Shaken on Advent Sunday

At the early Eucharist on Advent Sunday, 2023

Mark 13:24-37

“The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.”

Advent begins with words from Jesus to shake us.

Jesus is sitting on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, Mark tells us, “opposite the Temple”. His disciples have expressed their awe at the imposing sight of the Temple. 

Jesus’ response begins this apocalyptic discourse: “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down”.

It is a declaration that all earthly things pass: all empires, all institutions, all claims to power, all ideologies, all ages, all possessions … they pass, they do not endure.

Our reading then  opens with Jesus quoting the Prophet Isaiah, speaking to the ancient people of Israel in the face of the power and might of the of Babylonian empire.

Isaiah declared that the grandeur, wealth, and pride of that empire - assumed to be as enduring as the sun and moon - would, like all things of this world, be shaken, and pass …

As if “the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken”.

When Jesus invokes these words, he gives them a universal meaning. Across the centuries, each generation hearing these words spoken by Jesus, hears in them the Advent call.

We are not to find lasting meaning, purpose, or identity in that which passes, that which cannot endure, that which will be shaken. We are - as today’s Gospel repeatedly exhorts us - to “keep alert … keep awake”, so we do not find ourselves foolishly, drowsily placing our trust, our hope in the things of this world. 

And so Advent, like a sharp winter frost on the landscape, cuts through our delusions, our foggy thinking, our spiritual laziness (1).

It cuts through the pretensions of worldly powers and institutions, orders and ideologies, claims and status - each, all will be shaken and all will pass, as if “the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken”.

Cutting through the pretensions and the delusions, Advent brings us to that which which endures, that in which our trust can be placed, in which lasting meaning is to be found ...

We hear Jesus say in the gospel of Advent Sunday, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away”.

This prepares us for our Christmas celebrations: for there, in the manger of Bethlehem, in the Christ Child, is the One who is the Word of the Father, full of grace and truth, the Life and Light eternal.

Now, in these days of Advent, may we be shaken out of our complacencies, out of our casual acceptance of the claims of this world, knowing that all things of this world pass ...

Being prepared in heart, mind, and soul to receive afresh the One whose Nativity approaches, who is the Life and Light eternal, whose coming is certain, whose day draws near (2).

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(1) An image suggested by Rowan Williams' 'Advent Calendar': "He will come like frost".

(2) The closing phrase is taken from the post-communion prayer for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, BCP 2004.

The icon is Ivanka Demchuk, 'Christ in Glory'.