Looking Forward to the Return of Santa and Jesus

November 30, 2016 Year A

If you are a kid, right about now, you are looking forward to Santa coming to give you a visit. Without fail, Santa comes every year to give gifts. As a kid, you look forward to it. You anticipate it. You watch the signs to see when the time of Santa’s coming will get nearer.

On the evening of December 24th, Santa Claus comes to give gifts. There are a variety of signs that show that Santa Claus is coming.

First, there is the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. Santa shows up to tell us that he is coming again this Christmas Eve. Second, there are decorations everywhere reminding us that this is the Christmas season. You see all kinds of special stories on television. There is the story of Frosty the Snowman, The Grinch, and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and then there is the Story of Santa Claus. These stories are told during the Christmas season to remind us of the coming of Santa Claus.

As December 25th gets closer, the anticipation builds. We get our celebrations with other people, like parties at work and with family so that we can look forward to the return of Santa Claus. On December 24th, we put out the cookies and milk, we watch the weatherman show us how NORAD has been tracking Santa. Then we go to sleep. Sure enough, on the morning, Santa has come and he has delivered gifts. We may not have heard the reindeer on the rooftop. We never actually saw Santa. But we saw the evidence. He ate the milk and cookies and the gifts were laid under the tree.

A kid is certain about the return of Santa Claus every year for Christmas. A child of God should be just as certain about the return of Jesus Christ. Though we don’t have a set date to know when Jesus will return like Santa does, we do know the season. For those who will look to the world around us, we will see that the coming of Jesus Christ is getting closer everyday.

There will come a day when the lights will go off (Matthew 24:29), and the light of the Son of Man will shine (Matthew 24:30). When Jesus comes, He won’t be hard to see. Everyone will notice Jesus just like everyone sees lightning flash across the sky (Matthew 24:27). Everyone will notice Jesus just like you notice that something is dead because the vultures are circling up high above(Matthew 24:28).

Just like there are signs that point to the return of Santa at Christmas, Christians can be certain that there are signs pointing to the return of Jesus.

Are you looking for the return of Jesus with as much certainty as the return of Santa this year? That is something to think about during this Christmas season.