Luke 21:25-36 Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke
“Have Hope in the Promise of Jesus”
Advent 1: The Gift of Hope December 2, 2018
Advent is an interesting season, isn’t it? All around us the world is starting to celebrate Christmas, but inside the church we’re not quite ready to do that. But we know it’s coming soon, and we are working our way toward it, one week at a time, one candle at a time. We tell people that Advent is the start of a new Church Year, and then we start Advent by talking about the end of the world. Advent is an interesting season in this way: that it really encompasses a lot of themes from the rest of the church year. The word itself, and I know that many of you are aware of this already, the word itself means “coming.” And during the Advent season we consider the coming of Jesus in three different ways. We are preparing our hearts for a celebration of Christ’s coming at Christmas. Thus the countdown and the candles, and the position of the season beginning several weeks before Christmas. But we also think about the Second Coming of Christ. The Second Coming is when he will come in glory to judge the living and the dead. We confess that we believe this event will take place every week in our creeds. And we can’t count down to it in the same way we do Christmas, because we don’t know exactly when that is going to be. And the third aspect to our Advent observation is that we consider how Christ comes to us in a regular way through his Word and Sacraments. That’s not a countdown either, but a regular, daily part of the life of a Christian. And what we notice is that all of these “comings” fit together beautifully. Each one ties into how we celebrate the others. Each one allows us to value and appreciate the others. And so Advent is a season that starts our Church Year with a look at the end times because Christ’s first coming and his coming to us in Word and Sacraments prepare us for his coming again. This year on Sundays throughout the season of Advent, we are talking about the unique gifts that our Savior gives to us. Each Sunday we will focus on one of those gifts, staring today with the gift of hope. We have hope as we look forward to Christ’s coming as the final Judge of all people. So, what exactly do we mean by hope? Why is hope so important? Hope looks forward. It looks to the future. It anticipates things that are yet to come. And it looks ahead in a positive way, with eager anticipation. All these descriptions give you a bit of an idea about the way the Bible uses the word hope, but none of them really capture it completely. What helps is to consider the difference between the way most people use the word hope and the way we are able to use it as Christians. Most people think of hope as a synonym for “wish” or “optimism.” They might say, “I hope it doesn’t rain today,” or maybe more likely for this area of the country, “I hope it does rain today!” But hoping that it will rain and the reality of whether it will rain are two very different things. I can hope for or have hope in things that are very unlikely to come true. But the Bible uses the word “hope” to describe things that we look forward to which are certain to happen. These things for which we hope are certain because God promises them. God does not lie, so when he makes a promise, we can consider it as good as done, even if we need to wait for it. That’s what hope means. And that is what we have as we look ahead to the end of the world, based on promises like the ones that Jesus speaks in our verses for today from Luke 21. We celebrate that we have hope in the promises of Jesus. Of course, what Jesus tells us in the word of our Gospel doesn’t really sound like a reason to have hope, not initially. He talks about signs in the sun, moon, and stars. He talks about anguish and perplexity. People faint from terror over what he is describing as the oceans are tossed and the heavenly bodies are shaken. Why would anyone have hope for this? Well, Jesus continues, “At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” That’s a reason for hope. That is something to look forward to! In describing the end of the world to his disciples, Jesus is always talking about the time when they leave this world of sorrow and enter into eternal life with all its beauty and joy. He is talking about the best possible event for which we could ever hope. On the other hand, there is a reason that so many will be terrified by that day. They will realize to
their horror that the world that they loved so much is coming to an end. They have nothing to look forward to because like all people they have fallen short of God’s command and failed to live according to his will. Their consciences will cry out in terror. But the reason we look to that day with hope is that the coming judge is our redemption. The reason we hope for Christ’s Second Coming is what he accomplished for us in his first coming. He came to earth as a baby, as one of us, because of our sinful failures. He lived the perfect life that we had failed to live and couldn’t live. He died the death that our sins demanded and rose again to declare that death no longer had mastery over him or over any who believe in him. So we look forward to that day. We know with certainty it is coming, and we know with certainty that it will be a blessed day for us because our Savior told us so. He says, “When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” The central promise of Jesus in these verses on which we place our hope is this: he says, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” All that he has taught us will stand firm. All that he says to us is reliable. When he tells us that the world will end with the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory, it is a certainty. And when he tells us that his Second Coming is our redemption, we can depend on that. We have hope. We have a certain hope in the face of Christ’s Second Coming because of what he accomplished for us in his first coming. And because we have that hope, Christ encourages us to take note of the signs. In our verses, Jesus points to the signs in the sun, moon, and stars, the shaking of the heavenly bodies and the roaring and tossing of the sea. But he has mentioned other signs as well. Jesus spoke the words of our sermon text in the Temple on the Tuesday before his death on the cross. The beauty of the Temple buildings provided an opportunity for Jesus to speak to his followers about the destruction of the Temple and about the end of the world. In the verses before our text, Jesus mentioned earthquakes and famines, wars and other signs of the end times. These signs were present when Jesus spoke about them, and they have continued to this day. But so often people overlook them. They think nothing of them. Or they think the wrong things about them. Jesus compares our all-too-frequent reaction to these signs to ignoring the signs in nature of the changing seasons. He says that everyone could know from what was happening to a fig tree that summer was approaching. In the same way, we can see from the signs that are all around us that the end is coming. That should put things in perspective for us. It should cause us to sharpen our focus on spiritual things, on eternal things. It should heighten the urgency with which we want to share the good news with others. But it certainly does not always do that, does it? Do we wake each day to the thought, “The world may come to an end today, how would God have me live?” Do we think about the end of the world at all? This is how Jesus encourages us to live in this time between his comings: “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap. For it will come on all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man” Heed his warnings. Rely on his promises. How will we be able to escape what is coming on unbelievers? How will we be able to stand before the Son of Man? By listening to his Word that does not pass away. By holding to his promise of full and free forgiveness, his promise of eternal life with him. Be careful. Watch and pray. Have hope in Jesus. Maybe you noticed, as I did, that in this week focused on the gift of hope, none of our readings actually used the word “hope.” That word certainly is used in many places in Scripture. Instead, all of our lessons have focused on the reason that we have hope: the promises that God has made to us. May these promises give you hope as you prepare for Christmas and as you prepare for Christ’s Second Coming.
The Text: Luke 21:25–36 (NIV) 25 “There
will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. 26 People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. 27 At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” 29 He
told them this parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees. 30 When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. 31 Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near. 32 “Truly
I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
33 Heaven 34 “Be
careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap. 35 For it will come on all those who live on the face of the whole earth. 36 Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.”