It has been said that if you put three Scotsmen together for long enough they’ll form a bank, if you put three Welshmen together they’ll form a choir and if you put three Englishmen together, they’ll form a queue.
Waiting can be seen as a national characteristic, but despite this fact it isn’t something that people like to do.
We, all of us, often do it rather reluctantly, grudgingly, and if the truth were told we’d rather not be doing it at all.
Nonetheless, this is what we are called to do, living as we do between the Resurrection and the Second Coming. We are called as Christians to wait. To wait for the Second Coming, to wait for the End of the World. This idea may well conjure up images of people with a strange expression, wearing sandwich boards proclaiming to all and sundry that the End of the World is nigh! But, at one level, this is what the season of Advent is all about – we are to prepare for the coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, both in the yearly memorial of His Incarnation, and for His second coming as Lord, Saviour and Judge of All.
The injunctions in today’s Gospel to pray, to fast and be alert, are how we, as Christians should prepare ourselves to meet Jesus both at Christmas and whenever the Second Coming may be.
If we consider the parable in today’s Gospel, the parable of the Fig Tree, two things are apparent, firstly fig trees are clearly visible and easily recognisable in the Middle Eastern Landscape – when Our Lord comes it will be apparent to all and sundry. Secondly, figs, as fruit take a long time to ripen, so as their visibility shows us that the Kingdom of God is close at hand, their long ripening shows us that we need to be prepared to wait, for all things will happen at their appointed time, a time which even the Son Himself does not know.
In the meantime we need to guard against Drunkenness and Hangovers (not those caused by the inevitable Christmas party) but the metaphorical kind – a lack of alertness, a sluggishness with regard to the Gospel, and an excessive concern with the worries of this life, instead we need be alert and watchful which will allow us to ‘stand tall when others faint’.
God has made a promise, through the mouth of His prophet, Jeremiah, a promise of salvation and safety, which is brought about through the Blessed Virgin Mary’s ‘Yes’ to God, which will lead to the Incarnation and thereby the Salvation of the whole world wrought upon the altar of the Cross. It is this faithful and loving God whom we wait for, a merciful judge. Thus, Advent, the preparation for the coming of Jesus as new-born infant and Judge is a time of hope and joy. We can like the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Church in Thessalonica be filled with joy for the Lord, resolute in our prayer for and encouragement of one another as a Christian family. This prayer and encouragement leads to an increase of love for both God and our neighbour. This is what living the Christian life means, something we do all through the week, not merely for an hour in church on a Sunday morning. This is the preparation we, as Christians, need. It is something which we cannot do on our own; we need to do it together, encouraging one another to live lives filled with the love which comes from God, which is God’s very nature as a Trinity of persons. This love and a freedom from the cares of this world is what Jesus comes to bring us, this is our deliverance, our liberation from sin. It is this love and freedom which makes God give himself to us this morning under the outward forms of Bread and Wine.
What greater present could we offer to the Infant Jesus than hearts filled with love and lives lived in the true freedom proclaimed by the Gospel. Thus, at one level it doesn’t matter whether the Second Coming is today or in a million years time, what matters is living lives infused with the values of the Kingdom of God, a joyful and yet a serious business. We know what we should be doing, and this is something we as Christians need to do together, praying for the Grace of God to help us, to strengthen us and fill us with that Love which comes from Him. We may feel unsure, unsafe, and worried but relying on God as part of His family, the Church, we can take courage and be alert to take part in that great adventure which is the Kingdom of God.
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