefinitely. His preservation of this old creation has just been a holding action while God would work out his plan of salvation here on the plane of human history through the seed of the woman. When he is finished, so also will be this fallen world. It will no longer have any use.

Yes there will be unmistakable signs. The elements of stability, the underpinnings of this world and all of its orders will become unglued. The temple will be destroyed, there will be wars and international upheaval, the fabric of decency and just order will collapse. Christians will face enmity, alienation, and persecution in all social orders from the family to the civil authorities. This world will be moving toward it own ultimate destruction as God’s hand of preservation is gradually removed allowing chaos to overtake its social and natural foundations. When these things begin to happen - and we see them now do we not - we know that we are living in the last time and Jesus poised to return. Immanuel is on His way. It will not be a silent night in Bethlehem. You will not have to figure out that it has happened from rightly interpreting some ancient prophecies. It will not be with the splashing of a little water at the baptismal font. The Lord will appear in all his glory and splendor as the roof of all that we have known in this life caves in around us. It will be agony and ecstasy all rolled together - destruction that leads to recreation, old life that gives way to the new, cross life that transforms into glory - half-empty faith life that gives way to the full and overflowing experience of paradise regained.

In the mean time, what are we to do about living in a world that is poised to fall apart? Jesus tells us in our text not to get caught up or carried away by these things, but rather to be on our guard. Do not let them be such a surprise and detraction that you become carried away with thinking that they may have ultimate significance for you and your welfare. Moreover, do not think that you can fix things and make all the chaos go away so that you can have a faith life with God that is nice, peaceful and calm with everything under control. On the other hand, Jesus also warns us not to engage in escapist strategies to cope with the chaos. Drunkenness and dissipation - whether from alcohol, X-box technology, or other forms of modern diversion - imperil a healthy faith life that will be able to stand the pressures of a world coming apart. Both escapist and fix-it plans will lead to terrible disappointment in that Day. Jesus comes not with a renewal plan for this old creation; He comes with a wreaking ball. The new creation will not dawn, paradise will not be restored, the heavenly mansions will not be finished until the people of God are gathered safely and a wreaking ball is put to this fallen world.

How do we get ready for this final and terrible coming of Christ? We do so by preparing repentantly to receive Him in his first two comings. We prepare to go again and again to Bethlehem and receive the babe in the manger. We thrill to the mystery of God becoming one of us to deliver us from the curse of the Law to the freedom of grace, from the death to sin, to life with God. We follow the babe to the cross and tomb, to his glorious resurrection. We join him there in our baptism, we receive him and God’s reconciliation in the forgiveness of sins, and we meet and partake of Him in his Holy Supper. To prepare to receive the baby Jesus and the Savior from sin, is to rightly prepare for the coming exalted Lord at the end of history.

Are you ready to receive this Jesus anew this Christmastide? Not yet? Well that is OK. Not being ready is what Advent is all about. It is about getting ready. Don’t become absorbed in making everything better. Don’t get depressed over what you may be seeing in the decay and destruction of the world’s order around you. Don’t become absorbed with the worries of this life. Your Savior is coming to claim you and take you home. He is already at work to accomplish all things for your happy forever. So meet Him now where He may be found. Get prepared this Advent season to visit him on that Silent Night. Listen to Him in His Word, and feast on Him in His Supper. Let these be the receptions of your Lord that prepare you and keep you ready to receive Him when He comes to bring all in this world to its fitting end . . . and you? To bring you not to your end, but to your true beginning. . . the beginning of that life that He has planned for you . . . since before the beginning. And that will be the true end . . . of the Advent Season.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. A-men.