Jesus foretold great turmoil in the earth and heavens leading up to his return. He told his disciples, “Look up, for your redemption is near at hand; be on guard and pray for strength to escape danger and to stand before me.”
Did you hear about the driver who spent 20 minutes waiting for a hedgehog to cross the road? He finally got out of the car to see if he could help the critter move a little faster. Only then did he realize that he had been looking at a pinecone.
On Pinterest, someone posted a cartoon of a man holding something in his hand, saying to his companion, “I think I’m doing fine. Do you really think I need glasses?”
His friend replied, “Well, considering you’re about to try and make a phone call with the TV remote, yes.”
A customer who had recently purchased a new pair of glasses returned to the optometrist’s office, asking why she couldn’t see better.
“You have to actually wear your glasses,” the optometrist said. “Just buying them is not enough.”
Our message today is about how to improve or correct our spiritual vision.
If we didn’t know better, we might easily mistake the opening words of our text for headlines in a news story about events happening in space in our own time. Just this year, millions of people witnessed a rare total solar eclipse. Researchers have also been working on using a nuclear warhead to prevent an asteroid from striking Earth, which could cause deadly consequences.1
Here on Earth, we’ve seen wave after wave of increasingly devastating natural disasters, from floods and droughts to deadly storms, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and fires. Untold numbers have suffered and died due to the recent pandemic. More people have been displaced by war and environmental degradation than at any other time in history. Political upheavals and increasing costs have led to anxiety, confusion and despair, with rising rates of mental illness and suicide. It appears that Jesus’ statement, that “people will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world” is being fulfilled before our very eyes.
Shaken and stirred
The word Jesus used to describe the perplexity of the nations can be translated “no way out.” He said that people will wring their hands in desperation, not knowing what to do or which way to go. People will be so alarmed that they will faint from fear; some may literally be scared to death.
It may seem odd to open the season of Advent, which leads up to the celebration of the birth of Christ, with such a gloomy passage. Jesus was teaching his disciples about the events that would precede his return in the end times: the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, persecution, martyrdom. In the next two chapters, Luke writes about Jesus’ arrest, trial and crucifixion.
But if we look closely at the birth narrative earlier in Luke’s gospel, we see hints that the salvation God was bringing through the Christ Child would come at great cost.
Shortly after Jesus was born, Joseph and Mary brought him to the temple in Jerusalem to dedicate him to the Lord. There they encountered Simeon, who had received assurance from the Holy Spirit that he would see the Messiah before he died. Simeon took the child in his arms and praised God that he had been given the honor of seeing God’s salvation. But then he told Mary that her son would be opposed, and a sword would pierce her own soul.
At that moment, the prophet Anna, an 84-year-old widow who lived in the temple, joined Simeon in praising God and spoke “about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.”2 The birth of any child usually brings a measure of happiness, but the first coming of Jesus was an occasion of “great joy for all the people,” because he was born to be “a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”3
Jesus said that he came to give his life as a “ransom for many.”4
See the Son of Man
But in our text, Jesus begins to talk about another time when he would come, not as a helpless babe, nor as a suffering victim, but “in a cloud with power and great glory,” bringing redemption to his people.
Jesus knew that in short order his disciples would be traumatized by his brutal murder. They needed to know that his death would not be the end of the story. Nor would the calamities he foretold be the last word. Yes, the Jerusalem temple would be destroyed, and many disasters would befall the inhabitants of Earth. But these were all signs that would precede his return.
The apostle John reported that shortly before his arrest, Jesus told his disciples, “So you have pain now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.”5
Jesus’ words in our text are meant to give his people comfort and encouragement as well. When all these troubles come, he said, “Look up! Lift up your heads! Your redemption, your emancipation is drawing near.”
Jesus wants us to know that there is more going on behind the scenes than we realize. It may seem that evil is winning, but the armies of heaven, with Jesus in command, are in this fight as well.
Too often, we struggle with fear and anxiety because our eyes are glued to our screens as we gaze at the latest horrific and terrifying news report. Or we look within and conclude that we are no match for such forces of evil. But Jesus gives us the antidote to the poison of panic: Look up! See the Son of Man is coming! Refocus your eyes, not on the world’s threats, or on your own sense of inadequacy, but on Jesus, our redeemer, “the pioneer and perfecter of faith.”6
Hymn writer Helen Lemmel developed a condition that resulted in the loss of her eyesight and led to the loss of her husband, who abandoned her. As she tried to process her changed circumstances, Lemmel discovered a short story called “Focussed,”7 which inspired her to compose the hymn, “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.”8 The song contains this refrain:
Turn your eyes upon Jesus!
Look full in his wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of his glory and grace.
The author of the short story, Lilias Trotter,9 had chosen to serve as a missionary in London and Algeria over a promising career in art, reasoning that by “seek[ing] first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,”10 she would gain “the liberty of those who have nothing to lose because they have nothing to keep.”
“We can do without anything while we have God,” she wrote.
In her story,11 Trotter wrote, “Will it not make life narrow, this focussing? In a sense, it will — just as the mountain path grows narrower, for it matters more and more, the higher we go, where we set our feet — but there is always, as it narrows, a wider and wider outlook, and purer, clearer air. Narrow as Christ’s life was narrow, this is our aim; narrow as regards self-seeking, broad as the love of God to all around. Is there anything to fear in that?”
Stand up, stand guard
So what should we be doing before Jesus returns? Jesus tells us in the last few verses: Be on guard (or take heed to yourselves), be alert (watch), and pray!
Earlier, Jesus spoke primarily about visible, physical signs that would indicate that the end of the age was fast approaching, but now he turns his attention to invisible, spiritual things. Guard your hearts! He urges his disciples.
Jesus knew how easily we can be mesmerized by worldly attractions and pleasures or consumed by the cares of this life. He wants us to be aware of world events, but not so overly attentive that we miss what is going on in the spiritual dimension.
When Jesus tells us to watch, he’s not talking about the kind of watching most people do today. He’s not inviting us to sit passively, watching television, a game, the markets or a movie. He’s not advocating that we become spectators watching life from the sideline.
The original meaning of the word “watch” comes from the Greek word, agrupneo, which means “to be sleepless, to keep awake,” the way a soldier on guard duty keeps alert for any sign of the enemy, a security guard watches out for would-be robbers or a shepherd keeps an eye out for predators. He’s talking about the kind of watchfulness General Douglas MacArthur alluded to when he said, “No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation.”12 He’s calling for a high state of spiritual alertness.
A sentry on duty actually has three things to watch for: direction from the commander, enemy activity and his own readiness to fulfill his responsibilities. A drowsy, distracted or drunken sentry can’t perform the task assigned, and can put his own life and the lives of fellow soldiers in jeopardy. Every soldier knows that danger can come not only from adversaries, but also from one’s own complacency.
Are we paralyzed by worry or have we lost our focus on what really matters?
Paul echoes Jesus’ concern when he exhorts, “Examine yourselves to see to whether you are living in the faith. Test yourselves.”13
One of the best tools we have to help us stay spiritually alert is prayer. “Be alert at all times, praying,” Jesus says.
How many of you have ever used the Constant Contact app to send or receive messages? We’re no expert in how it works, but the name really describes what it is supposed to do: to keep people in constant contact with clients, friends, relatives or associates.
Prayer is a kind of spiritual tool we can use to stay in constant contact with God. Paul reminds us to “pray without ceasing”14 and to “pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints.”15
Anyone who’s ever been on a battlefield knows how important it is to keep the lines of communication open with your superior officer. That’s especially true in the spiritual realm. Staying in constant contact with Jesus, our Commander in Chief, is the most important thing we can do to guard our spirits in a world shaken and stirred by calamities, so that we will be able to stand in honor in his presence when he returns. May it be so!
1 Brandon Specktor, “Could Scientists Stop a ‘Planet Killer’ Asteroid From Hitting Earth?” Live Science, November 11, 2023, www.livescience.com/space/asteroids/could-scientists-stop-a-planet-killer-asteroid-from-hitting-earth.
2 Luke 2:21-38.
3 Luke 2:10-11.
4 Mark 10:45.
5 John 16:22.
6 Hebrews 12:1-2.
7 Lilias Trotter, “Focussed: A Story + a Song,” Unveiling, n.d., https://unveiling.org/focussed-2/.
8 Helen H. Lemmel, “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus,” Hymnary.org, https://hymnary.org/text/o_soul_are_you_weary_and_troubled.
9 “Legacy,” Lilias Trotter, https://liliastrotter.com/about/.
10 Matthew 6:33.
11 “A Story & A Song,” Lilias Trotter, https://ililiastrotter.wordpress.com/2015/06/10/a-story-a-song-2/.
12 “25 Military Appreciation Month Quotes That Will Inspire You” USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, May 19, 2017, https://dworakpeck.usc.edu/news/25-military-appreciation-month-quotes-will-inspire-you.
13 2 Corinthians 13:5.
14 1 Thessalonians 5:17.
15 Ephesians 6:18.
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