Mark 13:24-37
To be preached the Sunday after thanksgiving at my MIC site.
Can you believe it is advent already? I hate to be the one to break it to you, but there are only 28 days until Christmas. Sure, the stores have been selling candy canes and Christmas lights for 6 weeks or more, but I ask you, “Are you ready?”
Are you ready for all of that sparkle?
Are you ready to make the house spick and span?
Ready with the perfect tree?
Ready with the perfect present?
Our culture tells us that a “par” performance simply will not do. We have to be bigger, better, faster, stronger, louder than ever before. We want the blue ribbon commission, the gold medal winner, and the super sized fries. We have to be the best. We have to be perfect. Christmas is no exception. The only way to be ready is to be perfect. I’m not even sure I can do an adequate job of all of this stuff, much less doing it well, or perfectly. You know, every year Christmas falls on the 25th of December, and yet every year it seems to sneak up on us just the same.
Perhaps that is why today’s reading is so frightening. “You do not know when the master of the house will come?” I can’t get everything together in time for Christmas! How on earth am I going to be ready for the Son of Man.
He’ll be coming in clouds,
With power,
And with glory
And angels
And I’m supposed to be ready for that? We are supposed to be ready for that?
There is only one person in whole world who I think could get everything ready. Her name is Miss Perrone. For 47 years Miss Perrone was in charge of the church’s pageant. Perfection was her goal-- nothing less. For as long as anyone could remember, the church's pageant ran like clockwork. Perfect lines, perfect pacing, perfect everything. Then one year, Miss Perrone was hospitalized with a heart condition and was under doctor’s orders to get some rest. A new director was found and with the new director came new ideas. Parts were found for everyone!
There must have been a dozen shepherds and 20 angels!
There were 30 sheep.
These kids had done their homework and they learned that sheep wander and say “BAH”. They did just that! All over the church! The rehearsals were almost complete chaos, and people began to wonder, “Will they be ready?”
Ready or not, the show went on. It wasn’t perfect like the plays that had come before it. Up until the very last minute people were running around, trying to get everything ready. A couple of kids forgot their lines, and one of the angel’s lost her halo. But, the pinnacle of imprecision came when Mary and Joseph entered. They were just as cute as could be. Mary was clutching a doll wrapped in a blue blanket. Joseph walked solemnly beside her.
The narrator was supposed to read the Biblical story about Mary and Joseph going to
However, on that day, nobody could find the KJV which they had used in rehearsals, so they went with the NIV instead. So, as Mary and Joseph entered, the narrator read, "Joseph went to register with Mary, who was promised in marriage to him. She was pregnant." As the last word echoed through the P. A. System, little Joseph froze in his tracks. He gave Mary an incredulous look, then looked out at the congregation. "Pregnant? What do you mean, pregnant?" he asked.
Needless to say, this brought the house down. Once the narrator had dried the tears from her eyes she said, "You know, that may well be what Joseph actually said."
The program ended as it always does, with the singing of silent night. During the song an amazing thing happened. Snow began to fall outside the church, and a hush fell over the sanctuary. It wasn't planned but no one stirred for some time --including the sheep. The silence hung gently in the air until a small voice from the back of the church whispered, “Perfect.”
The reading for this week warns us, “Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come!” And if even for one fleeting moment we believe that we have got it all together, the chances that we could hold it all together indefinitely aren’t very good. When our best efforts fall short, how can we even begin to speak of being ready to meet the Messiah?
Brothers and sisters, I have good news. Jesus is coming and he doesn’t care if we are ready. It doesn’t matter that we do not have the perfect present, the perfect tree, the spick and span house. It doesn’t even matter that we do not know when the master of the house will come.
The last time humanity encountered Jesus, we found him in a barn, born to an unwed mother who was far away from her home and her family. This is a far cry from anything that Miss Perrone would have orchestrated. Yet we know that when Jesus comes, he isn’t interested in perfection, he’s interested in us sinners, us imperfect sinners.
He’ll be coming in clouds,
With power,
And with glory
And angels
It doesn’t matter that we do not know that Jesus is coming back at dawn, at the cock crow, at
It doesn’t matter that the shepherd couldn’t remember his line, or that the angel’s halo isn’t perfectly straight.
What matters is that Jesus is coming for the Miss Perrones and the astonished Josephs alike. He’s coming back for us. He’s coming back for you, imperfections and all. Amen.
1 comment:
I like dude.
Been too long since we chatted, hope all is well with you, my brother.
Shall look forward to catching up on this place. :)
-Kieran
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