Advent 2

About a month ago, the Epistle reading was the famous section from Ephesians where Saint Paul talks about the armor of God. The helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the sword of the spirit and so on. At the end of it, Paul says that the purpose of all this is so that, when the battle is over in this world, when you are taken out of the church militant, that you would still be standing, that you would be part of the church triumphant. That you would not lose your faith as the war rages around you. Back in the days of ancient Sparta, there was a saying – come back with your shield, or on it. It meant that you should either come back from war triumphant, carrying your weapons and armor, or you should come back, having given your last breath to fight for your city, being dragged home, laying on your shield because you are dead. The idea of prisoners of war is a relatively new one. Getting captured generally meant death. Prisoners were only kept at the discretion of the ruler. In other words, your only hope if you were captured in warfare was that the king was having a really good day. Otherwise, that was it for you. To be standing at he end of a battle meant that you had survived victorious. To stand at the end means you have won. Fighting a battle in this world and then standing, is no great accomplishment compared to standing in the presence of Christ.

Luke tells the story of Jesus transfiguration, when his face shown like the sun. We are told that all three of the disciples with him – Peter James and John, fell down on the ground. That’s a fairly common response when the glory of heaven breaks through to earth. When the Angel Gabriel appears to Zechariah, we are told he was afraid. To the Blessed Virgin Mary, he has to say, do not be afraid. The shepherds on the hillside, keeping watch over their flock by night, are sore afraid. The angels have to tell them – no, it’s OK, this is good news. The angels always have to announce – don’t worry, you aren’t in trouble, this is God bringing salvation. Good news. (Which is what Gospel means – good news.) The reaction to angels is generally lying flat out on the ground. When an angel appears, it isn’t the time to try and stand your ground. It’s time to hit the ground.

And yet, Jesus here says, “be able to stand before the Son of Man.” Now that would be something to see. Jesus returning in glory isn’t going to be like an angel appearing. It’s more like the entire angelic host. Think of it this way – you wouldn’t want to meet an angry Marine in a dark ally. But you wouldn’t want to go up against the entire marine corps anywhere. One angel, and people are afraid, falling down to the ground. When Jesus returns, he will be preceded by the whole angelic host. But the armies of angels still won’t be the most frightening thing.

When God gives the Revelation to Saint John – the last book of the bible, the first things John sees is Jesus enthroned in glory. No mask, no filter, no light shining through a small crack between heaven and earth, no reflected glory. John sees Jesus on his throne in the full majesty of his glory. The angels – the same sort of ones that made the shepherds sore afraid, get scant mention compared to Jesus. Johns reaction is not to fall down on his face. We are told he fell down as if dead. The sight of his Lord literally knocked him off his feet. And this was the disciple who reclined with him at the last supper, the beloved disciple.

So, when Jesus says, “pray that you will have strength to stand before the son of Man.” You kind of have to ask yourself, what are the odds? Jesus talks about hearts failing, the Old testament reading talks about stubble burned. These are not images that give you a lot of confidence. Jesus lists the things that make men’s hearts fail them. Signs in the heavens, distress on the earth, as Jesus says elsewhere, wars and rumors of wars. You look around, and you see how bad the world is getting, and you think, “This could be it.” It’s scary to think of what might be coming in this world. It’s scary to think of the problems and troubles you are going to have to face as time goes on. It gets hard. It’s easy to get tired and weary. And it’s easy to be afraid of what’s coming. But the things of this world can’t even compare to the fear of having an angel appear. Which is again nothing compared to looking at Jesus in his glory. And we are told that we are expected to stand when he returns.

It’s likely to be possible. How do you stand before the entire glory of God revealed, as the seas boil and the earth melts away? Jesus tells us how: Don’t let your hearts be weighed down by the cares of this world, don’t get distracted by the things of this world, don’t fall into sin. In our sin we can’t even do the first one – not getting weighed down with the cares of this world; you can’t avoid it sometimes. The cares of this world can be pretty hard to deal with.

So, what chance do we have? The answer is in the collect for the day, “Stir up our hearts, O Lord, to make ready the way of your only begotten son.” Last week we asked that God would stir up his power and come. Now we pray that our hearts would be stirred up, that we would be ready for Christ to return. If you are going to stand in the presence of Christ, you aren’t going to stand on your own merits, you are going to stand on his. You aren’t going to stand because of your own strength, you are going to stand because of his.

That’s the way it works. That’s the only way it works. Christ has to take your sins away, if you are going to stand. If you are going to stand on your own, you will not stand. You can only have your sins taken away if Christ takes them. If you want to take them, they will be yours, not his. If you say, NO I’m going to hold onto these” then you will hold onto them, and then your sins will stay with you even into eternity, and you will not stand before the Son of man. If you want to keep one or two of your sins, held close to you, privately, so no one knows, you will find judgment on the day when everything that is hidden is revealed. God will put an abrupt end to your little game.

Todays Gospel reading, like all of Advent, is a warning to repent of your sin, and turn to Christ. He has taken your sins away. Turn away from those sins, let him have them. Stop holding onto your favorite sins. Because if you don’t let him have them, then you are stuck with them. He took them all away when he died for you on the cross. They are swallowed up in his death. The only way for them to be remembered on the final day, is if you have take them back from him. You have to despise the gift of forgiveness so much, that you tear those sins from Jesus and take them onto your self again. That’s why we have penitential seasons like Advent. So that you have a chance to repent of your sin – to turn from your sin and let Jesus take those sins away from you. That’s why he came in the first place. Not to be a judge who frightens, a judge who condemns, but to be the savior from sin. To take those sins away. To give you a new life, holy and righteous in his sight.

And to those who believe on his name, who repent, who turn away from their sin, he has good news. When the news of the world is desperate, when people are fainting with fear of what is coming, when they are panicking, and the world is going crazy, then know that your redemption is near. Jesus is coming, and when things in the this world get unbearable, it means his return is immanent. So, he says, don’t worry about the fear around you. Don’t get caught up in the world. Rather, lift up your heads. Don’t fall to the ground in fear and sadness over what the world is doing to you, lift up your heads. Stand proudly, because Your redemption is near. You don’t need to go around with your face dragging in the dirt, because the one who took your sin away is returning. He overcame the world by his death, and he has overcome death by His resurrection. And he has promised, He will come back for you. That’s the good news. And to those who repent, who turn from their sin and trust in Jesus to save them, your sins are taken away, your guilt atoned for, you are given life, you are strengthened so that when that day comes, you will stand before your lord, not because of your fine efforts, but because he has made you righteous, he has given you the strength to stand. May God grant to each of you repentance that leads to life, the strength to endure to the end, and the grace to stand before his presence when he returns in glory. Come Lord Jesus, and take us to be with you. Amen.