The King is Just Around the Corner

Introduction

When I looked at today’s Gospel reading, I was reminded of Aslan’s return in the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the first book of the Chronicles of Narnia. In that book, things are looking very dark, the White Witch has made it “always winter and never Christmas” in the land of Narnia. But the rumor is that the true king, the lion Aslan, is on the move, indeed he’s already here! And the Narnians have a poem about Aslan’s return:

Wrong will be right when Aslan comes in sight,

At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more,

When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death,

And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again.

Just as in Narnia, the approach of the true king bring the end of winter, so also Jesus tells us how his coming will be like the approach of summer. And he tells us what attitude we should have, because he is just around the corner.

Signs in Heaven and Earth (25-28)

The first thing Jesus talks about in our Gospel reading are the “signs” that will be happening in the time leading to the “coming of the Son of Man:”

English Standard Version (Chapter 21)

25 “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, 26 people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

Notice that the “signs” and the distress as Jesus describes it are taking place on two levels: the sky and the land. The sun, moon, and stars, the “powers of heaven” begin to do unexpected things, and the people on the land terrified because the sea is getting unruly. Recall that in Genesis 1, two of the key things God did to establish order in his creation were to establish the sun, moon, and stars to mark time, and to establish a boundary between the sea and the land. So what Jesus is describing here is the present order of creation seeming to come unraveled. We should probably be careful about taking this language too literally; it’s classic biblical imagery for when it looks like “the world is falling apart.”

Now, right up to verse 24 in Luke, Jesus has clearly been predicting the destruction of the temple, so the question we have to ask is, is that still true in our text, or has Jesus moved on to talk about his second coming? My best answer to that question is: Yes. It’s a little of both. Jesus is starting to hint at the final “coming of the Son of Man” and the distress of those days, but everything he said still applies to the time of the first century as well. It certainly looked like the world was falling apart in the first century leading up to the destruction of the temple. Wars, persecution, even natural disasters all characterized that time as well.

But Jesus’ words apply to our day as well. Does it feel to you like the world is falling apart? Do we still have “distress of nations in perplexity” and “fear and foreboding of what’s coming on the world?” You’d better believe it. You might be thinking of the wars raging in Ukraine or in the Gaza strip. Lots of fear and uncertainty there. Politics and culture is volatile and always changing. And if you want to get really literal, we have nations perplexed about what to do because climate change seems to be causing the oceans to rise, the sea is quite literally exceeding its boundary with the land! Maybe for you it’s more personal, and you feel like your own world is falling apart. Maybe a conflict in your family, a change in your career, or a medical problem has left you disoriented and feeling like everything is unraveling.

But don’t miss how Jesus says his followers should react when they see the world falling apart. Notice that it isn’t the Christians who are freaking out in the way Jesus tells it, it’s the general, unbelieving world. The Christians actually take encouragement when they see the world falling apart, they get a spring in their step because “your redemption is drawing near.” This is the strange thing about how God works: often when things look worst, that is when God brings about salvation and redemption. It looked like the world was falling apart as Jesus’ body was being destroyed on the cross. The sun was darkened and there were signs in the heavens, and the earth below quaked. The Son of God himself was being killed by the people he came to save. And yet that moment that seemed like a victory for death and evil was actually Jesus’ victory. What looked like the worst tragedy that could possibly happen was the great moment of our redemption. As Jesus cried “it is finished” he completed your redemption from sin and made it certain that you would share eternal life with him. So also when the early Christians saw the temple destroyed, as horrible and chaotic as those times were, they saw it as proof that everything Jesus said was true, including his promises to them, promises that their sins were forgiven, and promises to come again to raise the dead, and to set all things right. So also you, when your world is falling apart, know that as dark as things look, Jesus is just around the corner. You are forgiven, you have eternal life, and Jesus will set all things right.

Parable of the Fig Tree (29-33)

Jesus turns to a parable, an illustration to drive home the point he has just made. “29 And he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree, and all the trees. 30 As soon as they come out in leaf, you see for yourselves and know that the summer is already near. 31 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near.” When trees start to sprout leaves, everyone knows that summer will come, any day now, it is right around the corner. There is nothing more to wait for. So also, Jesus says, when his disciples see all the signs that he has described, they will know that his return is just around the corner.

And then Jesus says something curious, “32 Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all has taken place. 33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”

There’s an elephant in the room that has to be addressed; one of my study Bibles said that verse 32 is one of the hardest verses to interpret in the NT, so I guess we better talk about it. What does Jesus mean when he says that “this generation will not pass away until all has taken place”?

On the face of it, it sounds like Jesus is saying that at least some of the people alive and walking around when he was speaking would still be alive at his second coming. This obviously wasn’t the case, and Jesus can’t just be wrong, so what else might he mean?

There are a few other ingenious suggestions. One is that the word “generation” means the present age, not literally the present generation. But then Jesus would just be saying, “this age won’t pass away until the end of the age,” Which . . . kind of goes without saying, right?

But I think a better explanation is that when Jesus says “until all has taken place” he means “all the signs that will let you know that the kingdom is near.” Jesus still has the destruction of the temple in 70 AD in mind. Notice that back in verse 28 he said that his followers would know he was near when they saw all the signs “begin” to take place, and every sign that Jesus has described in Luke 21, distress in the skies and the land, wars, persecution, and false Messiahs, all of it would begin to take place by 70 A.D., within one generation. Which means that by the time the temple was destroyed in the first century, all the necessary signs had happened, and the next thing was for Jesus to return and usher in his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. Jesus has been just around the corner for two thousand years now. Yes, the signs of the end of the age have continued to happen ever since. And yes, Scripture indicates that there will be a particularly intense round of them right before Christ’s return. But it’s also true that everything Jesus predicted about the time of the end has already happened.

Which means that Jesus has been just around the corner for almost 2000 years now. And for pretty much all of that time, people in every generation have thought that Christ was going to return in their lifetimes. It was true in the first century, it was true of some of the church fathers around the fall of Rome, and Luther thought that surely he was living in the last days. So what is the lesson, that finally after 2000 years, we have the perspective to say that Jesus likely won’t return for a while? Or maybe that after all this time, we’ve finally read the signs and know exactly when Jesus is coming? No! All those Christians were exactly right to think they were living in the end times, because they were! Just because Jesus didn’t happen to come back at any of those times, doesn’t change the fact that he could have returned at any moment during these 2000 years. So we need to be ready for anything. We should be equally ready for Christ to delay another 2000 years as for Christ to return this afternoon. Christ’s return is the next item on God’s agenda of salvation, and it will surely come, no matter how long it seems to delay. The events of the first century and the destruction of the temple proved that everything that Jesus predicted was true, and so we trust him every moment. His words will never pass away.

Watch Yourselves and Pray (34-36)

So finally, Jesus turns to tell his disciples what kind of attitude they should take in this situation where the kingdom could come at any time: “But 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. 35 For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. 36 But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

The attitude Jesus wants his disciples to have is that of watchmen on guard duty, watching out for threats and waiting for the king to return. And good watchmen never fall asleep or get drunk on duty. They conduct themselves in a disciplined way so that pleasures like sleep, drink, and food don’t distract them from their duty. Not because these things are bad, but because those things are not what they are supposed to be focused on.

C.S. Lewis has a quote from his essay, the Weight of Glory, that summarizes well how lesser goods and pleasures can very easily distract us from what is truly important: “Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

Unfortunately our modern Advent traditions encourage us to take the opposite attitude that Jesus tells us about here. I hardly need to say that the holidays are stressful; it is the perfect time to get “weighed down with cares,” but the typical holiday cares and worries are almost entirely “cares of this life” as the text puts it. They are this-worldly and materialistic, revolving almost entirely around worldly possessions, food, and drink. Got to buy presents for everyone on the list, got to plan the work Christmas party and the school Christmas party and the family Christmas party, got to bake 100 cookies and 3 cakes. It’s no wonder that in the midst of all the stress and the parties that people give their hearts to “dissipation and drunkenness” just to escape from it all. And where in all of the buying and feasting and worrying, do we find time to keep watch for what actually matters? What room is left to prepare for the arrival of Christ? It becomes an afterthought, a few church services that punctuate our Advent on Wednesday nights while our lives are directed more toward the coming of our relatives than they are toward the coming of Christ. Not that feasting and gift-giving are bad in themselves, they can be used rightly to celebrate the coming of Christ. But they aren’t the main thing. Perhaps we need to scale back and reevaluate our celebrations if they’re no longer pointing us to Christ, but distracting us from him.

A watchman has to be constantly vigilant. He has to have his eyes peeled and be ready to respond. So if Jesus wants us on guard duty, what are we looking out for? The main thing Jesus tells us to keep our eyes peeled for is opportunities to pray. Verse 36 tells us to stay awake at all times while praying. You could also put it, “stay awake and pray at every opportune moment.” Christians stay on their guard by being ready to pray whenever the chance presents itself. Just as a watchman must be ready to respond by giving a signal, ringing the bell, or blowing the horn to alert everyone to what is happening, disciples of Jesus must be ready at all times to respond to any threat or opportunity by ringing the bell of prayer, by crying out to God for help. That is how we will be strong enough to make it through and escape the present hardships. We can’t do it without God’s help, but he is always ready to answer us and give us aid.

How difficult that can be. Is prayer a reflex for you? I know that it isn’t always for me. There are times I find that I’ve been stressing about something for hours when I realize that I haven’t even thought to take the time to pray about it. I have to think some of you can relate to that. “Oh what peace we often forfeit, oh what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.” What a relief it is to be able to cast our cares on our redeemer, and at a moment’s notice to draw strength from him.

Conclusion

To return to Narnia for one more moment, just before that rhyme is recited in the book, Mr. Beaver ponders what it will look like when the White Witch has to meet Aslan: “if she can stand on her two feet and look him in the face it’ll be the most she can do and more than I expect of her.” In that last passage, Jesus says that each of us will have to stand before the Son of Man. And that would be a frightening thing if we were unprepared like the White Witch and had to rely on ourselves. But fortunately we don’t have to rely on our own strength. St. Paul tells us in Romans that for each of us servants of Christ, Romans 14:4 “It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.” Entrust yourself to Jesus, and he will bring your redemption. Don’t fear, when you stand before Jesus, you will be ready and able to stand because he is your life and your strength. Amen.