{"id":7300,"date":"2021-11-23T06:31:43","date_gmt":"2021-11-23T13:31:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=7300"},"modified":"2021-12-21T06:17:00","modified_gmt":"2021-12-21T13:17:00","slug":"advent-1-luke-2125-36","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=7300","title":{"rendered":"
Advent 1 (Luke 21:25-36)<\/div>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Only the Sign of Jonah<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click here for a pdf version.<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Advent 1 (Luke 21:25-36)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Happy New Year! This is the beginning of the Christian year. As we do at the beginning of the secular year, we say: What was it all about? Where is it all going? We take stock. Look back. Make resolutions. Look to the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#1. You have heard perhaps of the famous novel, From Here to Eternity, <\/em>by American James Jones. That\u2019s what we\u2019re doing today, asking: What is from here to eternity? We are also looking from eternity to eternity to see where it\u2019s all going and what it\u2019s about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The gospel text is all about looking for the signs of what is coming. We know how to read the sky, as the ancient rhyme goes: \u201cRed sky at night, sailors delight; red sky at morning, sailors take warning.\u201d A version of this is found in Matthew 16:2-3. The Pharisees come to Jesus asking for a sign and he responds: \u201cWhen it is evening, you say it will be fair weather; for the sky is red.\u201d And in the morning, \u2018It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Managing life involves reading signs \u2013 road signs, stop signs, yield right of way, deer crossing etc. Exit and entrance signs. In fact, a major pizza chain even has stamped a sign on pizza boxes: \u201cOpen before eating.\u201d Who is that clueless!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We know to open the pizza box before eating the pizza, but how good are we at reading other signs?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Amos 3:4, 8, the prophet asks: \u201cDoes the lion roar and you\u2019re not afraid?\u201d You better be or you\u2019ll be lunch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Language itself is made up of signs that point beyond themselves.  For example, if I say: \u201cOutside of our church is a parking lot,\u201d you can picture the parking lot in your mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#2. In contrast to signs all around, there is Mark 13:32: \u201cNo one knows the time of the end, not even the angels, not even the Son, but only the Father.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luke 21:34 says that the end comes like a snare. Snares aren\u2019t used any more because they are considered cruel. It used to be that people snared rabbits. They even snared big game, even human beings. What is the whole point about a snare? You don\u2019t see the snare, and then you\u2019re snared. Amos 3:5 asks: \u201cDoes a bird fall in a snare when there is no trap for it?\u201d There is the one who sets the snare. Watch out! In Matthew 15:1-13 is the parable of the wise and foolish maidens. The wise maidens had their oil lamps filled when the bridegroom came; the foolish maidens were unprepared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, there are five places in the New Testament where it is said that the end will come like a thief in the night:<\/p>\n\n\n\n