On this first Sunday of Advent, we begin our journey toward Christmas. Advent is our period of waiting and expectation for Jesus to come into the world. Jesus comes into the world as a liberator, showing a new kingdom. The kingdom of God is not like the world as we know it. But it is not in some distant future, and it is not in some far-off land.
We kick the season off with hope -- hope for all that God has done and all that God continues to do. Our readings on this Sunday help us see that our hope is not only for the future; our hope is rooted in the present, in the very places we find ourselves (see Jeremiah 33:14-16; Psalm 25:1-10; Luke 21:25-36).
I always love preaching at the start of Advent. My first public sermon was on the first Sunday of Advent almost 20 years ago. I was a young seminary student, still learning at the time. While I knew that Advent was a period of expectation for the coming Christ that we celebrate at Christmas, I was surprised at the time to learn we also look to our expectation for Christ’s return during this season. This is a theme I had somehow missed in all my previous years in worship.
Today, this juxtaposition no longer strikes me as odd. Instead, I appreciate the tension at play in this season. We know that Jesus has come into the world, and, during this season, we look ahead to the familiar stories of his birth. At the same time, we know that Jesus has promised to return, and so we look ahead with longing for a better future.
This is the same sort of longing that Jeremiah speaks of. Jeremiah speaks of a future world in which all of God’s promises will be fulfilled. Jeremiah looks to the future to find salvation for Israel, a time when God will raise up a new leader from the house of David, one who will bring righteousness and justice to the land and to the people who dwell within it. For the Hebrew people, this prophecy, as with most, is a vision of both judgement and hope. There is judgement in recognizing the ways in which we have fallen short. There is judgement on our actions in realizing the need for righteousness and justice to come into the world as if they are not already present.
For the Hebrew people of Jeremiah’s time, there is hope in the coming of God’s righteousness and justice into the world. Violently beset by their surrounding neighbors, specifically the Chaldeans at the time of Jeremiah, they looked to a future when Jerusalem and all of Judea would be safe.
But to read it only this way misses the note of judgement present in this vision as well. Where were justice and righteousness when the people came into possession of the land? Where were justice and righteousness for the people who were displaced? With that thought in mind, can we hear the same notes of both judgement and hope?
As we noted in the last few weeks, our hope in Jesus is not rooted solely in what is to come in some far off distant future. Jeremiah speaks of hope for the land, for the very place where the people are located. His is not a vision of some distant heaven; his is a vision for the place where we are. He was looking for the righteous branch that would come to “do what is just and right in the land.” Jeremiah’s vision of hope was for the land where they lived.
At first glance, Jesus makes a pronouncement about the future as well. He speaks of “the Human One coming on a cloud with power and great splendor.” It is easy to read this and think that Jesus is speaking solely of a distant time when he will return in majesty and glory. But perhaps you also recognize the similarity between today’s gospel reading and Mark’s version from two weeks ago. Indeed, our reading today is Luke’s version of the Little Apocalypse that we touched on two weeks ago in Mark 13. Here we find Jesus speaking of the signs we will see, the things that will be taking place in the world, when it is time for salvation.
Jesus speaks of all of these different signs that God’s kingdom is near. He speaks of signs in the heavens, in the sun, moon, and stars. He speaks of confusion over the roaring of the seas and the surging of the waves. He speaks of shaking in the heavens and a time that “will come upon everyone who lives on the face of the whole earth.” He wants us to recognize when God’s kingdom is near. He wants us to know when salvation is at hand.
Before anyone can question him about how we are supposed to recognize the signs, Jesus reminds us that we already know how to read the signs. While Jesus specifically refers to the fig tree, we have our own ways of recognizing the same signs. For those who garden, how do you know when spring is at hand? What are some of the signs you look for to know when it is time to plant and when it is time to harvest? For those of us who are not gardeners, what are ways we commonly look for signs of what the day may hold? I am reminded of certain folk wisdom that we may know as cute sayings or rhymes, but in fact hold some amount of truth to them. Who here knows a saying involving red skies? How about other signs that the weather is changing? Jesus reminds us that we know how to read the signs if we only pay attention.
But, as noted before, Jesus isn’t exactly talking about some far off, distant time when these things will be fulfilled. God’s kingdom is now, or at least the time for God’s kingdom is now. Jesus comes into the world to show us God's kingdom. Jesus wants us to see what that kingdom looks like and how to bring that kingdom into being here and now. He lived a life of righteousness and justice to show us what that looks like here in the world where we live, here in this land, not in some far off heaven. As with that previous reading, Jesus tells us how to recognize that it is time for the kingdom, time for salvation.
What are the signs we have today that the world is in need of justice and righteousness? Reading today’s text, it is not hard to hear the signs of global climate change as we hear about “the roaring of the sea and the surging waves.” Whether we believe the cause of the changes in the seas are man-made or not, it is hard not to recognize the sign that we need to be working for righteousness and justice for those affected.
Or what about the polluted skies that affect our view of the heavens, of the sun, moon, stars, and other planets? What does hope look like for our world today as we face these concerns? How does caring for our land provide hope for those of us who live here now?
We have hope because God is faithful. God has made promises, and God fulfills them. This is how Jeremiah was able to find hope for the people in the face of an impending invasion when so much would be destroyed. This is how Jesus is able to offer hope even in the midst of uncertainty and calamities. This is why the Psalmist seeks to walk the paths that God has laid. There is hope. But, unlike Jeremiah, we are not looking for hope in some distant unknowable future. What good is hope for a time I will never see? What good is hope for a land I will never know?
We can look around our world right now and see the people who are crying out for justice and righteousness. We know the people pleading for an end to violence and oppression. We know the people who are suffering today. Some of them are located in lands far away from our own, but we cannot turn a blind eye to the ones who are suffering here in our own lands, in our own towns, in our own neighborhoods.
Jesus reminds us that God’s kingdom is for everyone who lives on the face of the whole earth. Do we recognize the signs? Do we see the places of need? Luckily, our hope is for today. Our time is the present, and our place is here. When we stand with those who are oppressed, we make the kingdom visible and offer hope now. When we provide for the needs of those who are suffering, we make the kingdom visible and offer hope now. When we give with kindness and generosity, we make the kingdom visible and offer hope now.
While we wait with hope this season for Jesus to come into the world, let us not forget that Jesus has already come into the world. Jesus has made the kingdom of God visible, shown us what it looks like. He has told us the signs that we should look for that prove that God’s kingdom is near. And those signs are all around us, just as they ahve always been. So let us recognize the signs and live in the kingdom now so that all may know the hope that we have, hope for justice and righteousness to fill this land.