Advent 1 with Matthew

ADVENT WITH MATTHEW

1 December Matt. 24: 26-44

Christmas has become a very 'fluffy' time for many. Small children in school nativity plays,cards and carols speaking of peace and joy, pictures of babies in spotlessly clean mangers and so on. However the Revised Common Lectionary plunges us into Matthew's Gospel with much darker themes of judgement, dire warnings, and lurid descriptions of pain. The passage this week from Romans also calls for sober living in the light of the soon to come time of salvation and judgement. Through it all the light of hope of immanent salvation shines through the present darkness.

Today, we all know about present darkness and hope for a better future, whether it is the hope of an end to the search for a job, a home, an upturn in the economy, peace, a religious revival, the final triumph of God, health after illnes, happiness after a time of trial and pain, or anything else.

The challenge for preachers is to reveal the nugget of eternal truth in the Advent readings of judgement and immanent triumph, 2,000 years after they were first spoken, to a very different world.

Possible preaching points

• 'No one knows the hour, not the angels, nor the Son, but only the Father'. Matthew's gospel was probably written just after the fall of Jerusalem. This passage should be read in the light of that traumatic event over 1900 years ago. These words should not be applied uncritically to the present. 'No one knows the hour, not the angels, nor the Son, but only the Father.' HOWEVER, the world of this twenty first century knows all about war, starvation, and refugees. What do hope and faith in God mean in our present darkness?

• The Bible begins with the words, 'In the beginning God', and ends with the message of Revelation, 'In the end God.' Are their preaching themes here about the light of hope shining in our darkness? We may not know the day nor the hour, but as Christians we do continue to go on in hope - hope of God's future. This is a fine Advent theme.

• Judgement is one of the major themes of the Advent season, but what does judgement look like today? How do we communicate the possibility of it? How sensitive do we need to be in speaking of it?

• Is the current economic downturn in any sense a judgement on human greed?
• Is extreme weather a judgement on human over consumption?
• But why is it that the poor and disadvantaged, the 'innocent', often bear the brunt of these problems? (e.g. refugees from Syria, people made homeless through Typhoons etc…)
• How much should we see natural consequences of human actions as a kind of judgement? But what about when the suffering is 'innocent' and the disaster natural rather than a consequence of human action?
• Is our impotence in attracting people to the way of Christ, and the decline in the influence of the traditional church, in any way a judgement/natural consequence of our comfortable 'churchiness’ (See notes on the lection for 8th December)?