Of Preparation and Abomination

Sermon

Happy Advent! Welcome to the season of joy and anticipation! Did the Gospel make you feel blessed and comfortable and at peace like a cup of hot cocoa, some jazz Christmas music, and a lit tree?

No?

How do we read this week’s passage?

The story usually goes something about the return of Christ in the second coming or παρουσια (Parousia), the end of days, when we shall all be raised in our bodies and Christ will “come again to judge the living and the dead”.

But what is its context in the Gospel of Matthew, in Jesus’ teaching itself, and in the time when the gospel was written?

You don’t have to reach much beyond the scripture to find it’s actually part of something bigger, part of Jesus helping contextualize his advent and his return as part of the larger scope of world events. We can start by reading this passage along with some of the almost 2 entire chapters of Matthew leading up to it that are left out entirely of our regular lectionary (church reading) cycles.

So that’s what we’re going to do. I’ll read a section of Matthew 23-24 and then reflect briefly (I promise I’ll keep them brief) before moving on, skipping some sections for time but trying to get a feel for everything. We’ll pause a little longer when we get back to today’s reading to answer three questions: Why do we start looking toward Bethlehem and Jesus’ birth with this? What did Jesus mean with these parables? And what do they tell us for today?

If it helps you (as it does me) to read while listening, feel free to grab the Bible in your pew or pull out your phone and look up a Bible app or website. I’ll be starting at Matthew 23:13 and reading from the NRSV updated edition.

This monologue started with Jesus teaching the “crowds and … his disciples” to avoid ostentatious religion (like the scribes and the Pharisees) and practice what you teach. “All who exalt themselves will be humbled,” Jesus teaches, “and all who humble themselves will be exalted.” We continue with verse 13-15.

Matthew 23:13–15 NRSVue

“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you lock people out of the kingdom of heaven. For you do not go in yourselves, and when others are going in you stop them., Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cross sea and land to make a single convert, and you make the new convert twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.

Do not expend your energy trying to “evangelize” if neither your life nor your teachings comport with the truth. Skipping to verses 23-24:

Matthew 23:23–24 NRSVue

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel!

Bringing a dozen cookies to church (or soup to every Advent supper) doesn’t resolve your unwillingness to follow Christ’s teachings. Verses 25-36:

Matthew 23:25–28 NRSVue

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and of the plate, so that the outside also may become clean. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful but inside are full of the bones of the dead and of all kinds of uncleanness. So you also on the outside look righteous to others, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

Matthew 23:29–36 NRSVue

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous, and you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ Thus you testify against yourselves that you are descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your ancestors. You snakes, you brood of vipers! How can you escape the judgment of hell? For this reason I send you prophets, sages, and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town, so that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. Truly I tell you, all this will come upon this generation.

Looking to the past and longing for simpler days is a ruse or a distraction. Every generation has its prophets, and every generation rejects them. Verses 37-39:

Matthew 23:37–39 NRSVue

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you, desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’ ”

I have desired to gather your children. In Chapter 23, Jesus leveled his critiques at the religious leaders and practices of the time. That’s probably a good enough reason we dislike hearing it. Jesus here also predict the triumphal entry on Palm Sunday, but as a contrast to how he and the prophets are treated at other times.

Matthew 24:1–2 NRSVue

As Jesus came out of the temple and was going away, his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. Then he asked them, “You see all these, do you not? Truly I tell you, not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.”

Pastor Joel has often reminded us, prophecy is less foretelling and more forth-telling. That is, as we turn to apocalyptic predictions, we should consider how they spoke to the context in which Matthew was writing.

Many modern scholars believe Matthew was written or compiled in the years following the destruction of the second Temple in Jerusalem (70 c.e.) and the accompanying persecution and killing of tens of thousands of Jews. Others date it earlier to around 50 c.e., when the persecution was already beginning and the signs of something bigger were visible.

Hold onto that thought for a minute, as we read verses 3-14:

Matthew 24:3–14 NRSVue

When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” Jesus answered them, “Beware that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Messiah!’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places: all this is but the beginning of the birth pangs. “Then they will hand you over to be tortured and will put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of my name. Then many will fall away, and they will betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because of the increase of lawlessness, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world, as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

Put yourself in the shoes of someone experiencing persecution at the hands of the most efficient and powerful army the world had ever seen. Today, that would be the equivalent of your city and specifically your church being sacked by the US military.

What would you need to hear? The same kind of things we look for in any great loss: a way to make sense of why something is happening now and hope looking toward the future. Jesus’ words here do both - they foretell widespread destruction and a turning away from the greatest commandments - “the love of many will grow cold.” But also “the one who endures to the end will be saved” and “this good news… will be proclaimed throughout the world… and then the end will come.”

The failure of second temple Jewish nationalism is not the end. Jesus decouples the politics of Israel from the fate of God’s people. Let’s go on with verses 15-28:

Matthew 24:15–28 NRSVue

“So when you see the desolating sacrilege, spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then those in Judea must flee to the mountains; the one on the housetop must not go down to take things from the house; the one in the field must not turn back to get a coat. Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing infants in those days! Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath. For at that time there will be great suffering, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. And if those days had not been cut short, no one would be saved, but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look! Here is the Messiah!’ or ‘There he is!’—do not believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and produce great signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. Take note, I have told you beforehand. So, if they say to you, ‘Look! He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look! He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever the corpse is, there the eagles will gather.

The desolating sacrilege (or the abomination of desolation) is prophesied in the book of Daniel. The sacrilege part came in not only with the sacking of Jerusalem and the temple but the entry of pagan Romans into the temple and their intentional contamination of it with (non-Jewish) sacrifices. When, after a long siege, the Roman army entered Jerusalem, pausing for any reason could endanger your life further.

Jewish people, especially those who didn’t accept Christ as messiah, would have been looking for a political savior, someone ready to lead God’s people to reclaim what they had been promised by God. That’s what they thought they were getting on Palm Sunday too (and what the authorities were worried about when they were considering whether he should be executed).

Instead (and next) we start to get to the actual return of Christ, at least in terms of some apocalyptic description, starting in verse 29:

Matthew 24:29–31 NRSVue

“Immediately after the suffering of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven will be shaken. “Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see ‘the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven’ with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Jesus is returning to gather up the saved. The expectation likely would have been initially that it was tightly coupled with the events of 70 c.e. But Daniel and Matthew can also be read as connecting a series of events that started unfolding a couple of hundred years before Christ, had a major unfolding in the destruction of Jerusalem, and were to be brought to fulness sometime after. Continuing with 32-25:

Matthew 24:32–35 NRSVue

“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 all these things, 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. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

He is near. He is at the gates. This generation will not pass away. The lesson of the fig tree is to be prepared, but for when? Verses 36 and 37:

Matthew 24:36–37 NRSVue

“But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

For when, it turns out, is the wrong question. Be prepared because you don’t know when he will return.

Matthew 24:38–44 NRSVue

For as in the days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so, too, will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two will be in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken, and one will be left. Keep awake, therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

The urgency and surprise are emphasized by the imagery of people of similar social status working together and one is “taken” and the other “left”. Certainly Evangelicals have emphasize this kind of dynamics in the idea of a rapture where the faithful are suddenly taken up into heaven and only the unfaithful left behind (though who is taken isn’t specified here).

What’s more helpful is thinking through what’s going on with the discussion about the time of Noah. First of all, it suggests this isn’t all tied up tightly with the destruction of Jerusalem, because people are going about their daily business.

But past that, notice that here the emphasis isn’t on the sinfulness of people in Noah’s time. It is only on this: the flood came when they were going about their daily lives. The question isn’t “are we living up to God’s standards?” We’re more like the scribes and Pharisees of chapter 23 than we’d like to admit, and we definitely show our sinfulness.

The question of us is “are we ready?” and we really want to reply “just say when and we’ll get ready.”

Almost every workout, one of the coaches in my VR fitness app reminds us one thing: “If you stay ready, you don’t gotta get ready.”

That is the first part of Jesus’ answer to the disciples’ question way back in verse 3: “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

Stay ready. if Jesus comes back tomorrow, we will be going about things like normal. Our normal can be like the scribes, Pharisees, and hypocrite Jesus warns off - or we can seek to prepare our hearts for Christ’s return in a spirit of humble service.

In Jesus’ time, this might have meant to stay ready for experiences of his death, of the time between his ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit, and for the persecution to come at the hands of the Romans.

In Matthew’s time, it was simultaneously a recalibration (decoupling the expectation of messiah’s return from the experience of Jerusalem’s fall) and a reminder to keep awake.

The warnings of these 2 chapters - both the accusations leveled at the religious leaders and the cautions for vigilance - are a lot.

But there’s also the seed of the Gospel here. Reread verse 43-44:

Matthew 24:43–44 NRSVue

But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

On its surface the parable is just another warning to stay vigilant. But there’s a difference. Who can stay awake all night every night? No one. And yet, the Son of man will “gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (v. 31).

Jesus came as a Jew and as a subject of the Roman empire, and was persecuted by both. But Jesus came for everyone, from one end of heaven to the other. By the time Matthew was written, the gospel was indeed spreading in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth but like the Jews in Jerusalem, the early Christians too were experiencing persecution from many sides.

We, fellow children of God, should hear God’s exhortation in these chapters.

First, to live faithful and honest lives, not like the hypocrites but like those who remained steadfast and faithful in the midst of one of the great persecutions of all time.

And second, to stay ready, to go about our regular lives in a way that they are influenced through and by God’s Word, not just getting ready to pretty up our faiths and serve some meals to poor folk over Christmas or dress in our Sunday best for Christmas Eve, but living simple, straighforward lives of faith every day - loving God, loving neighbors, and sharing the message of love and hope that is the gospel with those around us.

We will inevitably fail, though, even if it’s not as dramatic as the Cabbage Patch Kids tramplings or video game system black Friday brawls of years past. And even in the midst of weird prophecy about abominations and desolation and the destruction of the temple - there is gospel.

We just need to stop worrying about how soon the rapture will be or when to be on our best behavior and instead look to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who died for us and was raised again, just as Noah’s family and the animals survived the flood and repopulated the earth, now with the sign of the rainbow.

Advent is a season of preparation. I challenge you this Advent to spend a little less energy preparing for the Christmas lights and the gifts and the holiday feasts. Find a discipline that helps you practice being ready. Because while Jesus might return in glory at any time, we don’t have to wait for that. Jesus is here, all around us in Christiansburg, Virginia. If we are alert, we will see him in the faces, the pain, the joy, the hope, the disappointment, and the love of those around us, both those closest to us and those we hardly know. Living in the firm conviction of the Gospel, strengthened by the signs of the sacraments of baptism and communion, we can become the signs of Jesus coming, the answer to the disciples question: What will be the sign?

But only if we stay alert.

Thanks be to God.