Prepare to Be Surprised

 "About that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."  "Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming."   Matthew 24:36, 42

 The season of Advent always begins with passages that contain what we might call "warnings" of the coming end times and Day of the Lord.  Beginning with the first generation of Christians, and subsequently with every generation since, Christians have anticipated the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

 Certainly in our day and age there has been no shortage of speculation as to the Lord’s return. In the last 30 years books dealing with the subject of the second-coming and the consummation of history perpetually lead Christian book sales charts year in and year out.  Many of these writings attempt to pin-point on the calendar the times of seasons of such things to take place.  It seems to feed a deep-seeded need we apparently have to know about such things.

 I'll be honest with you. I have some real problems with such speculative writing for a couple of reasons. 

 First, such speculation is in direct conflict with Jesus' repeated imperatives that it is not for us to know such things. In today's gospel he says, "About that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, not the Son, but only the Father."  (translated into the vernacular, "It's none of your business.")

 In Acts, chapter 1 Jesus tells his disciples who were doing some speculating of their own, "It is not for you to know the times and the seasons that the Father has set by his own authority." (translated into the vernacular, "It's none of your business, and God the Father isn't going to consult with you about it first.")

 Second, such speculation is nothing short of an attempt to play God.  It is not information that God intends for us to be privy to.  It is information that we simply cannot handle.  What’s really frightening is that I have even heard a few contemporary “speculators” imply that perhaps God’s hand could even be forced in some way by the United States taking certain kinds of political actions and advancing certain militaristic strategies in the Middle East.  That is a very dangerous and frightening course of action, and again I repeat that such speculation is nothing more than an attempt to play God!

 In 1972 on my 24^th birthday the kids in my youth group planned a surprise birthday party for me.  The plan was that Marcia would take me out to dinner and then come home to our apartment at a designated time.  The youth would be hiding out in our apartment, which was the second level of an old two-story flat.  I was supposed to come in the front door and then be surprised by the group hiding in the back of the house.  Everybody was in on it, even the elderly couple who lived downstairs below us. 

 The problem was I found out ahead of time.  I became privy to information I was not supposed to know and, in an attempt to be clever, I didn't handle it very well.  By the time we arrived at the apartment I already knew that there were 25-30 youth hiding out upstairs, but I didn’t let on.  I was supposed to walk in the front door, but instead as we got out of the car, I made up an excuse to go to the back door.  As I walked down the driveway I heard a faint voice echo from above me, "Oh no, he's going to the back door!"  I suddenly heard the rumbling of many feet stampeding to the front of the apartment.  When I got to the back door, I turned right around and came down the driveway back toward the front the house.  Once again I heard a faint shout, "He's going back to the front", accompanied by another rumble of stampeding feet. 

 By the time I finally did walk in the front door I had pretty much thrown their surprise into chaos. 

 The point is I became privy to information that was not mine to know - and in knowing it I injected my stupid agenda.  Who was I to spoil the surprise?  Instead of letting those wonderful youth have their day, I put my agenda before theirs. Looking back on it I regret it.  Not knowing would have been so much better! 

 Knowledge about the times and seasons of the Lord’s return is something we are not know or speculate about.  The stage of history is filled with the debris of failed attempts.  It was something that was very much alive and well in the late first and second centuries as well.  Even in those times, expecting the “end times” had become a pitfall for some of the most fervently faithful. Enthusiastic “speculators” would carefully calculate the precise day when they believed the Lord would return, only to have the world go on with alarming normalcy when the expected day dawned. Sometimes the result was that faith was crushed and entire faith communities disbanded in disarray when the predicted end days became simply another day.

Down through history there have been many other examples.  On October 23, 1844 thousands of Christians sold their earthly possessions, dressed in white robes, climbed to the tops of the highest mountains and hills they could find and waited for Jesus to return. They had been told by a man named William Miller, a farmer from western New York who claimed to be an authority on such matters, that this was the date of Jesus' return based on his study of the Scriptures.  When it didn’t happen, he announced a calculation error. He said the real date was six months later, which also came and went - as did his followers who went . . . away . . . for good.

Jesus' words this morning warn us against such idle speculations. That’s not the role, not the mindset, not the heart-set that Jesus wants his followers to have. Jesus knew that any faith community that became obsessed with such things wouldn’t be about anything else – it would consume them and obsess them to the point of paralysis; to the point of playing God; to the point of forsaking their mission and ministry – and history has certainly proved that to be true.

Instead of speculating Jesus charges his disciples to “keep awake” and to “be ready.”  But what does it mean to “keep awake” and “be ready” if it doesn’t mean sitting around speculating upon the times of seasons of such things?

We get a clear indication of what it means to “keep awake” in the verses that immediately follow this passage in Matthew.   Jesus tells a little parable about a slave put in charge of things when the master is away.  Jesus says, the wise slave would be the one “whom his master will find at work when arrives.”   Contrarily the wicked slave would be the one who says, “’The master is delayed,’ and then beats his fellow slaves and eats and drinks with drunkards.”

When I was a child every Christmas Eve our family would live with an underlying expectation.  We would prepare to be surprised.  Let me explain.  One of my Dad’s brother’s Uncle Frank, disappeared on Christmas Eve when I was less than a year old.  It was a family belief that someday Frank would return home, and when he did it would be on Christmas Eve.  We never talked much about it with each other, but every Christmas Eve that underlying expectation was rekindled that maybe, just maybe this year Frank would return.    We didn’t sit around and twiddle our thumbs doing nothing waiting for Frank to come through the door every Christmas Eve, but rather we went about our business of celebrating and worshipping Christmas.  But I do believe that each one of us lived with this quiet underlying expectation, so much so that if Frank would have walked through the door, we had already prepared ourselves to be surprised.

To this day when the Jews share the Passover meal a place is set and an empty chair is left for Elijah who they believe will arrive to announce the imminence of the messiah’s arrival.  They are prepared to be surprised!

Actually the return of our Lord Jesus Christ is not about an ending.  I know we call it the “end times.”  But we’ve got that all wrong.  We tend to think of it as an ending, but it’s not.  The return of our Lord Jesus Christ is all about “beginning times,” - a new beginning, a new beginning for the whole creation. 

The Good News is that Christ has already come, and with his first arrival he brought the kingdom of God so very close and personal:  announcing forgiveness of sins, reconciliation and new life; healing the sick; feeding the hungry; loving the unlovable; His living presence in our lives; new beginnings.  He also promised to come again and it will bring another new glorious new beginning. 

Meanwhile we live between His two arrivals.  As His disciples we are called to witness to how his first arrival has precipitated new beginnings for us right now.  How has the first arrival of Jesus Christ made a difference to you?  So what are you to do?  You are called to share how His love and grace have made a difference in your life; how you’ve been healed; how you’ve been empowered; how you’ve been given new purpose for living.

He doesn’t desire for us to travel to the top of Mt Evans and wait for his arrival.  Rather he expects us to go to the darkest valleys where His light is needed and wait there: and while we wait to proclaim forgiveness, feed the hungry; love the unlovable; and work for justice and peace in the earth; let his light shine in the darkness. 

And the whole time (and this is so cool) to live with an underlying expectation that he will come.  He will come right now into our ordinary days to create these surprising little daily new beginnings that we so desperately need to drive away the doubt, darkness and death that creeps in each day.  These surprising daily new beginnings only empower us to live with the underlying expectation that he will come again in a final and glorious way, to create a final new beginning the likes of which we cannot even begin to imagine.

We should never be about the business of predicting the Lord’s coming.  But we should expect His coming.  Predicting and expecting His coming - they are not the same thing.

Predicting has everything to do with me; how well I calculate; how smart I am; how I like to play God.

Expecting has everything to do with God; how God makes good on His promises to come; and when God comes to always surprise us with new beginnings.  Expecting is preparing to be surprised.

My Dear Friends:  It is Advent.  Get ready.  Keep Awake!  Prepare to be surprised!