Monday, November 7, 2016

Jesus finds you [Trinity 25; St. Matthew 24:15-28]

On this 3rd last Sunday of the Church year, we hear our Lord speak directly to us saying,
“So, if they say to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it.”

Last week, we talked about what it meant to be a man: getting married, having kids, and especially teaching. Today continues that same train of thought by begging the question: where is Jesus??!

As a man, it is your duty to teach and to lead your family to Jesus, but according to the Gospel heard today Jesus is not anywhere. You are not to believe certain fellows if they say He is in great signs and wonders, in the wilderness, in the inner rooms, here, there, or anywhere.

You must also not believe when men work out these miracles in front of you to prove their affinity to Jesus or Christ’s presence. If someone miraculously heals the sick or even raises the dead, you are to call that demonic. If someone starts multiplying loaves and fish or does anything Jesus used to do, you are to run away, for satan and your persecution is near.

On top of this, even if we go to the Bible for words, we only hear that God will dwell in the Temple and with David’s throne forever and both of those are destroyed and muslim mosques sit in their places.

So how will you teach something you can not see? How will you find something that can not be found? You have tried searching the way of living an upright life, but that only gave you a feeling or idea of Jesus and He can be very judgmental.

And herein lies the problem. Imagine if someone actually had miraculous healing powers, what would we do to them? We would hound them and never let them rest. The government would want to dissect them and study them. We would get angry because they are not helping everyone and being selfish with their gift. We would tear them to pieces.

If we were able to find Jesus as He was, we would make Him do whatever we wanted. We would force Him to be a moralist, a bread king, or a Santa Claus. We would push Him into elected positions and charities so He could fix things. We’d press Him onto pictures, flags, and slogans and make Him make things right or crucify Him for failing to do so.

This is the type of Jesus you find. A Jesus made in your image and likeness to whom you give lip service, but make sure He stays in those boxes. So that even when you claim to have found Him, you have really just found another idea to be placed at the buffet of competing ideas and not Jesus at all.

Jesus hides Himself so that this doesn’t happen, even though lots of people attempt to do all of this to Jesus without Him appearing, you are not to believe them. Jesus is not going to do any of the things He has preciously done in the way He has preciously done them. Jesus will not be back as He once was.

Jesus will not return meek and mild as at Christmas. Jesus will not return in secret. Jesus will not return in any way that He needs to be born again, grow up again, or is at the mercy of man again. Never again will only one corner of the world witness God in the flesh. You will not find Jesus doing anything that He has done in the Bible, when He returns.

Do not follow those who say so! Follow the Word of God. Yes the Word says that Jesus has done all those things, but that is not the point of those miracles and wonders. Jesus has already accomplished the purpose of His miracles and that was to go to the cross and until Jesus returns again, in glory and in a sight to be seen from the east and the west, He will still be on that cross, for you.

Follow Jesus to the cross. You will find Him there. Not that He is forever crucified, but He is forever known as the God-man Who was crucified for the whole world. Jesus is known in heaven by that act. He is known by His enemies by that act and He is known in hell by that act.

Thus, you will know Him by that act, revealed to you by the holy Scriptures. You will not have to search for Jesus nor will you have to pick out which person is telling the truth about where He is. This is because Jesus is already found. He found Himself and He found you to tell you about it in Faith.

Christmas was not accomplished in a corner. The heavens were opened and angels were flying around singing, for crying out loud. That’s a pretty big corner. Epiphany was accomplished in the Temple, in the wilderness, and on a mountaintop in front of crowds. Lent was a tour of practically the entire eastern shore of the Mediterranean. Good Friday was a billboard and no one has yet disproved Easter.

You will remember Jesus by what He has done for you by hearing and teaching the Word of God. You will know Jesus by what He has done for you and you will recognize Jesus on the last day by what He has promised you and told you beforehand.

Do not be afraid. Not only have you been marked and set aside for the Return of Jesus, but He has promised to not leave you behind. The cross of Christ has declared just this thing. Those in Judea have already fled to the mountains and beyond. The one on the housetop and the one in the field have already left their posts.

You are already amid the tumult of the great tribulation and false christs abound, for the sign of the times has already been placed. The red flag of the end of all things has already come up. The cross, whereon God sat, has already been gathering many and will continue to do so.

Finding Jesus for your family is not a great mystery, neither is the Last Day. Jesus has given all the secrets to you. You already know what’s going to happen and how it will happen and you already possess the power and salvation of God at your fingertips.

You don’t go to find Christ, He comes to find you. He comes with His Word and His Sacraments bearing the good news of the forgiveness of sins. He brings His own holy water, His own holy words, and His own holy meal so that you know its Him. You will not have to decipher Him, decode Him, or attempt to remember Him like some long lost friend.

You will not miss Him if you don’t do things in just the right way and He will not pass you by if you are caught red-handed. And even if He hides Himself and things get worse and worse, they have an end. They will come to an end and the world to come will have no end.

The devil will have his 7 years and the Lord will have His thousand. For a little while you, the heavens, and the earth will be shaken, but for eternity you will stand in the presence of the Lord blessed, innocent, and righteous, for the sake of Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord.

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