{"id":63828,"date":"2022-11-28T06:00:18","date_gmt":"2022-11-28T11:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=63828"},"modified":"2022-11-25T16:41:47","modified_gmt":"2022-11-25T21:41:47","slug":"come-lord-jesus-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2022\/11\/come-lord-jesus-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Come, Lord Jesus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We\u2019ve been worrying about politics and sorting through political theories.\u00a0 But Advent is a good time to remember that ultimately none of that matters. The true King has come and is coming again.<\/p>\n

The word \u201cadvent\u201d is Latin for \u201ccome to.\u201d\u00a0 Jesus has not only come, He has \u201ccome to\u201d us.\u00a0 He is not only coming again, He is \u201ccoming to\u201d us.\u00a0 On that little preposition hangs the Gospel.\u00a0 Yes, He comes to be our judge, as the Te Deum<\/a> praises, but His coming above all is to<\/em> us and for<\/em> us, so as to save us.<\/p>\n

\n

In Advent, we meditate on Christ\u2019s coming as celebrated in Christmas, reflecting on the Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah.\u00a0 We also meditate on Christ\u2019s second coming, which we await in hope, just as the Old Testament saints awaited His first coming.<\/p>\n

So we pray, \u201cCome, Lord Jesus!\u201d\u00a0 That prayer is the next to the last verse of the Bible\u00a0 (Revelation 22:20), going from the apocalyptic account of what that will be like and what it will mean to the prayer of the church until that happens.\u00a0 It was indeed the prayer of the earliest church as evidenced in St. Paul\u2019s interjection into his Greek epistle of a word in Aramaic, the language of Jesus:\u00a0 Maranatha<\/i><\/a>, which can mean either \u201cO Lord, come!\u201d or \u201cthe Lord has come\u201d\u2013both of the senses of Advent.<\/p>\n

\u201cCome, Lord Jesus\u201d is echoed in the Common Table Prayer beloved by Lutherans (\u201cCome, Lord Jesus, be our guest\/And let these gifts to us be blessed\u201d) which seems like a simple children\u2019s prayer, but is much more, asking for Christ\u2019s presence<\/em>\u2013a pervasive\u00a0 theme of Lutheran theology\u2013with the family at mealtime, alluding to the teaching that Christ is present in vocation as we love and serve and provide for each other.<\/p>\n

At any rate, \u201cCome, Lord Jesus\u201d is the ultimate Advent prayer.\u00a0 \u00a0Notice how often we pray that phrase in our Advent hymns; for example, \u201c\u201dSavior of the Nations, Come\u201d and \u201cO Come, O Come, Emmanuel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Philip Jenkins<\/a> reminds us of an ancient variation, found in\u00a0the Didache<\/a> (c.100AD):\u00a0 \u201cMaranatha<\/em>! Come Lord Jesus. And let the present world pass away!\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes, let it!\u00a0 That is an important aspect of Christ\u2019s return!\u00a0 \u00a0With His second coming, \u201cthe former things\u201d\u2013the kingdoms of this world, the first heaven, the first earth, death, mourning, pain\u2013\u201chave passed away\u201d (Revelation 21:1-4).<\/p>\n

Living in anticipation of that passing away means that we do not have to be preoccupied with such things, since we know that they will not last and that something better awaits us, either when Christ comes again or when we leave them behind when we die.<\/p>\n

But isn\u2019t our life on earth important?\u00a0 Isn\u2019t focusing on the other world a form of spiritual escapism?\u00a0 Aren\u2019t we responsible to obey God by fighting evils and making this world a better place?<\/p>\n

Of course, but I think that the perspective that comes from knowing that this world and its kingdoms will pass away and that Christ will \u201cmake all things new\u201d (Revelations 21:5) can make us more<\/em> effective in this world.\u00a0 As C. S. Lewis said in Mere Christianity<\/a>, \u201cIf you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is because their hope never fails, despite the setbacks they may encounter, and because they can be confident of the ultimate victory of righteousness in Christ\u2019s judgment.\u00a0 They can act freely, without feeling the burden that everything rests on themselves.\u00a0 And they can act without succumbing to the temptations of power and the disappointments of failed utopias, since they realize their own limitations and the limitations of human ideologies.\u00a0 Such a mindset can help us as we fulfill all of our vocational duties, including our duties of citizenship.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Illustration:\u00a0 \u201cThe Last Judgment\u201d by Lucas Cranach the Elder, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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