DO YOU HEAR WHAT I HEAR?
1ST Sunday in Advent
12-03-06
Ken Peterson
Luke 21:1-9 and 25-36
TEXT: When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near. (Luke 21:28)
INTRODUCTION
How many of you here have some Swedish in your background? Well, here’s a story you’ll especially appreciate.
Christmas was near. Ethelyn Pearson, from Minnesota, says here five-year-old daughter was helping her set the table one Sunday. Her daughter stopped suddenly and announced, “Jesus was a Swede.” Ethelyn was surprised and corrected her saying, “Oh no, dear, Jesus was Jewish.” Her daughter continued to lay out the silverware, processing this, and then brightly said, “Mommy, I can prove it to you! We sang about it in Sunday School this morning.” Then she sang, “Away in a manger, no crib for a bed. The little Lord Jesus lay down his Swede head.”
That little girl was alert to sounds that were complementary to her Swedish heritage. Sometimes we do hear what we want to hear, don’t we? And we have cultural conditioning and convictions that sensitize us to certain things and desensitize us to others. The other day as I was driving home, thinking about the theme for this Sunday in the liturgical calendar, the first Sunday in Advent, the song, “Do You Hear What I Hear?” was on the radio and that title struck me as encapsulating an important reason for Advent. We need to get our ears attuned to the right sounds for this Christmas.
The Christmas season is filled with a cacophony of sound– much of it drowning out the true meaning of this season. We have the insistent voices of merchants hawking their wares. It has become the biggest spending frenzy of the year– so important commercially that many stores make more money from Christmas shopping than the entire rest of the year. Our social calendar comes under intense pressure from the call of many obligations and opportunities. And I’m afraid for most people, our culture’s Christmas agenda speaks a lot louder than what the church is saying.
Sometimes I think the church has been taken captive by our culture’s celebration of Christmas. You’ll remember that last year, Christmas Day fell on Sunday. The first time someone asked me if we were going to have a worship service that day since it was Christmas and all, I was a bit taken aback. I said, certainly we’ll have our regular worship on Sunday, especially because it is Christmas. Of course the rationale was– with all the excitement of children opening presents and the cooking and preparing for family celebrations– people wouldn’t fit worship into their busy day. I thought, how can we let those things, as nice as they are, keep us from worshiping the one whose birthday it is? But then I began to hear of churches canceling their Sunday services because it was Christmas Day. One church I know of (not here, but on the coast), in lieu of
having church that day distributed a DVD of a message from the pastor for members to use in their homes Christmas morning to save the hassle of fitting church attendance into their schedules. That strikes me of letting the culture control the church– substituting a nice fireside chat for worshiping with the people of God. That is perhaps an extreme expression of making church convenient to our schedules. Certainly the first Christmas was not convenient.
BEGINNING AT THE END
There are different calendars people operate on. There are school calendars, fiscal calendars, and national calendars. The church also has what is called the Christian calendar, organized around the main events in the life of Christ. Today is the first day of the Christian calendar– the Christian new year. So, Happy New Year! Advent means, “coming.” The Advent season in the church calendar marks the four Sundays leading up to Christmas Day. It is a time of preparation, and anticipating the birth of Jesus. Also, the first Sunday of Advent is given to the theme of Christ’s return in glory at the end of history, the second coming. It may seem strange to us to begin with how it is all going to end. But spiritually, it makes perfect sense.
Wedding rehearsals have a frustrating element for pastors. It feels like trying to herd sheep that aren’t the least bit interested in being herded. For my first few years as a pastor, after each rehearsal I’d feel like I needed to do something different, but nothing I tried seemed to help. Then I was asked to assist in a wedding with another pastor at his church since the groom was a member of my church and the bride a member of his. He was a veteran of many, many rehearsals so I was eager to see how he did it. His plan was quite simple and worked really well. He started at the end. He had everyone position themselves where they were going to end up after the processional. Then, everything seemed to make sense to the wedding party as they walked through how to get there. Starting at the end enabled them to get the big picture. Then they were more willing to find out how they were going to get where they were supposed to be.
When you think about it, knowing the end is always essential to getting there. You don’t take a trip without knowing where you want to end up. Then, when you know that, you work backwards and choose the routes. That’s the wisdom of Advent beginning with the end.
Advent is designed to be a quiet time, a reflective time, and a time of waiting and longing for the Savior. All of history has its consummation in Christ. His first coming at Christmas begins what will finally be fully realized at the climax of history when Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords. This will be the final piece in the transformation of our world into the world God wants it to be where there will be no more war, no more tragedy, no more suffering, no more evil, and no more disease. Some of our longings are met in Jesus’ first coming. But, redemption is still incomplete. We need to know the rest of the story– how it all ends.
The return of Christ is a powerful message of hope for believers. Don’t you often feel overwhelmed by the events taking place on the world stage? Everywhere we look, things seem beyond human solution. What is the solution to the destruction in Iraq, in Afghanistan, or with Israel and the Palestinians? We’ve elected some new people to congress, but will things really change? And many of you can list personal problems that often feel overwhelming. But the message of this Sunday in Advent is that the fulfillment of history is not in the hands of N. Korea’s Kim Jong Il, or Iran’s Mahmoud Ahimadinejad, or Osama Bin Laden, or to the United States, but to God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The way Jesus brings this subject up to the disciples is instructive. He is getting them to shift their focus from the temporal to the kingdom of God.
SHIFTING OUR FOCUS
Luke ties this event to the giving of the widow in a way Mark doesn’t. Notice how Luke ties them together in vs. 5
Some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. (Luke 21:5)
It’s almost like, after the lesson Jesus gives on the poor widow giving everything, the disciples are saying, “Speaking of giving, just look at the magnificence of this temple– the glory of all these gifts given, dedicated to God.” And, it was a most impressive sight. One stone at the southwest corner was 36 ft. long. Many stones were overlaid with gold. Herod gave a golden vine for one of the temple furnishings that had grape clusters as tall as a man.
What does Jesus do? Talk about throwing cold water on their enthusiasm over this impressive place.
But Jesus said, "As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down." (Luke 21:6).
And with that opening, he launches into his most important teaching on how it’s all going to end.
It is like Jesus is saying, “Don’t get too caught up with this world– even the most impressive creations in it. Keep your focus upon what God is up to.”
By the way, this is one prophecy where we can verify it’s fulfillment with startling accuracy. The destruction of the temple took place in 70 A.D., about 37 years after Jesus uttered these words. And, while we might expect the “not one stone will be left on another” to be a figure of speech to indicate the totality of destruction, history tells us it was literally true. The temple was burned and there was gold leaf from the ceiling that melted and ran down between the stones. Other stones had been overlaid with gold. So, soldiers pried each stone apart to retrieve the melted gold. Indeed, not one stone was left on another.
Also, in all the Old Testament prophecies Jesus fulfills in his first coming, there is a similar literalness that is incredible. So, as we look at some of the prophecies surrounding His second coming, it makes sense to think we will be again startled at how even the smallest details are accurate. And, there are far more prophecies about Christ’s second coming than about His first coming. (I think about twice as many).
Most of the signs Jesus gives prior to vs. 25 are ones that could be applied to many times of suffering throughout history. Then, vs. 25-28 seem to apply to the climax of history when we will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory (27). This brings us to the hope-filled message of our text:
When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads,
because your redemption is drawing near. (Luke 21:28)
This is a word that is needed in any time when things seem to be spinning out of control. It offers us the assurance that everything– even the most frightening, calamitous things– are known things to God and will ultimately only serve to usher in His kingdom. In terrifying times, when the heavenly bodies are shaken, and people are apprehensive, Christians hear something different. They’re listening for the first sound of the final trumpet call from heaven.
We may be confused by vs. 32, "I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.” We’re accustomed to thinking of generation as 40 years. However, the word here is not that precise. It can even mean “race”– the Jewish race will not pass away until all this has happened. Or, alternately, the generation in which the last of the last things begins will also see its completion. However, “race” seems to me the clearest since the first of the signs Jesus gave began in 70 A.D.
There is final assurance given in the next verse, Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. We cannot count even on the earth or heaven enduring. But, there is one thing we can count on that will always be true and never fail us– Jesus’ words. Those words contain promises, assurances, direction in how to live, as well as eternal life. They are unchanging and forever. Where then should our attention be? To what should we devote our lives?
WATCH AND PRAY
Our greatest danger as the end approaches is that we will not be awake, alert, and ready. In Matthew’s account of this teaching, it ends with four sobering parables about being ready. The Message gives these verses in Luke a particular urgency:
"But be on your guard. Don't let the sharp edge of your expectation get dulled by parties and drinking and shopping. Otherwise, that Day is going to take you by complete surprise, spring on you suddenly like a trap, for it's going to come on everyone, everywhere, at once. So, whatever you do, don't go to sleep at the switch. Pray constantly that you will have the strength and wits to make it through everything that's coming and end up on your feet before the Son of Man." (34-36)
In our day, we certainly know about the “dulling of expectation through parties and drinking and shopping.” Isn’t it ironic. This Advent time when the church is trying to heighten expectation of that which is ultimate and eternal in and through the comings of Jesus, the world seems to be in overdrive to dull anything like that with its frenzied messages of buying and eating and filling yourself up on food and other good stuff to stifle any deep spirit longing.
Jesus’ three word prescription is, “watch and pray” (36). It is the same prescription He will offer his sleepy disciples a few days later as they fail to stay awake and help Him in prayer in Gethsemane. The two words, “watch” and “pray” are meant to work together. Prayer isn’t meant to be disengaged from the realities of our world– a retreat into meditative inner peace. Inner peace is, of course, an important product of prayer. But Christian prayer is coupled with “watch”– keep alert, be a keen observer of the conditions we are living in. See what is going on in people’s lives around you. Pay attention to world events. Everything should be engaged in through prayer. And, prayer is not just for our own benefit. It is a way of unleashing God’s power, grace, and love into places and people that need it.
It is Advent. Force yourself to make time to look beyond the tinsel and noise of the season to alertly listen for the one message we need to hear and understand: Jesus came, and He comes breaking into our present in the Holy Spirit, and He will come again.
Back in the days of the telegraph, a young man applied for a job as a telegrapher, answering an ad in the newspaper. He arrived at a large, noisy office. In the background, a telegraph clacked away. He was told to join the other seven applicants waiting for an interview. Soon, he got up and walked right into the inner office where the interviews were to take place. The other applicants all perked up wondering what he was doing, since no one had come out to summon any of them. Within a few minutes, the young man emerged from the office with the boss by his side. The boss said, “Gentlemen, thank you very much for coming, but the job has been filled by this young man. All the time you’ve been sitting here, the telegraph has been clicking out the following message: ‘If you understand this message, come right in. The job is yours.’ None of the rest of you heard it or understood it.”
Jesus has spoken and continues to speak to us. Be alert. Pray continuously so that you will hear the message of hope and assurance Christ’s first coming and His return in glory offer us. We begin by keeping the end in mind.