Sunday 8th December 2024. Advent 2.
Pastor Pete Myers explains Luke 21:25-36.
Why do we experience anxiety?
Why do we experience anxiety?
Why do we experience anxiety?
Wars in Gaza and Ukraine. Crises in Yemen and Somalia. Flooding in Nigeria and Brazil. Climate change. Recent elections. Major political events.
In verse 25 of our Gospel reading, Jesus says there will be:
on the earth distress of nations in perplexity
By “distress” what he means is “anguish” or “emotional pain”.
It’s the idea of events that are visible across the globe which create intense emotional pain and anxiety for entire nations and groups of people.
In verse 26 Jesus speaks of “people fainting with fear”. He uses the word “foreboding”.
Why do events like these happen? Why do we experience anxiety?
—Jesus is coming and global crises are signs
—Jesus’ Word will survive
—Keep looking at Jesus’ Word
Jesus is coming and global crises are signs
That first point is the heart of it: Jesus is coming and global crises are signs. Please look again at vv. 25-26:
“And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
Things will happen around the globe that will be signs of a coming global event.
Solar eclipses, blood red moons, and hurricanes provoke fear and foreboding. Because they are signs of something coming upon us.
And, really, any global event that provokes fear and foreboding, is a sign of what is coming: —earthquakes, political changes, global pandemics.
Anything that causes mass fear and emotional pain, is pointing towards something very scary that is going to happen.
Jesus tells us what that scary thing is in v. 27:
And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
Jesus himself will return in power and glory. Now remember Jesus is God who has taken to himself human flesh.
And during advent we look forward to Christmas when we celebrate Jesus showing himself to us in his weakness and humility.
In his first coming, he hid the power and glory of his divine nature. But when he returns, he will not be hiding any longer. He will return in full display of his power.
And if you want to get a sense of how awesome that is going to be …then Jesus says: look around you at the signs, v. 28
Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.
Think of the wars in Gaza, Ukraine, the Sudan and Myanmar. Or the humanitarian crises and insurgencies in Sahel, Yemen, Kashmir and Somalia. Have you heard of the recent: flooding in Nigeria and Brazil? hurricane in Mexico? typhoon in East Asia? earthquakes in Turkey?
How do you feel when you hear about these things? Do events like these give you fear and foreboding?
Christ came once in humility, but he will return in glory. Jesus is coming and global crises are signs. And so, Jesus says: straighten up and raise your heads. In other words: pay attention.
Jesus’ Word will survive
And so, Jesus gives us the assurance that: Jesus’ Word will survive. Please look again at vv. 29-31:
And he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree, and all the trees. As soon as they come out in leaf, you see for yourselves and know that the summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near.
Now, this picture is told to prevent us getting lost in conspiracy theories. Yes, catastrophic events are signs of Jesus’ second coming.
But, that doesn’t mean that experts are wrong when they talk about other explanations like astronomy, economics and plate tectonics.
It is absolutely true that deciduous trees, like fig trees, start growing leaves when the summer is near. Their leaves are a sign of the coming summer.
But that doesn’t make other ways of explaining trees coming out in leaf wrong.
Why do deciduous trees come out in leaf? Because hormones such as auxins and cytokinins stimulate growth, gibberellins mobilise energy reserves; and abscisic acid decreases.
A botanist can look at the fig tree and say “this is why the tree comes out in leaf”.
At the same time, you can also look at the fig tree and say: “It is coming out in leaf because the summer is near.”
In his teaching on the end of the world, Jesus is talking about two things: both his second coming, when God judges all things, but also the historical picture of that, when God brought the Jewish nation and temple to an end in AD 70.
The focus of this parable is particularly about AD 70. Look again at vv. 32-33:
Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all has taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
The end of the Jewish nation and the destruction of the temple will occur in the lifetimes of those walking and talking with Jesus.
But, Jesus’ Word will survive through that terrible event, and Jesus’ Word will survive even through the end of the world.
This is the promise that Jesus gives us today: His Word will endure and remain until He comes again. Jesus gives us confidence that the Bible will endure.
That’s a promise you can look at from different angles as well. One aspect of my PhD was text criticism. We have about 250 manuscript copies of Caesar’s Gallic Wars, the earliest of which date from about 1,000 years after the events they describe.
But we have about 2000 manuscript copies of Luke’s Gospel, the earliest of which date from about 100 years after the events they describe.
Facts like these are not the reason we have confidence that Jesus’ Word will survive.
We can have confidence that Jesus’ Word will survive because he promises it will, v. 33:
my words will not pass away.
But, when you look at details such as the number and quality of manuscripts attesting Jesus’ Word, you can see this promise of Jesus has borne out as true over the last 2,000 years. Jesus’ Word, his Gospel, will never be destroyed. Jesus’ Word will survive.
Keep looking at Jesus’ Word
And so, finally: Keep looking at Jesus’ Word.
Please look again with me at vv. 34-36:
“But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
When we look at the news, it always is full of terrible things and major events. And not just the news, when we look at our own lives, we see they also contain sufferings and events that rock our worlds.
Now the advice from so many people around us is to find meaning and comfort by looking at those events and by looking at ourselves deeply.
But, notice, that is not Jesus’ pastoral advice here.
He does tell us to watch ourselves, but not to dig through our inmost thoughts. Rather, he tells us to watch ourselves, precisely to make sure we avoid getting weighed down and overly pre-occupied with the cares of this life.
In v. 36 he tells us to stay awake, and through prayer to focus our minds and attention on Jesus’ promise that he will return.
In other words: don’t look at yourself, keep looking at Jesus’ Word.
When you look at the past, look at your baptism: See, hear and dwell on the promises God made to you there; God’s personal assurance that you belong to God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
The Father who created and sustains you. The Son who died for your sins and rose to make you just. The Spirit who gives you faith through the Word.
When you look at the present, look at Christ’s Word and the Supper: Hear, smell, eat and taste the promises God keeps making to you there; God’s continual assurance that He has forgiven you.
The Father is working all things together for the good of those who love him. The Son rules all things at the Father’s right hand side, and you are seated in the heavenly places in Him, united to Him, receiving His body and blood, one with Him as part of His body.
The Spirit, through the Word of Christ, is giving you conviction of your sins, and bearing witness to your spirit that you are a child of God, teaching you to cry “Abba Father”.
When you look at the future, look at Christ’s return, and the fulfilment of His promises.
Stay awake, hold tight onto His Word, and you will stand before Him when he returns in His power. Keep looking at Jesus’ Word
Why do we experience anxiety?
Why do we experience anxiety?
Well, Jesus is coming and global crises are signs. Any kind of crisis that creates fear and foreboding, is immediately and personally relevant to you. Because it is reminding you that Christ is coming back in power and glory.
Because, Jesus’ Word will survive. He promises it would… and look back, the Bible survived AD 70; the Bible survived wars, persecution, plagues, catastrophe; Heaven and earth will pass away: Jesus’ Word will not pass away.
So, Keep looking at Jesus’ Word. Don’t get lost looking at yourself. Don’t get lost looking at the news.
Look at your baptism, hear the Word preached, receive the Lord’s Supper. Stay awake, let your prayers, your thoughts, your energy, be focused on Christ’s free and universal justification won for all by Him, received by us in faith.
Hear the Word and trust it, and so when he returns you will stand before the Son of Man.