Third Sunday before Advent

2 Thessalonians 2.1-5, 13-17; Luke 20.27-38

In these few weeks leading up to the season of Advent we have our minds turned towards the subject of the Kingdom of God in our Common Worship lectionary. And the Kingdom of God we are told is both here and yet to come, in all its fullness. And that is linked to what is called the 'end times', that time when Christ will return, history will be rolled up and the Kingdom finally come. To understand this as fully as we can, we have to go back to Old Testament ideas of what is called the 'Day of the Lord', a time seen as being that in which God's rule finally takes its sway, together with a final judgement. Jesus seems to have taken up similar themes right from the start of his ministry when he called people to 'repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.' And then he went on to tell stories about what the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven is like and the way it works. And when we look at these stories, these parables we can see that there are some quite marked contrasts between the way in which the world works and the way the Kingdom of God works. All of this is a huge subject in itself. And the readings this morning point towards all of this. But what I think we could get from this morning's readings is not so much thoughts and ideas about the Kingdom itself but how to approach it and how to live in it.

When he was writing to the people at Thessalonica, Paul was writing in the very early days of the Church, indeed these letters to the Thessalonians are believed to be the earliest letters in our Bible. All that people had on which to base the living of their Christian life was what had been handed down to them by word of mouth and for the Jews amongst them, what was in their Bible, which is our Old Testament. You can imagine that, in these early days, with all these new ideas floating around people would be desperate to know what Jesus had said and done, what was right and what was wrong in all of what they were hearing, what was the truth in and about what Jesus spoke and what was false. Added to that, people had the impression, from what Jesus had said, that He would return very soon. So they needed to know how they could be best prepared for when that happened.

At that time too there were many people going around developing and preaching different spiritual techniques and pathways some based on the things that Jesus had said and others based on more philosophical speculation. So again, Christians could get themselves lost in the welter of weird and wonderful ideas and beliefs and stray far from the Truth that the apostles had received and passed on. And it was too a time of political and religious unrest so that Christians could very easily find themselves being persecuted for their beliefs, putting their lives in danger for simply gathering to talk about Jesus Christ and to worship Him.

When we turn to the gospel reading we are looking at the sort of question that Jesus' preaching raised in peoples' minds, especially in the minds of those who were teachers. Whether or not they were trying to catch Jesus out is neither here nor there. Jesus' answers were very often quite disarming and would throw people back on the question itself or onto the questioners and their own ideas, beliefs and opinions. In this case, the effect of Jesus' answer is to show that indeed, the way the Kingdom of God works is in many respects very different to the way the world works. And we have to be in it to experience it. Until then it just seems like speculation just because it doesn't work the way the world works, very often.

And that brings us to the point of both of these readings this morning and this subject of the Kingdom of God. St. Paul tells people not to listen to all the mumbo jumbo that they hear coming from round about them. Instead, he says "So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter". This is right at the heart of St. Paul's preaching and teaching of the gospel. That people should stick to what they've been taught, to what has been passed on to them by the apostles, is vital to their growth in faith and in the Faith. And he reiterates it to the Corinthians, when they aren't living up to the mark, saying that he passed on to them what had been passed on to him. And that they should imitate him as he imitates Jesus Himself. Only in this way can they come to know what being followers of Christ means. Only by following in this tradition as faithfully as they possibly can will they come to realise the fullness of the Christian life in themselves, the fullness of Christ Himself.

It also means that when they do follow in this tradition as faithfully as possible that the Kingdom of God becomes real to them. It's only then that it makes sense to them and that they can then actually live it and live by it. Because the way it works is that when they were baptised they were baptised into Christ Himself, into His life and it's for them to let the Holy Spirit work in them, so that all that Christ Himself was they can be too. And they do this by keeping to what they have been taught through the tradition handed on to them. It's this that will keep them steadfast and unswerving in such difficult times as they were living through. As St. Paul says, again to the Thessalonians; "Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word."

We too, 2,000 years on live in such difficult times as the Thessalonians. The devil never has rested. We might not be persecuted for our faith in this part of the world, although we are in much more subtle ways; but how much are we pressured or tempted to water down our Christianity so that what it becomes is simply a vague sense of positivity about life or some weekly ritual that makes us feel better about our lot; opium for the masses as Karl Marx called it. And how very present in this world now are all the spiritualities that were floating about 2,000 years ago, brushed up and re-presented in shiny new packaging, as cheap as chips, for anybody to be sidetracked into, ourselves included. And all of which causes such great spiritual confusion and chaos. It's all treasure to the devil. When we are confused, frustrated or depressed about our faith, the devil has done his work well. And how much is the Church herself confused, frustrated and depressed in this part of the world these days?

So it's in times like these that we need to hear St. Paul again urging us to keep to the tradition handed down to us from the apostles. Because this apostolic faith is the true Faith. Christ's light is the true Light. It's the faith that lifts us out of the kingdom of this world into the Kingdom of God the moment we turn to it. It lifts us out of the kingdom of transient affection, quiet and happiness into the Kingdom of true and eternal, love, joy and peace. But it only becomes real when we stick with it, stick to it. And it's then that God Himself will come with His grace and eternal comfort to keep us in His Kingdom.