Sermon - Trinity XXV 2018 - Matthew 24:15-28

Where is the Messiah? Where is the Savior? That’s the question posed to us in these latter days, these end times. And we are in the end times you know. When Jesus’ disciples asked Him “When will these things be, and what will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?” He didn’t say it’s a long time away, He simply told them “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name saying, I am the Christ, and they will lead many astray.” The end of the age is already here.

The history of the world is already conveniently divided up into two periods: before the birth of Christ, and after the birth of Christ, the beginning and the end. We of course live in the period after the birth of Christ, we are living in the end times now. So Jesus’ words about the end times and His warnings about not being led astray applies to us. We will not escape tribulation and persecution and temptations, since we are currently living in the great tribulation.

So what words of encouragement and hope does Jesus give to us in our Gospel reading? Well, His Words concerning the end times are difficult to understand, and that’s putting it lightly. When Jesus speaks here of the Abomination of Desolation He is speaking of both the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD and His crucifixion. As such, His words are spoken to apply to both those people who lived in Jerusalem in 70AD, and to all Christians in these latter days since His crucifixion. 

Thus, Jesus prepares us for the end times by directing our eyes to Him, instead of looking everywhere else the false christs and false prophets lead us. What’s more, He tears down our most cherished idols that distract us from Him, our idols of home, possessions, and even family. With our idols and distractions removed from our eyes, we can see that Christ is in the midst of His church, hanging upon the cross, tearing our idols out of our hands, and giving us His life.

Jesus begins by removing the idol of our home from before us. He says “Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house.” In ancient Israel, houses were built with a flat roof and an exterior staircase. After the day’s work was finished you’d relax on the housetop. But when the invading army comes, there’s no time to return inside of your house for all of your belongings, you just need to run. It’s like the proverbial burning house; you either run out immediately and live, or collect your treasures and die. 

Likewise for us in these latter days, we must not make an idol of our home. How many of us consider our country, the United States of America, to be our promised land? We hang up pictures of Jesus wrapped in an American flag. We treat our politicians like messiahs. We assume the sanctuary is the same as the civic center where we place an American flag up front a mere 20 feet from the altar of God. This is the greatest nation in the history of the world, we say. Is it really? Is this really the best of the best, the cream of the crop?

St. Paul doesn’t seem to think so: “For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” 

Our citizenship is in heaven; not this great nation, not this fine state, not this beautiful town. In this country we are but strangers and aliens. I know we often look down on illegal immigrants, but the truth is that we have a lot more in common with them than we think. Like them, this isn’t our country, not really. For we “are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.”

Similar to this idol of our home, is our idol of our treasures which we clothe ourselves in. Jesus warns us again “let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak.” When you’re in the field working, in the heat of the day, under the blazing Middle Eastern sun, you take off your nice outer garment to keep cool and keep it looking fresh. But when the invading army comes, there’s not time to retrieve your fine outer cloak, you just need to run. Like the mother whose contractions are just a few minutes apart, there’s no more time to put on makeup, the child is coming. 

Likewise for us in these latter days, we must not make an idol of our treasures. How many of us have amassed a great wealth that brings us such unbridled pride and joy that even the thought of seeing it go makes us cringe? Our beautiful vehicle with a scratch or dent on the side. Our prized flowers ruined by a harsh winter. A debt collection agency taking away our land. A fire burning our house and buildings to the ground. Our income lessening to the point of not getting to keep buying our coffee every day, a new phone every year, maybe not being able to afford cable or the fastest internet package anymore. Our expensive hobbies, clothes, cars, restaurants, and electronics are considered our most prized treasures which we spent our whole life earning. Is this really our greatest treasure though?

Jesus doesn’t seem to think so: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Our great treasure is in Christ Jesus. Our treasures are in heaven, not on this earth. All of our treasures are but vanity of vanities. “For we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.”

While those two idols of home and treasure are difficult to put aside and love less than God, the third idol we’re presented with is perhaps the most challenging: Family. “And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days!” Yes, family can easily become an idol and most often is one. Just answer this one question: What are the holidays about? I bet you didn’t think God, but probably family. 

How do families celebrate Thanksgiving or Christmas or Easter? Around a dinner table! When we say we’re going to celebrate Christmas early or later in July, do we mean that we’re going to gather around the altar and read scripture passages and receive the sacrament? No! Of course not! We mean that our family is going to get together and share a meal. We’ve supplanted worship of Christ with worship of family. 

You can’t deny this, you know that it’s true. If you have to choose between true worship of God and your family, you’ll choose your family. “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” Our family has become our greatest idol. But take heart, your true family is in Christ Jesus. For our heavenly Father loves us so greatly “that we should be called children of God; and so we are.”

On their own, all of these things are good things. Home, possessions, family, these are all good gifts from God. Rightly understood, we should not despise these gifts or abandon them since God has given them to us as stewards of His creation. But whenever these gifts of God take the place of God, they have become an idol and hide Jesus from before our eyes. Our country, our possessions, our families can become false prophets and false christs directing us to look for our God anywhere but where He has promised to be. But as Jesus promises, “everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.”

With these idols painfully removed from your eyes, you will see that the “Abomination of Desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place,” is not only the destruction of the Jerusalem temple, but it is God Himself who has been crucified upon the cross. The abomination is that Christ Jesus, the perfect, sinless Savior was nailed to the tree and crucified for us. The desolation is that the lifeblood of the world would hang on the cross abandoned for us. Jesus stood upon that cross in the holiest of holies: Golgotha.

So we return to the question: Where is the Messiah? Where is the Christ? If the Messiah is not our country, our treasure, nor our family, then where is He? He’s on the cross. From there He teaches us that “where two or three gather together in My name, there am I with them.” The Jesus who was crucified for us now presents Himself to us in His name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit so that where baptized children of God come together they are with their Savior. St. John teaches us that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Where the Word of God is proclaimed clearly and truthfully, there is our Messiah. Jesus Himself says Take, eat, this is My body; Take, drink, this is my blood. Where Christ’s body and blood are rightly administered according to His institution, there is our Christ. 

Where is the Christ? Where is the Messiah? In these latter days, don’t listen to the false christs and prophets, but listen to the real Christ who was crucified for you. He shows you where He is, and He’s right here in this sanctuary, this foreign embassy in a strange land, which is filled with His treasure of righteousness for you, His family.