Advent 1 (2009)

Advent I Be Alert

Jesus always surprised people.

Jesus always did ordinary things in extraordinary ways. He also taught the fundamental facts of Moses and the Prophets in a very unique context. That context is truth. The truth is not a set of facts or speculations. The truth is a person. By his own personality Jesus defines truth.

By his personal presence Jesus challenges the misconceptions and distortions of what people believe about themselves, other people, the world, and God.

One of the greatest misconceptions we have about the world is that everything is all about me. It is all about asserting my will to get what I want when I want it. Jesus sets forth the correcting principle that everything is all about love. Jesus clarifies the distinction between the means and the end, the process and the goal.

Many people had come to believe Jesus was the Messiah. And that belief, at least in its outward form, was true. How they understood what the Messiah would do and who he would be was not true. From the place of self will people looked for a Messiah who would give them world conquest, wealth and power.

They missed the reality of what Moses and the prophets taught. They missed the reality of who Jesus is. They missed the reality because of their profound misconceptions about life. They missed the reality because of the fundamental distortions of reason, will and emotion. Those distortions are a consequence of original sin, the defining choice humanity made to separate from God.

The people of Israel in Jesus’ day looked forward to the final judgment with the certainty that God would punish the unrighteous and reward the righteous. With such a perspective, it became important to know who was righteous and who was not. All of the images Jesus uses in the passage were widely known to the people of Israel.

Signs in the sun, and moon and stars were expected. Wars and rumors of wars were common. Distress and fear were normal.

What was different in Jesus telling of the story was the conclusion.

For many if not most people the conclusion was: therefore obey the law and God will not allow these things to happen to you. If you do the right things you will escape God’s punishment. Those who fail to do the right things will suffer the calamities of God’s last judgment.

Jesus teaches something very different. He teaches that the wars and rumors of wars do not come from God. He teaches that earthquakes, floods and natural disasters are not divine punishment. For these things happen to everyone, the good and the bad, the just and the unjust, the righteous and the unrighteous.

Nevertheless, despite these terrible calamities, God is working his purpose out. His purpose is not to use the calamities as punishment. His purpose is not to favor one group of people over all others. God’s purpose is far more sweeping in its magnitude and all encompassing in it scope.
God’s purpose in Jesus Christ is to restore all people and all of creation to the fulness of unconditional love.

Many people in Jesus day looked forward to the final jusgment, the last days, with a mixture of fear and anticipation. They wrote books that speculated how it would all work out. They created charts and graphs to set the times when it would happen. Some even stored weapons and food so that they would remain safe and be able to conquer the survivors.

That isn’t the point. That isn’t the plan.

Jesus told the people that all of these things that they attributed to God’s wrath in the final judgment would take place in their generation. Every generation faces all of these catastrophes. The point of the stories about the final judgment and the last days is that every generation could easily be the last generation.

Every generation could easily be the last generation because every generation asserts the will to power that says "my will be done". Wars come from people not God. The effects of natural disasters are magnified when people ignore the obvious signs of natural law. In a world of abundance large numbers of people suffer starvation and privation because a smaller number of people desire to be rich and powerful.

The Plan, God’s Plan, is to restore a lost, lonely and broken humanity to the source of life. That source is a person: Jesus Christ. That person reveals himself as unconditional love.

Jesus teaches about the final judgment in the last days from the context of the Plan of Salvation. This teaching is not designed to frighten us. It is not designed to satisfy our curiosity about the future. It is not about who God will reward and who God will punish.

The teaching is for the liberation of our minds, hearts and wills from the deceits of self will, fear and pride. The teaching directs us to the personal relationship God has offered all people everywhere in Jesus Christ.

So, Jesus encourages in these words: be alert at all times. Pay attention. Stay conscious. Do not be led astray by false teachers. Do not be distracted by either the pleasures or pain that we will encounter in this world. Do not live you life by default, simply following the pattern set by the surrounding culture.

Wake up. Use you eye to see. Use your ears to hear. Observe the world as it is. Pay attention. Through prayer, immerse your soul in the eternal unconditional love of God.

Jesus’ teaching is designed to offer us the best possible way to live our lives here and now. The ability to live that best possible way starts at the baptismal font. It is nourished at the altar. It is made real to us as we hear the word of God, believe the word of God and then ask God for the strength and courage to live the word of God.

The word of God for us on this first Sunday of Advent is "be alert at all times". At all times, make a real choice to live in the divine presence of Jesus Christ. Be who God has created you to be. Be who Jesus has redeemed you to be. Be who the Holy Spirit empowers you to be. Be the love of God manifesting in this time and at this place in your soul.