Look for the Son
Luke 21:25-36
December 9, 2018 anno Domini – Redeemer
Noah was working on that ark in his backyard. Six days a week for 120 years. Every time Menards had that 11% rebate he went down and bought every last board of gopher wood and every bucket of pitch they had in stock. What did the people in Noah’s neighborhood do? They ate and drank and carried on as normal until it started to rain. It had never rained before the flood. They were terrified. They all came running to Noah’s house, but it was too late. God had shut the ark. He had preached for 120 years with every hammer blow and every load of lumber, never mind all those animals trudging through the backyards in town.
It was the same in Babylon many years later. Belshazzar was King and was having a grand party, drinking, carousing with all the Babylon movie stars and politicians. Oh things were going grand in Babylon. They had conquered Israel and had a great bunch of slaves from there. The King was in such a delightful mood he ordered the vessels from the temple in Jerusalem to be brought out for the party so that all his guests could drink wine out of them. The God of Israel isn’t so great. I’ll drink my booze out of His chalice. Then in the midst of the party a hand appeared out of nowhere and wrote on the wall, “Mene, Mene, Tekel, Parsin.” It was God’s hand that wrote the message, the God whom Belshazzar mocked. “Belshazzar, your days are numbered. Your life has been weighed in the balance and found wanting. Your kingdom will be given to the Persians.” That very night Belshazzar was killed.
Remember Noah’s neighborhood. Remember Belshazzar. Hear the Word of Jesus. Watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap.
Last week we meditated on Jesus’ Advent when He came into the world to die on the cross, to be our servant, to be subject to our sin and death. Jesus came once to save us. He established His church on earth as the ultimate ark of salvation. Now it isn’t hammer blows and a giant boat, but the Word being preached and the Holy Spirit blowing when and where He pleases to bring you to faith. In Noah’s day only a few were saved – eight in all. In Saint Cloud only a few are in church this morning, probably less than 10% of the population. Only about 1/3 of our members show up on any given Sunday. In the course of a year about ½ of our members make it once. How often are you in Divine Service? Have you missed Jesus coming in His Word and Sacraments because of eating and drinking and the cares and pleasures of this life?
Jesus calls us to watch for His final Advent – for His triumphant return. It’s been 2000 years since Jesus ascended into heaven. 2000 years is a long time to wait. Let’s face it. We rarely if ever think of Jesus returning. Every generation sees another threat to the world, but no generation looks for Jesus. In the 70’s we worried about running out of gas and entering an ice age. In the 80’s we worried about nuclear war and running out of food. In the 90’s we worried about the deficit and all of our computers shutting down at the millennium. Now we worry about the planet getting too hot or our identity being stolen or some health crisis that bankrupts us.
Every generation fears its own end, but do we ever expect Jesus in the end? Do we straighten up in the midst of the latest crisis and look for the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory? What do we do? Teach school children to hide under their desks. That won’t stop a bullet, much less a nuclear bomb. Electric cars will save the planet! Well, they couldn’t even save General Motors. All that hype about the end of the millennium and we’re 18 years past the end.
Jesus warns you not to live like everyone else – don’t let your hearts be weighed down with dissipation (the Greek word is krapala – that’s how you feel when you eat too much or drink too much) and drunkenness and the cares of life.
Why do you drink too much or eat too much or buy too much or keep too much? Perhaps because you want to escape your own judgment of yourself or others. A lot of eating disorders come to those who are unhappy with their bodies. A lot of drunkenness comes to those who judged themselves failures or weak or doomed in some inescapable circumstance. We’re disappointed in ourselves and we try to escape by stuffing ourselves, intoxicating ourselves, grabbing all we can for ourselves.
Jesus calls us away from self-judging and self-saving, to look to His judgment and for His judgment. God preceded every judgment in Scripture with signs so people would look up to see His coming. He didn’t want to catch anyone unaware. He swung Noah’s hammer building the ark. He sent the plagues in Egypt to warn Pharaoh. He wrote on the wall at Belshazzar’s party.
Nowhere were there more signs than at Christ’s first coming – a Virgin Birth, Angel Choirs, calming storms, casting out demons, healing the lame, raising the dead. Then at the cross – darkness in the skies, earthquakes, and dead people running around alive. All of it happened so that the world, so that you would look to Jesus on the cross and see your Savior and witness God’s judgment. God’s judgment is for you, because it was against His Son. Your judgment day happened outside Jerusalem two thousand years ago. Jesus was declared “guilty” of your sins and then His Father punished Him with hell. The price for your debt has been paid – that is what redemption means. Christ has bought your freedom from sin, from worthlessness, from God’s own disgust. This is why you should look up in these last days, when you see all the signs of the end. You should look up and look for your Redemption. Your Redeemer is coming.
So Jesus says to you, “Stay awake at all times.” You know what happens when you drink too much – you pass out. When you eat too much you look for the couch. You can’t keep your eyes open. Stay awake and pray. Pray for the Church that she faithfully proclaims Jesus because you need Him. Pray for the world that they would see the signs of the end and repent. Pray that you not get caught up in the cares and cures of the world. Pray with your children so they know their heavenly Father and His love in Christ. Pray in anticipation of the last day, for on that day you will be free from sin, free from death and hell, free in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Pr. Bruce Timm