When He Comes, When He Comes

Isaiah 2:1-5; Matthew 24:36-44
​The Rev. Peter Faass, Rector

There is a magnificent mountain in New Hampshire called Mt. Chocurua.  During my five years there I formed a special attachment for this particular mountain, which was about 25 miles north of where I lived.  My “Hiker’s Guide to the Mountains of New Hampshire” has a note in it that says I climbed Mt. Chocurua for the first time on October 18, 2003.  It also tells me that I did so with the Chilton Mountain Club.  The word “euphoric” with an exclamation point follows that entry.  It truly was.

At 3,475 feet Mt. Chocurua is far from being the tallest mountain in the White Mountain range.  Mt.  Washington, the tallest peak in the northeastern United States, comes in at 6288 feet.  The reason Chocurua holds a special place in my heart is because of its peak.  Unlike the other mountains in New Hampshire, which have been worn down into round, soft peaks by millions of years of  erosion, Chocurua has a solid granite, pointy peak.  It looks like a mountain and not a giant hill.  Its peak is completely barren of growth except for some scrub growth and wild blueberry bushes.  Because of that, once you reach the summit you are presented with an un-obstructed breath-taking 360-degree view.  On a clear day, on the peak of Chocurua, it did seem, as Barbra Streisand sang, that you could see forever.

Hikers had three trails from which to choose to scale Chocurua; Champney Falls, Middle Sister or Piper.  At 7.6 miles round trip, Champney was the shortest, but in my opinion,  the prettiest trail.   Middle Sister was 9.5 miles and Piper, the roughest and hardest trail, was 9 miles.   Each trail provided moderate to difficult hiking conditions. Each had abundant views, lots of flora and fauna and some exquisite waterfalls.  I recall starting at the Champney trailhead one October day in 70-degree weather at the foot of the mountain and encountering snow flurries once I reached the peak.

Regardless of which trail you hiked, the most challenging part of climbing Chocurua was the granite peak.  It required some nimbleness and nerve to negotiate it, with one rather shear run that I always did sitting on my butt.  If you –like me – have some issues with open heights, getting to the peak could be a little daunting.  But as the old saying tells us, we must face our fears head on.  Working through those fears of open heights gifted you with the spectacular 360-degree view, a sense of real accomplishment, and the presence of the holy.

In New Hampshire there are abundant anecdotes of people who climb mountains to restore their belief in the goodness of life and the creation.  Many folks climb when things get too stressful and over-whelming down on the flatlands.   The peak of Mt. Chocurua was one of those Celtic thin places, a place where the veil between humans and the Divine becomes permeable.  There are numerous stone Cairns there, reminders of the deep sense of holiness people encounter in this place.   Because of these things, climbing Chocorua was to engage in a sort of pilgrimage.

In our first reading this morning the prophet Isaiah describes a place similar to Mt Chocurua.
“In days to come the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established . . . and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it.

Many peoples shall come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.’

For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the LORD!” (Is. 2:1-5)
Isaiah’s prophecy came during a time of great duress for Israel.  The powerful Assyrian Empire was a constant looming threat on Israel’s borders.  In time the Assyrians would invade the nation and decimate ten of the twelve tribes.  Life for the Hebrews was also one of significant disparities in the economic and social systems.   Hebrew society was made up of a tiny, rich, elite class that held most of the wealth and power, and a huge impoverished class.  Those in greatest need were treated with utter contempt by the wealthy, in clear violation of the Mosaic Law.

Worst of all, the response to Isaiah’s prophetic word to “walk in the way of the Lord,” calling on the elite class to clean up their act or suffer great consequences, was for them to engage in further corruption, selfishness and decadence. 

Yet despite this Isaiah looks with faith and hope beyond the current reality toward a vision of a transformed world, a new age when all peoples will live together in peace and unity under the gracious rule of God.  His vision is a mountaintop one: “In those days to come, all nations will come to the height of the mountain of the Lord to learn the ways of peace and unity.”

In Matthew’s gospel, the evangelist is also speaking to the Hebrew people in a time of extraordinary distress and calamity.  Written in the early 80’s of the first century, the Jerusalem Temple had been destroyed by the Romans. The Jewish people were forced into the Diaspora, and expelled from their homeland.  Hope was all but eradicated from the lives of the people. 

The evangelist has Jesus prophesying these circumstances, saying that in the future hard times will be the reality and even more will come.  But ultimately with the arrival of the  Son of Man, God’s justice will prevail in the world.  Apocalyptic times are alarm clocks, Jesus says, reminding us to stay alert. They remind us we are to live faithfully as we await the coming of the Redeemer.  A few verses after the one’s we hear today is the parable of the goats and the sheep.  The connection of this parable to who gets saved and who does not  - the one’s left in the field and at the mill grinding and the one’s taken away, is clear.   The ones who stay alert are those who have tended to the needs of the world; the poor, the hungry, the imprisoned, the naked, the lonely. Those who have done this who will inherit the Kingdom brought about by God’s Son.  They will be the ones who achieve the peak of the mountain top, as they journey the trail of life.  Those who ignore the hungry, thirsty, sick, and imprisoned will be cursed.  They will not achieve the pinnacle, that holy place where God’s reign is fulfilled.  Therefore, stay awake, be alert, Jesus says. Do what God requires of you, even in the face of adversity and stressful times, and all will be well.

In the distressing times we encounter in our own day, with wealthy and powerful elites controlling society, and powers of all sorts threatening our existence, the messages of Jesus and Isaiah resonate powerfully.  Economic uncertainty has taken an enormous toll on us, and a disgraceful disparity between rich and poor grows ever wider.  It would appear that the middle-class, so crucial to our American way of life, is an endangered species; a diaspora of extinction.  Wars continue to drag on in Iraq and Afghanistan, and new ones seems to threaten us with an erratic, nuclear, North Korea, and growing, powerful nations in Iran and China.  We endure eroding freedoms from ICE raids, to cameras recording our every move.  In many places if you are Hispanic, Arabic or Muslim you are viewed with suspicion, if not contempt.  And while our institutional “Temples” of government, business, finance, and religion have not been literally destroyed, our trust and confidence in them to provide stability and security is teeter-tottering.

Personally, we encounter mini-apocalypses brought about by sickness, aging and loss, as well as failure and disappointment on the trails of life we climb.

But do not despair, scripture tells us. Be patient Isaiah and Jesus say. Be hopeful. Be alert and do what is right and just, even in the face of overwhelming odds.   Face those fears you have head on, keep moving up the trail, even if it means you need to move forward on your butt now and then! 

That is the Advent message.  The final coming – the final analysis, if you will – the coming of the Savior, and the Restorer of the world to the way God intends for it to be,  will be a scenario in which God prevails once and for all.  Advent’s message is one of hope. It is light in the darkness.   This season embraces our longing for a better way and a better time when the whole world will be complete and whole. A time when we will reach the mountain peak – regardless of how challenging the trail - and the thin place veil has evaporated to reveal the glory of God’s reign.
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Our task in this life is to persevere and have faith in the promise that God’s reign will come.
There is a poem written by an anonymous African-American slave in the 1800’s that powerfully conveys this message of perseverance and hopefulness.
 
"There's a king and a captain high,
And He's coming by and by,
And He'll find me hoeing cotton when He comes.
You can hear His legions charging in the regions
of the sky,
And He'll find me hoeing cotton when He comes.
There's a Man they thrust aside,
Who was tortured till He died,
And He'll find me hoeing cotton when He comes.
He was hated and rejected,
He was scorned and crucified,
And He'll find me hoeing cotton when He comes.
When He comes! When He comes!
He'll be crowned by saints and angels when He comes.
They'll be shouting out Hosanna! to the Man that
men denied,
And I'll kneel among my cotton when He comes."
 
Despite the trials and tribulations that we encounter, even the brutal, harsh conditions of slavery that this poet endured, Isaiah and Jesus assure us that if we persevere and hold onto the hope in their promises, as the poet did, we too will be rewarded with salvation and great joy, when he comes, when he comes.
 
Amen.