Make Ready

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

December 6, 2015

Second Sunday in Advent

Make Ready

Luke 12:35-40

“Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit;

be like those who are waiting for their master

to return from the wedding banquet,

so that they may open the door for him

as soon as he comes and knocks.  

Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert

when he comes;

truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt

and have them sit down to eat,

and he will come and serve them.

If he comes during the middle of the night,

or near dawn, and finds them so,

blessed are those slaves.

“But know this: if the owner of the house

had known at what hour the thief was coming,

he would not have let his house be broken into.

You also must be ready,

for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”

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What are we to do?

How are we to “make ourselves ready”

for our Lord’s advent,

for that day, that time, that moment

when our Lord comes again?

                 

We hear these passages,

the many texts that tell us to

fill our lamps with oil,

keep the flame burning brightly,

stand by the door,

be ready, be ready, be ready

for the knock that will surely come.

Don’t sleep!

Stay awake!

Stay alert!

Be dressed for action,

“for the Son of Man is coming

at an unexpected hour.”

Are we to spend our lives

here in this Sanctuary,

        

candles burning brightly,

all of us watchful, alert,

praying the final words of the Bible,

“Come, Lord Jesus”

as we wait expectantly, hopefully

and probably a little anxiously?

                            

Are we to live our lives this way,

twenty-four hours a day,

seven days a week?

Are we allowed any breaks –

to eat, to take a walk,

to relax,

…to text?

Surely Christ will let us know

when he’s coming before it happens.

After all, aren’t there passages in the Bible

that tell about portents and signs—

wars, earthquakes, massive upheavals—

something, anything,

that will alert us that the time is coming?

How easy it would be for Jesus simply to text,

“You’ve got one hour.”

And yet, here is our passage telling us,

“the Son of Man is coming

at an unexpected hour;”

or as Eugene Peterson words it in “The Message”:

“Just when you don’t expect him,

the Son of Man will show up.”

We sing “Santa Claus is coming to town”

only in December,

because we know he isn’t

coming to town in April or July.

How comforting it would be

to have the same assurance about Jesus.

But we don’t.

Try as we might,

we will never find anything

anywhere in the Bible,

any coded passages

that will reveal to us

when Jesus will come again.

Jesus himself makes that so clear,

so plain,

that even he himself didn’t know;

that only God knows.

And so we hear Jesus say

of his certain advent:

“You … must be ready”,

“be dressed for action”

Lamps lit,

as we stand by the door

waiting for his knock.

But still the question remains:

What does it mean to be

“dressed for action”?

What does it mean in 2015

to have “our lamps lit”?

How are we to make ourselves ready?

                          

Is it enough to profess our faith in Jesus?

To come to church on Sunday?

To put money in the plate?

To serve on a committee or team?

Just as Jesus tells us to be ready,

our Lord tells us how to

make ourselves ready.

He tells us in a number of

different ways in the gospels,

all of them simple and straightforward,

all of them grounded in how

we are to live our lives,

none of them grounded in creeds,

or denominations,

or being “religious”

or any of the other many things

we often think defines us as his followers.

Start with Jesus’ teaching in the 25^th chapter

of Matthew’s gospel,

where our Lord gives us

the very foundation of how

we are to live our lives:

“I was hungry and thirsty

and you gave me food and drink;

You gave me food and drink

without judging or condemning me

as lazy or dependent.”

“I was a stranger and you welcomed me;

welcomed me even though I looked different,

wore different clothes,

spoke with a different accent,

came from a different land,

had skin color different from yours;

still you welcomed me,

and I no longer felt like a stranger.”

“I was sick and you took care of me,

took care of me without concern for yourself,

or the illness I had,

without concern for costs or convenience;

You just took care of me.”

“You came to visit me in prison

and gave me hope.

You came to visit me

when I was imprisoned by locks and iron bars,

and you also visited me when I was imprisoned by

poverty,

by violence,

by hunger,

by want,

by lack of opportunity

by fear.

You visited me and helped me to see my way out.

You visited me and gave me hope for my future.”

“Blessed are the peacemakers”

our Lord tells us in the Beatitudes.

That tells us that

we are called to do more than pray for peace;

we are called to work for peace

in a world racked by violence,

violence that so often seems

savage and senseless,

so barbaric and horrific

that our rage and anger

lead us to seek vengeance, retaliation,

an eye-for-an-eye.

But again, our Lord calls us to a different way.

The Prince of Peace calls us to

walk a different road,

a road where we won’t risk

missing his knock.  

Our Lord teaches us that

it is by our love for one another

that we are known as his disciples;

it is by living in love and reconciliation

that we make ourselves ready,

ready for our Lord’s Advent,

love and reconciliation among Christian,

Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, atheist

all in the same way Jesus reached out to

Jew, Roman, Samaritan, Greek—

anyone, everyone.

When our Lord comes,

as our text teaches us,

the door will open to the great heavenly banquet,

where our Lord will serve us!

He’ll tie an apron around his waist,

and he will serve you and me!

We get a powerful glimpse of what awaits us

each time we gather around our Lord’s Table

and share this Lord’s Supper,

this meal our Lord invites us to,

this meal our Lord prepares for us.

It is a glimpse of what awaits us.

It is a meal that nourishes us,

strengthening us in spirit

to help us ready ourselves,

prepare ourselves,

dress ourselves,

let our lights shine.

So come, come to this Table

as a way to ready yourself,

dress yourself,

nourish yourself,

prepare yourself

all in anticipation of that day

when our Lord will come again.

Come to this Table that,

in the words of the Apostle Paul,

“your love may overflow more and more

with knowledge and full insight,

to help you to determine what is best,

so that in the day of Christ

you may be pure and blameless,

having produced the harvest of righteousness

that comes through Jesus Christ

for the glory and praise of God.”

(Philippians 1:9-11)

Come Lord Jesus—

we await your advent.

We are dressed;

Our lamps lit and

we stand in your light.

Come Lord Jesus.

We are ready.

AMEN