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"Watch! The Lord at Work!"
It was the 10th century, when the German theologian, Bernard
of Thuringia, put his pen to the paper and calculated that the
most likely year for the ending of the world was the year AD
960. As the year approached a panic ensured. Another story
is told of the time shortly thereafter in the year 999, a year
we would call today, Y1K, a massive crowd gathered in the square
of St. Peter’s in Rome as Pope Sylvester II led a midnight mass
to usher in the end of the world. That year had been marked by
earthquakes and floods, and even meteors. The people believed
these were certainly signs of the end of the world. The crowd
that gathered became hysterical. Some trembled, some cried,
and one historian records that some even died of fright. What
is most amazing is that the hysterical gathering never actually
took place. It was simply a story generated some years later
by a medieval writer who thought that the ending of the first
millennium should have been more dramatic.
Yet, no surprise to any of us gathered here this morning,
that was not the end of “end-predicting.” In the 1520’s an
astrologer predicted a flood that would destroy the world.
So convincing was his speculation that people actually began
to build arks, and one man was even trampled by a mob trying
to get aboard such a vessel.
In 1665, a Londoner named Solomon Eccles was thrown into jail
for walking through the Smithfield Market carrying a pan of
burning sulfur on his head and proclaiming that end of the
world was at hand. The end of the world did not happen, but
the Great London Fire did happen one year later.
Just prior to the lifetime of many in our community, the
founder of the Jehovah’s Witnesses calculated and preached
that the end was to be in 1914, and then when that didn’t
happen he modified his message somewhat, claiming that the
end would come “very soon after 1914.” Within the lifetime
of a good many of us in the room, came Hal Lindsey’s book
The Late Great Planet Earth that would impact the
world of the1970’s and still directly and indirectly impacts
the teaching of the “end times” some 30 years later. In
this book, Mr. Lindsey cites our Gospel lesson from Matthew
24, in his suggestion that the end would come within one
generation of the reestablishment of the State of Israel.
And lest we leave ourselves out, who among us can forget
the scare known as Y2K. I’ll bet some of you involved in
Information Systems even had to put in some overtime at
that time.
The ending of the world seems to have been a preoccupation
since pretty much its beginning. It seems almost strange
that we should try so hard to find the day and hour that
Jesus is coming again, after all he tells us point blank
in Matthew 24, that neither the angel, nor he himself, at
least according to his human nature, knows the day and
the hour that he will return. If Jesus doesn't even know,
then it always strikes me as just a little bit presumptuous
that we would imagine that we might know when he is coming again!
Yet before we rush on, Jesus almost seems to contradict
himself here. He tells us no one knows the day or the hour,
and then he tells to "watch out!" It's almost strange isn't
it? How are we supposed to acknowledge the fact that not
even Jesus knows when he will return and yet at the same
time, watch out? I believe it is a question that has plagued
Christians since the beginning and it is small wonder to me
that people who were so busy "watching out" would end up
predicting days or hours when he would return.
For me, it begs a question: should we worry about the
day and hour of Jesus' return? If we knew when it was,
what would, or should it change? As one author I read
said: "If you only had time to make one more phone call,
who would you call? What would you say? And what are
you waiting for?"
The truth is that if we knew exactly when the world
should end, there might be a few things that we would
change in our lives, and perhaps that is what we are
meant to "watch out" for in the first place. So let's
watch out…
Watch out as you conduct your daily life. It seems when
Jesus returns it will be like it was in the days before the
flood. People were eating and drinking and marrying and
giving in marriage just as they will be when Jesus comes back,
so let's watch out for how we conduct our daily lives.
What if Jesus were coming tomorrow or this week? Is there
anything that you would do or stop doing? Would you shift
your focus onto something new or something that has been
begging for your attention for some time now? Would you put
some effort into one of your relationships or perhaps work
to bring some healing where now there is hurt? Would you
take a risk or two, or spend a bit more time in Scripture
and prayer?
One thing I know I know for sure, if you and I knew for
sure that Jesus was returning next week, there is one thing
that would not change. We would not stop sinning. That is
the hardest truth of all. Even if we knew the end was near,
even if we gave our very best efforts to watching out for our
lives and laboring to keep them in line with God's will, even
then, we would still be selfish, self-centered, and self
interested.
With this truth in our eyes, it is small wonder that we need
to watch out. We need to watch out, for this sin is what makes
the return of Jesus a thing of fear instead of a thing of hope
and anticipation.
It is that way, unless we allow our eyes to watch something
else, to watch not what we have done, but what Jesus has done
for us. Watch as Jesus leaves behind the glory of heaven for
the pain of earth. Watch as Mary places her baby son in the
manger, and watch as that boy grows to serve God and man.
Watch again through Mary's eyes as she sees her son nailed
on a cross and left there in agony. Watch as they take down
his lifeless body and place it in the tomb. Watch as a group
of grief stricken women make the tear-filled journey to the
tomb, only to find that Jesus is not there! He is risen!
Watch as Jesus speaks to his disciples about his most important
gift to you and me, the gift of forgiveness and new life and
then watch finally as Jesus ascends in the clouds, returning
finally to the glory of heaven that he left in order that we
might look forward to that same glory one day.
This time of the year we are so wrapped up in preparation for
the celebration of his birth, sometimes we even forget that it
already happened. What is more, we forget the all-important
truth that Jesus coming the first time is our guarantee that
He will come again and for that we watch out!
We watch out for the opportunities to tell others of his
coming and I want to remind you of a promise I asked of each
of you. This Christmas season is one of the greatest
opportunities in the Church Year for you to invite someone
to come and hear the story and join the members of Christ's
church as we keep vigil for his return.
Jesus tells us to watch out…and we do, for something incredible
is coming! Keep watch up in the sky, it could be any day!
In Jesus' Name! Amen.
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