Isaiah 64:1-9; 1 Cor. 1:3-9; Mark 13:24-37
How come we often think we know how a story should go, and yet get it completely wrong? A man had two sons. One worked the farm and did what he was supposed to do while the other left home and squandered his father’s money. So the father disowned that son and punished him severely. No, wait . . . actually, he threw a party for him. The owner of a vineyard went out to hire laborers. Some worked all day, and some only worked one hour, so of course the ones who worked all day got paid more. No, wait . . . actually, they all got paid the same amount. Jesus is always telling stories that throw us: we think we know how they should go, but they still manage to surprise us. The story of his life is surprising. An upstart rabbi from the provinces is tortured to death by the mightiest empire in the world because he threatens the status quo. So after ending his life in failure, he is quickly forgotten and his followers are never heard from again. No, wait . . . actually, the story has a very different ending.
So let me tell you another story. Human beings kept screwing up, so to punish us God disappeared from view and left us to our fate. Now the only way you can get on God’s good side is to have faith in Jesus. Those who have faith will be forgiven, while everyone else will be punished in hell forever. It’s a popular story, a bestseller even, but except for that part about humans screwing up, it’s completely wrong. Why so many people believe it I don’t know, but the readings today tell us a different story. Let’s begin with this idea that God disappears from view to punish us. Our first reading comes from the end of the book of Isaiah, and was written by a prophet trying to make sense of exile and suffering. He realizes that God no longer seems to appear in dramatic, earth-shattering ways. But listen to what he says: because you hid yourself we transgressed. Not, we transgressed so you hid yourself to punish us, but you hid yourself and so we transgressed. It’s because people could not or would not see God that they sinned.
Hold on to that for a second, and let’s address this idea that it’s our faith that saves us. That’s not what Paul tells the Corinthians today when he writes, He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful. It’s not our faith that saves us or makes us blameless: it is God’s faithfulness. As Paul writes in Second Timothy: even if we are faithless, [God] remains faithful (2 Tim. 2:13).
So here’s the real story. God does not always reveal Godself in earth-shattering ways, but because human beings fail to see God in the ordinary events of life, we hurt ourselves and we hurt others. But God’s unconditional love and utter faithfulness, fully revealed in Jesus Christ, will restore our vision and ultimately save us all. God has not left to punish us, nor are we left to somehow conjure up enough faith to save ourselves. That is not how the story goes. And since we don’t have to get on God’s good side, not even by having enough faith, what are we to do? Well, just what Jesus says in the Gospel: Keep awake.
We begin Advent today, our yearly wake up call. When we are spiritually sluggish or asleep, our ego-driven minds, obsessed as they are with self-justification and punishment, can weave nightmarish tales that are not true and do not reflect the love and faithfulness of God. So we get a shot of spiritual espresso today, with Jesus telling us, Wake up! This Gospel passage uses apocalyptic imagery, which is strange and disturbing. But then again, given a global pandemic with hundreds of thousands of people dead and millions out of work, with racial injustice abounding, global warming on the rise, and the gap between the haves and the have nots growing ever larger, maybe apocalyptic language is appropriate. In the midst of catastrophe, Jesus comes. At the end of time, yes, but also every day. He promises to be with us always, and his Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God, is continually coming, continually flowing. Do you see it?
In this time of social distancing, I find my own awareness heightened. As I listen to some of the pain our parishioners are experiencing, I feel the presence of Christ who identifies so completely with all those who suffer. We’re all zoomed out, and yet during this crazy time when we can’t be together in person, people are coming to worship and joining our small groups literally from across the country and around the world. Even now, Jesus is building community. This pandemic has stretched our society and exposed some glaring injustices, both racial and economic. But in the voices of those crying out for the powerless, I hear the voice of God and feel the compassion of Christ.
Jesus comes into a hurting world. He did it two thousand years ago, and he’s doing it now. God is forever faithful. We’re not abandoned and we don’t have to keep telling ourselves stories of despair. There is only one story Jesus tells, and it is the ever surprising story of Good News. So keep awake, and see that story unfolding before your eyes.
