Matthew 21:43-44
Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. 44 And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.
December 2, 2021
Anyone who’s been around for some time has seen events occur y— whether it be accidents, horrific weather, crime or the like — and may say to themselves, “Wow, that could have been us! Glad that wasn’t the case though!” If a political event affected many negatively, but could have been averted, one might ask, “Why did they do that?”.
In Amos 4 and 2 Peter, the authors ask much the same of the reader in telling the story, especially when the Lord has done so much for them. God Himself points out what He has done for Israel and yet they do not return to Him. I remember telling my parents as a teenager when they were reminding me of what I ought to be doing, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, I know, I know” to which my mother would ask, “If you know, why are you doing (name it)?” I didn’t usually have much of an answer. This is the awesome reality of Jesus’ coming despite our proclivity to sin and our response to Him. Are we responding at all?
Advent is a time of waiting, of preparation and a remembrance of His promises kept in the death and resurrection of our Lord, and His promise to come again. But as Bonhoeffer says, “Our whole life is an Advent season, that is a season of waiting for the last Advent, for the time there will be a new heaven and a new earth.” (God is in the Manger, p. 2). How are we to be watching, waiting, being found faithful as disciples in the mean meantime of the times we live in? Are we living out the Gospel as we ought to be as we eagerly anticipate, if we are, that is, the coming of Jesus once again?
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