Proper 28C, 2025
Text: Luke 21:5-28
Title: Body Language
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You can tell a lot about a person by their body language. How does someone hold themselves, carry themselves, position themselves in relation to someone else?
Your parents probably taught you this at some point. Sit up straight. No elbows on the table. Look someone in the eye when you’re talking to them.
Some of this is about manners and being polite.
But it’s more than that.
How you carry yourself on the outside will often reflect what you think about yourself on the inside.
If you walk around bent over, looking at the ground, limbs hanging limply at your side, you project a sense of defeat and dejection.
If you see an athlete at the end of the game, sitting on the bench, leaning over with a towel over their head, you don’t have to look at the scoreboard. You know that they’ve lost.
On the other hand, if you see someone holding themselves confidently, head up and full of vigor, you know that they’ve won.
The last line in today’s Holy Gospel has to do with body language.
How do you hold yourself, what sort of posture do you use when Jesus returns.
When you hear about all that is to come, about all that will happen in these end times, how do you feel?
Jesus describes turmoil among the nations- wars and tumults.
Jesus describes turmoil in nature- earthquakes and famines and pandemics.
Jesus describes turmoil in the church- persecution, imprisonment, martyrdom.
All of these events probably make you want to cringe and cower in fear, to run away and hide.
And it’s more than that.
As we look to the end times, it’s more than just thinking about all the signs that precede Jesus’ coming. There’s the actual coming of Jesus Christ Himself.
When you picture Jesus Christ, the Almighty Son of God returning in all His glory, it’s intimidating. It’s frightening.
You know what you’ve done wrong.
You know how you’ve failed to keep Jesus’ commands. You know that you deserve His judgment, His punishment.
The natural response when Jesus returns will be to cringe in horror.
But what does Jesus say? How does He command you to respond?
For us as Christians, the day of the Lord will not be a day to fear and dread, a day to cringe and hide and shrink back from.
The day of Christ’s return will be a day to stand tall, to lift up your head and to be bold and confident at Christ returns.
Jesus tells you why. He says, “Your redemption is drawing near.”
“Redemption” is a liberation word. It’s a setting free from slavery or prison sort of word.
If you were a slave, if you were a prisoner, if your whole life consisted in being beaten down, ordered to submit to the will of another, if you lived a life of suffering and oppression, and then you saw one coming to you who had the power and authority to set you free, to break your bonds and shackles, to lead you out of prison, how would you welcome someone like this? What would your posture be?
You would stand tall. You lift up your head.
And so that is what you should do as you wait for our Lord’s return.
Jesus comes as your liberator, your redeemer. Yes, you are oppressed by sin, death, and the devil. These are your enemies.
Jesus says, “Everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” As much as you’d like to just stop sinning and be perfect, you can’t, no matter how hard you try. That doesn’t mean you give up and give in to your desires. You are called to struggle, to fight against sin, to celebrate when you resist temptation. You may win some battles, but the war will drag on until Jesus comes back and makes you completely pure and holy as He is. Can you imagine it? Can you picture it? Can you imagine a life where you and those around you always make good choices, always act in the way of love, never do anything that brings you guilt and regret? In expectation of that great day, Jesus calls you to stand tall, lift up your head, and see Him coming as your Redeemer.
Satan and his demonic minions are your enemies as well. St. Peter says that Satan prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking to devour you. Satan uses lies and deception. He tries to separate you from God by sin and guilt and shame. Satan lobs his hand grenades in the church trying to scatter us or turn us against one another. He accuses you and He tempts you to accuse each other. Can you imagine a life where you aren’t tempted, where there is no one trying to seduce you away from the love of God, where no one causes strife and division within the Christian community? In expectation of that great day, Jesus calls you to stand tall, lift up your head, and see Him coming as your Redeemer.
St. Paul says, “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” As we heard last week, we are surrounded by death. It’s unavoidable. It causes pain and sorrow that never seems to heal or go away. Can you imagine a life where you never get sick or hurt in any way? Can you imagine a life where you can be with your loved ones who died in the faith forever? In expectation of that great day, Jesus calls you to stand tall, lift up your head, and see Him coming as your Redeemer.
That is the posture that Jesus instructs you to have, for us to have as a church.
As persecution and opposition grows, it would be natural for the church to shrink back, to hide, to look defeated. When we see churches struggling and closing, when we see in fighting and strife, this would make sense.
Instead, Jesus says to stand tall and to life up our heads.
We boldly proclaim the word of God, despite the enemies and opposition we face. We don’t withdraw from the world into some safe corner to try to run out the clock.
We do this because we have a redeemer. We have a liberator. We have a Savior who has risen from the dead, who is the holy and mighty Son of God, who has all authority in heaven and on earth, and who uses that authority to destroy our enemies and set us free.
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