The Second Sunday in Advent – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: St. Luke 21:25-36

In Christ Jesus, who is coming to put an end to all suffering and sorrow, who is coming with power and great glory, who is coming quickly, dear fellow redeemed:

Last week, we heard about Jesus’ humble entrance into Jerusalem at the beginning of Holy Week. He was welcomed as a king, but He didn’t exactly look the part. He was not wearing royal clothing, and He was not flanked by high-ranking officials or an impressive army. He came to Jerusalem as the sacrificial Lamb, the one who would die for the sins of the world.

But in today’s reading—which also took place during Holy Week—Jesus looks forward, beyond His death and resurrection, beyond His ascension, beyond the establishment of the New Testament Church. He described the end times, and what will happen prior to His return on the last day. He spoke about the signs which would show His people that His return was near.

We have just entered a season of signs, signs that tell us something important is going to happen. Lights have appeared on the homes in our neighborhood. Trees have been set up in living rooms. Decorations are getting hung. Cookies are being prepared. These are all signs that Christmas is coming. The closer it gets, the more our anticipation grows.

The signs of the end times are like this, though they are not pleasant like beautiful lights and delicious cookies are. A few verses before today’s reading, Jesus described some of these signs: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven” (21:10-11). These signs are major disruptions in the order of things, a huge upheaval. They will produce a general state of anxiety and distress as Jesus says: “And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world.”

The unbelieving world does not know what to make of these signs. These troubling signs reveal the limits of human power. We can work for peace, but there will still be war. We can try to predict when and where earthquakes and floods will happen, but we can’t stop them. We can plant special varieties of seed that do better under certain conditions, but we can’t make the sun shine or the clouds drop rain. We can promote healthy habits, but we can’t stop sickness.

For all of our supposed advances in social support, medical care, and technology, it doesn’t seem as though problems and crisis situations are happening less and less in the world. In many ways, it seems that they are happening with greater frequency. This causes great distress and perplexity. We wring our hands and wonder, “What can we do? How can we stop these things? How can we ensure everyone’s safety? How can we make the world a better place?”

And that’s the whole problem. The people of the world believe they have the power to address any issue that arises. They are not looking to the God who created all things and still preserves them. They are not trusting that He will provide, that He will have mercy, that He will save. And because of their unbelief, they will continue to be anxious and perplexed. They will continue to be afraid. They will continue to make desperate and damaging decisions.

But we who are the dear children of God, baptized into His holy name, should not get caught up in this fear and desperation. Jesus tells us exactly how we should interpret the signs of the times. We should see them as evidence that He is coming again. When we hear about warring among the nations, we should think, “Jesus is coming.” When there are reports about earthquakes, floods, and wildfires—“Jesus is coming.” When there are pestilences, plagues, and pandemics—“Jesus is coming.” Such rumblings that shake our world show us that He is about to come on the clouds in glory.

If you were waiting for someone to stop by your house on a cross-country trip, but you didn’t know exactly when he would arrive, you would appreciate regular reports about his progress. “I just got to this city, and this town; I spent a couple days here.” That is what the signs of the times impress upon us. The plan for Jesus’ return is in place. As surely as a budding branch tells you that summer is on the way, the signs in the heavens and on the earth tell you that Jesus is on the way.

But maybe you’re not convinced. Maybe you don’t think we can be so certain in our interpretation of these major events. We call them “natural disasters”—doesn’t that mean they happen on their own? Maybe they are just coincidences, chance occurrences in an unpredictable climate. Or maybe they can be explained by human factors, like the effect of pollution on the ozone layer.

Whatever people want to point to as the cause of these things, Jesus says they are signs from God. God wants us to learn from these signs. He wants them to make us more alert, more watchful. There is an immediacy about these things. Just because Jesus has not returned in glory yet does not mean He won’t come soon. “But watch yourselves,” says Jesus, “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.”

“Dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life” is the focus on worldly living, the pursuit of pleasures, spending our money, time, and effort on things that have no godly purpose, things that are self-serving. If we live like the unbelievers, the loss of our faith is not far away. Then like the rest of the world we will have only perplexity and fear when we see everything falling apart around us.

God did not make us for such futility and hopelessness. He made us so that we could know His love and love Him. He made us so that we could honor Him by serving our neighbor. He made us so that we could be with Him in heaven forever. To accomplish this, God the Father sent His only-begotten Son into this perplexed and fearful world. His coming was hardly noticed. Our Lord came in total humility in order to redeem us lost and condemned sinners. He came to offer Himself for all our sin, all our doubts, all our fear.

When He died, “the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised” (Mat. 27:51-52). It was a sign that Jesus had gone to meet death—and death was shaking. There was nothing death could do to the Lord of life. Death could not prevail. Jesus rose from the dead in victory.

That victory is yours. No matter what happens to you in this world, no matter what disaster or crisis you must face, you are safe in Jesus. You are baptized into Him. In Him, your sins are forgiven. In Him, you have peace with God. In Him, eternal life and happiness are stored up for you in heaven.

He meets you even now, down here in this world of tribulation. He meets you in His Word and Sacraments. He comes to comfort you and keep your faith alive. He comes to keep you watchful and increase your expectation of the wonderful things to come. Your best life is not now, and it is not ahead of you on earth. Your best life is coming when Jesus comes again.

That time is rapidly approaching. You can expect the signs before His coming to increase and intensify. You can expect the world to become more and more perplexed. You can expect people to look for answers in all the wrong places. And most of all, you can expect Jesus to make good on His promise. The devil wants you to think that the troubles in the world are evidence that Jesus does not care or that He is unable to help. Jesus says these troubles are evidence that His Word is true.

If Jesus said that things would get better and better on earth before His return, we would have reason to doubt what He said. But He said that things would get worse and worse, which is exactly what we are seeing. These things are all evidence that His return is imminent. Jesus does not lie. He won the victory over sin, death, and devil, just as He promised. And He will come again with great glory on the last day, just as He promises.

He will come very differently than His coming into the world and His coming into Jerusalem. He will come in brilliant light, with all power and authority. All the monuments and machinery of the devil will topple over. The superpowers of the world will crumble in an instant. The rich and famous of the world will try to run and hide. You and I will “straighten up and raise [our] heads, because [our] redemption is drawing near.”

That will be a great, great day. The more anxious and fearful the world becomes about things it cannot control, the more we look for Jesus’ return. The Greater the Perplexity around us, the Greater the Expectancy of His coming. We wait for Him, not with our eyes toward the sky, but with our eyes on His Word. That’s how He prepares us for that day. That’s how He strengthens us, so that we are ready to stand before His throne in confidence. By His grace, we will leave the troubles of this world behind and enter with Him into glory.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.

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(picture from “Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem” by David Roberts, 1850)