Coming

Regular readers will know that, in the years since his death some thirty years ago, I have gained an increasing respect for my father.  As I look back, it seems there were often disagreements – even arguments – between us but, as I get older and learn more about people in general, and the age through which he lived, I have come to realise (in modern terms) ‘where he was coming from’.  Although he paid no regard to formal religion, and went to church only for weddings and funerals, he left me a worthy example of right living, and a number of wise sayings.  There were many occasions, for example, when I chose to ignore his instructions or advice; sometimes he would say, with an air of irate finality coupled with desperate resignation, “There’ll come a time, my boy, ...”, and the sentence would remain unfinished, for me to add whatever fate my imagination might provide.

I was reminded of these words recently when I read from Peter’s second letter, “The day of the Lord will come like a thief” (2 Peter 3:10).  Peter had just issued a warning about ‘scoffers’: people who alleged, in effect, that religion is rubbish, that Jesus would never come back.  They claimed that life would go on unchanged as it had since the creation, conveniently ignoring the matter of the flood, when God destroyed all but a handful of his creation because of the evil that it had embraced (verses 3-6).  

In just the same way, Peter wrote, the new generation would also be destroyed on the day of Judgement.  But when will that be?  We don’t know.  What we do know is that it will be when we least expect it (Matt. 24:36-41). 

Peter was writing to a generation for whom Jesus’ life on earth was recent history.  His words are just as applicable in the twenty-first century.  Today, as then, we are tempted to listen to the ‘worldly wise’: people who tell us that, in this post-modern age, we’re wasting our time being ‘good’.  According to them, any chance of a Second Coming has elapsed: after all, it hasn’t happened in 2,000 years – it just won’t happen now.

However, God doesn’t work to our timescale (see Psalm 90:3-6); we shouldn’t confuse what we construe as His bad timekeeping with His patience. He wants every last one of us to come to Him in repentance (v.9).  Peter teaches that God’s patience leads to our salvation (v.15).  It is vital that we are always on our guard against temptation, as Peter says in his letter (v.17), but it’s not a matter for undue apprehension.  I invite you to use a prayer that, many years ago, I used to hear every week as I attended Mass with my young family.  Somehow it seems particularly appropriate for the season of Advent, which begins in a couple of weeks.

“Deliver us, Lord, 

from every evil, 

and grant us peace in our day. 

In Your mercy 

keep us free from sin 

and protect us from all anxiety 

as we wait in joyful hope 

for the coming of our Saviour 

Jesus Christ.”

I wish you a worry-free Christmas when it comes!