Luke 21:25-36[1]
It doesn’t take any
great insight to observe that we are living in a time when things are not as we
expected them to be. While some scientists warned us that a global pandemic was
on the horizon, most of us didn’t pay much attention. I surely didn’t! The problem
is that when life doesn’t go the way we expect, it can feel like chaos. There
are a few personality types who actually thrive on chaos, but for most of us it
causes stress and fear. And some of us may find ourselves “shutting down,” so
to speak. We may find it difficult to keep doing our normal everyday tasks.
Trying to get through the day may feel like we’re wading hip-deep in molasses!
There are a lot of
reasons why different people react to uncertainty in different ways. But there
are some things that are true for all of us. For one thing, our brains are
hard-wired to respond to anything we perceive to be a threat. Fear can creep up
on us when we least expect it, and once it gets hold of us, we can have a hard
time thinking straight—literally! Another factor is that most of us have a lot
of expectations about the way life is “supposed” to be. They can be so deeply
ingrained in us that they become like “scripts” for life. And when life doesn’t
“follow the script,” our expectations can be like chains that bind us. Unfortunately,
I’d have to say that these uncertain days have revealed that we are all less
“free” than we would like to think.
Jesus addressed the
uncertainty of his times in our Gospel lesson for today. As we’ve mentioned
before, the situation in Judea was unstable and even chaotic. Although the
Romans appeared to be firmly in control, there was a constant undercurrent of
resentment and even rebellion among the Jewish people. There actually was an
underground group who made it their goal to assassinate Romans and Jewish
leaders who were perceived to be traitors to their people. All of this would
boil over into an all-out war within a few decades, and the result would be
Jerusalem destroyed. Eventually, the Jewish people would be expelled from their
land and prohibited from living there.
I think Jesus’
disciples must have been aware of what was going on. While they may have hoped
that Jesus might be the one to lead them to overthrow their Roman oppressors,
the fact that they couldn’t predict the outcome of any of this led them to ask
Jesus for reassurance. They asked him to tell them the “signs” as a way of
making the stress and uncertainty more “manageable.” After all, we’re not so
afraid of what we can predict. But Jesus didn’t give them any signs. Instead,
he told them that the world in which they lived would continue to be as
uncertain and unpredictable as ever. If they wanted reassurance, they would
have to look beyond their expectations and their fears.
As we saw a couple of
weeks ago, Jesus answered his disciples’ desire for reassurance in an
unexpected way. He told them there would be “distress among nations” due to
their “confusion” (Lk 21:25). He said that people would “faint” from “fear” and
dread of “what is coming upon the world” (Lk 21:26). But he urged them not to
give in to fear and dread. Rather, he said, “Now when these things begin to
take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing
near” (Lk 21:28). “Redemption” is a word that might not use every day. But Jesus
was talking about freedom—from the Romans, from their fears, from everything
that kept them from living fully.
It may seem like a
strange response on Jesus’ part. But I think Jesus was pointing them to
something beyond the everyday affairs of life that they could “manage.” He
pointed them to the day when he, the “Son of Man” would come “with power and
great glory” (Lk 21:27). And as our lesson from Jeremiah reminds us, the
promise is that he would come to do “what is right and just” so that the people
would live in safety (Jer. 33:15-16). That’s the kind of “redemption” or
“salvation” Jesus promised: that one day he would come with God’s power and
authority and would set right all the wrongs and set free all those who live
under oppression of any kind. And he reminded them that this promise would be
kept, saying, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away”
(Lk 21:33).
It may seem odd to be
talking about these things in Advent. The coming of Christ to set right all the
wrongs may seem like dreaming of what lies on a distant horizon. We might
wonder how this helps us find freedom in the midst of the uncertainty of our
times. While it’s always helpful to be aware of our fears and expectations and
the way they affect us, we don’t have to let them define our lives. I find that
when I shift my focus away from my expectations and my fears to faith in the
God who has promised not only to send us a savior but also to be our savior, I
feel much less troubled by the surprising ways life can twist and turn. That
kind of freedom is always available to us.
More than that,
however, this is the season to celebrate the birth of the one who made the very
promises we have based our lives on. I think the scripture readings for this
season point us forward for a reason. Just as certainly as Jesus came to be “God-with-us”
in the manger so many years ago, so he will come with God’s power and authority
to fulfill every promise. When our fears overwhelm us because of the chaos of
our days, we need a way to help us feel more grounded. One of the ways we can
do that is to put our trust in the promise Jesus made, that our freedom is
near. And when we doubt that we can remember that his words remain true forever!
[1] ©
2021 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm Ph. D. on 11/28/2021 for
Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman NE.
No comments:
Post a Comment