Spray some Windex on it

In the wonderful comedy My Big Fat Greek Wedding, the cure for everything that harms you is Windex, the window cleaner.

Knee throb? The Greek father in the movie sprayed Windex on it.
Ankle hurting this morning? Windex it.
The father says Windex cure ills ''from psoriasis to poison ivy."

Matthew 24: 6-8, 29-31 (Msg.): ^4-8 Jesus said, “Watch out for doomsday deceivers. Many leaders are going to show up with forged identities, claiming, ‘I am Christ, the Messiah.’ They will deceive a lot of people. When reports come in of wars and rumored wars, keep your head and don’t panic. This is routine history; this is no sign of the end. Nation will fight nation and ruler fight ruler, over and over. Famines and earthquakes will occur in various places. This is nothing compared to what is coming."

²⁹ “Following those hard times,

Sun will fade out,
moon cloud over,
Stars fall out of the sky,
cosmic powers tremble.

^30-31 “Then, the Arrival of the Son of Man! It will fill the skies—no one will miss it. Unready people all over the world, outsiders to the splendor and power, will raise a huge lament as they watch the Son of Man blazing out of heaven. At that same moment, he’ll dispatch his angels with a trumpet-blast summons, pulling in God’s chosen from the four winds, from pole to pole."

 

There's a lot of discussion in the Old and New Testaments about this notion of "The Day of the Lord" and what it will be like. Christians like to think of it as being a wonderful thing. You know, Jesus is coming and I'm going and nothing else really matters. Well, it's hard to not be caught up in the flotsam connected to the tangle of things going on in connection to that rather large happening.

 

In some ways, the Day of the Lord is, for lack of better words, quite the terrifying moment.

 

Look at just this above: wars, famines, earthquakes, sun fading out, moon being clouded over, stars falling out of the sky and the absolutely scary thing, cosmic powers trembling. Oh, wow, terrifying stuff.

 

Then the Son of Man arrives, filling the skies (a terrifying thing in itself no matter how happy, happy, happy we try to make it. Folks unready for this will raise a huge lament. I'm not up much lately on my lamenting, but I suspect that's a loud roar of fearful screaming and crying and shouting and things such as we've not seen in public outside of the losing side of football games lately.

 

Then...then a trumpet blast heard from the sky around the world will summon and dispatch angels. Again, not something we hear or do normally.

 

Those with great faith and little reality will say to everyone about this they know it's coming and it won't bother them at all. Peshaw (or however one spells it). The above will scare the honking jeepers out of everyone.

 

This picture painted isn't a rosy let's go to worship one. Instead, it will be a time of terror. Zephaniah 1 tells us "A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness.

 

Part of the horror will be how suddenly it comes. "Three things," Paul writes, "are sudden -- the coming of the Messiah, a discovery, and a scorpion."

 

Heck, the Bible says that the universe will be "shattered to pieces." The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood." Again, nothing like the painting of the great shepherd holding the sheep lovingly. Instead, wow, terrifying stuff and it's happening all around the world at the same time.

 

A book by a man named Schurer called "The Jewish people in the Time of Christ" sums up the Jewish ideas of the day of the Lord: "The sun and moon will be darknened, swords appear in heaven, trains of horses and foot march through the clouds. Everything in nature falls into commotion and confusion. The sun appears by night, the moon by day. Blood trickles from wood, the stone gives forth a voice, and salt is found in fresh water. Places that have been sown will be unsown, full barns will be found empty, and the springs of wells be stopped. Among men all restraints of order will be dissolved, sin and ungodliness rule upon the earth. And men will fight against each other as if stricken with madness ..."

 

Oh, uh, wow. And wow again. And again.

 

But instead of having the bejeebees scared out of us, we must realize we've been practicing to survive this all our lives without realizing it, perhaps.

 

When we sing, "Hold on to Jesus, he's holding on to you," we're not talking about those times when we stub a toe. No, we're talking about those times when we're losing a loved one and can't see around the next corner. We can give up to the anguish or we can hold on to the one who has the power to get us not only around the next corner but the one after that and the one after that.

 

The sun and moon blink out? Who ya gonna turn to? I think, finally, finally, the answer will be more clear than the problem.

 

Blood coming out of wood? Who ya gonna call on? I think, finally, finally the angels singing will be heard as much as a plan than a song.

 

No restraint? Instead of turning to the law in the Old Testament, turn to the MAN in the New Testament.

 

Look, I'm sure I will be every bit as much as the next person watching the sky and wondering. I'm not saying this will be easy. Life, and the day of the Lord, is never lived easily, again, no matter what some preachers say.

 

But there is a remedy. Spiritual Windex, this man Jesus is.

 

In the 14th chapter of Matthew, we read this: "Jumping out of the boat, Peter walked on the water to Jesus. But when he looked down at the waves churning beneath his feet, he lost his nerve and started to sink. He cried, “Master, save me!”
³¹ Jesus didn’t hesitate. He reached down and grabbed his hand."

Sky falling? Reach out of Jesus and say "Master, save me." Spray some Windex.
Check book empty as a dry well? "Master, save me." Windex it.
Diagnosis cancer, teenager running away, job done and a slip of pink the answer? "Master, save me."

Faith is all that is required to walk on the water. On the day of the Lord, remember it's the day of the Lord.

Will that change the sky? No. But the spray of a little spiritual Windex will change you. Remember who is in charge, remember that perfect love runs fear away.

Jesus is the Windex for a darkened sky, for a darkened day, for a darkened life.

Paul says it this way: "We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

^"But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love."
Jesus is the living water, the bread of life, and for this one terrifying day perhaps, he is Windex.