Last Sunday we began the season of Advent by talking about Jesus' Second Coming. Despite the fact that many churches and preachers try to scare people with the prospect of Jesus' coming again, we said that's wrong. When Jesus first came into the world, he came as love. And, when he comes again, we said it will be to complete the love begun so many years ago at Christmas. In that regard, we said, the message of Jesus' second coming should be heard as a warm and friendly, "Honey, I'm home!"

That was last week. This week, we’re going to build on that message. Translating Malachi's and John the Baptist's calls for us to get ready for the arrival of the Messiah, today's message is, "Jesus says, 'Honey, I'm home' but Where are You?"

Bill Hunt, a man about my age, is a Vietnam Vet. A couple of years ago--around the time of the invasion of Iraq--a newspaper invited him to share what it was like to be a young American serviceman coming home from war.

It was brutal, he wrote! One day he was in the jungle, afraid for his life, and the next, he arrived home in civilian’s clothes, looking--on the outside, at least--as if all were normal. In his own words, he said, “My wife had no real concept of where I had been, ... my wife's family barely acknowledged that I had ever been gone. Did they know I had just returned from war? If they did, they acted as though it didn't matter. In about a week I checked in with the rest of my family, and I swear it was as if I had been down the street buying a loaf of bread. They were very casual about where I had been."

For Bill Hunt--and indeed for a lot of Vietnam Vets--coming home again was no Homecoming. “It was as if I had been down the street buying a loaf of bread. They were very casual about where I had been.”

Why do I bring this up? Because when someone has been away, it’s obviously important to give them a proper homecoming. When someone’s been away, it’s important to actually be home when they get there.

And not just physically, but emotionally! Bill Hunt’s family was home when he got there, but they weren’t there emotionally. “It was as if I had been down the street buying a loaf of bread. They were very casual about where I had been.”

As we learned last week, Jesus is coming again. When he gets here, he’s going to give a warm and friendly, “Hi, honey, I’m home!” But what today’s readings ask is, will we be home when he gets here? Are we prepared--are we prepared right now--to give him a proper homecoming?

To do so, it seems to me, one or the other of two things are necessary. Either we need to go home so that we’re there when Jesus arrives. Or, if we are already home, we need to actually be home--emotionally and spiritually--so that we can greet Jesus when he arrives. In other words, in the words of today’s message, Jesus says, “Honey, I’m home!” but where are you?

The traditional word for what we’re talking about today is “repentance.” Today’s readings are full of it! Knowing that the Messiah is coming soon, John the Baptist stands on the banks of the Jordan river, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”

Malachi also charges people to prepare the way of the Lord. “The Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple,” he says. “But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; ... and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the LORD in righteousness.”

The real expert in describing repentance, however, is none other than the Lord Jesus. In the parable of the two sons (better known to us, perhaps, as the parable of the prodigal son), Jesus shows us, not only what repentance is, but also how repentance is either going home (if you’ve been away) or being home emotionally and spiritually if you’re already there.
Listen to the expert!

A man had two sons. The younger one shocked his father by demanding that, right here and right now, his father give him his share of his inheritance. (Never mind that the normal way this would take place would be at the death of his father!) The father agreed and the son went off to a far country where he spent everything he had on dissolute living.

When the son had nothing left--when he realized just how far away and how far down he had come--he came to his senses and resolved to go home and to try and make it up to his father. “I will get up and go to my father,” he said, “and I will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.’”
You know what happens, right? While the son is still a long way off, his father sees him, runs to him, and welcomes him home.

That process of coming to one’s senses and returning home is what the Bible calls repentance. We want to be once again in the presence of our loving father. We realize that we don’t necessarily belong there any more. But where else can we go? And so, we return home, only to be welcomed with open arms.

But you recall, don’t you, that the story isn’t over yet? There’s another son in the family and, though he’s never actually left home, in many ways he’s even farther away from his father than the so-called prodigal son.

The story ends with this older son petulantly standing outside, refusing to go inside and bask in the exuberant forgiveness and joy of his father.

According to the expert--according to the Lord Jesus--there are two paths to true repentance. If we’re away from home--if we’ve run or wandered far from the presence of God--that path is to come to our senses and head home. It’s that simple! We will be welcomed with open and loving arms.

The more difficult path is that of the older brother. In fact, as the parable ends, the older brother is still standing outside: invited in, but thus far refusing to go in.

Where are you? Right now it looks to me like you and I are in our Father’s house. We’re home. But are we really home, emotionally and spiritually?

Sometimes, you see, familiarity breeds contempt. Sometimes, like the older brother, we, too, imagine that, simply because we’ve made this house our home, we get to call the shots around here. We want to tell God--like the older brother wanted to tell his father--who gets to belong here and under what conditions. As is clear from the parable, the father is more loving, more generous, and more forgiving than any of us could ever hope to match.

But we must never stand in God’s way! Familiarity must never lead to contempt! Let us each and let us all return home to God--right now--knowing that as we make that turn toward home we too will be welcomed with open arms.

Jesus is coming and, when he gets here, he will warmly and affectionately say, “Honey, I’m home!” With love and affection, welcome him home. In Jesus’ name. Amen!