Anticipation!

(Scriptures: Isaiah 2:1-5, Psalm 122
Romans 13:11-14 Matthew 24:36-44)

Some of us may remember the Carly Simon song “Anticipation”….”anticipation, anticipation is making me waiting, is keeping me way-ay-ay-ay-ayting….” My memories of that song are associated with…..the old Heinz ketchup commercial, which used the song to dramatize how thick Heinz ketchup purported to be, and therefore how long it took to come out of the bottle. The message was that Heinz ketchup was so thick and rich with flavor that it was worth the wait.

This Sunday marks the first Sunday of Advent, the start of a new church year. As I’d noted last week, this is a season in which the church calendar and the secular calendar are out of sync: on one hand, we’re celebrating a new church year while the secular calendar will not do so for a bit more than a month, while at the same time, the wider culture is already deep into the mall-version of a Christmas celebration, while we in the church are waiting, still anticipating the coming of the Christ child. Anticipation is keeping us waiting….

As the lectionary often does for the first Sunday of Advent, our Gospel reading discusses, not Christ’s coming as a baby, but the second coming. The point is to give us, who know the Christmas story so well, a sense of the uncertainty and confusion experienced by those who surrounded Jesus when Jesus was born. For just as many look to Christ’s second coming as described in our Gospel, so there were those in Jesus’ day who looked to the coming of the Messiah, who likewise lived in anticipation – but for what? For whom did they seek? How would they recognize the Messiah? And as we know, the sought-for Messiah came – but many who sought for a Messiah didn’t recognize Jesus as the Messiah when Jesus was right in front of them. They were looking for a political Messiah who would march into Jerusalem and break the stranglehold of the hated Romans and restore Judah’s as a sovereign nation, under the leadership of a king from the line of David, as per God’s promise to David that there would never fail that a descendent of David would lead the chosen people. They weren’t looking for a baby of uncertain parentage born in out of the way Bethlehem.

Our reading from the 24th chapter of Matthew’s Gospel is Matthew’s version of the Luke account we read two weeks ago. You remember the setup: Jesus and his disciples have entered Jerusalem. The disciples, having traveled with Jesus from the Galilean countryside to the big city, were in awe of the size and beauty of the Temple complex. Jesus brings them up short by saying that the time would come when not one stone would be left upon another, all would be thrown down. Now that Jesus has their attention, the disciples later come to him privately, while Jesus is on the Mount of Olives, saying, “tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age.” Today’s Gospel reading is part of Jesus’ lengthy response, which comprises the 24th chapter of Matthew’s Gospel. Jesus words include graphic imagery: kingdom rising against kingdom, the rise of false prophets, persecution of the disciples of Christ, a man of lawlessness offering desolating sacrifices in the Temple, the sun and moon being darkened and the stars falling from the sky, and the powers of heaven being shaken. Jesus leads into today’s Gospel with the words, “From the fig tree learn its lesson; when the branches become tender and put forth leaves, you know summer is near. So when you see these things, you will know he is near, at the very gate. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place.” And then he, having created a “standing on tiptoes” anticipation among the disciples, he changes course and tamps down their excitement by saying, “But about that day and hour, no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, not the Son, but only the Father.” He says that on that day, people will be going about their normal business, eating, drinking, marrying, as the people of Noah’s time did just before the flood. There’s language about two men together in a field, two women grinding meal together; one will be taken and one left. He compares the second coming to the coming of a thief in the night.

What are we to make of this? We know from Paul’s writings, such as our Epistle reading from Romans, and even from sayings of Jesus, such as “this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place” that the believers who were alive in Jesus day and during the spread of the early church expected the second coming of Jesus at any time. As the apostles were executed and the first generation of Christians died, the faith of many was shaken. But Jesus said, about the day and hour no one knows…for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.

How does Jesus say we are to respond to his words? He does not tell his disciples to work out elaborate timelines to anticipate his coming, but rather to be faithful every day. “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, who his master has put in charge of his household….Blessed is that slave whom his master will find at work when he arrives. But if the wicked slave says, “My master is delayed” and begins to abuse his fellow servants and carouse with drunkards, he will be caught unprepared, and will be put with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Jesus goes into the parable of the wise and foolish bridesmaids – remember, the wise bridesmaids had enough oil in their lamps to go the distances – and the parable of the talents – where the wise servants used their talents, while the foolish servant buried his. Again, Jesus does not tell his disciples to indulge in guessing games and calendar calculations about his second coming, but tells them to be faithful every day.

We live in a day when many proclaim that the second coming of Jesus is imminent. Our friend brother Camping says it’ll be May 21 of next year. Hal Lindsay, writer of the Late Great Planet Earth and subsequent books, is more circumspect – he writes more carefully to leave himself loopholes for the passage of time, but clearly, since his writing of Late Great in the 1970’s, he has expected the second coming to come very soon. There’s a website called “Rapture Ready” which has a daily index that purports on a daily basis to predict the likelihood of Jesus’ second coming on that day. You can go home from this sermon and check out today’s Rapture Index online, if you like. Timothy LaHaye and his followers have created books, movies, even video games – violent video games – depicting the timeline of the last days. But the time of Jesus had its share of Brother Campings and Hal Lindsays and Tim LaHayes, those who expected the Messiah to come at any time. There were many apocalyptic writings, many teachers speculating about the coming of the one who would liberate Jerusalem and God’s chosen from Roman rule. And for all their expectations, they missed the salvation right in front of them. They had constructed timelines and scenarios in their heads, with as much Roman blood running in the streets as anything Tim LaHaye and company can conjure up – which accomplished exactly nothing. Their writings are unknown today except to scholars of obscure ancient manuscripts – they’re not in our Bible. And there are excellent reasons for that. And – I’m going a bit further out on a limb than I normally do – but I’m confident that the speculations of Brother Camping and Hal Lindsay and Tim LaHaye and all such will be every bit as unhelpful in preparing for the second coming, as the apocalyptic speculation of Jesus’ day was in preparing for the coming of the Christ child. Those in New Testament times who thought they had God’s plans all figured out in advance, were blindsided by the birth of Jesus the Messiah. Those of our day who think they have God’s plans all figured out, will be caught equally flatfooted, misled by the imaginings of their own minds.

For Jesus commanded his disciples, not to tinker with timelines and speculate about scenarios – but rather, to be live every day as faithful disciples. The Bible is a collection of many books, and contains many different types or genres of literature – national history, poetry, proverbs, parables, prophetic discourse. We believe all the books of the Bible are divinely inspired, all inspired by God, but the various genres are divinely inspired in a variety of contexts, written under divine inspiration to accomplish a variety of purposes – though the ultimate goal is the salvation of humankind. We know from our own experience that in our day, writing for one purpose is very different from writing for another – for example, a love letter will look very different from a piece of business correspondence. If you don’t believe me, try drawing hearts and flowers and “xoxo” hugs and kisses around the margins of your next letter to the IRS, start it out with the words, “My dearest huggiebear,” and see what response you get. Or try sending a Valentine's Day Card to a spouse or loved one that begins with these words, “Dear Sir or Madam: I have received no response to my letter of November 15. Unless your reply is received by November 29, I will have no choice but to allow our marriage/relationship to go into receivership.” Different types of writing sound….different.

The name of one of the genres of writing in the Bible, the type in our Gospel today, is called apocalyptic writing. The word “apocalypse” means “unveiling of something that is hidden.” The purpose of apocalyptic discourse is to sustain believers in hard times, by saying that, while our daily lives, the reality right in front of us is difficult, God is working behind the scenes – working behind the veil, in a hidden way - to bring about our salvation. Apocalyptic discourse gives the readers inside information on what God is doing so we don’t give up on our faith when God’s salvation is so near. And so we read of wars and rumors of wars, spectacular events in the heavens, persecution and betrayal of believers – but apocalyptic discourse leads its readers to interpret these horrors, not as a sign that they are abandoned by God, but rather as a sign that God’s rescue of the faithful – God’s salvation - is very near, on the way. The message is something like what we see in Western movies: don’t give up the fort, the cavalry is about to come riding over the hill to rescue us. In the Bible, other major examples of apocalyptic discourse are the book of Daniel – written during the exile in Babylon - and, of course, the book of Revelation, which was written during the horrors of Roman persecution of Christians. And there are passages of apocalyptic writing in the Gospels, such as today’s reading, and in some of Paul’s letters. They often contain graphic, direly threatening imagery, but they are written with the intent to produce, not horror, but, as odd as it seems to us..…..hope. Because God’s salvation is on its way. Don’t give up the fort; the cavalry is on the way, just over the hill. Don’t be caught sleeping; look up; for your salvation draws nigh.

The Talmud tells its readers that one is to repent one day before you die. The point of that saying is, we don’t know in advance on what day we will die – and so we are to repent each day, to live each day as if tomorrow were our last day, with joy and excitement, making every moment count, or, as Paul says in Ephesians 5, “making the most of the time, for the days are evil”. And writings such as today’s Gospel reading and today’s reading from Romans come from a slightly different direction to make the same point – we don’t know the day or the hour, the Messiah could come at any time – could come tomorrow or next week, for all we know – so the disciples and the early church are to live each day as if tomorrow were their last day, to make the most of every moment, proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ and working for the good of their neighbors. Because no matter how difficult or depressing our daily lives may be, God is busily working behind the scenes – and sometimes in right in front of us - for our salvation.

Indeed, all the speculation and guesswork about the day and hour on which Jesus will come again, misses the point that Jesus is right here, right now, in our midst. It’s like people standing around looking up at the sky awaiting a sign, while Jesus is right in front of them shouting and waving – hello! - and trying to get their attention. For one example, we remember that Jesus said that wherever two or three are gathered in his name, he’ll be in their midst – words that keep me going on some of our low-attendance Sundays here at Emanuel. In the context of today’s reading, in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus’ apocalyptic discourse is followed, not by a Rapture Index website address or an advertisement for a Left Behind video game, but by parables about wise and foolish bridesmaids, about faithful and wicked servants. And these parables, in turn, are followed by Jesus’ words that, when he comes in his glory and all the angels with him, all the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people from one another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, with the sheep on his right hand and the goats at his left. You know the parable: Jesus will tell those at his right hand, come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, for I was hungry and you gave me food, was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, a stranger, and you welcomed me, naked, and you clothed me, sick and in prison and you visited me….for just as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you did it to me.” So, if you’d like to meet Jesus, hang out some Tuesday at the food cupboard. After all, in Matthew 25 he said he’d be there. Just saying….

The point of the “anticipation” in that long-ago Heinz ketchup commercial was that because Heinz ketchup was so thick and rich with flavor, it was worth the wait, worth waiting for with anticipation. In the same way, we are to live in daily anticipation of Christ’s return, to live each day as if Jesus will return tomorrow. The reward will be worth the long wait. That’s God’s promise. Amen.
*************
Please join us on Sunday mornings at 10 a.m. at Emanuel United Church of Christ. We're on Fillmore Street, just off Thompson. www.emanuelphila.org