Ready or Not?

 

Advent I    Matthew 24:36-44

 The coming of the Son of Man has been anticipated for a little less than 2,000 years.  When it happens, all will be aware.  We are commanded to “keep awake.”  We are to be ready because no one knows when it will happen, even the Son of Man. 

 This passage comes before others about Jesus’ coming.  We are to be found doing the work of the Kingdom and not treat one another shamefully.  We are to be like the wise bridesmaids who are prepared.  We are to invest what has been given to us (grace, loving-mercy, and love) in the world.  We are to be the sheep who care for the most vulnerable among us and not the goats who refuse to do so.

 It is right after this in Matthew’s Gospel that the events take place which lead to Jesus’ death and resurrection.  These events show what Messiahship is in Jesus and that He is telling the truth about who He is for the world.  It is the fulfillment of His mission as Emmanuel, in the flesh, but not the fulfillment of the Day of the Lord.  That is to come later, and it is that for which we are commanded to be ready.

 It is a message of HOPE.  God will turn things around.  The evils in the world will be addressed directly, and God’s Will shall be done on earth as in heaven.  The Messianic age will commence.  Emmanuel is the message of God with us.  It is GOOD NEWS for those who have been beaten down, exploited and held down, back and out by the world, by empire. 

 Preparation is preparation and being ready is being ready.  This is Advent.  We prepare for the coming of Messiah to us.  Elijah will come in John the Baptist.  Jesus will come in dramatic fashion and identify with us as we live in this part of God’s Kingdom.  Jesus will take on our poverty, homelessness, unjust treatment, suffering and death to let us know that He identifies with us.  Jesus will confront the powers of empire that divide, discriminate, exploit God’s beloved children, and destroy lives.  Jesus will take our death to its death with Him in order to give us His resurrection.

 Preparation is meant to be in our hearts and minds, our actions in repairing the world.  We are to prepare the way for Jesus in hearts and minds by living the agaph that Jesus commanded us to live with Neighbor, with “the least of these” Jesus’ sisters and brothers, and ours.  Preparation is meant to be that we prepare the world for God’s great turn around, transforming the world by living that Love as an example of God’s Will for us all.

 It is already and not yet.  We anticipate the story.  We await His return.  But do we?  I believe that this message is one of being prepared and ready as if Jesus will come back today – everyday.  I believe it is about living our lives the way we know God wants us to live them now.  The truth is that Jesus DOES come to us today – in the world as we encounter our sisters and brothers, in the Word as the Holy Spirit moves us, and in our conscience as we struggle with what is right and wrong in the world in which we live.

 Jesus comes to us as we LIVE that LOVE that Jesus commanded and modeled for us to live.  Jesus comes to us as we DO UNTO OTHERS… FEED THE HUNGRY, CLOTHE THE NAKED, WELCOME THE STRANGER, CARE FOR THE SICK AND IMPRISONED… as we DO for the LEAST OF THESE, as we DO for JESUS.  Jesus comes to us.  As we transform hearts and minds to Jesus’ Way and therefore change the world systems that are designed to divide socially, economically and politically, we end the despair and destruction that come from these empire, worldly systems that go against God’s Will.

 We prepare our hearts and minds.  We take loving, faithful action in the world in anticipation of His coming to judge the living and the dead.  We anticipate His coming and watch for it, striving to be faithful to Jesus and His Way for our lives.  We resist the evils of empire and strive to live in Jesus’ Way or we do not. 

 Jesus is coming.  Ready or Not, Jesus is coming.

 

of Kings and Kingdoms

 

Christ the King       Luke 23:33-43

 Jesus the King was a threat to Rome, Herod and the corrupt religious leaders of that time.  King, Messiah or Prophet, Jesus was a threat to them all.  There would be no tolerance for anyone claiming such authority under Caesar.  Herod was too paranoid to allow anyone to claim any such title.  The Temple Cult leaders had twisted the Word and the practice, and Jesus confronted them and exposed their ways regularly.  Something had to give, and it was not going to be them.

 Claiming Messiahship or deity was blasphemy to the religious leaders.   Jesus addressed their corruptions openly as an authority, and claiming to be the spokesperson for God meant that they were necessarily exposed.  If people continued to follow Jesus, they would lose all credibility and ability to control the people for their own gain.

 There is no king but Caesar was understood.  Caesar was given deity status as well.  Jesus offering Kingdom values in the face of those of empire meant that people had to choose not only their leader, but their way of life.  Under the nose of Pilate Jesus poked fun at Rome in His triumphal entry into the city.  He had raised an army in a day in front of them.  He preached and taught a different kind of power, a different value than greed and a different social order than false superiority over others.  If Jesus continued, the people might rise up, and the Romans could not have that.

 Jesus stood before the powers and stayed His course.  The powers reacted.

 His first words from the cross were in asking for forgiveness for the very people executing/lynching Him.  They were unaware of what they were doing to their souls.  They were unaware of what their actions would mean in history. 

 The powers mocked Jesus.  The criminal mocked Jesus.  The other criminal who recognized what was going on acknowledged Jesus and His Kingdom. 

 Kings and power, wealth and status.  Jesus claimed to be a King and taught something very different.  Real power needs to be shared.  Real wealth is when all have enough and equality of value is more sustainable than false superiority or status above others.

 This King gave it all up for the sake of others.  This King did not send His followers to die for Him, but died for them.  This King served His subjects and taught them by example how to live the perfect love of God. 

 We will submit ourselves to authorities in our lives.  Those to whom we give authority in our lives may well misuse our submission.  We will choose to give authority to ideals, principles and philosophies of life.  We will have standards and codes by which we live.  The question is, “are they worthy of our submission?” 

 Will we submit our wills and our ways to the ways of Empire in Greed, lust for power over others and desire for status above others, or will we submit our wills to the Way of Jesus in Agape Love?  Who will we recognize as our authority?  Some have tried to submit to both or give devotion to both, but as Jesus taught us, we cannot serve both. 

 Our Kin-dom is with those who Jesus called “the least of these.”  Our Kin-dom is the Kingdom of God.  We live in this part of it, here and now.  We will either live in it in submission to God, or we will live in it as subjects of empire and its way.  If we choose the former, we lose our Kinship with God and Neighbor.  If we chose the latter, we gain real treasure in both.

How will we be and who will we be in the end?

 

Luke 21:5-19      Pentecost XXIII

 Jesus foretold the Temple destruction of 70CE.   (Luke’s Gospel may well have been written around 85CE.)  Then Jesus talked about the end times.

Political unrest, wars, famines, plagues, earthquakes will happen.  This is true of every age.

 The disciples will be persecuted, having been betrayed by family and friends, and will be hated because they follow Jesus.  Endurance will save them as an act of faith, so that not a hair of their heads would be harmed.

 Desperate times call for desperate measures.

I just heard a piece on 60 minutes about Doomsday Preppers who prepare for disasters and survival.  Jesus’ method of survival is keeping the faith, not worrying about what to say in defense and enduring the tough times ahead.

 That is what we humans do.  We endure and survive.  But does our faith in God survive?  Do we retain our faith in God when all turns bad, even being intentionally and systematically persecuted for our faith in God?  Where is God when all of this is happening?  How do we deal with that?

 Keeping the faith to me means STAYING THE COURSE and not giving in to our desperate, dog eat dog mentalities.  It means living the Agape Love of Jesus even though it may mean that we are marginalized or worse.  It means staying the non-violent course while others go mad.  It means caring for others when everyone believes that it is “every person for him/herself.” 

 Disasters come and they go.  Climate disasters, political violence, international conflicts and world shortages of necessities may happen in our future because of our misuse of the creation and others.

 How will we react when they happen?  Will it allow us to become what we do not ordinarily value?  Will it make us who we do not want to be?  Will we give up our faith in God because of real world crises?  Will we give up our faithful following of Jesus’ Way because it means we are singled out and persecuted? 

 Some “Christians” claim that they are being persecuted when they are not.  They feel disenfranchised from their ability to discriminate against non-Christians, hurting those whose lives they do not value and living hatefulness in the world.  This is not persecution because of their faith in Jesus.  It is correction in the face of their ungodly behaviors.  Jesus has no part in their behaviors.  They are not behaviors taught, commanded or modeled by Jesus.

 For those who DO follow Jesus, it is not a stretch to foresee the persecution of others against them by others.  Just as they faced persecution in the First Century CE, those who follow Jesus fly in the face of empire, and those who love empire are naturally at odds with them/us.  We can expect persecution for following Jesus under empire.

 So, how will we be and who will we be in the end?