I remember it as if it
was yesterday. I was a small boy still living in Ohio where I was born.
It was just this time of year. I thought I was alone in that part of the
house. I opened the door and looked in. Suddenly, I was startled by the
voice of my mother who said to me lightheartedly yet challengingly:
What are you doing in that closet?
I can still hear her voice echoing in my memory, especially this time
of year. What was she concerned about? Why was she so suspicious of me?
Well, my mother knew that there were only two possible reasons I would
have any business at all being in that closet at this time of year. The
first (and probably most likely!) possibility was that I was peeking for
presents to see if any were hidden there for me, right? The only other
possibility, remote at best but still a possibility, was that I was in
that closet not to peek to see if there was something there for me but
that I was in there hiding a present I intended for someone else. Now I
told you that second possibility was kind of remote! As a matter of fact,
if I answered her question just that way I think I can still hear in my
memory her disbelieving laugh and sense the lighthearted force of her
presence as she shoed me out of the room. I remember it as if it was
yesterday, especially this time of year.
You see, I thought I
was alone in that part of the house…until I was surprised by the sound of
my mother’s voice. I just wasn’t ready for that.
At this time of year,
at the season of Advent, the church helps you prepare for the coming of
Christ at Christmas. The Gospel this morning encourages you to be ready.
The Epistle today declares
Now is the time for you to wake from sleep.
Jesus says,
Keep awake, therefore, for you do not know on what day your
Lord is coming.
He says,
On that day two will be in the field; one will be taken and
one will be left.
Who will be ready, the Scripture demands, for the reign of God that is
surely coming when, as Isaiah declares,
They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears
into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither
shall they learn war anymore.
Will you be ready?
You see, the surprising question my
mother asked me when I was young was all in fun yet it was also one of
those early, brief, tiny tests of character for me—the kind of experiences
that eventually add up to a life. In that snapshot moment I either had my
head in that closet because I was peeking to see what was in there for me
or I was hiding something I intended to give to someone else. The tiny
test of character for me right then turned on the answer to the
question—“what are you doing?”--was I peeking or hiding? Was I looking
out for me or was I securing a gift for someone else?—Was the focus of my
attention just then on me or on another?—Was I hoping to receive or trying
to give?
Now, don’t let me make
too much of this this morning, for one tiny test of character does not
determine a life. But allow me to use these ideas of peeking and hiding,
drawn from an event in my own life, as a symbol of a much more broad and
important issue which the Scripture addresses directly in this season of
Advent.
What are you doing?
Are you peeking or hiding? When your Lord surprises you in your life,
which he has been known to do from time to time, which he will do again
this Christmas, and which he will surely do at the last, when your Lord
surprises you in your life and asks you, “What are you doing…?”, will he
find you peeking or hiding? Will you be thinking only of yourself or will
the burdens and needs of others be foremost in your mind? Will you be
looking everywhere you can for whatever you can get for yourself or will
you be right in the middle of an act of mercy or justice or love? Will
your empty heart be caught in an endless cycle of acquiring and getting
and possessing things that will never satisfy or will he find your life
already full of love, joy, and peace because by your giving you have
already found what really matters?
That’s the thing about
your Lord, you see. You never know when he’s coming. Oh, he is with you
always, of course, but there are moments in life, aren’t there, when your
true character is tested, when life really counts for something? There
are those totally unpredictable times at school, at home, at work, at
church, those moments that just don’t keep to a schedule, as a friend, or
as a parent, or as a spouse, or as an adult child of an older parent,
times and moments when you respond to a crisis, or need to make a decision
or react to an issue that raises itself at just the wrong time. You never
know when those moments are coming—that’s when your Lord is right there
surprising you with his presence. He asks you,
What are you doing?
What will he find you doing? It really does
become a question of character. Will you be at your best or at your
worst? Will you be taken or will you be left? Do you grow another step
in your spiritual maturity or are you left further and further behind?
We’re talking about
life here. Life as God made it in the beginning. Life that we squandered
and lost. Life that Jesus cam to bring again. Life that he died for.
Life that lasts forever. Life that God will finally restore to all
creation.
When he comes will you
be ready? When Jesus brings that life to you in all the fullness of his
presence, are you ready? The Scripture is clear, You are either ready or
you’re not. There are only two options for you. You will either be
already living that life so that you welcome its coming and are readily
accepted into the presence of the kingdom of God or that life will seem so
strange to you that you just won’t fit. The very next chapter of the
Gospel of Matthew provides a detailed description of the ones who are
taken as well as the ones who are left. It is those who have fed,
visited, housed, clothes, and cared for the least of Jesus’ brothers and
sisters and, therefore, did those things for him that are taken. Those
who only looked after themselves are the ones who are left behind. You
see, if you don’t live that life right now, how in the world will you even
be comfortable in a creation that is restored to be that way all the
time? It really does become a question of character—if you don’t live
that life right now, if your life is not intent on growing in grace
through acts of mercy, love, and justice, then God won’t have to forcibly
exclude you from the Kingdom, you just won’t fit. Are your ready?
Paul tell the Romans
Be ready for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour
At this season of the
year, don’t you sense and especially encourage the movement of the Spirit
of God among us? Jesus is always with us, but in Advent we really focus
our spiritual attention on our Lord who promises to come to us now.
You really don’t know the precise day or hour but make no mistake, he is
coming. He is coming and he will find in you even the slightest
inclination, any act of kindness, and by his grace cause love to grow in
you until the image of God in which you were created is fully restored to
the very center of your life, if you’ll let him. He is coming and he will
take every kind-hearted spirit, every act of mercy, every deed of justice,
every moment of love he can find in the world and by his grace grow again
in all creation the life God gave in the beginning, if you’ll let him.
I remember it as if it
was yesterday, especially this time of year. I was startled by a voice
that asked,
What are you doing…?
What about you? He is coming, you know! Are you ready?
