Historic First Lutheran Church of Pasadena

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Those of you who were here last Sunday will probably remember that Pastor Brady included three commands in the course of his sermon. The first of those commands was to “Be Prepared!” or to “Be Ready!” That theme also comes up in today’s overall Advent theme, especially from the last verse of today’s Gospel: “So you also must be ready because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him” [Matthew 24:44].

I ask you this morning, “How do you get ready?”

That’s a topic many of us wrestled with this past week as we celebrated Thanksgiving.

For those of us who hosted others for Thanksgiving dinner, getting ready probably involved a check-list of some sort. Some of the things got prepared in advance. The house got cleaned. The good china and silver got pulled out of the cabinets. We made the obligatory trip to the grocery store and checked off our list the turkey and the green beans and the stuffing. Some of the things got prepared the day of Thanksgiving. We made sure the turkey was put into the oven at the proper time and, somewhere during the process, we probably stuck a meat thermometer into the turkey’s thigh to make sure it was done, that it was ready. Finally, when everything was checked off our list, both those things we prepared in advance and those things we prepared on Thanksgiving, we said we were ready to eat Thanksgiving dinner.

Sometimes getting ready involves those check-lists of things to complete. Sometimes getting ready is more emotional in nature.

As you probably all know, I returned home from vacation 10 days ago. For many years now, my annual November vacation has taken me to Key West, Florida. I used to go for one week, for 7 days, but about 5 or 6 years ago, I noticed that after 7 days, I wasn’t ready to go home yet. No one’s ever ready to leave vacation, but this was more than that. I would get very depressed the day I left, even to the point of shedding tears when I either drove out of town or sat in the airplane seat. To me, that wasn’t the point of vacation. To me, leaving almost ruined the entire vacation. I asked myself why I reacted that way. I came to the conclusion that it was because I wasn’t emotionally ready to go home. It usually takes me several days to truly relax on vacation and about the time I truly relaxed, I had to go home. For me, the solution was simple and it has proven effective: I extended my vacation from 7 days to 10 days and the last few years that I have done that, I have been ready to come home. I have felt relaxed. I have felt rejuvenated. I’ve done the things I’ve wanted to do and I have felt ready to return home, without the unpleasant emotions associated with ending vacation.

“So you also must be ready because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him” [Matthew 24:44].

When we hear those words, we may get somewhat panicked. We may start making a list of all the things we have to do in order to get ready for Jesus’ return, the things we still have to do, the things we still have to accomplish. We may experience some pretty severe emotional distress when we see that list, when we realize that no matter how long Jesus delays His return, there’s no way we’re ever going to get everything completed in order to declare ourselves ready.

My friends, today I declare to you that if that’s how you’re feeling when you hear those words, “So you also must be ready because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him,” you’re forgetting something very important. If those words cause you panic and anxiety, you’re not allowing Jesus’ Holy Spirit to do His job in your life.

You see, we are already ready for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ! Put down your check-list! Calm your emotional distress! We are already ready for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ because Jesus has made us ready!

Unlike the days of Noah, when only Noah was listening to the voice of God, when only Noah was building that saving ark to carry him and his family for those 40 days and 40 nights of rain, there is nothing that we need to do to get ourselves ready for the Second Coming of Jesus. Jesus saw to that already. When Jesus went to the Cross and there suffered and died for each of us, do you remember His final words? It is finished. It was more than His life that was finished. It was God’s history-long plan of salvation that was finished. And when something is finished, there is nothing more that needs to be added.

Can you imagine someone doing a few touch-ups on the “Mona Lisa?” No, it’s finished.

Can you imagine someone doing exterior renovations on New York City’s famed Chrysler Building? No, it’s finished.

Can you imagine someone deciding to do a better job on a book like “War and Peace” or on a movie like “Gone with the Wind” or the “Wizard of Oz?” No, they’re finished.

So it is also with our salvation. Jesus finished it for us. He accomplished everything necessary for us to be ready. His suffering and death forgave us our sins. His suffering and death declared us the victor in the daily battle with sin and the devil. His suffering and death destroyed death so that for us, as the people of God, we have only life to anticipate. His suffering and death granted us peace.

During this season of Advent, there will admittedly be much emphasis placed upon getting ready for the celebration of Christmas. Despite all that, we must never forget the truth of the Advent message and shift our focus from all the preparations we feel we need to do in order to get ready for Jesus’ Second Coming to the place where our eyes should always be focused as the people of God – the saving Cross of Jesus. There we see and are told in words unmistakable that we are indeed ready.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Pastor Christopher Schaar
Historic First Lutheran Church of Pasadena