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Waiting with Eager Longing
by The Rev. Canon Heidi E. Kinner
Year C, 4 Easter, Rom 8:19-25
April 25, 2010
unedited
“The creation waits with eager longing….”
This week I heard a wonderful story about “waiting with eager longing” from Sarah Knott, our Women's Ministry guest speaker. So, I'm borrowing her story to share with you this morning.
Sarah said that one evening when her children were young, her oldest daughter, who was then about five or six had a friend over for the evening. Her next oldest daughter was also there, and they were all getting hungry. However, her husband had been delayed at the office. So Sarah gave the girls a project to keep them occupied until he arrived and they could all eat. She gave them all paper and baskets of crayons and asked them to each draw him a picture.
All three girls sat down.
Her daughter's friend soon wandered into the family room to play with some toys, and never made a drawing.
Her youngest daughter picked up a crayon, and noticing that the wrapper was starting to peel off, decided to tear it the rest of the way off, and was soon involved in the important task of peeling all the crayon wrappers off all her crayons. She didn't get around to drawing a picture either.
Her oldest daughter began to diligently color. But every few minutes she would get up and run to the front window and peer out into the evening to see if her father's car was coming, then run back and color some more. Back and forth she went, fairly bursting with excitement for her father to arrive home.
When he finally arrived, the friend just kept right on playing; the youngest girl panicked when she heard his car and realized that she didn't have a picture, just a pile of crayon wrappers. The oldest girl ran into her father's arms with her drawing.
Sarah said that the events of that evening are a parable for her:
Her daughter's friend did not know the father and so was not bothered about his arrival home one way or the other. In the same manner, when we don't know the Lord, there is no relationship and so we aren't looking forward to seeing him, we aren't even thinking about it.
Her youngest daughter loved her father and was looking forward to seeing him, but was distracted by the busy work of peeling the crayon wrappers. How often are we distracted by the busy work of life and forget the wonderful fact that Jesus is coming back to take us in his arms and begin the heavenly feast?
Sarah's oldest daughter was awaiting her father with eager longing. How many of us long for Jesus to come and finally free us from the waiting and all the broken sadness of the world and take us in his arms? Are we looking into the darkness to catch the first glimpse of His light returning? Are we coloring our lives with joy out of love for Him?
Are we waiting with eager longing?
Sarah's story of waiting has resonated with me all week, especially as I prayed about this sermon. The image of her daughter waiting with such joy and excitement kept running through my mind as I read this passage in Romans, which speaks of all of creation and all the faithful waiting with eager longing for Jesus to return in glory.
And that eager longing is for good reason, because, as Paul reminds us, we know that when Jesus returns He will complete the work that He finished on the Cross.
I know that sentence doesn't make much sense, how can we wait for something to be completed that is already finished?
Well it is one of the conundrums of faith that we are waiting in the time of the “now but not yet.” In other words, we know that when Jesus died on the Cross and rose again on the third day, He finished the work of forgiveness, redemption, and salvation. And when we give our lives to Christ, we know that we are forgiven and saved from sin and death and have become adopted sons and daughters of God. It is finished. That is the truth of the “now.”
But we also live in the “not yet,” for we still wait for the freedom from sin and death to become a daily reality, and we wait to see God the Father face to face and have Him embrace us in our new and eternal bodies. We won't see the fullness of all of that until Jesus returns in glory. That is the waiting of this in-between time, the “now and yet to come” time.
So, we wait. But, like Sarah's daughter, we wait with hope because we know Jesus and we know the wonderful things that He has done for us. And we wait with eager longing for the completion of the “yet to come.”
But we are often antsy in our waiting, because like children, even a short wait can feel like forever. So, we often try to avoid our discomfort over the waiting by “peeling crayons,” by filling our lives with busy-ness.
And that unfortunately leads us to forget what we were waiting for in the first place. We forget our first love, and stop looking for Jesus.
So how can we wait with patience and joy?,
Well, Paul reminds us to fix our hearts and our eyes on the hope that we have in Jesus. When we do this, our waiting can be filled with joy instead of futile busy work, because we know that our waiting will not be forever, but that Jesus is indeed on His way, just as He promised.
Here we are: In the evening of the world, waiting for Jesus to return.
How is the waiting going for you?
Are you waiting with eager longing for Jesus to return or are you “peeling crayons?” If you find yourself peeling crayons then I implore you to spend some time with the Bible this week. Read about Jesus' amazing love for you, about His promises for God's adopted children, and about His plans for the new heaven and new earth and new you.
When we spend time in the Word, we encounter anew Jesus' amazing grace and love and then we cannot help but rush to the window and peer into the darkness, looking for Jesus, eagerly longing for our Lord and Savior to return and take us in His arms. That is the hopeful, patient waiting that gives purpose to our life and longing.
And who knows, perhaps you will be the first to see his light shining through the darkness and will be waiting by the door when He comes to make all things new.
Amen.
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