Advent One: The Son of Man’s Great Heist
Today, with this talk in Matthew’s Gospel about Jesus being thief-like,
we ought to wrap our imaginations and minds around The Son of Man as a thief in the night
—the mastermind of The Great Heist
his ministry is clandestine,
hidden from the powers that be,
investigated but not undone,
a trick and a trap to undermine, restrain, and redeem sin, death, and the devil…
Jesus is robbing authority from worldly empires,
Stealing the sting from death,
and pilfering the powers of the evil one… it’s a heist!
And you know what, every good Heist movie
—be it Oceans 11 or Kelly’s Heroes, The Inside Man or Antman, The Italian Job or The Great Muppet Caper,
they all have a formula:
-There is a Plan,
-the Execution of the plan,
-and the Aftermath.
The Plan
—who is this Son of Man and what is expected of him?
The Execution of the plan
—how Jesus actually lives out his identity as the Son of Man.
The Aftermath
—There are ongoing consequences to Jesus being the Son of Man,
the Church is living out the aftermath of Jesus’ Great Heist.
The Son of Man’s Great Heist.
Prayer
The Plan:
In scholarly circles, there is much discussion about the term “The Son of Man.” In Jesus’ day, it could be used three different ways:
-It can be a polite way not to refer to yourself,
“The Son of Man would like you pass him the cranberry sauce.”
-It can a way to name one’s mortality,
“Hold the Ladder steady, I’m a Son of Man after all, this fall would kill me.”
-It can be refer to a figure in the book of Daniel who will overthrow monstrous kingdoms and replace them with a humane, kind, and gentle, one. The Kingdom of God…
This third usage, I believe, is the identity Jesus is claiming.
Many sects of Judaism had built upon and expanded out the slim words in Daniel about The Son of Man, interpreted him
as:
-A military or political figure—like King David,
-A High Priest. re-instituting right worship of God,
-A Prophet, like Moses or Elijah,
The idea of Messiah (God’s chosen and anointed one) and this Daniel Figure became fused
—God active in the world,
performing a great deed that will make all things right,
fulfilling all the promises about the Day of the Lord
—The Son of Man a figure to wait for, with longing and awe.
That was the plan….
The Execution of the plan:
One of my favorite parts of a heist story is how things aren’t as they appear
—the bombshell at the roulette table is actually watching the safe,
the plan doesn’t go as practiced,
but that too is part of the plan within the plan...
So too, Jesus gathers a very unlikely crew, with unexpected gifts, everyone from:
fishermen, revolutionaries, tax collectors, women, the possessed, the ill, and those in need…
yet somehow this B team, gathers a crowd and brings Jesus into the Holy City in an astonishing way that makes waves.
But then the plan goes south,
or so it appears…
one of the team betrays him,
another denies him,
all the men folk run away.
Well…
the plan was more than any heart could hold, right?
An impossible dream
—the world being made right,
a non-corrosive Kingdom without end…
A Priest, Prophet, King who embodied the promises of God…
To do all those things that the plan requires,
it would have required an imagination beyond what we could hope for…
we were naïve for hoping…
Look how the plan went wrong…
every proof positive that he’s failed is up in our face.
-All is wrong not right,
-King is killed,
-Priest is sacrificed,
-the Prophet was wrong about God’s will…
If you wanna talk about Noah’s flood…
Jesus is taken,
the Son of Man swept away,
left alone abandoned by those who love him…
But…
but you need to keep watching to the end,
there is a plan within the plan,
things aren’t as they appear….
if you keep awake with him,
the grand and awful midnight hour will be transformed into daybreak,
the unexpected hour of his resurrection will arrive!
The Great Heist happened while we all looked away in grief!
The Aftermath:
And what now? The heist worked, the plan was a success…
The criminals can get out of the business (Hell itself has been harrowed)
—it was one last job as the cliché goes,
the happy rendezvous with the crew in some tropical locale
(or in Matthew’s case on the height of a mountain)…
things are different on the other side of the capper.
For we Christians, living in the already not yet
—the Great Heist is done,
we are still trying to comprehend the riches of it all
—the Resurrection and the Spirit…
Ours is a time of active waiting.
Staying morally and spiritually awake,
living lives that trust the promises of God to be true
—from Genesis and Isaiah to Romans and Revelation…
even the words spoken at our baptism
and the words “for you” spoken at the altar...
trust God’s promises…
The Church participating in Jesus making all things new, all things right,
even as we recognize it is not our doing, but his…
Staying awake as we:
-walk wise paths,
-discern God’s judgement and justice,
-seek the promised peace:
swords will be plowshares,
spears pruning hooks,
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more.
Even as we look at our world today,
both over in Ukraine and right here at home
and pray an echo of Isaiah:
May Night clubs be sanctuaries,
Department stores safe,
Missiles unneeded,
Water and electricity restored...
may it be so…
Stay awake
Be ready
The Son of Man is coming
at an unexpected hour.
The Great Heist happens, while we all look away.
Amen.
