Matthew 24:36-44 and Romans 13:9-14
Until around 150 years ago, Advent was not so much a time of a time of waiting for the great joy of the promised Christ Child, but rather the time for ‘pious meditation’ on what are called the Four Last Things.
Not hope, peace, joy, and love, but rather the four last stages of the soul in this life and in eternity: Death, Judgement, Heaven and Hell. Which is why Advent is a penitential season (like Lent).
For the Anglican Church, and most denominations, this changed during Queen Victoria’s reign. (I won’t go down this fascinating rabbit hole today, but it involves Victoria’s great love for her husband Albert, and Christmas Trees!)
We still ‘piously meditate’ on these things, but it has become a time when we look back and symbolically wait for Jesus’ first Advent (coming or arrival).
And on the basis of the fully completed redemptive life and work of the infant Christ, we can look on the Four Last Things, that themselves will be fully completed in his coming again, with great Hope, Peace, Joy and Love.
And we wait. This morning, we are looking at our Gospel and New Testament readings in the light of the great hope we have in Christ Jesus.
We do this to remind us that the work of the first advent (coming) of Jesus is not yet complete.
Matthew concludes his gospel with what we call the Great Commission; the risen Jesus instructing and empowering the church to continue its witness until he returns (vv.16-20).
God is acting through Jesus Christ to effect the change from the world we now know into the world we are yet to know.
His birth, life, death, and resurrection are the first phase of this transformation, with the complete manifestation of the Kingdom of God arriving with the second coming.
What is fully completed and finished already though, is Christ’s great work of salvation on the cross. This is the rock on which we stand and the rock on which we hope and even yearn for our Saviour to return.
Today, Jesus himself tells us himself that we are to be ready for him to come again. He tells us we have no idea when this will be. He does tell us that it will be totally unexpected.
The way we ready ourselves is to continue to live as Jesus taught us to live – not so much by doing special things, but more by living our usual way.
Going to work, preparing meals, and relating to those we don’t know (our neighbour) in the same way we relate to the ones we love.
This is the way we witness to our Lord, as Jesus asks us to.
So, we are urged to be ready. In today’s Gospel, Jesus uses four examples to remind us that his second coming will be totally unexpected.
The first example is from the days of Noah (vv.37-39); no one at all expected to be wiped out by the flood except Noah and his family. It was totally unexpected.
The second example is two people in a field, perhaps working. Suddenly one is taken (v.40). The third example is two women grinding meal together. One is taken (v.41).
The fourth example is a homeowner who did not know when or where a thief was coming. We are to be awake and ready.
Most of us here, I think, believe and look forward to the second coming of Jesus – when all things will come into resurrection fullness – including ourselves. The point of these four examples is that we are to be awake and ready.
This is the basis of the great hope we have in Christ – that he is coming again. We work out our hope by witnessing faithfully in God’s purposes for us, to show the love, peace, joy and abundance of God.
Now its today’s passage from Romans that orients us, or points us to, the full scope of our Advent hope.
Today’s reading is early in ch.13, but since Romans 12:1, Paul has been describing what our life in Christ is meant to look like in community. It speaks to us waiting as one body.
Paul urges us on today’s reading in v.12, that as we wait for Jesus to return, we are to “lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armour of light.” We do this by doing what we end every Communion service with.
By offering ourselves i.e., Drayton parish as a community in Christ, as a living sacrifice through Jesus Christ our Lord. We pray that he will send us out in the power of your Spirit to live and work to his praise and glory.”
This is the way we live in the light of this great hope we have. Our life has already changed the moment we believe, and we are living a new eternal life that will come to its full fruiting fruition when Jesus returns. So Paul says to us today in v.11, “wake up” and live in this wonderful hope.
So why is Paul so urgent? Well, the reason is not so much to do with fear, threats, or judgment: but rather the very nearness of salvation, that Christ’s return is now closer than it has ever been (vv.11b-12).
Now here is the thing: whilst the “day” is near (the day of our Lord’s coming again), the whole idea of time is not so straightforward for the children of God.
The “night” while far gone, is still present; the day is dawning but is not fully present. Sin and death have been defeated in Christ, but the old age has not yet been fully set aside.
Those who belong to the new age—we who share the destiny of Christ—will face temptations to return to the old age. Thus, the call to persevere. The “day” is here, Paul writes, but not yet in its fullness.
In my opinion, in v.13, Paul seems to be giving general encouragement to continue in faith rather than addressing some particular moral issue plaguing the community.
The works that Paul discourages are listed in three pairs: revelry and drunkenness, debauchery and licentiousness, and quarrelling and jealousy. These are very common vices and are essentially general examples of habits of “the night.”
Paul says as we live out our hope of this glorious new day of the Lord, grounded and begun in the coming of the Christ child, we can put on the armour of light, which we have the power and authority to do because of this Christ child’s crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and the resulting gift of the Holy Spirit.
This armour of light will actively fight the good fight against these works of the night or works of darkness. God himself, the holy Spirit, is both armour and weapon.
This is what the Advent of Jesus means, and this is our great hope
This is the way that we live honouring Jesus, living a way of life that is defined by the day; even though it is not yet here, it is dawning! And we wait.
In the final verse, Paul speaks of this new life in terms of our baptism; we “put on the Lord Jesus Christ.” This is a common metaphor in Paul’s letters.
In his letter to the Galatians (3:27), he writes “As many of you as were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”
So to put on the “armour of light” is to put on Christ; to put on Christ is to be baptised into his death and resurrection.
So today, let’s remember and live out our baptismal life – that our sins have been forgiven and can’t be recalled, our old selves have been drowned in the death of Christ at the cross. It is all Jesus’ doing.
In the new life of Christ’s resurrection, in the day, in faith we take hold of Jesus so that there is no space for living for our own gratification, but all our gratification now comes from God himself in the person of Jesus.
For all selfish gratification has been defeated and all our sins forgiven.
This is the basis of the great hope we grab hold of as we look back with wonder and gratitude at all the little Christ Child has done for us and for the whole world in his first coming, so that we can truly and joyfully look forward to his coming again.
This is Advent! Let me pray …