Advent Endurance
Advent Endurance
The advent, or “coming,” that is referred to in the liturgical season of Advent is not the first coming of the Messiah, the one we celebrate on December 25th, but the apocalyptic second coming referred to in today’s Gospel. So, the traditional themes of the four Sundays of Advent are Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell. Perhaps not wanting to be seen as Advent grinches, many churches have instead emphasized Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love.
In truth you can’t have one without the other. You can’t hope for what you already have. To hope for something assumes its absence. But at the same time, to speak only of the more final themes risks freezing us in a perpetual state of fear and inadequacy. The Good News of today’s Gospel is not of Jesus’s absence, but of his enduring presence with us, the Saved who remain, and with whom Jesus remains.
At first hearing, and with the imprint of “Left Behindism” on our brains, we might think that Jesus is describing the “Rapture:” The man taken from the field and the woman taken from grinding meal are the “saved” whom the Son of Man has come to take back with him, leaving the sinners behind. But Jesus compares this to the Flood story in Genesis, in which the “taken” were destroyed by the flood, with Noah and the righteous few kept safe in the Ark.
So, Jesus implies, we are the ones left on this good earth “at the coming of the Son of Man,” not to take us back with him, but to remain with us, even to endure with us. Neither does this 2nd advent happen with a sunburst of heavenly light for all to see: “Keep awake…if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake…for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”
That Jesus himself says that even he doesn’t know “about that day or hour” indicates that he is using metaphors, not photographs, of his other comings and goings. But the second coming he speaks of today does not look like the images that have been imprinted on us. His second coming is in stealth, perhaps in ways that only you or I can recognize. And when he comes he doesn’t leave us or take us, he remains with us and endures with us.
These earlier words of Jesus from chapter 24 are not used in any of our readings from Matthew. But verses 11-13 are as close to verse 36 as we get, and they illuminate what it means for Jesus to come again, and to remain with us and endure with us: “Many false prophets will arise; they will lead many astray, and with the increase of lawlessness, love in most people will grow cold; but anyone who endures to the end will be saved.” Endures in love.
What many people, even Christians, seem to want from Jesus is a final explosion of light and fire that outshines and burns out our most vivid imaginations. But our Savior comes from the underground of our violence and condemnation, not from above with even greater violence and condemnation. And from the underground, he subverts them with hope, peace, joy, and love.
Our Savior and Lord of love now draws near; come let us adore him and endure with him in love.
November 30th, 2025,
1st Sunday of Advent, Year A
The Rev. David Kendrick