Lutherans tend not to emphasize the end of the world too much. In the Book of Concord, the authoritative collection of Lutheran doctrine, there are very few references to Jesus’ advent at the end of time. Lutherans are better with Jesus’ first coming than his second. But from the sales of books that again and again have topped the New York Times Best Seller List, to the fact that whole religions have been built upon Jesus’ promise to return, the fascination with how all of this comes to an end, and where we fit in or out, is endless and deep, especially in the anxious times in which we live.

We had a bit of judgment in my family recently. On a Tuesday afternoon the phone rang at the church. It was my youngest son Nate’s teacher. She reported a bit of a scuffle had broken out at the end of the day. A sixth- grader had swung his backpack, accidentally he claimed, and had struck Nate on the way to the bus. Nate can be easily upset, and didn’t appreciate getting smacked by a book bag, so he confronted the older boy. The boy laughed at Nate, and said, “I’m sure a third-grader is going to fight a sixth-grader.”

Nate doesn’t really understand sarcasm or hyperbole. Nate is a fundamentalist — a literalist. And so when he heard those words, it was go time. “Mrs. Neuman!” one of her students cried out, “Nate is fighting a sixth-grader!” From what I gather no punches were thrown, it was mainly pushing, and no one was hurt. I of course expressed the proper remorse and disappointment to Mrs. Neuman, and told Nate that if it should happen again, instead of fighting, he should go and find a teacher. But deep down, I have to admit I was thinking, “Good for you, Nate. Good for you.”

Since the scuffle happened late in the day when it was time to get on the bus and go home, judgment awaited in the form of a next morning date with Nate’s principal, Dr. Jordan. When we talked about it that night, and asked Nate if he understood that he would have to go to the principal’s office the next day, he wasn’t worried. It wasn’t so much he didn’t understand the seriousness of his offense, he did. He knew he was wrong, and he knew there needed to be consequences for his behavior. But he trusts Dr. Jordan. He likes her, has faith in her, and thinks she is fair and just. And we do too, and she was to Nate, and she was to the sixth grade boy too. And don’t you believe Jesus is fair and just and kind? Do you trust him? Don’t you think he will set things right for all humanity, for you?

He has, our Jesus, made things right. He has taken our sin and brokenness upon himself and died. And the death he died to sin, he died for you. Jesus died and was raised not so that we might flee from God and each other in terror of the last days, but so that we might be embraced by God, and embrace others with the love of Christ. He died and rose so that we might anticipate his return with hope and with joy rather than fear and despair. Remember, before Jesus comes to us following the darkened sun and the falling stars, he comes to us as a baby-vulnerable and powerless and wrapped in his poor mother’s clothes and placed in a feeding trough. And before he comes to gather the elect from the four corners of the earth, the sin and death of all humanity was laid upon him in the humiliation of a criminal’s execution. And before heaven and earth passes away, he comes to us in bread and wine and the gospel of forgiveness, to prepare us for the eternal banquet that has no end. And before he comes to judge all nations before him as sheep and goats, he comes to us in those we are privileged to serve: the hungry, the sick, the imprisoned, the forsaken. And before he comes to gather us in the communion of saints surrounding the heavenly throne, he builds his community right here, his little flock of people who love him, and who get together every day of resurrection, to celebrate him and his love for us.

“Be alert, be awake,” Jesus says.

He is coming again to judge the living and the dead. And though we don’t know when, Jesus tells us to be ready. The simple truth of the return that Jesus promised Peter and Andrew, James and John, has brought out the worst in humanity in groups like the Branch Davidians, or those on the margins of our cable channels who profit on fear. But for us who live and believe in Christ, his promise is a reminder to live with urgency, because our time here is not limitless, and there is much to be done to advance God’s kingdom and to bring his hope and peace. This promise of Christ is an encouragement that in the midst of an uncertain and groaning world, and lives marked by our own decline and sin, the best is always before us. In Christ Jesus, the best is always yet to come. Jesus is coming, and has come, and comes each and every day, to strengthen us till the end of our lives, so that we might not lack in any spiritual gift, and to make us blameless on the final day of our lives, and the final day of the life of the world.