Sermon over Matthew 24:35-44 , by pastor Alain Fassotte in the Norwegian Seamen´s Church in San Francisco
We are now approaching the end of the church year. The church year is arranged differently from the calendar year, since the church year begins with our waiting for Jesus to be born—Advent—and not with New Year’s Day as the calendar does.
Therefore, the readings at this time focus on the end times, or eschatology, as it is called in theological language. For nothing in this world is eternal. The only eternal thing we have is Jesus’ word and that God cares for all believers and will never let us be lost.
A part of the text that caught my attention is the verse: But about that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
In other words, only God the Father, the creator of Heaven and Earth, knows when.
If neither Jesus nor the Holy Spirit knows, then it is wasted time for us to try to guess or find out when this will happen. Many have tried and predicted when the end would come. I have heard of several who have even waited for specific dates, convinced that the end was here.
No one knows except one, and that is God. Let us rest in that, and rest in knowing that God is good.
Another thing I find beautiful in the text is Jesus’ way of describing the circumstances of when it happens.
He does not speak of nuclear war first, or of massive catastrophes or destruction, or that the world will fall into chaos. Yet many throughout history have preached just that.
No, Jesus describes everyday situations when he says: Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left.
We cannot live our lives with the end times as our focus, waiting for the end of our days. No, we must live our lives fully, with focus on life and God, and let the time come when it comes.
But the text also carries the sense that we must be ready for when it happens. It even says that we are to keep watch, to be alert.
But there are many ways to be ready.
As I interpret the text, it is not about being on constant alert, constantly watching for the last day, but about being prepared.
Let me try a few examples of what Jesus means.
When I was growing up, I remember many people driving without seatbelts, but the moment they saw the police, they put them on so they wouldn’t get a fine.
We know that seatbelts save lives if an accident happens. But those who only put the belt on when they saw the police wore it briefly, out of fear of a fine. They didn’t wear it all the time to save their lives if an accident occurred.
What Jesus means when He tells us to be prepared for the last day is that we must wear the safety belt that attaches us to God, the faith in Jesus Christ and His eternal word.
It’s like always wearing a helmet when biking, in case you fall. Wearing a life jacket at sea. Having a fire extinguisher at home. Things that are completely useless if nothing ever happens, but vital when something does.
When we have put on God’s safety belt, which fastens us to Christ, we can actually relax and never think about the end times at all. For the end time is not the end for us believers, it is a transition.
We do not begin to live eternal life on the day we die, but on the day we receive Jesus Christ and put on the safety belt that binds us to Him, baptism and faith.
In other words, being watchful and prepared means having a relationship with our Lord in celebration, in sorrow, and in everyday life.
Perhaps especially in everyday life. For it is in everyday life that it can be difficult to maintain focus, to maintain our relationships—even with those we love.
When married couples divorce, it is not uncommon to hear them say: “We have grown apart.”
This is actually the opposite of what being married is. To live as married means to grow closer and closer together. You remain independent individuals, but bound together in life through promises to each other and to God, to live in faithfulness in good days, bad days, and everyday days until death parts you.
To grow together, you must build a relationship every day. You must acknowledge each other, give each other attention, tell the other how important they are in your life. Not take the other for granted, but walk side by side through everyday life, through celebrations and sorrows.
This is the same relationship God invites us into. He never takes His eyes off you. His love is eternal, and He longs every day for your gaze. He longs for the day when we shall stand face to face in Heaven.
We who have been married for some years know that relationships vary in intensity. They develop. Therefore, I think it is important to establish some faith practices, routines to include God in everyday life. It doesn’t have to be much.
We do not need to live like monks and let God be our only focus. Nothing wrong with that, but not all are called to a life of silence and prayer.
It can be something as small as a short Bible verse. A brief prayer. The Lord’s Prayer, for example, and a prayer that God may watch over all those we love.
It can be reading a short passage in a devotional book, lighting a small candle. Thanking God each morning for life and for what we are grateful for.
I believe God wants all of us to live good lives here on earth, and that includes having a relationship with Him. He is our emergency supply, so we can relax, lower our shoulders, and live our lives fully here on earth.
For it is God who has given us life as a gift. Not so it should be used to live in fear and anxiety about the end times or God’s judgment, but so we may live as good lives as possible in relationship with Him and with one another.
For me as a pastor, a good life of course includes a relationship with our Lord. For that means I do not have to worry about tomorrow. I do not have to fear death, for the Lord gives us eternal life. I do not need to stand on constant alert and worry about the day everything ends, because God is good, and we are in God’s hands.
Of course, there are times when I do worry, but God says it is not necessary. Because most of the things we humans worry about are things we have no control over. It is wasted effort. But God is in control, and since we are in His hands, we must trust Him. Have faith in Him—that He is almighty and will take care of what is beyond our power. Give us eternal life and a place in Heaven on the last day.
And this tells us something about the Christian life as well: that we are not meant to be anxious about what happens after this life, because that lies in God’s hands and God is good.
What might a Christian life look like? Diognetus was a Greek who lived around the year 150. He received a letter describing what it meant to be a Christian. I will read an excerpt, because I think the answer he received was very good:
“Christians cannot be distinguished from other people by nationality, language, or customs. They do not live in their own cities, they do not speak a strange language, and they do not follow some peculiar or foreign way of life.
Their teaching is not the product of human curiosity, nor, as with some, do they advocate a merely human doctrine.
As for clothing, food, and other aspects of daily life, they follow the customs of whatever city they live in, whether Greek or foreign.
And yet there is something extraordinary about their lives. They live in their own countries, but as though they were only passing through.
They fulfill their civic duties completely, yet they bear the burdens of all as though they were foreigners.
Every land can be their homeland, yet every homeland is for them a foreign place.
Like others, they marry and have children, but they do not abandon their children.
They share their food, but not their spouses.
They live in the flesh, but are not governed by the flesh’s desires.
They spend their days on earth, but are citizens of heaven.
They obey the laws, yet live on a level that transcends the law.
Christians love all people, yet many persecute them. They are condemned because they are misunderstood; they are put to death, yet restored to life.
They live in poverty, yet make many rich; they are completely destitute, yet they possess abundance. They suffer dishonor, yet that dishonor becomes their glory. They are slandered, yet they are vindicated. They bless when they are abused and show respect when they are insulted.
For the good they do they receive punishment as evildoers, yet even then they rejoice, as though receiving the gift of life. They are attacked by the Jews as foreigners and persecuted by the Greeks; yet no one can explain the reason for this hatred.
In general, one may say that the Christian is to the world what the soul is to the body.
What a magnificent sentence. Let me repeat: One may say that the Christian is to the world what the soul is to the body.
Just as the soul is present in every part of the body and yet distinct from it, so Christians are found in every city of the world but cannot be identified with the world.
As the body, visible and physical, houses the soul, invisible and spiritual, so Christians live in the world, but their religious life remains unseen.
The body hates the soul and fights against it—not because the soul has done it harm, but because the soul restrains the body’s desires.
In the same way, the world hates Christians. Not because they have done it harm, but because they oppose its pleasures.
Christians love those who hate them, just as the soul loves the body and all its members despite the body’s hatred.
The body is held together by the soul that dwells within it, and likewise, the world is held together by the Christians, who are bound to it as though in a prison.
The soul is immortal, yet lives in a mortal dwelling; so too Christians live for a time among perishable things, while awaiting the liberation from change and decay that will be theirs in heaven.”
We are in the world but not of the world. We are the world’s soul when we bear the Holy Spirit that God has given us.
For as Jesus says: Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
In John 10:29, Jesus says—and I trust Him fully—and He is speaking of us believers:
“I give them eternal life. They shall never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
So today’s message is perhaps this: fasten yourself to God through the Son, Jesus Christ, so that you can walk through life in the confidence that when that day comes, you will always be ready to meet Jesus’ gaze and His open arms saying: “Welcome home to heaven.”
Glory be to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, one true God from everlasting to everlasting. Amen.