By the Rev. Matt Griggs

Central and East Freeborn Lutheran Churches

 

Mark 13:32 “But of the day or the hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the son, but only the Father.”

 

How is your waiting this season? Given that this is Black Friday in our culture, you probably have a few stories to tell about waiting for specific gifts or merchandise. But I want to talk about a different waiting — waiting for Jesus. Now before you tune me out, this is not another theory about the end of the world — we have enough of those wrong ideas. I am speaking about encountering our Lord in everyday life.

Now where are we to find Jesus, you may ask. Is he in the church, between friends or in the Bible? Yes, those are good places to start. Jesus says that where two or three are gathered in his name, he is there (Matthew 18:20). He also says that he will be with us to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). Those are good answers that fit the definition of Jesus’ name Immanuel — God with us. (Matthew 1:23) But Jesus is looking for a different type of encounter or waiting.

In Chapter 25 of Matthew, Jesus speaks of a waiting he goes through daily. He is not waiting for a present or the latest gift. He probably is not waiting in our Black Friday lines. Jesus is waiting for you and I to visit the poor, imprisoned and the outcast. He is waiting for us to love as we have been loved. He says that if you visit, feed and clothe the least of these, you do it to Jesus.

Ideas about when and where of the end of time are multiple and interesting studies about society depending on the time and place — they do not get us any closer in understanding the time, season or our Lord himself. In the meantime, in preparing for Christmas and gift-giving and New Year’s resolutions, Jesus is waiting for us to do the simple acts. Simply put, to love as he first loved us.

Happy waiting.