It’s not actually true that suicides spike during the holiday season. You might hear that claim being made, and it would seem to make sense. A lot of people experience extra stress. People may also have some extra causes for sadness and depression. Loneliness might hit extra hard when you know that other people are celebrating with their loved ones. And certainly there still are people who take their own lives in December, just not more than at any other time of year. According to the CDC, December of 2023 was third from the bottom of the list for number of suicides per month that year. Why? Maybe because people are spending more time with friends and family. Maybe because people are looking forward to the holidays and enjoying their vacations. Maybe because even with all the trouble of this world, this actually is a joyful time of year.
It is a time that we associate with a lot of joy, isn’t it? The popular Christmas song says it’s the most wonderful time of the year. We get out Christmas decorations that delight us with their beauty and with the fond memories that go with them. We have all kinds of different special traditions. The gifts that we give and receive are reminders of how we care for each other, and hopefully also reminders of God’s love for us and the gift of his Son. All this really can be a great way to take our minds off of the trouble of this world.
But maybe we shouldn’t take our minds completely off the trouble of this world. Maybe there is real value in taking note of these troubling things and in taking them to heart. Rather than papering over the troubles of the world with frivolity, like wrapping paper on a present, let us consider the times carefully and make penitential preparation.
Our sermon text for today comes from Luke’s gospel, chapter 21, where Jesus describes to his disciples signs of the Last Day. In the Advent season we look both backwards and forwards. We’re looking ahead to Christmas, but Christmas is meaningless unless we also look back, to the birth of our Lord Jesus. And looking back at Jesus’ coming then in turn leads us to look ahead again. Because Jesus’ birth isn’t just a historic day, the way that we might honor a day for someone else, such as Martin Luther’s birthday or George Washington’s birthday. No, Jesus’ birth into the world means something for our future as well. Jesus came into the world just as Scripture foretold. And he will come again just as Scripture foretells.
There are a lot of questions about that day, and those questions tend to matter to people a little more than the unknown details about Jesus’ birth. There are questions there too, like was it on December 25, or was it a different day? Was it really in the caves outside Bethlehem, the traditional location? What exactly was the star the wise men saw? But the questions about Jesus’ second coming hit a little harder, because of the way that they intersect with our lives. When is it going to be? How soon? What will that day be like? What will I see? What sorts of indicators might I look for to know that I should be ready for it?
This is what Jesus addressed here. He told his disciples that there are things they can look for. He said,
There will be signs in the sun, moon, and stars. And on the earth nations will be in anguish, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the surging waves, 26people fainting from fear and expectation of the things coming on the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
The kinds of signs that Jesus tells us to watch for are not good things. We dream of building a better world, a world that is fairer and more just and peaceful, where wars cease and there is no more hunger or poverty. Some Christmas songs even sing about this kind of thing. But that is a far cry from the reality that we see. Even at this joyful time of year, there’s an awful lot of trouble and sorrow and conflict in the world. It’s not the world we dream of. But it is, in fact, the world that Jesus told us we would have. Nations in anguish and perplexity? People fainting from fear and expectation of the things coming on the world? Two thousand years ago Jesus described the way that the world is today.
It would be foolish for us to pretend otherwise, even at this time of year. We should not be caught off guard when we see these kinds of things happening. Instead, Jesus tells us to let them be reminders to us. These signs won’t tell us the exact year or day or time of Jesus’ arrival, because that is not for us to know. But Jesus says that at the end of all these things we will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
This is very different from the way he first came into this world. He first came as a newborn baby, quietly, humbly, seen only by a few shepherds. But when he comes again it will be in power and glory for the world to see. It will be a day of terrifying judgment, as all the dead are raised and every wicked deed is uncovered. So often people get away with the crimes they commit, but they will not escape the perfect justice of the Lord Jesus.
But for us, who belong to Christ and are baptized in his name, all this terror is not meant to shake us to our core. Jesus says, But when these things begin to happen, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is near.
So this then is why it would be foolish for us to ignore the trouble of the world in this Advent season. The trouble of the world is a reminder that Jesus is coming. That’s true with the big things, the natural disasters and wars between nations. It’s also true with the small things that just affect me. Our own troubles, aches and pains, worries, conflicts, and yes, our struggles with sin, ought to remind us that the day will soon come when Jesus appears in a cloud in great glory. They’re budding leaves on a fig tree, telling us that summer is certainly on its way.
And if we are being reminded that Jesus is coming, then that’s going to have a great effect on the way that we live while we lift up our heads to look for that day. Jesus warns us
“Watch yourselves or else your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and the worries of this life, and that day may come on you suddenly. 35For it will come like a trap on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. 36Stay alert all the time, praying that you may be able to escape all these things that are going to happen and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.”
Carousing and drunkenness are supposed to be a way of forgetting trouble, but it doesn’t work. It just makes things worse. And if we don’t have that, does it mean that we’re just left with the worries of this life? No, that’s not right either. All those things weigh us down in this world, and the only way our burden can be removed is Jesus. The day is going to close on us like a trap, and the only way through that trap is Jesus. A ship in a storm may need to throw its cargo overboard. A person running from a disaster may need to drop whatever he’s carrying. What will you do with the burden of your sins?
You’ll repent. Advent has long been considered a penitential season. Of course, repentance isn’t just something that happens just a few times per year. It’s just that this is a good time to be reminded again how necessary repentance is. The Augsburg Confession says
Now, repentance consists properly of these two parts: One is contrition, that is, terrors smiting the conscience through the knowledge of sin; the other is faith, which is born of the Gospel, or of absolution, and believes that for Christ’s sake, sins are forgiven. It comforts the conscience and delivers it from terrors.
See all the trouble in the world? The anguish, the perplexity, the fear? Dear Christians, you too deserve God’s wrath and punishment. Let us go to him in repentance! Let us confess our sins and ask his forgiveness. And let us know that Jesus does forgive our sin, because of his cross, by his Gospel, in Word and Sacrament.
With sins forgiven, we can fill our time of waiting in this world with good deeds, with lives of love and service, especially to those who are in need, especially to those who are in despair over this life because they don’t know God’s love and they can’t find peace and joy. You are free to love them, with the same love your Savior has given you.
This season is a joyful one, but not because we ignore trouble. Rather, we recognize the trouble for what it is. It’s the consequence for sin. Everything will pass away, except the Word of Jesus. So let us cling to Jesus’ everlasting word and repent. But neither does that mean that you should spend this season with your face downcast. No. Spend it with penitential preparation that looks up with joy for the appearing of your Savior. Stand up and lift up your heads, your redemption is near! Amen.
— Pastor Seth Georgson