What Are the Signs in the Sun and Moon?

Jeremiah 33:14-16; 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13; Luke 21:25-36

Today is the first Sunday of Advent. But, for the secular Christian and for non-Christians these four weeks before Christmas are simply known as the Christmas season or the holiday season. But, for centuries the Christian Church these four weeks before Christmas known as Advent were actually celebrated as the last four weeks of the Christian year. It was a time when the church taught about, preached about, and looked forward to coming of God's kingdom upon the earth and the Second Coming of Christ, known as the parousia. Indeed, for many centuries, it was a season wherein Christians were taught the importance of being ready for the return of Jesus – of urgently telling the message of the gospel, lest the world end before those who hadn't had a chance to hear it perish without accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of the world.

And, so, today, that is what our gospel lesson is about: We are told by none other than Jesus, himself, to be watchful for the signs of the end. For as Jesus said, "There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the

world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory."

So, Jesus told his followers to watch – for when they saw these things happening the end would be near. And that was almost 2,000 years ago, wasn't it? And, yet, here we still are. And the watch continues, even today.

Have you seen any signs in the sun and in the moon or in the stars, lately? It is amazing how much better we have gotten at watching the heavens! Have any of you been astounded, like I have, with the pictures that have come back from the Hubble Telescope, that big satellite telescope that was put into the sky a number of years ago? Many of those pictures that have come back show thousands of stars and galaxies that we never even knew existed. One picture was taken several weeks ago of one of the brightest stars in the Milky Way Galaxy – a star that no one had ever seen because it had been covered up by cosmic dust and gases. Well, from its position high above the earth, the Hubble Telescope was able to see that star through all that dust and bases and scientists were able to determine that that star was actually thousands of times larger than our own sun. So, indeed, we have to ask ourselves what that tells us about the universe? What does that tell us about God's glory? Yes, what kind of signs are in the stars that tell us about the nature of God? Is our ever increasing ability to read the signs in the heavens a signal that the end is near; that God's kingdom is about to come; that Christ is about to return?

But, there is much more to think about as we read this morning's Gospel lesson. Several months ago we started to hear something about a phenomenon, called El Niño, that is taking place out in the Pacific Ocean due to the warming of the water off the coast of South America. Meteorologist are saying that this mass of warm water is larger than the area of the United States and that it has the potential of changing the earth's weather, causing more storms and hurricanes than have been seen in many years in some places, while causing droughts in other places, and warmer than usual weather in other places. In fact, several international conferences have been held among world leaders to discuss what they will have to do to be ready for some of the disasters that may take place. So, certainly, one has to wonder if the end is near, especially as we read this morning's Gospel lesson where it says, "On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea." And, perhaps it is more than a coincidence that in Spanish El Niño literally means "The Christ Child." Is El Niño one of the signs that we should be looking out for that point us to the coming of the God's day of judgement? Is this a sign of warning, a sign that Christ is about to return? For as the scriptures say when these things happen, "People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken."

Of course, the answer to this question is something that we cannot know for sure. We cannot know the exact time when the Day of the Lord will come. We cannot know for sure the exact day when Christ will return. We're only told to watch for the signs. And when the time comes we will know.

So, yes, Advent is a time for us to watch and think about what it may take for us to be ready. But, there's more in our gospel lesson for today that we need to consider: In fact, there is one verse of scripture that may cause some of us to wonder about the truth of the Bible – where it says, "I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened." Well, here we are 2,000 years later and 100 generations have come and gone since Jesus said these words. And so we have to wonder whether Jesus was right about this. And, yet, we would be wrong to quickly dismiss this passage of scripture as being in error. For where Jesus says, "This generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened," could just as easily be translated to "The concerns of this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened."

And what was one of the greatest concerns of the Jesus' generation? Well, it's this: Jesus' generation was the generation that crucified the Son of God. We have to understand that the generation that crucified the Son of God lived in fear of what God might do to punish the world for what they did. Certainly, the generation of humanity that put the Son of God to death deserved to die. Their cities, their nations, their families deserved to be wiped out by the flames of God's wrath for what they did to Jesus. And, yet, it was Jesus who called up to God as he was dying on the cross, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!"

And, again, here we are 100 generations later. Is this generation any different from the generation that crucified Jesus on the cross? Are we any less deserving of God's judgment? For we continue to crucify our Lord upon the cross of greed and corruption. We continue to crucify our Lord whenever we allow our desire for more wealth get in the way of our concern for justice and equality for the downtrodden. We continue to crucify our Lord whenever we put politics and self-interests before hungry children. We continue to crucify our Lord whenever we put ourselves before the Lord – whenever we refuse to take a stand, especially when such a stand may hurt us in the pocket book or take away some of our creature comforts.

One good example of this is how we do our shopping. In fact, many good jobs have left our country over the past few years as large multi-national companies have looked abroad for cheap labor and less stringent environmental protection laws. So, now, things such as sneakers and shirts and cars and trucks and computers and T.V. sets and radios and electric heaters are made in foreign countries by people who are forced to earn wages we wouldn't tolerate for a minute. And chemical companies and paper companies and mining corporations are now responsible for polluting and defacing countries in ways that we would never allow here at home. And, yet, when we go shopping we buy those things, appreciating and thankful for the low prices. But how many of us would take a stand, insisting that the foreign worker be treated as well as the American worker? or insisting that the pollution standards we hold dear in our own country should be the same all over the world? Would we take such a stand, knowing that prices would go up? Would we take such a stand, knowing that our standard of living might go down?

And, yet, we continue to crucify the Lord when we care more about ourselves than for doing what is right. We continue to crucify our Lord when our integrity is non-existent. We continue to crucify our Lord when we choose to sin. And, so, we're no different from the generation that killed Jesus. And, indeed, if we're the same – then the generation that crucified our Lord has not passed away. We're still here, 200 generations, later! Nothing has really changed.

But, there's one more thing to think about. Verses 34-36 of our Gospel lesson warn us not to get so preoccupied with the cares and preoccupations of this world that we fail to be ready at the coming of the Lord! For the scripture reads: "Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth."

I was interested in what that scripture was talking about. Where it says, "Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation," I wondered what dissipation means. So I looked it up. It means "excess, waste, debauchery, extravagance and immoderation." When you think about it, there has been no greater time in the history of the planet when a people was so filled with dissipation as are the American people, today. We waste more per person than any other people on the planet earth. The American alcoholic beverage business is so huge and prosperous that I don't have to tell you how rampant debauchery and immoderation is in our society. We are the most extravagant people in history.

And scripture tells us that in spite of the wild party we have been living, in spite of our excess and wastefulness, in spite of our debauchery and extravagance, in spite of our immoderation, there is a great deal of anxiety in our world. The market for anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medication is booming. Never in the world's history have so many people been so concerned with being nervous and upset and anxious, in spite of their wealth and ability to waste. But the scriptures tell us that the day is coming when it will all come to an end. "For that day

will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. And it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth."

So, what are the signs in the sun and moon? Is the world coming to an end, soon? To be honest with you, I don't know. That's not our job – to know. But, our job is to be ready. Our job is to tell others about Jesus. Our job is to love one another. For when we do those things, it doesn't matter when the end may come, or how it may come. But, by having been faithful at the watch, being ready when Christ returns, will bring victory in the end.

Amen.