“Joy to the world, the Lord has come!” “Come and worship Christ, the newborn king!” … except can’t really call Jesus newborn anymore. I mean it’s been over 2000 years since Christ was born. And if we’re being honest, in those 2000 years, the world hasn’t gotten a whole lot more joyful.
When you look at the prejudice and hatred that leads to war and death and destruction; when you look at the greed and avarice that leads to poverty and despair; when you look at the isolation and disconnection that leads to loneliness and hopelessness; then it’s difficult to think of this world as being blessed by God, where every knee has bowed in service to God. Those words we heard from Isaiah aren’t entirely out of place for our own world today: We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. There is no one who calls on your name, or attempts to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquity (Is 64:6-7).
Isaiah looks with despair at the world around him, not so different to our world today, and he sees the wickedness and evil in the world. So he cries out to God, yearning for God to make themself present in this world, to tear the heavens open and come down, to exercise their authority to make things right: O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence–as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil– to make your name known to your adversaries, so that the nations might tremble at your presence! When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence (Is 64:1-2).
So why is this reading part of our preparation for Advent? Isn’t this a time when we’re supposed to be celebrating the birth of Jesus? Why can’t we take this time to forget about all the crap that’s in the world and in our lives, and instead just adore the beautiful baby lying there in the manger, while angels sing their beautiful uplifting music?
The thing is, to some degree, Christmas is a CROCK! Pardon my Grinchiness, but the coming of the Messiah was supposed to be when God fixes the world, when God wipes all iniquity from the world, when God restores Israel to its full glory, when every person on earth acknowledges God as Lord, when God brings their people into a new paradise. And that hasn’t happened. God didn’t come into our world with this wonderful world-changing transformation. No, God rocked up as a baby that grew up very human, very much like the rest of us, and to be honest, the world hasn’t changed a hell of a lot since then.
Most of the gospel writers see the ministry of Jesus as the starting point, the ignition point that would lead into the big transformation. In our other reading for today from Mark’s gospel (Mark 13:24-37), he talks about Jesus coming again, this time in full glory, riding on a cloud, exercising God’s full authority over the earth, finally doing all the stuff that the Messiah was supposed to do the first time.
Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory. Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven. From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place (Mk 13:26-28).
Well, Mark’s generation did pass away, and many more generations after his. And we’re still waiting. We’ve been waiting for 2000 years for this big second coming where Jesus arrives on the clouds and God fixes up the world.
I think part of our problem is in that word “waiting”. We often think of waiting as something passive: simply biding time until something happens. But I’ve worked in hospitality in the past and I can tell you that “waiting” is not at all passive. When you’re in hospitality, waiting is very active. Waiting is about being constantly on your toes, ready to step in.
When we’re waiting for Jesus to come again, for the kingdom of God to come into its fullness, for God to complete all that they have promised, I don’t think it’s just a case of us all sitting around, twiddling our thumbs in the meantime. I think waiting on Jesus to come is a bit more like waiting on tables. In Mark’s gospel, when Jesus tells them to stay awake and alert, he’s not saying that, just in case they might miss it. It’s not about being outside and looking up at just the right time while you’re just biding time, making sure you don’t miss it, like when the space station is going past and you want to see it. Instead it’s more like waiting on tables: you need to be able to offer assistance whenever it’s needed, and for that, you need to stay awake and alert.
I’m reminded of the Mitchell and Webb sketch, where the evil genius says to his henchmen, “Let’s hope Detective Harris meets with an accident” and then they spend the next nine months waiting for an accident to happen, before they realised that they were the ones who were supposed to make it happen. Jesus doesn’t call us to idly wait for him to come again, but expects us to be actively involved.
I don’t know if Jesus is ever going to come riding in on a cloud. But I do know that Jesus turns up in much more subtle, quieter ways all the time: sometimes it’s in the beauty of a sunset or a family at play; sometimes in an encouraging word from someone when I’m feeling depressed and dispirited; sometimes it’s in seeing relationships restored and people talking to each other again; sometimes it’s in sitting with someone through their pain and grief and sorrow; sometimes it’s in someone sharing their experiences of the divine in their own lives. Jesus turns up in all sorts of unexpected ways, and it’s happening every day. So maybe Mark was right. Maybe Jesus did come in Mark’s time and is continuing to come again, as he strives with us, waiting upon the world with us, to bring about God’s kingdom.
So, in this season leading up to Christmas, we’re starting with a reminder from the scriptures that Jesus is coming into all our lives, and just like with that birth in Bethlehem 2000 years ago, Jesus arrives in unexpected ways. But more than that, it’s a reminder that it’s easy to miss Jesus showing up if we’re not paying attention, and like waiters at tables, we get to be actively involved. We are the body of Christ, the hands and feet and voice of Christ, and sometimes when Christ comes again, it happens through us.
So when we talk about hope this morning, we’re not talking about something passive. We actively hope for the kingdom of God, actively believing in God’s promise for our world, awake and alert to those moments when we might be the body of Christ. As we busily prepare to celebrate the coming of Jesus on Christmas Day, let’s not miss those moments when Jesus comes into our lives today.
Amen.