May 15, 2010

• The Return of Jesus

  The faithful throughout the history of the Christian tradition have speculated about the return of Jesus to this world.  The first Christians believed Jesus would return before all of them had died.  Theologians and Bible scholars have claimed to decode the mystery of Jesus’ return and have predicted dates that have come and gone.  I cannot be certain why we are so fascinated with setting the date for the return of Jesus, I have seen a bumper sticker that says, “Jesus is coming, look busy!”  Jesus told his followers that no one knows when he will return, he didn’t even know God’s timetable for his return.  I think one of the reasons we try to predict the return of Jesus is so we can cease worrying about the future.  I have read some documentation to support that some advisors to previous presidential administrations have suggested we do not need to be concerned about environmental damage or about financial responsibility because Jesus is going to return and we won’t have to deal with the consequences of our poor stewardship.  I don’t believe this is what God had in mind when suggesting we prepare for the coming of Jesus.

   

  I believe the return of Jesus has more to do with how we treat each other and the rest of creation today.  Jesus returns each time we live out Jesus’ teachings in our own lives.  We are to care for each other as Jesus cared for those he encountered during his earthly ministry.  Jesus had compassion for others out of the love he received from his Heavenly Parent.  He did nothing out of a sense of compulsion or out of frustration with the people who sought his help.  I wonder when I read the story of Paul and the possessed girl if there isn’t another story I may have missed when I have read it before.  The translation we read today says, “Paul, finally fed up with her, turned and commanded the spirit that possessed her, ‘Out, in the name of Jesus Christ get out of her!’”  It doesn’t say Paul had compassion for the girl and ordered the spirit out of her, nor does it say the girl asked Paul to free her from the spirit.  Paul basically got annoyed with her pestering him and ordered the spirit out.  I can only speculate about how things might have turned out if Paul had acted out of compassion rather than frustration.  The end of the story has Paul in prison for his actions and he is singing hymns and praying to God, he was focused on what Jesus had taught him was important.  He wasn’t frustrated, he wasn’t trying to figure how to get out of his situation so, when the opportunity to escape presented itself, he did not take it.  He knew the right thing, the Christ like thing to do was to stay.

   

  The best way for us to see the return of Jesus is for us to be the return of Jesus in the world today.  God knows it is impossible for us to comprehend what it would mean to live like God, but we can comprehend what it means to live like Jesus.  Jesus came to us fully comprehending God’s love and God’s will for us as children of God.  Jesus modeled for us how we, as humans, can live out God’s love in the world.  God is in Jesus, we see Jesus and live like him, and the world sees God in us.  We will be challenged by the demands of this world, we will be frustrated when what we want to do is made more difficult by others, and we will be disappointed when we can’t see any good coming from our efforts.  It will be easy for us to let the challenges, frustrations, and disappointments to discourage from responding with love.  We must remember the world challenged Jesus, Satin tempted Jesus at the beginning of his ministry.  The disciples must have frustrated Jesus when he had to teach them the same things over and over again and still they didn’t get it.  Jesus must have been disappointed after three years of teaching, healing, and loving the people and still they were focused on themselves and willing to sacrifice him when he didn’t produce what they wanted.  He struggled in the garden with whether it was God’s will to end the ministry.  I believe that crucifixion was not what caused Jesus agony, he would after all be reunited with God in heaven as a result of his crucifixion, I believe he agonized over leaving the people without a shepherd and knowing there would be a period of separation from God, these I think are what Jesus found almost unbearable to anticipate.  The challenge for us is to face our challenges, frustrations, and disappointments in the same way.  Not focusing on how they make our lives harder, not thinking about how we deserve better, but thinking about how others might me served better through them.  We should be concerned that our challenges, frustrations, and disappointments have the potential of distancing us from God if we allow them to do so.

   

  The bad news is there are many challenges, frustrations, and disappointments ahead of us.  We will struggle with understanding our past history, we will seek ways to make amends for the times we have not been Jesus to the people who came to us.  We will seek ways to forgive others and forgive ourselves for real and perceived wounds.  We will work on finding ways to do what we have been called to do with limited resources of both money and human power.  We will be disappointed when things do not happen as quickly as we would like or do not turn out the way we had hoped.  The Good News is God understands these things and has given us an example of how to live into the challenges, frustrations, and disappointments, not to avoid them, not to deny them, and not even to pray them away.  We are called to be the return of Jesus and embrace the challenges, frustrations, and disappointments as opportunities to witness to God’s unfailing love for us.  If we do not let the challenges, frustrations, and disappointments turn us away from God, we will be Jesus to those who come to Eternal Joy MCC and to each of us seeking to know what we know about living into God’s plan for us.  Amen.

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