Sermons

Dec 2 - The Rev. Christopher McLaren - The First Sunday of Advent

December 2, 2007 Advent I A
Title: God’s Thief
Text: Matthew 24: 37-44

The eschatological, end-of-time, writing of Matthew takes me back to a time in my childhood of sheer religious trauma. It was a Sunday Evening service dedicated to a film entitled A Thief in the Night and it still has the power to unnerve me. The graphic fear-laden film about the pre-tribulation return of Jesus simply terrified me. I can still remember the images: lawn mowers left running, alarm clocks buzzing endlessly, cars abandoned on the freeways, razors and hairdryers left on with no one using them. Jesus had come back and taken the faithful leaving the less-than-faithful to suffer through a time of intense persecution and tribulation. I can still reluctantly sing the lyrics to the Larry Norman song I wish we’d all been ready that haunted the film.

A man and wife asleep in bed,
She hears a noise, she turns her head, he's gone!
I wish we'd all been ready.

Two men walking up a hill,
One disappears and one's left standing still.
I wish we'd all been ready.

There's no time to change your mind,
The Son has come and you've been left behind.

You've been left behind
You've been left behind!

The film’s message of abandonment, fear, unworthiness and more filled me with anxiety as I certainly didn’t want to be one of the ones left behind. Several times as young child I experienced panic as I searched for my parents around the house fearing that Jesus had come back and left without me. I will never forget one Saturday afternoon returning home to find it empty, garage door open, cars there, parents gone. I called everyone from church I thought was a saint and none of them were home. Distraught and sobbing I finally stumbled upon my parents working in the side yard, my cheeks stained with tears.

Needless to say I was never a fan of the Frank Peretti novels of This Present Darkness or the wildly popular Left Behind series of books by arch-conservative fear-monger Tim Lahaye. I joined the Episcopal Church, I believe, because it is a Christian tradition based in grace rather than fear and I am a person who needs my hopes affirmed much more than my fears.

But at the same time one of our most basic understandings as Christians is the expectation that Christ will return. We can hear it when we celebrate communion “Christ has died, Christ is Risen, Christ will come again”(Prayer A). You can hear it when we proclaim our faith in the words of the Nicene Creed, “He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end." And you hear it this morning in our gospel reading that introduces a very important theme of Advent that begins our church year: “Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. “(Matt. 24)

On the other hand, while we can’t do away with this central belief of Christ’s return, there may not be much reason to lose much sleep over it. As Barbara Brown Taylor says, “Christ has been coming back for so long that plenty of people have given up on him.” And it's true, Jesus told his followers that he would be returning soon. And they took this to heart, not making long range plans but rather preparing for the end of time. The Apostle Paul wrote his letters with the soon return of Jesus Christ in the forefront of his mind, at one point counseling people not to marry for the end was near.

But, time passed, those who had known Jesus personally or were Apostles began to die off. Eventually the stories about Jesus were being told by people who knew people who had known Jesus. Things began to seem less urgent and there seemed more reason to prepare for the future.

While no one can be sure, our best guess is that the Gospel of Matthew was written around 40 or 50 years after Jesus’ death. His mother Mary had died and both the Apostles Peter and Paul had been martyred in Rome. The Holy City of Jerusalem lay in ruins the, Temple having been destroyed by the Roman General Titus in his effort to quell a Jewish rebellion. Things didn’t look so good for God’s chosen people. They were still under Roman rule, and their suffering had only increased. If ever there was a good time for Jesus to have returned he seemed to have missed his cue.

This is to say that Matthew, when he sat down to write his Gospel had a lot of explaining to do. His purpose was to tell the good news of the story of Jesus Christ, crucified and risen from the dead. But he also had to speak to the fears and questions of those who had been waiting for Jesus’ return. What was the reason for the delay? When he did return he definitely deserved a tardy slip. Was all of this planned from the beginning or was Jesus missing in action? “Was he really coming back to rescue them from the abyss or were they just going to hang there until their fingers gave out and they fell onto the growing pile of bodies at the bottom?”

What we read today was Matthew’s attempt to answer this nagging question as best he could. As you might expect, with truly tough questions Matthew embraces paradox. He reminds his readers of the sayings of Jesus. First, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place.” And then Jesus says, “However, about the day or the hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”

Evidently that is the best Matthew could do, to put these two contradictory statements of Jesus together and let them perplex and puzzle us for 2000 years. I’m coming right back, but only God knows when.

Apparently there was no way to resolve the tension, so Matthew decided to focus on what seemed really important to him and that was Jesus own advice on how to live with this tension. “Keep watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.”

This of course has not stopped people from trying to guess or predict the end of the world. But according to Matthew the funniest thing about all this prediction and conjecture is people believing that Christ will return when everyone is wide awake and expecting it. They think that somehow Jesus is on the same schedule. This is the laugh for Matthew. It’s like a thief calling you up to make an appointment to break into your house. How’s Thursday look for you, I’m open on that evening?

But this is not how it is going to happen. And Jesus is not going to come back on a published schedule. Instead he will come “like a thief in the night” with a stocking cap pulled down, wearing black and walking like a cat and you won’t know that he’s there until its too late.

If this has ever really happened to you – or even if you’ve come home to discover your back door standing wide open and your DVD player gone or walked out the front door to a missing automobile – then you know what a disturbing and troubling image of God we find in Matthew. To have your home robbed is to be violated as a most basic level. No one wants to know that a stranger gained access to your most personal possessions, dug through your drawers and threw the treasures of your life around like trash. It shatters our treasured security. It crushes the illusion that our homes are safe, that we can protect ourselves from the outside world and thieves that go bump in the night.

Matthew’s intruder is a thief and not a murderer, but that is rather cold comfort. He is after something very valuable. He knows what he wants and will trample on your personal space and boundaries to get to it. Your home security system is no good. Your barking dog no problem. If the thief is a good one, you have little chance of keeping him out. It is only a matter of time. “You do not know the day or the hour.”

The real question that remains is this: what is the thief after? If the thief is who Matthew says he is then he is not interested in your art or your jewelry or your computer. No, this thief is interested in you. However, for some reason this thief is not interested in the daytime you- the person that most people see as you go about your business – the normal – I’ve got it pretty much together you that picks your kids up from school, makes it to lunch meetings on time, mows the yard, and drops the dog off at the vet on the way to work. Whatever the truth you’re pretty darn good at cultivating the illusion of control and the slight of hand that says, “don’t worry about her she’s solid.”

At home you tend to the children, there is homework to be done, dinner to be cooked. The dog is hungry and needs to be walked. The mail is nothing but bills and Christmas catalogues. The sink is full of dirty dishes. It’s dark outside. Its time for the kids to go to bed – stories and prayers. Collapse into the couch for reruns of CSI Miami. Living and partly living it seems. When do people actually live their lives when there is so much other stuff that needs to be done. The evening passes like so many others, quickly. The house is quiet, you’re the last one awake. You check the doors and windows, adjust the thermostat before heading off to bed. Turning off lights as you go. Check on the children. You settle into bed, savoring those few minutes of reading before sleep overtakes you. The house is still and you are alone.

Now is when you should listen for the thief, because now is when he is interested in you- when you think no one is watching you, when you think you are alone. You’re not expecting anything save for a few luxurious hours of sleep. But now is the best time for the thief to slip past your defenses, to slip past your security system, and into your safe space.

But why you protest, why would a compassionate and loving God do such a thing? But you know why. Because you are so well guarded, so well protected at other times. You’ve had years of practice so that during the daylight hours you can keep almost anyone or anything at a safe distance. But Matthew’s thief is the Good Thief. He’s patient looking for an opening into your heavily guarded life. That is why he comes when it is dark. That is why God’s beloved thief comes when you least expect him – because he knows how badly you need to be broken into, and how hard you will resist.

Like any thief, this one is after your valuables, but unlike other thieves he knows what is truly valuable: not your jewelry or stereo but your heart, your soul, your mind, your life. These are the treasures the thief is after and he is willing to risk all in order to gain them. There is danger here still because you can still defend yourself, you can still scream, you can run, you can hide.

It would be safer for him to send you a letter by registered mail, announcing the arrival of the kingdom. Next Friday at 7 p.m. the Kingdom of God is scheduled to arrive. Please try to be ready. You will have no further need of anything on earth so you can quite trying to protect your stuff. You are free. Next Friday at 7 p.m. none it will matter anymore. Your world is about to be turned upside-down so forget about your portfolio and your plans. P.S. Jesus will come by for you at 6 p.m. He doesn’t like to be kept waiting.

Imagine our response to such an eschatological memo? I’ve go so much to do. Can I have a little more time. I wanted to see my grandchildren. I’ve got some matters that I really need to straighten out. Can I just have a little more time. Jesus, you know I’ve got relationship issues! The house is a mess. Jesus, for Christ’s sake wait!

But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.” That is why God comes without warning without notice. That is why Jesus will come back “like a thief in the night:” so that we do not have time to lock him out.

If we could ever once overcome our fear of his intrusion – if we could ever let him in to do his work – then we might discover what a peculiar thief he is: a thief that comes to give life rather than to take it, a thief that casts out fear with hope, a thief that empties himself that you might have life and have it more abundantly.
The threat is not from outside the door. The threat is inside us: in our misplaced fears, our misguided defenses, our need for control, our desires for what does not truly satisfy.

Keep awake, therefore – not to keep the intruder out but to let him in. He may be a thief, but he is God’s beloved thief, who has come to set us free.

* I am deeply indebted to Barbara Brown Taylor for the second half of this sermon which is based on her excellent sermon found in Home by Another Way.