A Homily for the Twenty-fifth Sunday after Trinity

Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us,

that we should be called the children of God [—and so we are.].

—I Saint John 3:1

The Word, who was with God in the beginning, and who was God, became flesh and pitched his tent among us. And to as many as believe on him, to them gave he power to become the children of God, even to them that believe on his name.

We know that Jesus will return and that when he returns, we will be like him, because, we too are the children of God. How then, should we, as children of God, behave in this naughty world, as we wait for him to come back for us?

It is fashionable these days, in some Christian circles, to concern oneself primarily about what are called the “end times.” Some Christian folk search the Scriptures, and especially the Revelation to Saint John, to try to learn the secret of when Jesus will come again. But this is a secret known only to God the Father—even the Son does not know when he will return.

Jesus himself warned his disciples (which is to say that he warns us) against paying much attention to those who would tell us that the Christ is here or the Christ is there. Maybe he is in the desert; maybe he is in a secret room somewhere. Anyone who tells you such things is a false prophet, and Jesus warned that false prophets would put on a good show, so good as almost to fool the children of God.

But he also told us that when does return, he will come suddenly and unexpectedly. Both Saint Peter and Saint Paul wrote that the day of the Lord would come like a thief in the night. And he will come spectacularly, so that there will be no doubt that he has returned. We affirm each Sunday our belief that he “will come again in glory.” In his own words, it will be like lightning that flashes in the east and brightens the whole sky, all the way to the west, and everyone on the whole earth will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven, in power and great glory.

So it is both unnecessary and futile for us to search for signs that his return is coming soon.

The question posed to us by today’s Scripture readings, and the question that we might well pose to those Christians who obsessed with watching for signs of the end times, is this: suppose you knew that Jesus would return tomorrow, or next Tuesday, or on a date certain in the next year: how would you live your life differently? And if you would live differently if you knew that his return was imminent, why are you not living that way already?

Our Epistle lesson this morning is taken from the first general epistle of Saint John. In that epistle, Saint John advises Christians how to live in this world, as becomes the children of God, and so to be meet to welcome the Lord Jesus when he returns.

John was one of the first disciples of Jesus Christ, called on the Sea of Galilee to become a fisher of men. He was with Jesus constantly. He was the “beloved disciple,” the “disciple whom Jesus loved. It was to John that Jesus, hanging in agony upon the cross, entrusted the care of his own mother. Certainly, if Jesus had meant for believers to spend their time looking for signs and indications of the end times, John would have known about it. And, in writing not only his Gospel, but also his three general epistles, John would have advised Christians that that is what they should be doing.

But John’s message is different. In his first epistle, he says that he is declaring to his readers what he heard from Jesus himself. He tells his readers, the Christians of the first century and of our century, that they must believe in God, and in his Son, and in the Spirit. They must love God, and show their love of God by keeping his commandments. They must love one another. And they must be on guard against false prophets.

John writes that if anyone believes in God, he must keep God’s commandments; and if anyone claims to believe in God, but does not keep God’s commandments, then that person is lying. The proof that we believe is that we do as Jesus did. If we hope to be like him when he returns, then we must purify ourselves, we must become as pure as he is pure.

We must first of all purify ourselves of sin, because refraining from sin is what distinguishes the children of God. Of course, if we say that we have no sin, then we are deceiving ourselves, and if we say that we have never sinned, then we are making God out to be a liar. But if we acknowledge our sins, God the Father has promised to forgive; and if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one, and his is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only for our sins, but for the sins of the whole world.

And if we do not acknowledge and renounce our sins, then we are not living as the children of God, but as the children of the devil.

But to live as children of God involves not merely refraining from sin, it involves loving out brothers and sisters in the world. Of course, we should not kill our brothers and sisters, like Cain who killed his brother Abel. But that is not enough. The children of God do not hate their brothers and sisters; hatred is the moral equivalent of murder. But even that is not enough.

It is not enough to say that we love one another, we must show it by our actions. If we are well off materially, and we see a brother in need, and if our love is genuine, then we will show compassion to him. And we, in our own consciences will know whether we have done so. We do not make a show of compassion, so that the world can see how good we are. We do not care how the world judges us. But if our own conscience condemns us, how will we face Jesus when he returns?

The world does not love the children of God. If we keep the commandments and if we love one another, then we are a reproach to the world. Remember that when the Word became flesh, he came to the world that he created, and the world did not recognize him; he came to his own people, and his own people would not accept him. He was the Son of God, and he lived as the Son of God, and he was a reproach to the world. And the world took him prisoner, and beat him, and hung him on a cross, and killed him. And if the world has not yet done the same things to us, maybe it is just because we have not convinced it that we are children of God.

Jesus told us that the world would hate us. But he also told us: “Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” And John, in his epistle, writes that who ever believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God can overcome the world. Anyone who acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God lives in God, and God lives in him. And God is greater than the world.

If we knew that we were living in the end times, if we had a calendar marked to show the date of Jesus’s return sometime next week or next year, we would all try to live in accordance with John’s epistle. As the great day drew nearer, we would acknowledge and renounce our sins, even our favourite ones. We would cease to harbour hatred and resentment against those around us, and we would give generously to those in need. We would take the commandments to heart, and we would show how much we loved God by obeying them all.

John, of course, knew that Jesus would come back. Indeed, because of a remark Jesus once made, John probably expected Jesus to come back in John’s own lifetime. But John does not tell Christians to live that way because Jesus is coming back soon. He tells Christians to live that way because they are the children of God, and that is how the children of God live.

John knew that Jesus would appear, and when he does appear, John writes, we shall be like him. And why not? We are already like him, because we are already the children of God.

Church of Saint Mary Magdalene

Orange, California

13 November 2005

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