Rescuing the Second Coming

            That gospel reading (Mark 13:24-37) is about Jesus coming into our world. 

            I am afraid that we are accustomed to hearing this morning’s gospel piece as a fearful passage that threatens us with damnation and makes us feel anxious about getting caught off guard and unaware when Jesus comes back to the earth.  After all it’s a dark section of the gospel.  At least it begins in the dark.

            The beginning of this morning’s selection is like a piece of theater, all high drama and darkness.

            Jesus said, “In those days the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from the sky and burn out like embers that go grey when removed from the fire.”

            With the stage set like that we might think that something bad is about to happen.

            Jesus goes on to say that, “No one knows when this is going to happen.”  No one knows, not Jesus himself, not the multitude of angels, no one at all knows when the darkness will come, except God himself.

            And now we think, Great! It’s going to be an absolute shocking surprise…in the dark.

            I do not know a soul who likes a surprise in the dark.  This sounds terrible.  A bad thing is going to surprise us in the dark.  I don’t want a thing to do with it.

            If this passage is all about Jesus coming again into our world, then I much prefer the way he did it the first time.

            You know, the baby cooing in the manger with his mom and dad and all those nice shepherds crowded around him cooing back at him. 

            I think I would prefer a second Christmas to the second coming.

            Isn’t it odd how those two events which are such similar occasions        evoke such very different feelings in us?  I mean, both Christmas and the Second Coming are occasions of God coming into our world in the person of Jesus Christ.  And yet, they strike such contrasting poses when pictured next to one another.

            Christmas, Jesus’ initial entry into our world, is all joy, warm and comfortable, but thoughts of the Second Coming of Jesus make us wince, cringe, and hope beyond all hope that we pass inspection, that we’ve not done so many awful things that we get left behind when Jesus’ angel train leaves this earthly station.

            Christmas is a story told by the fireside, and the Second Coming is like a nightmare in the dark.  At least that’s the way we Christian folk, a lot of us anyway, have been told the stories from the time we were young.

            For some odd reason we tend to read the Bible often picking up on only the low points

and the dark parts.  The parts which overcome and cause us to miss the light parade of God and his angels marching around in our world and through our holy scriptures.

            Today, marks the beginning of the season of expectation, the quiet and holy season of Advent.

            In Advent we prepare ourselves for God in Jesus Christ to arrive in our lives.  In Advent we wait for Christmas to come, and we may as well prepare for the Second Coming too.

            In fact, in this place, here at St. Paul’s Church, I would like us to take back the Second Coming, I mean I would like us to rescue the 2^nd Coming from the negative connotations that have become attached to it over the years.  Let’s start now….

            This morning’s gospel piece is about the Second Coming of our Savior Jesus Christ.  It is not about fear and the threat of damnation.  It is about hope and the promise of redemption and deliverance. 

            Let’s go back to that dark beginning.

            Listen again, Jesus said, “In those days the sun will be darkened.”

            Imagine we are in a great theater to see a show.  Fliers were handed out around town for this show months ago.  We all bought our tickets well in advance and now the night has finally come.  The house lights are up when we arrive at the theater.  We hang up our coats, and move down the aisles to find our seats.  The curtains are drawn and we sit in eager anticipation.  There is a happy suspense building in the room because we know the show is going to be good.  The house lights flick on and off, on and off. 

            In those days the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light.

            The house lights go out for good.  It is pitch-black.  Can you feel it?  The show is about start.  The curtains slide open, and against a dark backdrop hundreds and hundreds of lights play and dance and shoot across the stage like fireflies, and candle flames, and fireworks and falling stars.

            Jesus said, “the stars will fall from heaven.”  It is a dancing light parade, and it is pure glory.

            As we watch in mesmerized wonder, a great sound begins to groan beneath and around us.  The house organ winds up with low heavy tones and someone begins to rattle a great cymbal.  The sound is powerful and somehow soothing, subtle.

            Jesus said, “the powers in the heavens will be shaken.”

            From our seats in the theater we can sense some movement from both wings of the stage.

Something surprising is going to happen.  And I cannot describe it any better than the gospel does….as if pulled or led out of the darkness by the parade of lights we see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory and he sends his angels out into the audience and they gather us up, they gather us from every end of the place from every corner and dark hallway, they will gather us up and bring us up and onto the stage into the light parade--none will be left behind.

            That, good friends, is the Second Coming.

            It is not about Jesus coming again to pick up a few pious people and whisk them off to never-never land.  The Second Coming is about Jesus bringing heaven to earth in the greatest piece of theater in history.

            And I don’t mean great theater because it’s an outstanding fictional show.  I mean great theater because he draws all the audience onto the stage and everyone gets a part to play in the joy parade, and what was thought to be just another show is transformed into a real life revival with redemption, salvation and God’s good Grace for every soul in the seats.

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            The Second Coming may surprise us.  No, the Second Coming will surprise, but it won’t be surprising like a Halloween nightmare it will be like being surprised by love, surprised by a love we never imagined existed come to free us from this broken world.

            African American slaves in our country looked with great hope for Christ to come as a liberating surprise in their lives.  They took this gospel text and made a freedom song about the Second Coming of Christ.

            If we aim to rescue the second coming and uncover its hopeful essence, we might make the old spiritual our own song.

            It goes like this: My Lord what a morning! Oh Lord what a morning!  Oh my Lord what a morning!  Oh I know you’ll come Lord Jesus on that morning when the stars begin to fall!

            There’s hope in that song, not fear.

            My Lord what a morning!  Oh, I know you’ll come Lord Jesus, on that morning when out of the great deep darkness, stars begin to fall!

            Amen.