Today we begin this season of Advent,
in which we will be preparing to remember and to celebrate our Lord’s birth at Christmas. And we start with the words of Jesus from today’s gospel: “As in those days before the flood, ...
[people] knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will
be the coming of the Son of Man.”
A little over 2,000 years ago,
people in the occupied territories of Judea and Galilee were not expecting the
Son of Man to come among them. Oh, many of the Jews living there under foreign
occupation hoped and longed for the coming of the messiah, a victorious warrior
and king like David who would throw off the Roman yoke and make Israel again a
world power. But no one was looking for the Messiah who actually came, the Son
of Man who was born in poverty, taught us to love our enemies and died on a
Roman cross. So ...
“Now wait a minute,
preacher! You started out with that reading from the 24th chapter of Matthew,
and it sounds as though you’re saying that it’s about Jesus’ birth 2,000 years ago. But this isn’t the first time we’ve heard or read
that part of the Bible. We know that it comes at the end of Jesus’ ministry, just a few days before he was crucified. And Jesus is
talking there about his second coming, not about his birth! So what are you
saying here?”
Well, you’re quite right. This reading is part of two whole chapters in which
Jesus is pointing toward the future and the end of history. Right after those
chapters, the passion story begins. And frankly, I’ve often felt that the people who put together our lectionary, the
series of readings for each Sunday, didn’t do preachers any
favors by making this the gospel lection for the First Sunday of Advent.
Whether theologians and liturgical specialists like it or not, most Christians
think of Advent as a time of preparation for Christmas, for the celebration of
Jesus’
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