Sermon Tone Analysis

Title

Focus on the Future

Outline

There are two things that can detach one from a focus on Christ

The first is the distractions of life: “Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life.”

Some of this is tiredness period, some of it is metaphorical (or literal) getting caught up in the pleasures and activities of life, and some of this is anxiety.

Both of my granddaughters were involved in traffic accidents within the last month and there were other causes of anxiety elsewhere in our children’s lives.

But one of my granddaughters is involved with business of job and university studies, while the other not only has her professional life, but also a romantic relationship with a man that seems headed towards marriage.

Either set of anxieties or business can distract one from focus on Christ.

And we know that we are also not immune.

The second is crisis of the “the tribulations that are imminent” that can make one unready to “stand before the Son of Man.”

This can be the final crisis (and we may forget that it is indeed coming), intermediate crises (think of the French Revolution and other times the Church has been attacked that felt like they could be “the end”), or personal crisis, as I was reading this week that St John Chrysostom pointed out that each of us will have a day of facing Christ even if it is not the collective last day.

The way to stay attached and read is to focus our meditation on our ultimate goal

That is why we get all those pictures of the future in Revelation - not so that we can calculate the time and place, but so that we can picture and already “taste” our future blessedness

This is also the reason why we need to read the whole Bible, for Revelation requires we know Daniel and Maccabees and Ezekiel and Genesis in order to pick up the import of the images used.

So “the throne of God and of the Lamb” is in the city that is the Holy of Holies, built of the people of God, both old and new.

As in Ezekiel a river flows from this temple-city, as from Eden, as from the side of Christ, and it has trees growing along it producing fruit twelve times per year and leaves that are healing medicine for the nations.

Here it is added that those trees are “the tree of life” from Genesis.

Protology anticipates eschatology, the end fulfills the ideas of the beginning, and then some.

In this world of life and peace the place of “God’s servants” is before the “throne of God and of the Lamb,” with the royal nameplate on their foreheads, i.e. turbans (versus the prostitute’s nameplate earlier in Revelation).

They look on the face of the triune God, and he gazes on them in love, so it is eternal light, and the fulfill their purpose - they reign forever.

And this will happen soon, for Jesus says, “Behold, I am coming soon.”

Maybe not our temporal soon, but his soon - the next step in working out his plan.

Sisters, we are to “keeps the prophetic message of this book”

That means we are not to forget it, that we are to meditate on it, that we are to let it condition our thoughts, hopes, dreams, and behaviors.

That is why it is so important that we not be distracted, for if we get distracted, we lose our focus.

And, of course, one distraction is the misuse of the images in the book, trying to use them to at least mentally control our history.

So the call is clear: read and meditate on this work repeatedly.

Then, when the maran atha, the “I am coming soon” becomes a reality, either individually or collectively, we will indeed be ready, keeping the book, and instead of fear we will be looking up and saying, “Oh, the reality is so much better than the picture,” and reaching out our hands to our coming Lord.

Readings

FIRST READING

Revelation 22:1–7

1 Then the angel showed me the river of life-giving water, sparkling like crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of its street.

On either side of the river grew the tree of life that produces fruit twelve times a year, once each month; the leaves of the trees serve as medicine for the nations.

3 Nothing accursed will be found there anymore.

The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.

4 They will look upon his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.

5 Night will be no more, nor will they need light from lamp or sun, for the Lord God shall give them light, and they shall reign forever and ever.

6 And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true, and the Lord, the God of prophetic spirits, sent his angel to show his servants what must happen soon.”

7 “Behold, I am coming soon.”

Blessed is the one who keeps the prophetic message of this book.

RESPONSE

1 Corinthians 16:22b, Revelation 22:20c

22 If anyone does not love the Lord, let him be accursed.

Marana tha.

20  The one who gives this testimony says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”

Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!

PSALM

Psalm 95:1–7b

1 Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD;

cry out to the rock of our salvation.

2 Let us come before him with a song of praise,

joyfully sing out our psalms.

3 For the LORD is the great God,

the great king over all gods,

4 Whose hand holds the depths of the earth;

who owns the tops of the mountains.

5 The sea and dry land belong to God,

who made them, formed them by hand.

6 Enter, let us bow down in worship;

let us kneel before the LORD who made us.

7 For he is our God,

we are the people he shepherds,

the sheep in his hands.

Oh, that today you would hear his voice:

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

Luke 21:36

36 Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man.”

GOSPEL

Luke 21:34–36

34 “Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise 35 like a trap.

For that day will assault everyone who lives on the face of the earth.

36 Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man.”

Notes

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2022 | ORDINARY TIME

SATURDAY OF THE THIRTY-FOURTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

YEAR 2 | ROMAN MISSAL | LECTIONARY

First Reading Revelation 22:1–7

Response 1 Corinthians 16:22b, Revelation 22:20c

Psalm Psalm 95:1–7b

Gospel Acclamation Luke 21:36

Gospel Luke 21:34–36

GREEN