2 Peter 3:1-10 - Senior Sermon
Dec 02, 2009
Mary Ann Huston
Senior sermon
Dec 2, 2009
2 Peter 3:1-10
There is something very poignant about this letter of Peter's. He is near death and this is his last letter to the community. He is thinking about all he needs to tell them. This last testament is filled with apocalyptic images of the last days, when "the heavens will pass away and the elements will be dissolved with fire." The letter is a mixture of warning and comfort, with contrasting fates for the righteous and the unrighteous............I can relate to Peter's sense of urgency! When I was leaving our son, Thomas, at college for the first time this summer, I couldn't stop myself from sharing some crucial last minute advice to him on the sidewalk the night before I left him. What had we forgotten to tell him in these last 18 years? I tried not to be too apocalyptic.
For Peter- for Peter- his need really is pressing. He may not have another chance to address this community of Christians. So he focuses on essentials: the day of the Lord will come, and with it God's judgment. He warns his listeners about the false teachers who could influence vulnerable Christians by expressing doubt about God's action in the world and questioning God's trustworthiness because the last days had not come yet. Since some people, in their short sightedness, didn't see that much had changed, they were living wildly without worrying about divine judgment, repercussions, or accountability. Peter reminded them that at the day of the Lord, all would come under God's judgment. Peter also reminds the community that God's time is different than the way they experience time. "With the Lord, one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day."
Time is strange, isn't it? Over the years, people have recognized the distinction between God's time and human time. You can see it in the contrast between the end of the semester when our lives feel like a train wreck about to happen, and those moments when we are engrossed in study, when time stands still as Scripture speaks to us through the Holy Spirit. And in the contrast between days when time barely moves while we are filled with sorrow, pain or misery, and the days when life feels so right and good that we want that moment to last forever.
I remember the strange sensation I felt as I followed an ambulance carrying our daughter to the hospital after she had broken her back. Our lives had entered a new dimension while the rest of the world moved on as usual. And here, in this seminary communit, time and experience slowed and intensified as we painfully grappled with the lay-offs of our friends, colleagues, mentors and those who had supported us in our spiritual journeys. Beyond our enclave, life went on as if nothing had happened.
The strange thing is, is that at any given time, someone's life has been turned upside down by unexpected events beyond his or her control. Since we can't know what others are experiencing, we need to treat every person we encounter with kindness, patience and gentleness. We need to love. No big surprise, is it, that Peter reminds his community to remember Jesus' commandment? He said, " ...you should remember the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets, and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken through your apostles."
While Peter's letter does not specify which commandment he is referring to, it makes sense that he is talking about the Great Commandment. Anyone following the commandment to love God with all one's heart, mind and soul, and to love one's neighbor as oneself would be ready for the end times, whenever they happen. Peter assures his community that the delay of the Lord's coming is because God is patiently waiting for all to come to repentance. God does not want any to perish. So God waits. God waits for all to turn back, away from sin and brokenness. God's judgment is merciful. At the day of the Lord, "everything that is done on the earth will be disclosed". God's time will become our time and God's judgment will give clarity to everyone's actions and their consequences. Until then, all are called to repent, to prepare for Christ's coming.
The end times are coming and no one knows when. Peter tells his community to trust God to act in God's time, not according to their own timetable. For some of us, it's difficult to understand our ancestors' disappointment that the day of the Lord hadn't come yet. For us, the thought of end times can be scary. God's judgment worries us. Have we lived as the people God called us to be? Have we, as individuals, been who God envisioned? Have our lives been modeled on Jesus' life in a recognizable way? Have we taken responsibility for our actions, particularly when they are hurtful?
This is the beginning of Advent. We look for the coming of Christ. We prepare our lives, our hearts, our souls for Emmanuel: God with us. We look forward to complete union with God, and we receive a foretaste of that union each time we take communion. It's kind of misleading to associate Advent with Jesus' birth, when what we are really preparing for is an event that will come like a thief in the night. Christ's second coming. A new creation. How do we prepare? As the ancient hymn we sang today instructs us, we "cast away the works of darkness" and hasten to repent, "with our tears of sorrow". "So when next [Christ] comes with glory, and the world is wrapped in fear, may he with his mercy shield us, and with words of love draw near."1 Christ's second coming, then, is something to look forward to, and not to fear.
But often, what impedes us from looking forward to the end times is our attachment to the present, our lives in this world. We hold on tightly to what we were given, often unwilling to share what we have, forgetting that it is all a gift from our Creator. It is difficult to imagine life beyond this one, even with all the wonderful visions of heaven we read in Scripture and sing about in hymns. But for others who are living on the margins, persecuted, in danger of dying from the violence of war or poverty, the end times promise in a new age -- A new age of God's justice and mercy. Peter reminds the community, and us, that all will be revealed in the last days. God will open our eyes to the truth, so we might see, recognize and repent. As Mary sings,
[The Lord] has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty. 2
We should take God's judgment seriously. But as Peter reminds us, God's waiting is purposeful and full of mercy. God's judgment reveals the error of our ways, so God waits for all of us to recognize it and repent.
Preparing our hearts for Christ's coming isn't just about the future. It is about how we live now with Christ among us. We celebrate the day of the Lord every Sunday, and every time we break bread together. We open our hearts to the possibility of a life-changing encounter with Christ whenever we encounter one another. Whenever we have a change of heart, repent, forgive each other and seek forgiveness, Christ is with us. Whenever we accept God's love in humility and awe, with fear and trembling, Christ is near.
We live in a liminal time, between the already and the not yet. Where God's future meets our present each time we participate in holy Communion. Where God's time slips into our lives and we witness a glimpse of Christ's coming glory. We experience Christ's coming as we live out his commandment to love. So live as if the day of the Lord is truly imminent. Be enveloped in the blaze of God's glory so that you might be a witness of God's love in the world. Repent: Christ is coming! Forgive: Christ is here! Love: Be Christ in the world!
1. Hymn 59 Hark! A thrilling voice is sounding Hymnal 1982.
2. Canticle 15 The Song of Mary Book of Common Prayer page 91.
