Third Advent | Jesus is coming soon
Series: EIFACH muetig – with Jesus as a role model | Bible text: James 5:7–11
The Advent season reminds us of Jesus» imminent return. St James calls for patience and vigilance: We should work like farmers and at the same time hope for God’s sure harvest. Patience shows itself as long-suffering towards people and as perseverance in difficult circumstances. Job and the prophets are our role models. God’s compassion sustains us, and in the end an undeserved, glorious inheritance awaits us – the true bliss of those who remain faithful.
Many years ago, a small community in Dozwil, Thurgau, a few kilometres from where I live, was expecting the arrival of a UFO. This spaceship was supposedly going to whisk them away to a wonderful place in a better world. The press reported on it, onlookers came, the tension grew – and on the announced day, nothing happened. The great expectation fizzled out. Why? Because it was based on human ideas, speculation and false promises.
Recently, too, people have been making bold predictions about the last things of the world. One alleged prophecy this year predicted that Jesus would rapture the faithful on 23⁄24 September, followed by seven years of tribulation and the Second Coming in 2032. Such predictions have one thing in common: they are more unsettling than hopeful.
The Advent season reminds us of a completely different expectation – the return of Jesus. This expectation is firmly anchored in the Bible. James sums it up in a simple but weighty sentence: Jesus is coming soon. This is not speculation, but a promise from God. As surely as we celebrate Christmas after Advent, Jesus will come again – even if no one knows when. What does this mean for our lives today?
The imminent return of Jesus
James writes: «You too must be patient. And be confident, because the coming of the Lord is imminent!» (James 5:8 NLB).
Following Jesus lives in this tension: waiting patiently and at the same time expecting Jesus to come at any time. The first Christians lived with this expectation. They knew that history was not moving in circles, but towards a goal – towards the King who would return to set everything right that was still broken.
We face a different temptation today. We like to settle into the penultimate. This world offers much that is beautiful, familiar and meaningful. But this is precisely where the danger lies: we easily lose the perspective of the ultimate – of God’s final action. Those who make the penultimate the last will end up losing both: alertness for Jesus» return and the right focus for life in the now.
James therefore uses an image from everyday life: «Dear brothers, be patient while you wait for the Lord’s return! Think of the farmers who eagerly look for rain in autumn and spring. They wait patiently for the harvest to ripen» (James 5:7 NLB).
Dairy and fruit farming was practised on the farm of my childhood. Although the apple harvest only took place in autumn, there was work all year round: winter pruning, collecting and burning branches, planting young trees, picking apples in summer. We persevered with this work because we knew that the harvest was coming – and with it our pocket money for the fair.
Jesus will return as surely as the apple harvest comes. This is not symbolic, not poetic, but real. The whole attitude of the Christian life depends on this perspective: Jesus is coming again. This hope prevents us from giving up – and also from seeking our salvation in this world.
C.S. Lewis puts it aptly: «Precisely because we love something else more than this world, we love this world more than those who know nothing else.» Those who know that this world is the penultimate can live more freely, calmly and responsibly.
Patient endurance
Labouring in the orchards required patience, effort and perseverance. The time until the return of Jesus challenges us in a similar way. James makes this clear by using a word that is translated as «patience» five times in just a few verses. In Greek, however, there are two different terms behind it. Both belong together, both describe a life of waiting.
Makrothymía – long-suffering towards people
Four times James calls for Macrothymia to patience. This refers to patience with people: not getting angry too quickly, not holding grudges, not becoming bitter. This patience reflects God’s patience with us. It says of him: He is «Slow to anger and great in mercy» (Exodus 34:6, etc.).
Reconciled coexistence among followers of Jesus is a foretaste of the new creation. That is why this topic takes on particular urgency in view of the return of Jesus: «Do not be angry with one another, dear brothers, or God will judge you. For the judge is already at the door!» (James 5:9 NLB).
How quickly we get angry with each other – over words, behaviour, omissions. We complain internally or externally, talk badly about each other or withdraw. But St Paul reminds us: «[…] If you say that they should be punished, then you are condemning yourself, because you are doing exactly the same thing when you judge them» (Romans 2:1 NLB).
David is an impressive example of long-suffering. Saul pursued him for years with the aim of killing him. Later, even his own son tried to rob him of his throne. Nevertheless, David left his revenge to God: «He is the God who forgives those who wish me evil […]» (2 Samuel 22:48 NLB).
Long-suffering does not mean trivialising injuries. It means entrusting them to God. For only He is perfectly just. Therefore: «Instead, be kind and compassionate to one another and forgive each other, just as God has forgiven you through Christ» (Ephesians 4:32 NLB).
Hypomonē - Perseverance in adversityäfind
In addition to patience with people, James speaks of a second form of patience: perseverance in circumstances. Recently, a person told me that she would no longer set foot in a church because she was deeply disappointed in God. The suffering they had endured was difficult – and hard to put into words.
James makes it clear that persevering in suffering is also part of living in expectation of Jesus» return. «Take as an example of suffering and patience the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we call blessed those who have endured. You have heard of the patience of Job and have seen to what end the Lord has brought it, for the Lord is merciful and compassionate» (James 5:10f NLB).
Hypomonē means «to remain under something». It is the strength not to run away, not to leave inwardly, but to hold on to God in suffering – even if we do not understand the meaning.
Job is a great example of this. He lost his children, his possessions and his health. He did not understand his suffering. He lamented, wept and wrestled with God. But he did not run away. He stayed. That is perseverance. Hypomonē does not immediately see the solution, but trusts that God will turn the story around in the end.
This perspective also strengthens us: «For our present worries and difficulties are only minor and short-lived, but they bring about in us an immeasurably great glory that will last forever!» (2 Corinthians 4:17 NLB).
And James adds the decisive sentence: «[…] for he is full of compassion and mercy» (James 5:11 NLB). God’s love for us is not measured by how we are doing at the moment. It is independent of suffering and stress. On the contrary: God suffers with us. He is deeply touched by our need.
Congratulations on the good ending
After this double call to patience, James draws a conclusion: «For we count those happy (makários) who have persevered in suffering […]» (James 5:11 NLB).
The term makários is one of the most important words in the New Testament – especially in the Beatitudes (Matthew 5). It does not describe superficial happiness, but the true bliss of those who stand in God’s presence and promise – regardless of success, suffering or circumstances. It is the bliss that grows from trust in God.
Makários is the satisfaction after the work is done. Like in autumn, when a fully loaded cart drives to the fruit merchant. Like payday after a long year. Or like the funfair you’ve been looking forward to for so long.
Makários is also Job’s experience at the end of his journey. God visibly restored him: double his possessions (14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen and 1,000 donkeys) and another seven sons and three daughters. And of the daughters it says: «In all the land there were no women as beautiful as Job’s daughters. And their father gave them inheritance like their brothers» (Job 42:15 NLB). Macários – Job was lucky! It was completely extraordinary that Job gave his daughters an inheritance. This was not the norm in this culture. Job did it of his own free will. When Jesus returns, a tremendous inheritance awaits us too – undeserved, by pure grace. We will be co-heirs with Christ. Everything that belongs to God will also belong to us (cf. Luke 15:31).
This is also how we stand in Advent. We are not waiting for a UFO or for human calculations, but for the Lord of history. We live patiently with people, we endure in difficult circumstances – because we know that God is faithful. Jesus is coming again. Not perhaps. Not symbolically. But for real. Makários – Happy are those who have waited patiently.
Possible questions for the small groups
Bible text: James 5:7–11
- Waiting for Jesus» return: What does it mean to you personally that Jesus» return is «soon» – encouragement, a challenge or both?
- Penultimate and last: Where do you realise that you sometimes focus too much on the «penultimate»? How does focusing on the «last» help you to reorganise your priorities?
- Makrothymía – patience with people: In what situations do you find it difficult to remain long-suffering with people? What helps you not to forget God’s patience with yourself?
- Hypomonē – Perseverance in circumstances: Are there current stresses or unresolved situations where you need perseverance? How can the group pray for each other in these?
- The hope of God’s inheritance: How does the promise that we are co-heirs with Christ strengthen you? What impact does this hope for the future have on your everyday life?
