“Don’t let him find you sleeping when he arrives without warning. I say to you what I say to everyone: Watch for him!” (Mark 13:36-37)
Advent begins December 1. From here out the days tick by with the regularity of a rocket launch: Christmas-minus-25 days… C-minus-24… 23… 22… 21…
Advent is a season when we wait for two different comings: we remember the first coming of Jesus Christ on December 25th… and we also anticipate the second coming, the Advent, of Jesus Christ.
Of course, we don’t know when that second coming might be. Christ might come tomorrow, or in 2000 years. Advent is a symbolic wait – four weeks when we specifically anticipate Christ’s return that, really, we wait for every day of our lives.
This is hard for most Americans. The bus comes at 7:15am, the news starts at 6:00pm,Christmas is December 25th. But Advent waiting for the unscheduled second coming of Christ is profoundly uncomfortable… and also inconvenient. If we knew Christ was coming back Thursday at 3:00pm, it would be nice to postpone a few meetings until Friday!
We might grasp the uncertain nature of Advent-waiting for the second coming of Christ if we realized that we don’t have a very firm grasp on the first coming of Christ, either. When exactly is Christmas?
Is Christmas the day you open presents? For my family, that was always Christmas morning, but Anna-Lisa’s family ripped the wrappings off Christmas Eve. My mother’s family has a 40-year tradition of gathering for Christmas after New Year’s Day! (I think they like to buy cheap gifts at the after-Christmas sales…)
Is Christmas the day Jesus was born? We don’t know that exact date, either. We celebrate Christmas December 25th because a Roman scholar liked round numbers. In 221 AD, SextusAfricanus figured Christ became incarnate in Mary’s womb exactly 5,500 years after the creation of the world. Sextus calculated the world had been created on March 25th. Thus, Jesus was conceived on March 25th… and nine months later… Jesus was born December 25th. Voila!
We even miscalculated the year of Jesus’ birth. We divide history: AD is since Christ’s birth, BC is before Christ. This system rightly recognizes that Christ’s coming changed human history. But modern scholars estimate that Jesus was born between 6 and 4 BC. Jesus was born 4-6 years before Christ? Oops!
Think about how it would impact your preparations if you did not know what day Christmas would happen. You wouldn’t wait for last minute sales to buy your gifts. You might buy a pre-cooked ham. If someone rang your doorbell and said “today is Christmas!” … you would be ready to drop everything and celebrate.
We aren’t the first to be surprised. If Joseph and Mary knew the day of Jesus’ birth, they would have made other arrangements than a manger. When Christ came into the world on that first Christmas day – whenever it was – his own parents had to drop what they were doing to participate in the holy moment.
Now, as we think about the second Advent, the second coming of Christ, we face another uncertain day. There is no date marked in red on the calendar.
It is said that modern Americans spend one third of their life working, one third of their life sleeping, and one third of their life waiting for the beep… the beep of the alarm clock, the beep of our cell phone, the beep of our calendar reminder.
Advent is a reminder that we are waiting for the beep of Christ’s return in glory and power. But it is hard waiting for something that may not happen in our lifetimes.
Are we ready for Christ to come again in Advent? Are we watching, or have we let down our guard? The good news is that we don’t have to do this on our own. After all, Christ has come once already. And although we may not know exactly when he was born, we know exactly why he died on the cross: to free us from slavery to sin.
The day of Christ is coming: Christ’s birth, and Christ’s return. Prepare the way of the Lord!
Pastor Park