Let’s do another round of Name that Song. Last time, no one knew where I was going so let me give you some hints: This song comes from 1981, it was one of the first 90 videos played on MTV, and it was the first #1 song to feature rap. Any guesses? It’s a surprising one so let me give you some lyrics from the rap part: “Face to face, dance cheek to cheek / One to one, man to man / Dance toe to toe, don’t move too slow / ‘Cause the man from Mars is through with cars / He’s eatin’ bars, yeah wall to wall / Door to door, hall to hall / He’s gonna eat ‘em all / Rapture …”
The song is “Rapture” by Blondie. That’s what I think about when someone says “rapture.” But most of you probably think of that idea in Christianity where true believers are sucked up to heaven and leave only a pile of clothes behind. Those left behind will deal with a difficult tribulation here on earth. There was a fictional series of books based on this idea.
This idea only started to gain steam in the mid-1800’s with John Nelson Darby, the Scofield Reference Bible, and Cotton Mathers. This idea has gotten really popular over the last two hundred years especially in America, but for most of Christian history it was NOT how people thought about the end times. I tell you all that because when I say “rapture” that’s what many of you think about.
In , Jesus is talking about his return. You don’t know when he’s coming back. It’s going to be sudden, so wake up and get ready. There will be two of you in the field and one of you will be taken. So many of you, having been trained by Kirk Cameron,
thought that was about the rapture. Well, it is about the end times. Just before the verses we read today, Jesus tells the people who are listening to him that they are going to see the fulfillment of his story in two days when Jesus will die on the cross then be resurrected. Then he moves to verse 36, which is about the end of history when everyone will see that Jesus is victorious in his death and resurrection.
But you’re wondering why we’re talking about end times on the first Sunday of Advent. Since the day after Halloween, the world has been focused on Christmas. So you came here today thinking there’d be at least a little something Christmas-y. The decorations are wrong, the service is too serious, and you don’t get it—because the rest of the world is already in Christmas mode. You’ve seen it, Starbucks has changed their cups,
all the commercials on TV now have snow in them, and all the characters on the Hallmark channel are wearing scarves.
This is the season of Advent and it goes against the grain. Even in the church year, it’s strange. All the other church seasons are about things that happened in the past—things that Jesus did. Christmas is about the time Jesus was born. Lent is about the time Jesus was tempted in the wilderness. Easter is about the time Jesus died and rose again. Pentecost is about the time the Holy Spirit came to the believers. All of those are things that happened. Advent is the only one about something that is going to happen in the future.
Some of you remember preachers telling you that Advent is about preparing your heart for Christmas, and that is true. But even more than that, it’s about looking ahead to when Jesus will come again. We do this crazy season of Advent to try to wake up. Fleming Rutledge says, “Advent begins in the dark.” She’s right. Advent begins in the dark because this is the time we’re called to wake up and look around.
Advent calls us to wake up and look around and see that everything is not fine, so we look forward to the coming of Jesus in the future.
Now that you know what Advent is about, let’s dive into our reading. I may be wrong, but I don’t think is about someone getting sucked up to heaven. I think Jesus is trying to say two things to people who need to wake up. The first thing he’s trying to say is life is uncertain, and the second thing is that life is short.
Jesus is talking to people who are waiting for the end of everything. They ask, “When’s it going to happen? What’s the sign?” And he says, “No one knows.” No one knows—that’s a statement about the uncertainty of life. You think you know things. You feel like you know things. But life blindsides you with things you never saw coming. There is so much that we don’t know. We don’t know when the end is coming. Jesus’ coming is not a matter of knowledge. Robert Capon wrote, “The way God runs the world, no one will ever know anything but that things are a mess.”
And when it comes to things we can’t know, we have to have faith. There is not a thing we can do to have any more clue about when Jesus will come, so all we have to do—all we can do— is believe it. Like Noah on the ark, you have to ride it out by faith and find grace in the disaster.
Jesus also tells us life is short: “It will come upon you like a thief in the night.” Life is short and you don’t know when it’s going to end. Jesus says the end of everything is going to be like it was with the Flood. People were going on about their lives, playing fantasy football, Black Friday shopping, and then the end came.
Let me take a little detour. Most sermons—for adults and children—about the Flood focuses on the wrath and judgement and disaster. But in the Bible, the focus is on the symbol at the end: the rainbow.
The rainbow is a sign that says God is determined to show mercy to the world. It’s about grace over judgment—and that’s something we see fulfilled in the life of Jesus.
Jesus tells us: Life is uncertain. Life is short. That’s what is trying to say. There’s also a promise—Someone is coming, and, praise God, he will fix it.
This is good news for those of us who are anxious. Because if you’re anxious, a lot of that anxiety comes from the fact that you are NOT in control and live with uncertainty and know that your life will end. You wish you could be in control. You wish you could make yourself and others turn out the way you want. You wish you could know what is going to happen. But have you noticed that you can’t make that happen?
This is why there’s a new crop of self-help books every year. If it worked, there would be only one. Seriously, every year someone makes a fortune writing a book telling you how to be a better version of you or how to create the life you want.
But have you noticed that we are completely unable to make life turn out the way we want?
Now, here’s the truth: I can tell you that you don’t have to be in control and to not be anxious. But you know it’s not that simple. It feels like we are bound to certain things and we don’t always do what’s best for us. Even after you believe in Jesus, you still do things that you know are wrong. You hurt others. You revert back to control and anxiety. That’s why we have Advent year after year. We need the reminder.
The ultimate good news in the face of our anxiety is that there is One who is coming. We look to our King who will come.
Charles Wesley (the more fun, younger brother of John Wesley) wrote over 6,000 hymns and the one that really captures the feeling of today is “Lo, He Comes with Clouds Descending.” The song starts with this idea of Jesus returning and it’s glorious . . . and terrifying. He comes and no one is ready. You can try in every way but you still won’t be the best version of you when Jesus comes back. So there’s this feeling of fear as the hymn opens, but in the third verse, he says, “With what rapture . . . we gaze on those glorious scars.”
When you think about the Second Coming, your first impulse might be fear. But then we look at the body of Jesus and we see the scars—on his side, on his hands, on his feet—that he bore for us. What we see at Jesus’ return is the proof, the evidence of his love and mercy for us. He has done all that needs to be done—so you can be reconciled to God. He has done all that needs to be done—so you can rest about the end of this life because he has taken care of eternity. He has done all that you need to do or worry about—he has taken all of that into his own body.
This image of the returning Lord is one of what he has done for you. You, who are deeply scarred by this life, and who live with uncertainty and anxiety—know that the scars of Jesus are for you. They are signs of forgiveness and of his love for you.
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