Advent: Watching for the imminent return of Christ

We are sometimes told that we should live in the imminent expectation of Christ’s return.

Jesus is coming back!

And he could come at any moment!

Watch!

Keep alert!

Be ready!

Is that what the Bible teaches?

Well, maybe.

Sort of.

Almost.

You see, the thing is, if you lived in the imminent expectation of Christ’s return, you would have been wrong so far, by definition!

Could Jesus come again today?

Well, yes, certainly, if he wanted to.

Will he?

More than likely not.

Indeed, I’d bet you £1000 he doesn’t.

Probably doesn’t matter if you lose, does it?!

Many Christians throughout church history have expected the imminent return of Christ, and so far at least they have been wrong.

Eventually they will be right, of course, but maybe not in your lifetime or mine.

Maybe not for many generations.

Martin Luther allegedly once said, even if I knew the world would end tomorrow, I would still plant my apple tree.
(Apparently its almost certain that Luther never said that, but he should have done!)

We need to both live as if Christ could come today and as if he might not come for 10 000 years.

We need to teach our children.

We need to build institutions.

It is no good failing to prepare your sermon because Jesus might come again on Saturday night.

We must have both a short term and a long term approach.

That is, I will be faithful now and I will do what I can to increase the amount of faithfulness around when I am long gone.

Imagine two scenarios.

A teacher leaves the classroom.

I’ll be back, she says, until then read the text book and answer the questions.

One group lives in the imminent expectation of the teacher’s return.

They post two look outs and they live it up.

The cards and the fags are broken out.

The paper aeroplanes fly.

The text books are neglected.

But they are alert and watchful.

In a way they are always ready:

When the teacher hoves into view they can be sat at their desks quietly, but the room will stink of tobacco and the questions will be unanswered.

Another group gets on with the questions from the textbook.

Are they always ready for the return of the teacher at any moment?

Yes, because they are being faithful.

Are they obsessed with when the return will be?

No.

That is not a matter for them.

They are absorbed in the text on page 39, as the teacher said they should be.

They are not always expecting the imminent return of the teacher – she could even slip back into the room suddenly unnoticed - but they are always ready because they are faithful.

Will the Son of Man find faithfulness in our classroom when he comes?

(PS. nothing original here. I think I got that analogy from one of my theological college teachers)