Advent 1, November 30
Isaiah 64:1-9 / Mark 13:(1-23) 24-37
When He cometh,
when He cometh
To make up His jewels …
He will gather, He will gather
The gems for His kingdom;
Did you grow up in church singing that hymn? Did you get the message? "Be good. Be really good. Good enough for Jesus to love you. If you're lucky, he'll come down and grab you, and stick you to his crown." Did you want Jesus to love you? Maybe you did. But I'll bet you didn't want to die!
This all comes back to me, every year, when the Advent scriptures cry for God to tear open the heavens and come down. When Jesus talks about coming back, riding the clouds of heaven. And when we hear how he'll come when no one expects him. Like a thief in the night.
"When He cometh, when He cometh …" Advent cometh every year, just when you start to think seriously about another Christmas. We already know what Christmas looks like, sounds like, tastes like, feels like.
But Advent isn't about looking back. Getting ready to go to Bethlehem again. The Advent message looks forward. It says Jesus will come in a new way. We don't know exactly what that will look like, sound like, feel like. But the message is clear. The One who came a long time ago will come again at the end of time.
We get that message from Gospels written for believers who lived in terrifying times. Already seeing signs that things would get much worse for them, before there could be any hope of better days. Losing someone you loved, while working peacefully, side-by-side, was a distinct possibility. The Romans did things like that. Snatching up religious people to put the fear of Caesar into other religious people.
Those Christians looked for the Son of Man to ride a cloud down to earth one day and rescue his friends. Their gospels told them to stay alert, to be faithful, to continue working. To watch for a day that wasn't on anyone's calendar but God's.
"When He cometh, when He cometh …" The first disciples sang those words with joy. Their singing drove away their fear.
"When He cometh, when He cometh …" Somewhere along the way most of us stopped singing those words. Maybe because they still strike fear into our hearts. Maybe because they sound too much like a theme song for the Left Behind books and movies. More likely because life in our part of the world is so good we don't want to imagine it ending, or us leaving it. What could Jesus bring to the world that would be better than the world we know? After all, When He Cometh and all the other old children's hymns were written in a time of high infant mortality. People needed to re-frame the death of children as some kind of blessing! We're beyond all that!
Well, at least those of us who are privileged, white westerners are.
"When He cometh, when He cometh …" I don't know just what that means. Will he come in a singular event, on a day that ends all days? Or do we see him, like a Son of Man on the clouds of heaven, when we close our eyes in death? Will he come at the end of the age, or the end of my time, and yours?
It's enough to know he will come. While we wait, we have work to do. And as we work, we discover he just can't help slipping in and out of our business in the meantime!
He creeps in, when we least expect him, to help us prepare for the big celebration. He'll slip out, just for a shake of a lamb's tail. Then come in the front door, with trumpets blowing.
The Advent prophecies tell us what kind of world God aims to build. What this kingdom where Jesus reigns looks like. The prophets' visions tell us what to aim for as we wait, and watch, and work.
"When He cometh, when He cometh . . ." Will he find us working for the healing of the nations? Will he find us, joyful, gracious, celebrating our faith?
Listen, in this time of Advent, and hear words of hope. Not words of fear. Words of hope.
