Isaiah 2: 1–5 / Psalm 122 / Romans
13: 11–14 / Matthew 24: 36–44
This is the homily given at St. John’s,
Huntingdon, Pennsylvania by Fr. Gene Tucker on Sunday, December 1, 2019.
“IS ANYTHING MISSING?
HAVE I FORGOTTEN SOMETHING?”
(Homily text:
Matthew 24: 36–44)
A
ritual for new recruits in the military services is the inspection. The ritual
is especially challenging for new members of the military, due to the fact that
they’re still getting used to doing things the way the military does them,
instead of relying on patterns they may have been used to in civilian life.
The
inspection is usually conducted by the drill instructor (often called, in the
Army anyway, the drill sergeant). I suspect that much of the ritual and the
expectations surrounding the inspection process haven’t changed all that much
since my own induction into the Army many years ago.
The
inspection causes one to pay attention – close attention – to detail. For
example, the new recruit will want to be sure that everything that is supposed
to be on display and available for inspection is not only present, but is in
serviceable condition. Not only must the items that are required meet those two
criteria, but the recruit’s locker itself is also the subject of inspection.
Here, it is often the white glove inspection that reveals hidden (and
forgotten) nooks and crannies of the locker.
So,
most recruits probably ask themselves two key questions as they are preparing
for an inspection: “Is anything missing? Have I forgotten something?”
These
two questions might also prepare us for this season of Advent, as we get ready
for the Lord’s first coming in human form as a baby, born in Bethlehem, and as
we get ready for that eventual coming of the Lord again in power and great
glory. Or – as the Nicene Creed puts it – “He (the Lord Jesus Christ) shall
come again, with glory, to judge both the quick and the dead…”[1]
Our Gospel text from Matthew reminds us that no one knows exactly when the Lord
will come again. The Creed simply
affirms the truth that this event will take place someday, in God’s good time
and according to God’s plan.
These
two questions could assist us mightily in this holy season, as we ask
ourselves, “Is anything missing (in my walk with God)? Have I forgotten (or
neglected) anything?”
It
might be easy, given the focus of the Advent season, to concentrate on the
Lord’s first coming and the Lord’s eventual coming a second time. But the truth
is that the Lord comes to us daily. Each and every day constitutes a visitation
of the Lord, that One who knows the innermost secrets of our hearts, that One
who searches out the nooks and the crannies of our minds, inspecting with the
white gloves of holiness the ways in which we may have neglected to clean up
those things in our lives that fail to reflect the Lord’s high standards of
holiness.
Just
as the pace of preparation for the drill sergeant’s inspection causes the new
recruits to engage in frenetic activity to prepare for the time when the drill
sergeant’s searching eye will disclose both successes and shortcomings, so,
too, must we engage in a heightened pace of preparation to receive the Lord
into our hearts, in order that we might provide a worthy home for Him to dwell
therein.
A
word of caution might be in order at this juncture: Just as the new recruit’s
belongings must meet a standard by which they are judged to be serviceable, not
new, so, too, must the condition of our hearts and minds meet a standard by
which they are serviceable, able to do the Lord’s work and will in the world.
For the truth is that no one of us meets a standard of perfection. That won’t
happen for us in this earthly life. But we mustn’t be content to simply live in
a “serviceable” condition. We must allow the Lord to point toward perfection,
for that is the goal of our walk with Him. By allowing the Lord to point out
the ways in which we’re “OK” for now, we create the pathway by which He can
show us a yet more perfect way.
Our
prayer might be this: “Come, Holy Spirit, and show us the ways by which we yet
have need to prepare our hearts and minds to receive the Lord. Amen.”
[1] The wording provided here comes from the
traditional language version of the Creed, one that we will be using throughout
the season of Advent. It may be found in the Book of Common Prayer, 1979, at
page 327.
