(Sermon texts: Zechariah 14: 4 – 9 & Luke 21: 25 – 31)
A sermon by The Very Rev. Gene Tucker, given at: Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois on Sunday, November 29, 2009.
“I have been saved, I am being saved, I shall be saved.”
Those words are ascribed to St. Augustine of Hippo, the great fifth century bishop and theologian.
They speak of God’s redemption of His people, in times past, in the present time, and in future time.
This theme, of God’s redemption in all times, is also present in the Collect for the First Sunday of Advent, which reads,
“Almighty God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, now and for ever. Amen.”
You’ll notice that I’ve highlighted some of the phrases, to show the past – present – future of God’s saving acts. Let’s look at those timeframes. They are:
Past: The visitation of Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago (“Thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us”);
Present: The time we are living in now (“now in the time of this mortal life”);
Future: When Christ returns again (“That in the last day, when he shall come again.”).
Now, notice God’s saving actions, referred to in the Collect (sometime obliquely):
Past: Jesus Christ’s coming among us was – in part – for the purpose of declaring God’s salvation to us.
Present: Protection through the provision of armor for protection,
Future: We rise with Christ to the life immortal.
The Collects of the Prayer Book are especially beautiful, and, they are especially rich in their theological reflections. (I often use them as the basis for meditation, for they are filled with scriptural allusions and quotations. I commend them to you for the same purpose.)
This Collect sums up the great Advent themes:
- Christ’s first coming as a baby in Bethlehem, and His living among us as one of us,
- Christ’s second coming, at which time God’s purposes will be fulfilled, and Christ will reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
So Advent focuses on the past and the future, mindful that we are living in an in-between time between the two.
Advent also recalls that this in-between time is one of strife, conflict, sudden danger, battle and hardship.
Our Collect for today captures this theme quite well. Notice the words it uses: “cast away the works of darkness”, “put on us the armor of light”, “this mortal life in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us”.
Notice the battle between darkness and light. (It’s no coincidence that the daylight is fading quickly, now that we are approaching the winter solstice, that time when the daylight is the shortest. This cycle of nature is a reminder to us of the spiritual darkness of the time in which we live.)
Notice the appeal for protection: “Put on us the armor of light.” Armor is for protection in battle.
Now that we’ve mentioned the word “battle”, we need to turn to our Gospel reading for today.
If you are thinking that the overall tone of today’s passage sounds a lot like the one from a couple of weeks ago (Mark 13), then you would be correct in your assessment, for today’s passage comes from the same teaching of our Lord Jesus as was heard a short while ago from Mark. Recall with me that we entitled that passage the “Little Apocalypse” . Today’s passage is from Luke’s recordation of that same teaching, but the part we hear today is a little later on.
Still, Jesus’ words, as recorded by Luke, are filled with trouble, sudden danger, and terror. The words seem to burn in our hands, almost, as we read this text. We want to turn away from its images. We want to avoid its timeless truth.
(It’s worth noting here that our Old Testament passage, Zechariah 14: 4 – 9, contains many of the same images.)
Such images are the raw material of apocalyptic literature. Recall with me, when we considered the parallel passage in Mark, that we said at that time that apocalyptic literature contains both concrete references and images, and deliberately vague ones. Surely that is the case with the Zechariah passage, which identifies the location of the events it describes as being Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives. It is also the case with the Lukan passage before us today, if we back up to the beginning of it, at verse five. For in the earlier part of the passage, we can see that Jesus is referring to the Temple in Jerusalem (verses five and six), to its being surrounded by the armies of the Gentiles (verses 23b and 24), to a time of great trouble and distress.
“I have been saved, I am being saved, I shall be saved.”
Augustine’s words assure us, in the face of Jesus’ troubling pronouncements, of the surety of God’s victory over chaos, trouble, terror, and sudden death.
“Put on us the armor of light”, the Collect for today says.
“Amen”, we say. “Protect us”, we say. “Claim us as your own people when all is said and done,” we pray.
How can all these things be, these prayers of ours for protection and for recognition as one of God’s own people?
How can we know God’s salvation, God’s redemption, is near?
How can we “look up and raise our heads” as Jesus says, knowing that our redemption is near?
What evidence do we have of God’s ability to do all these things?
For the answers, we turn first to the past.
We turn to Jesus’ earthly visitation. Recall with me the dangers, toils and snares through which our Lord Jesus Christ travelled: Consider first the dangers of His birth: Mary’s difficult journey (some 50 – 60 miles) on the back of a donkey, nine months pregnant. Surely the possibility of miscarrying was great, given those circumstances. Then consider the circumstances of His birth in a place where animals were kept: no sanitary hospital setting here, but one of dirt, filth, and lots of germs. Again, the possibility of dangers to His health and to His life were immense. And again, consider the threat to His life from King Herod’s massacre of the baby boys in Bethlehem. Jesus could easily have been one of the victims of this crime. Then, consider His flight into Egypt, a long and arduous journey while He was still a very young boy.
All of these things could have done away with His life in short order.
But He survived.
His presence among us could have been snuffed out on the cross. After all, no one got off a Roman cross alive. Death was certain. And Jesus’ death was a public one, observable by all, confirmable by all.
But He conquered death and rose again on the third day. His resurrection appearances guaranteed God’s victory over the final enemy, which is death.
And so St. Paul can exclaim, “For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8: 38)
A little earlier on, Paul says that “In all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” (Romans 8: 37)
So, in Christ’s victory over all the powers of earth, of death, we have been assured that we are on the winning side, on God’s side.
“All well and good,” you might say. You might add, “But what about my life, here and now. What assurance do I have that God’s victory is present in my life?”
An excellent question, this one is, for we are not eyewitnesses to the things that Jesus did, to His teachings, to His defeat of the threats that came His way. We are not eyewitnesses except through the witness of Holy Scripture.
But it is the witness of those who were eyewitnesses to Jesus’ life, to His victories, that make us eyewitnesses through the written word.
Still, there is proof, if we look for it, of God’s presence and God’s victory in our own lives, if we are able to look for it.
I think of my own life history, and I can see that God has been present, even in the darkest of times. I can see God’s leading in the events of my own life. I can see God’s armor, protecting me.
Has life been easy for me? No, not entirely. There have been very dark and lonely times, times of danger and times of stress.
Every life has some of those times.
But God has been there, protecting, guiding, assisting, pushing, prodding, pulling, chiding.
I can say, along with the words to the great hymn “Amazing Grace”, these words,
“Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come.
‘Tis grace that brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.”
You see, I can safely say “I have been saved, I am being saved,” and that knowledge give me the ability to say, “I shall be saved,” no matter what comes along, for nothing can separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus my Lord. Nothing!
So, how about you?
Advent calls us to reflect on God’s saving acts, as they are seen in Jesus Christ’s life, death and resurrection.
Advent calls us to reflect on God’s saving acts in our own lives today.
And these two reflections provide the assurance that “we shall be saved” in the last and final day, when Christ shall come again in majesty and great power.
Even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly!
AMEN.
