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29 November 2020           First Sunday of Advent Year B

THE RETURN

A man named William Miller predicted the end of the world in 1842, 1843 and 1844, something which gave rise to frequently revised predictions among some Christian sects over the last 150 years. However, people continued to trust him even when the predictions turned out to be false, and on the last occasion he made a fortune out of selling believers white “ascension robes”!

There’s one born every minute. But every week we profess in the Creed our belief that “Christ will come again to judge the living and the dead”. The first two weeks of Advent in particular focus on this second coming, so how should we understand it and how should it affect the way we live?

Perhaps the most important thing we can say is that nobody knows when this will happen. Even Jesus himself admitted that it was in the hands of his Father. Since we don’t know, it is pointless getting worried each time some crank starts predicting the end of times and starts pointing to wars and famines as precursors of this end-time. Such literal interpretation is of course nonsense since there have been wars, famines and natural disasters all throughout history.

But the message of the gospel is not to keep worrying about the future coming of Jesus; it is rather that we should stay awake and ready in the work we do for the sake of the gospel and most of all that we should be attentive to prayer, praying for the grace to persevere in our Christian calling and to be found ready to meet our God whenever, at the second coming or at the moment of our death.

Our God is a loving God, not some sort of vengeful judge who just can’t wait to sentence us for eternity. The promises of Jesus show us that if we are faithful to his commands and teaching then we have nothing to fear when our days are over. The doctrine of the second coming is about judgement but most of all it is about deliverance. When Christ comes to those who are his own he comes to set us free, to release us from all the weights of this world and to open the gates for us to a world where sin and death have no hold and where all tears are wiped away. Christ’s second coming, and our own moment of death, should not be things to be feared. Christians should long for them and their prayer should be the constant Advent refrain, “Come, Lord Jesus, come!”

Be on your guard, stay awake, because you never know when the time will come. (Mark 13:33)

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