A Sermon for the Sunday Before Christ the King
Isaiah 65:17-25
17 For I am about to create new heavens
and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered
or come to mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice forever
in what I am creating,
for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy
and its people as a delight.
19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem
and delight in my people;
no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it
or the cry of distress.
20 No more shall there be in it
an infant who lives but a few days
or an old person who does not live out a lifetime,
for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth,
and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed.
21 They shall build houses and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 They shall not build and another inhabit;
they shall not plant and another eat,
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
23 They shall not labor in vain
or bear children for calamity,
for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord—
and their descendants as well.
24 Before they call I will answer,
while they are yet speaking I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together;
the lion shall eat straw like the ox,
but the serpent—its food shall be dust!
They shall not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain,
says the Lord.
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Isaiah 12
12 You will say on that day:
“I will give thanks to you, O Lord,
for though you were angry with me,
your anger turned away,
and you comforted me.
2 Surely God is my salvation;
I will trust and will not be afraid,
for the Lord is my strength and my might;
he has become my salvation.”
3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. 4 And you will say on that day:
“Give thanks to the Lord;
call on his name;
make known his deeds among the nations;
proclaim that his name is exalted.
5 Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously;
let this be known in all the earth.
6 Shout aloud and sing for joy, O royal Zion,
for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”
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II Thessalonians 3:6-13
6 Now we command you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from every brother or sister living irresponsibly and not according to the tradition that they received from us. 7 For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us; we were not irresponsible when we were with you, 8 and we did not eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day so that we might not burden any of you. 9 This was not because we do not have that right but in order to give you an example to imitate. 10 For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: anyone unwilling to work should not eat. 11 For we hear that some of you are living irresponsibly, mere busybodies, not doing any work. 12 Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. 13 Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right.
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Luke 21:5-19
5 When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, 6 “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.”
7 They asked him, “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?” 8 And he said, “Beware that you are not led astray, for many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is near!’ Do not go after them.
9 “When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified, for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.” 10 Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom; 11 there will be great earthquakes and in various places famines and plagues, and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.
12 “But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. 13 This will give you an opportunity to testify. 14 So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance, 15 for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. 16 You will be betrayed even by parents and siblings, by relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. 17 You will be hated by all because of my name. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 By your endurance you will gain your souls.
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Last Sunday, and then again this Sunday, we have had scripture readings that talk about the end times – the last days. This may seem a bit strange at this time of year, when we are getting ready for Thanksgiving and being bombarded by Christmas commercials, to stop and think about when it’s all going to end. Why are we reading scriptures about the end of the world at this time of year?
These scriptures are given to us in the lectionary for today, for this Sunday, because next Sunday is Christ the King Sunday. And Christ can’t be crowned King until after the great tribulation. This is what Jesus’ story has been building up to all year. We’ve been reading our way through the Gospel of Luke this year , and listening to what Jesus taught when he was here on earth, in order to be ready for this day.
A week from today we will celebrate the crowning of King Jesus, and on that day we will catch a vision of what God’s Kingdom will be like – when the one we love, and the one who loves us better than anyone else, is seated on heaven’s throne and ushers in the new heaven and the new earth.
And then two weeks from today we begin telling Jesus’ story all over again from the beginning, on the first Sunday of Advent.
Today brings us to the fulfillment of God’s plans and promises from long ago (in our passage from Isaiah) and from not quite so long ago (in our passage from Luke). As we turn to the scriptures, we will hear words of joy, and words of warning, and probably some words that will surprise us even though we know the story well.
Starting with Isaiah: the Old Testament prophet describes in beautiful poetry a world reborn. A world full of joy and delight where there is no more pain and no more sorrow. This is what we’re heading for; this is what we were made for; this is God’s world restored to what it was meant to be. In a way this is “a ‘new exodus’ – an exodus out of slavery to the powers of this world that destroy and steal and kill;” an exodus into a world where God’s will is done, and everything is beauty and peace.
God gives these words to Isaiah: “I will delight in my people… no more shall the sound of weeping be heard, or a cry of distress; no more will a child live only a few days or an old person not live out their lifetime… they shall build houses… they shall plant vineyards… [and] they shall not labor in vain…”. Whatever God’s people work for, or hope for, will be theirs.
As we listen to these words, our minds may have a hard time picturing a world like this. We have become so used to living in a world where people are sick, or abused, or in pain, or gunned down in the streets. In God’s new world no one will ever be in danger, no one ever will be hungry, no one will ever be excluded, no tree will ever wither, no flower will ever die, and every person will be welcomed and loved, no matter where in this world they come from. Isaiah says even the animals will get along: the lion will lie down with the lamb! It’s not just us that will be restored – it will be all of creation. It’s hard to imagine a world like this, where everything is as God meant it to be.
Restoring everything to the way it’s supposed to be will include heaven itself. One website I read said this:
“[I]n Jewish tradition (and in the Bible) the rebellion against God actually began in the heavens… [and] then spilled over onto [the] earth. It was in the heavens that a handful of angels rebelled, and sin became a reality. Revelation chapter 12 describes a war in heaven where the Archangel Michael battles the enemy and throws him out [of heaven]… Jesus’ redemption of creation includes a new heaven as well as a new earth.”[1]
Our second scripture, Isaiah 12, continues the theme. The passage says “shout aloud and sing for joy, O Royal Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel”. The prophet’s words tell us what it will be like when Jesus is king. Jesus will be the joy of God’s people. Jesus will bring our salvation. We experience this salvation first as individuals – as our sins are forgiven and we enter into this new reality. And then salvation is experienced together, as a group – as God’s new community. The time of anger and division and misunderstandings has passed, and together we declare the glorious things God has done – including redeeming us by Jesus’ blood and then raising Jesus from the dead. On that day we will understand these things to the very core of our being: we will know fully even as we have been fully known.
Our reading from 2 Thessalonians is not really the focus for today, but it’s a word from Paul that’s relevant and worth hearing. It’s about how to live while we’re waiting for Jesus’ Kingdom to come. Paul was writing to some people he knew who thought Jesus would come back in their lifetimes so they quit working. They basically uninvolved themselves from everyday life. They gave up sharing the gospel, and they were just kind of sitting around waiting for the rapture. (We’ve had a few cults in our own time who have made this mistake, sometimes with tragic results.)
Paul tells the Thessalonians – and us as well – not to give up living life just because Jesus is coming back. Don’t drop out of the world, don’t ignore responsibilities. In fact, Paul says, the closer the day of the Lord comes, the more we should be working to bring people into God’s kingdom, because the time is short! People need to hear about God’s salvation. And we can’t be salt and light if we stay in the saltshaker – we need to get ‘out of the salt shaker and into the world’ as an author once said.
These are Paul’s words of warning and wisdom.
Then last but never least come Jesus’ words in the book of Luke. In this part of Luke’s story, Jesus and the disciples are in the temple area, and Jesus had been debating with the religious leaders throughout the day. I’m guessing it was now probably towards the end of a long day. As Jesus and the disciples pass through the temple area one of the disciples points out the beauty of the temple itself.
It has been said that in Jesus’ time the temple area – the building and the top of the hill that it was on – was twice the size of the Acropolis in Athens, and many of the temple’s designs and decorations were covered in gold and would shine in the sunlight.
I don’t know about you but I enjoy religious architecture. I love the beauty and the majesty and the excellence of workmanship that goes into building a church or a temple or a cathedral. Whenever I travel I always keep my eyes open for churches, and whenever I can I wander in and look around. No two places of worship are ever exactly alike, and every building tells the story of the people who built it.
The temple in Jerusalem would have been no different, except it was bigger. The building and the architecture told the story of God and God’s people, and it was magnificent. Jesus’ words must have stunned the disciples when he said: “the days will come when not one stone will be left on another…”.
The disciples asked, “when will this be? And what are the signs of the coming age?” The disciples might have been hoping that Jesus would somehow be able to avoid this death he had been talking about, and do away with the Romans, and bring in God’s kingdom.
But not so. Jesus answered their second question first, in a way that made it clear that God’s kingdom was not going to come right away. Jesus gave them the signs of the coming age. He said there will be wars and plagues and persecutions, and Jesus spoke of many things we see again in the book of Revelation.
But then Jesus backs up and says “but before all this they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name…”. Jesus also tells the disciples they will have the opportunity to bear witness to our Lord in the middle of the world’s troubles, even when the troubles are great. Jesus says the reward will be eternal life.
The thing about the ancient temple in Jerusalem – and all the great houses of worship that have been built since then – is that they are part of a world system that will be going away.
As I read this passage this week, I thought back a few years ago when the people of Paris saw Notre Dame cathedral in flames. They were weeping in the streets, because Notre Dame is for them both a place of worship and a part of who they are as citizens of Paris. It was ‘home’ for them.
The temple in Jerusalem was the same way – it was both a place of worship and a part of who the Jewish people were as citizens of Israel. It was ‘home’ to them.
The thing is, someday we’re going to have a new ‘home’, and all the old homes will be a thing of the past. I have to admit I’ve never really thought about that before… that these gorgeous structures in the world are part of what will be going away. I’ve never stopped to think just how much wealth and power it takes to build them. Cathedrals and temples are meant to be symbols of God’s greatness – but no matter how majestic they are, they cannot contain God. Scripture tells us God does not live in buildings built with hands. But God, in his patience, lets us have places like this, that we can think of as “the house of God”. Back when Solomon built God a house – the very first temple – God supported the idea; but God also knew it was only temporary. And Jesus’ words tell us the same thing: no matter how great or how beautiful, it’s not forever.
But before all these things happen, Jesus tells the disciples, you may find yourselves arrested, or persecuted, or put in prison, or dragged in front of kings or governors to defend the truth of God. Jesus says not to prepare ahead of time, because the words we will need will be given in the moment, words that our opponents won’t be able to contradict. All of these things, in God’s hands, will become part of the transforming work God is doing in the world. The surprising thing is that – both then and now – the path to eternal life runs through Calvary. There is no crown without a cross. And there is no Kingdom without the last days.
Three things, then, we can take with us today:
- In Jesus’ final sermon before he was crucified (which is what we’ve read today), Jesus says “take heart – we will not perish”. Jesus already knows that after the crucifixion he will walk out the grave alive. Jesus also knows anyone who follows him will not be held by death. No matter what difficulties and challenges we face, we will not perish – because we belong to Jesus.
- No matter what we’re facing, no matter how hopeless things may seem in life sometimes, God will make a way, even when there is no way. God is not about ‘winning’ or helping us ‘win’ – God is about redesigning the game – re-writing the rules! The world will be re-made, turned upside down completely… or more accurately, turned right-side-up.
- The word of God, and the good news of Jesus, is meant for all people in all places, but especially where we can see no way and have no hope. As someone once said, “What good is a gospel – good news – that doesn’t hold true in the darkest of places?” Even the cross, the worst form of torture human beings have ever invented, becomes a path to life and a road to grace. As scripture says, “Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes in the morning”
With these truths in our minds and hearts, this week we worship the One who died to give us new life. And next week, we enter into Jesus’ kingdom, and worship the resurrected Jesus, Christ the King, who is King forever in a world remade. AMEN
[1] CMJ for 11/13/22
Preached at Carnegie United Methodist Church and Hill Top United Methodist Church, 11/13/22
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