These days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise
I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah.
(Jeremiah 33:24)
Having feasted on good food for Thanksgiving and looking
forward to feasting again at Christmas time, I invite you this morning to feast on hope around a table laid with bread and
wine.
The particular hope that our lectionary readings point us to today is the hope of God’s Coming Kingdom. This includes
the hope of Isaiah’s vision when God shall “judge among the nations…: and they shall beat their swords
into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn
war any more.” The hopes of a world where the living Christ is given His rightful reign in people’s lives
and darkness will be abolished by the light of His glorious presence.
As to when such hopes will be realized, there has always been a wide consensus of opinion. There are those who tell us,
"Any day now!" Back just a few years ago, scared by TV evangelists and stories
of the Y2Kbug, some people were stocking up with food, generators and extra ammunition for the oncoming Armageddon. Thankfully
Millennium madness only occurs once every thousand years.
But what about all the talk that goes on like a constant babble about ‘Jesus coming Soon’ and all those ‘Left
Behind’ books and cataclysmic prophecies that continue to spew from the mouths of wealthy televangelists?
About that I would just point out one plain simple truth. That every prophet on the planet who has predicted that Jesus
was coming soon has been united by a common thread, a thread that goes from the first century, right through the first and
second millenium up till the present. They have all been completely and utterly and totally wrong.
"But pastor" somebody asked me, "Are you saying you do not believe in the second coming?" Actually, I believe in it with
all my heart. I express that belief every time I say these words in the Apostle’s Creed, "He shall come to judge
the quick and the dead". By the way ‘quick’ does not mean that those who are speedy enough to get away
shall avoid the event, but refers to all who are alive at the time… “quickening” being an old English word
for those who have the breath of life within them. But that’s not where I’m going with this today! Instead I invite
you to think about the Scripture readings offered up by today’s lectionary passages.
Isaiah visualizes a Kingdom where the ways of
God will be lifted high and justice be restored to all, in such a way as there will no longer be cause for war among the nations.
Paul calls his Roman readers to wake up and change
their ways of living, because God's salvation was just around the corner.
Matthew’s gospel tells us that the day of
the Lord will arrive unexpectedly, like a thief in the night, and cautions us to be ready for the kingdom’s coming.
Each reading has wonderful images of hope to feast upon as we come to the table.
Jesus plainly warns us of the danger of speculating about the future. “But
of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. (Matthew 24:36). Rather than fantasizing about possible dates and times we do better spending our
time actuating the positive aspects of the coming Kingdom. So here are the positives to feast on!
First of all feast on Isaiah’s vision.
Things Isaiah spoke of had a habit of coming to pass. Some of his visions
had to do with the immediate future of the life of Israel. Others foretold of
Christ. Other visions concerned the last days.
The passage we read this morning belongs to that ‘last days’ category.
He tells us that the day will come when God’s rule will tower above all other principalities and powers. The instruction
of God will be the highest power of all. People from all around will want to know God’s direction in their lives. He tells us that justice and righteousness will be restored, that war will be at an
end and that nationalism will be no longer a cause to fight about.
This fills me with hope. For at the present time God is dethroned from many
people’s lives. At the present time many are not looking to God for direction. At the present time people are ready
for war at the drop of a hat. At the present time our world is a place of injustice and unrest. It is good to know that these things will not always be so.
Armed with this hope every time I see someone opening up their lives a little more to the love of God, every time I hear
of an initiative towards peace, every time some injustice is put right, I hear a whisper of greater things to come. “You
ain’t seen nothing yet.”
Such things are not of this world, but carry the trademark of God’s
Kingdom. The Kingdom IS coming.
Maybe as Bob Dylan said in one of his songs, it is “A slow train coming,” but every now and again you can
hear a distant rumbling on the tracks. The glorious hope in this passage from Isaiah is the knowledge that one day all will
be well.
Secondly, Feast on Pauls wake up call.
Not only shall all be well in the wider world, but there will also come a time when all will be well with our own lives.
Those Paul wrote to in Rome were surrounded by all sorts of ungodliness and subject to all the problems that being sinful
human beings places upon us.
Although they had converted to Christianity, they still struggled to truly live a Christian life. They often found themselves paying more attention to bodily appetites than to their spiritual diet. From what Paul tells us they had a battle going on in the area of self-control. Some
struggled with alcohol abuse. Some had no control on their sexual lives. Some were argumentative and couldn’t control
their words. Others were consumed with jealousy. Some just couldn’t resist
a chance to party the night away. You’d think he was writing to guests on the Jerry Springer show, not the members of
First Presbyterian Church in Rome!
Take heart from this passage. From the raw material of imperfect human lives God builds the church. Never despair of yourself
or of others. Be hopeful. If at times you feel your life is about as far from being holy as it could be, realize you have
friends in many places. If at times temptation wins, well, you’re not the first and you won’t be the last. Put your hope in God. Listen for His alarm bells and wake up calls and respond to
them.
Thirdly, Feast on the unpredictability of it all
When the return of Christ is presented to us in terms of cold analysis and doom laden fact, there is obscured for us an
important element of Jesus’ teaching, namely the motif of surprise. In
regard to the coming of the kingdom there is an awesome sense of unpredictability about the whole thing.
There is a glorious sense of tension in Jesus’ words. On the one hand He tells us get ready, the son of Man is coming,
like a thief in the night, one will be taken, one will be left behind. But on
the other hand He tells us, “Well if you think you know when all this is going to be going on, you’re wrong.”
“The Son of man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.”
(Matthew 24:44).
Let me put it another way, “Always leave room in your life for God’s surprises.” Never close
your soul to the unpredictable nature of God’s love. Never let your Christian life become a humdrum routine affair that
leaves God’s Spirit no room to move. Never think that God is through with
you or that you have reached the end of the road in your spiritual journey. For
even as you gasp your last breath on earth, you’ll only be just beginning.
Should God’s Kingdom be here in all its glory this very afternoon, or a million millenniums from now, live with
the expectation that our lives are a meeting place with Christ. He will come. Christ will return. We don’t need to know when. Our responsibility is simply to be prepared.
A most excellent place to get ready is around the communion table.
Here we have a chance to focus on the broken one who became the victorious one.
Here we can have our broken lives renewed.
Here hope can spring eternal and life be made new.
Here we can prepare ourselves to celebrate the birth of our Savior in a stable.
Here we can look forward in hope to the coming of God’s Promised Kingdom.
Praise God!
Here is an opportunity for feasting on hope.
