Stand

Have you ever experienced an awakening; a moment in time when the priorities of life smack you upside the head? After 9/11 some churches experienced an increase in attendance. Some watched those towers fall and the reality of the randomness of life and death came for an uncomfortable visit. Unfortunately, many churches are now experiencing a decline in attendance. What happened? Life. Life happened. They snuggled up to the every dayness of existing and got themselves comfortable. And this happens with plenty of sitting in the church chair folk as well. Church is just one of the routines of routine living. Sunday morning is going to church day in the same way that Monday morning is going back to work day. Routine. Sameness. And in the midst of this mundane every day sameness don’t we long for a coming to Jesus experience? Or do we drown the sameness away with bouts of drunken forgetfulness?

I am most likely in the minority, but I think all of Luke 21 is about the destruction of Jerusalem. I believe the language that sounds like of end of times is apocalyptic. The destruction of Jerusalem is the coming of God in judgment. And when God comes in judgment that is a shaking of heavens and earth reality. It is much more about God breaking into this present age than an imperial thumping by Rome. I also happen to believe that every passage of Scripture contains eternal truths; a sharper than any two-edged sword word of God that is able to divide to the very separation of soul and spirit. So, in our passage, Jesus is giving a warning to his disciples specific to the coming destruction, but the warning stretches out to our reality as well.

Hold firmly! Pay attention! Don’t let your hearts become heavy or weighed down. Dissipation is a rare word (found only here in the New Testament). It is used in medical writings to describe the nausea that accompanies too much alcohol. It may mean something like no restraint. The two words together give the idea of one who partakes of drunken parties often. This will weigh down your heart. Hellenism spoke of a heart dulled or weighed down by too much wine. Some people think that going to the bars and throwing down some cool ones is about life. But in reality it is about avoiding life. I would rather have an evening with friends I can fully remember the next day and that without shame. I say and do enough stupid without adding alcohol into the mix. Jesus adds to this the idea of being weighed down with the worries of every day life. Okay, so Jesus understands that you have to take care of things. But sometimes we find ourselves just going through the motions. And we defend our business by saying things like “We are providing for our family.” Ironically, as we exist day in and day out, we sometimes miss out on the truly important things of life.

There are times when Jesus warned that “the day” will come like a thief in the night. Here he tells them that it will not come suddenly like a snare that they could not see. Ah, paradox. For those whose hearts are all weighted down with drunken parties and the every dayness of existence, will be surprised right out of their socks. But Jesus has given them things to look for. When this falls on all who dwell on the face of all the earth, they will know it is time to flee. Again, this is an allusion to Isaiah 24, which speaks of world-wide, inescapable destruction. It comes after judgment spoken against Tyre. Did God, through the prophet, switch gears? Or is it apocryphal language; a description of the judgment against Tyre in a way that cannot be mistaken as anything other than the judgment of God? Either way, you are going to want to stay awake at all times. You are going to want to do yourself some praying to the one who is in charge. And the goal is to have the strength to flee all these things. What things? The things Jesus has been talking about. The goal is to take a stand before the Son of Man.

There is a simple truth here. Whether Jesus is speaking of his Parousia or the destruction of Jerusalem really is not as significant as the warning to stay awake; to take your stand before the Son of Man. The only way to escape in either scenario is found in a coming to Jesus moment; a life that stands before the Son. So, when others mock as they weigh down their hearts with drunken nausea or as they trudge through their life more dead than alive, you, why you take your stand. While some sit in their Sunday coming to church clothes, you stand in your washed clean by the blood of Jesus soul. Stand, I say. Stand and drink fully of the Spirit. Leave the drunkenness to those who want to forget. You! You live and stand.