Sermon preached at St. Alban's, Spirit Lake, on August 11 & 12, 2007
(Proper 14, Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost, Year C, BCP Lectionary)
by the Rev. Carl D. Mann

Texts:   Genesis 15:1-6
Psalm 33 or 33:12-15, 18-22
Hebrews 11:1-3(4-7)8-16
Luke 12:32-40

Back when I was a teenager I was part of a weekly group called Youth for Christ, which met after school. During one of the afternoon meetings we viewed a film called “A Thief in the Night” which was actually filmed in the Des Moines area. Basically the film dealt with the second coming of Christ as interpreted from the Revelation of John. It was written and filmed from the perspective of a teenage girl who was not a Christian at the time of his return. Now I won’t go into a lot of detail but it was very similar to the currently popular “Left Behind” series. Let’s just say that the film was very frightening in its description of living in a post-second coming world. And needless to say, there were a lot of scared kids who watched that movie that immediately converted to Christianity.

At the time I watched this film, I was already a baptized and confirmed Christian in the Episcopal Church. And I would have to say that even then at that young age I didn’t think it was proper to scare the hell out of people in order to get them into heaven. Sure it was an effective tool but my question was would their faith remain intact if the fear was removed.

The fact is we don’t know what is going to happen when Christ comes again. We just know that he will come again because he told us he would. And we reiterate this belief each and every week during the Eucharistic Service: In the creed we say he will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead; and during the consecration we say, Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.

Now for some of us, it’s fun to speculate and to interpret the Biblical prophecies, and there is nothing wrong with doing so as long we remember that in the end we don’t know when it will happen or what exactly will happen when it does. But even though we don’t know, neither should we fear it.

Let’s look at the scripture. Jesus says to his disciples, “Do not be afraid…for it is your Father’s pleasure to give you the kingdom.” This is something that God wants to do for us. He takes pleasure in the act of our believing in Jesus Christ. He wants as many of us as possible to be a part of the covenantal relationship that He has offered through Christ. He is freely offering us the gift of eternal life with Him, and He wants us to freely make the choice to accept it. Why should we fear such a wonderful gift? Yes, there are consequences if we choose not to accept it but there also consequences if we do. It’s no picnic being a Christian. There is added responsibility in our lives when we choose to become disciples and follow Jesus. And one of them is to wait patiently for his return. And he gives us two examples of how we are to wait in today’s Gospel.

The first example is to wait like a slave for his master to come home from his wedding banquet. On the part of the slave there is a positive eagerness to serve; a hopeful anticipation for when the master will come home. And there is no doubt that the master will come home. And the reward for the attentively waiting slave is that the master will wait on him. He will serve those who have faithfully served him.

The second example is to wait vigilantly as if at any time a thief may break into the house. This depicts the suddenness of the event and the need to be alert. The image focuses our attention on waiting actively for an event, the timing of which is beyond our control; for who can know when someone will break into their home? Jesus Christ is no thief but he is telling us that he will return when we least expect him. And as a faithful community, we are called to wait actively and attentively.

Now the obvious question is how much longer do we have to wait? And in this we are no different than Abraham. Think about it. Imagine that you are Abraham. You’re laying in your tent at night going over your recent past. You’ve picked up all of your belongings, and transported your entire household from comfortable surroundings that you called home to a strange and foreign land and for what? A blessing! A disembodied voice in your head, which you have identified as the Lord God Almighty, has promised that if you do this you will be blessed as a great nation. A great nation? How is that going to happen? Right now your only heir is a slave because you’ve never had children. Your beloved wife is barren; a stigma that she has had to live with for too many years. And even if she weren’t barren, she is so far beyond child-bearing years that it’s laughable! And you, you’re pushing one hundred years of age and not feeling all that randy anyway, and quite frankly feel half dead from fatigue because you have just marched some seven hundred miles around the desert to get where you are right now. You are tired, frustrated and anxious, and can’t sleep. So you talk to the Lord God and ask Him to explain how it will work because you can’t figure it out.

And the Lord said, “Abram, let’s take a walk outside. Look up at the sky and try counting the stars if you think you can. I am telling you that your slave will not be your heir but that you will have your own child and your descendents will number as many as the stars in heaven. Now go back to your tent, relax, and sleep in peace.”

That’s it. No more details. Just a promise with an awesome illustration from the Creator of the universe, and you believe Him. You know that what He has told you is the truth. And because you have believed, the Lord God has reckoned it to you as righteousness. He has given you credit, and as of right now, you are in a right relationship with Him. You have been assured of the outcome that you have been promised and have hoped for, and based on the evidence of the innumerable stars in heaven, you have been convicted in your belief that it will come to pass even though you can’t possibly see its conclusion. You have faith in God because you have seen His faithfulness to you.

And that is what Jesus Christ is saying. “Have faith! Do not be anxious because you can’t see the end of things. Be alert and attentive; don’t let your guard down just because events aren’t happening on your time schedule. Abraham couldn’t see the end either but you are living proof of the truth in which he believed. Have faith in me because I am faithful to you.”

Now there is an added twist to this Gospel passage, and the key is to understand the role of the thief. The thief is death. If we believe in Jesus Christ, we are promised eternal life in heaven. That promise is worth more than any treasure that we could obtain on earth, and against that promise death cannot prevail.

Now as long as we are here on earth we must faithfully wait in anticipation and preparation for the coming of Christ because he will come again as promised. However, death comes like a thief in the night; coldly, unexpectedly, and seemingly random. We do not always know when our time is up in this world. If we are not in a right relationship with God when death strikes, then like the thief, death will rob us of that gift which God has pleasurably offered to us which is life with Him in His kingdom. But if we are adequately prepared, that is if we believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, then we are in a right relationship with God, and the thief is left with nothing of value even in the midst of all our worldly possessions.

So be not afraid, have faith; believe in the promise of the gift which is the Father’s good pleasure to give, and be assured that Christ will come again even if we are not here to see it.

Gloria Patri