Jesus said: “Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth.

Luke 21:34-35

Today (December 1, 2024) is the First Sunday of Advent, and the first Sunday of our new church year, but you might wonder: Why today? Why now? It seems like a strange time to begin, doesn’t it?

Our church year could begin with our calendar year on January 1. Or it could begin at Christmas, with Jesus’ birth. That would make sense. Or, perhaps, at Easter, with the event that began it all. Or even on the Day of Pentecost, with the birth of the church. 

All of these would seem like good ways to begin a church year, but the church year doesn’t begin with any of those. 

Instead, it begins today, with the Season of Advent, a four-week season of preparation that concludes at Christmas, with the celebration of the birth of Christ. Why is that?

A Season of Preparation

The birth of Christ is sometimes called Christ’s first coming. His second coming has not yet happened. Advent is a time to prepare for his second coming. And beginning the new church year now reminds us that all of life is, in some ways, a season of preparation. 

Every year we live, in fact every passing day, brings us closer to meeting our Lord face-to-face. And the question this should cause us to ask is, are we ready? Are we prepared to meet our Lord face-to-face? 

The word “Advent” literally means coming. Which reminds us that our Lord, who came among us at his birth, promises to come again. And this season of Advent is a season in which we are invited to prepare for his return. 

When Will He Return?

Of course, when you’re preparing for someone to return, the natural question to ask is, “when will that be?” The disciples often asked that question of Jesus. 

In today’s gospel reading (Luke 21:25-36), Jesus says that there will be signs that his return is drawing close. Before the “Son of Man” returns in a cloud with power and great glory, he says, there will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars. 

But these promised signs are mysterious, aren’t they? Every generation seems to believe that it sees signs of his coming, but every generation has so far been wrong. I suppose it is like the boy who cried wolf. It’s no wonder that the world has become rather skeptical about it. And even for us Christians, it can be difficult to live our life thinking that Jesus is going to come again soon. After all, it’s been 2,000 years, right? 

And perhaps that is why it seems much more significant to think about our death as the most likely time when we will meet Jesus Jesus face-to-face. Because we know that’s going to happen in our lifetime. 

Jesus’ words about his return in today’s gospel reading can also be seen as words about the moment that awaits us all. “Be on your guard,” he says, so “that day does not catch you unexpectedly, like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth.” 

That day will come to all who live on this earth. And it won’t take another 2,000 years. In fact, it really won’t be that long from now, in the grand scheme of things. Listen to how the Letter of James puts it:

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.” Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.”
(James 4:13-15) 

We don’t even know what tomorrow will bring. Our life is a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Harsh words, but true words. And they should inspire us to live every day as if it’s our last. To always be ready to meet our Lord face-to-face. 

The day is coming, sooner rather than later; and we are reminded by Jesus himself today to get ready, so that the day does not catch us unexpectedly, as Jesus says in our gospel reading, like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth.

Be on Guard

So, what shall we do to get ready? That can be answered in lots of different ways, of course, but I want to focus our attention on a verse from today’s gospel reading, verse 34. 

This statement from Jesus offers us a clear, concrete way to get ready to meet him. Jesus says: 

“Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly.”

Let’s take a close look at this verse, because I think that it is a great verse to reflect on as we begin this new church year together. 

First of all, Jesus says, be on guard. Literally, he says: Pay attention to yourself. 

How are we supposed to get to know Jesus if we don’t know ourselves? Even the Greek philosophers recognized the importance of doing this. One of their most well-known maxims is: Know thyself. It’s important for us as Christians as well. But it is very easy to slip through life without doing it, without paying attention to ourselves. 

What do I mean by that? How can we not pay attention to ourselves? Don’t we do that every day? Maybe. 

But let me put it another way. I think that Jesus is telling us not just to pay attention to our selves, but to pay attention to our souls. Is that something that we do every day? Do we pay attention to our souls every day? 

You might wonder what the soul even is, and here is a great answer from Dietrich Bonhoeffer: 

What are we to say about our soul? It is the life that God has given us; it is what God has loved about us, what he—from his eternity—has touched. It is love in us and longing and holy restlessness and responsibility and happiness and pain; it is divine breath breathed into mortal being. Human being, you have a soul!

Think about that: You have a soul. It is that part of you that is in relationship with God, that God has touched. His divine breath breathed into your mortal being. You have a soul. And it’s the most important part of you, because it is the part of you that connects us to God. 

But just as we can neglect other parts of us, like our heart or our brain, we can neglect our soul. And when we don’t use it, we lose it. When we neglect it, it can wither away. Bonhoeffer goes on to offer this warning to us: 

Hey, you! Human being! You have a soul! See that you don’t lose it, that you don’t wake up one day from the frenzy of life—professional and private life—and see that you have become hollow inside, a plaything of events, a leaf driven back and forth and blown away by the wind: that you are without a soul. Human being, pay attention to your soul!

Isn’t that the invitation of this season, the invitation of Advent? To pay attention to our souls? 

I think that is what Jesus is getting at in verse 34 when he tells us to be on guard, to pay attention to ourselves. I think he is reminding us to pay attention to our souls. So that we don’t wake up one day, from the frenzy of life, realizing that we have lost our souls.

Jesus goes on in this verse, verse 34, to describe exactly how that can happen. He identifies three specific ways that we can neglect our souls; three ways that we can stop paying attention to ourselves, if we are not careful. And he cautions us about each of these three things. 

Three Ways to Neglect Our Souls

First of all, Jesus says, we can neglect our souls through dissipation. In other words, by distracting ourselves from the cares and concerns of life, with things like excessive shopping and partying. 

It’s kind of ironic, isn’t it, that this warning from Jesus comes the Sunday after Thanksgiving and Black Friday? Shopping and partying are not bad in and of themselves, of course, but they can become bad when we use them excessively to distract ourselves from life, and when they cause us to neglect caring for our souls. 

The second way that Jesus says we can neglect our souls is through drunkenness. But I think that Jesus would include here anything that we do to numb ourselves to life’s turmoil. It doesn’t have to be with alcohol or drugs. It can be anything that we do to numb ourselves, rather than to face the pain. 

And just like distracting ourselves with dissipation, this is a way to avoid life’s challenges, rather than caring for our souls in the midst of life’s challenges. 

And the third way on Jesus’ list that we can neglect our souls is by letting our hearts be weighed down with the worries of this life. Rather than distracting ourselves, or numbing ourselves, we can, if we are not careful, give in to the cares and concerns of life, and let our worries take away our faith. 

Everyone I know worries. We can’t help that. But when our worries don’t turn into prayers, then we are in danger of letting them eat away at our souls and our faith, until there is nothing left. We then become hollow inside, as Bonhoeffer puts it, a plaything of events, a leaf driven back and forth and blown away by the wind. And, again, we end up losing our souls. 

Closing

So be on guard, Jesus tells us today. As we begin this new church year together. Pay attention to yourselves. Care for your souls. 

When you face challenges in life, as you will, don’t distract yourself, don’t numb yourself, and don’t give in to those challenges. Instead, as Jesus says elsewhere in Scripture (Matthew 11:28-30), come to him. Come to him, all who are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and he promises to give you rest. Take his yoke upon you, and learn from him, for he is gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for our souls. 

Jesus promises to help us carry life’s burdens. We don’t have to face them alone. And he promises one day to return to us and take away those burdens forever. 

We don’t have to distract ourselves, or numb ourselves, or give in to life’s burdens. We can come to Jesus, and he will give us the strength that is needed to face them. And isn’t that the best way to prepare to meet Jesus face-to-face: To come to him now? 

As William Barclay once put it: “The best way to prepare for the coming of Christ is never to forget the presence of Christ.” He is present now. And in his presence, we can come and find true rest for our souls.

So, let us come to Jesus as we prepare for his coming to us. This day, this year, and always. To the glory of God. Amen.