Mark 13:24-37

December 3, 2023

The Rev. Todd R. Goddard, Pastor

Rush United Methodist Church

“But in those days, after that suffering,

      the sun will be darkened,

      and the moon will not give its light,

and the stars will be falling from heaven,

      and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.

Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory. Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

“From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

“But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.”

| Centering Prayer |

Our gospel lesson for today from St. Mark

is a part of a chapter

that is very different from the rest of the book.

Up to the thirteenth chapter of Mark

the narrative has to do with the life and teachings of Jesus.

Following this chapter,

the narrative takes a turn toward Jerusalem,

taking the audience through the passion, death, and resurrection of Christ.

However this thirteenth chapter

sticks out like an underfed Thanksgiving turkey or

a reindeer with a red nose.

It is as if

Jesus underwent a complete change of personality.

Instead of preaching, teaching or healing,

Jesus begins to foretell the future,

specifically about the coming of the Son of Man.

He starts to prophecies:

making predictions about future events based upon current realities.

Biblical scholars have identified

the characteristics of this chapter as “apocalyptic,”

a common style and message that is found

in both Jewish and early Christian history.

Indeed, similar words and phrases can be found in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, Daniel, Ezekiel, and Isaiah,

as well as in the New Testament book of Revelations.

The common apocalyptic theme revolves around

The culmination of history,

An end time,

When all is revealed,

The Son of Man returns, and

God’s judgment is proclaimed.

In every case, apocalyptic scripture is authored

at a time of crisis or historical stress.

In the Old Testament

some of it was written during the time of Exile,

when people were taken from their land,

farms and houses were destroyed,

families where separated,

war, hunger, and starvation were widespread, and

people were taken hostage to a foreign land.

Sounds painfully familiar.

The Old Testament time of Exile was one where prophets looked at the social fabric,

connected the crisis of the community with unfaithfulness to God’s Laws, and,

on God’s behalf, proclaimed judgment upon the people.

In the New Testament,

apocalyptic writers borrowed from their Jewish roots

when their Christian community faced persecution and death

at the hand of the Romans.

Christians were hunted,

captured,

fed to the lions,

boiled in oil, and

crucified upside down before mass crowds.

Believe it.

Before the Roman emperor Constantine was converted

and brought with him the empire in 322 A.D.,

there were some truly dark days for Christianity,

marked by torture and martyrdom.

Apocalyptic sprang forth in these crisis environments

like ice cold water from a mountain stream.

“Parousia” became the key desire.

Parousia means “the coming, to become present, God present with us.”

Christians facing martyrdom

prayed fervently for Parousia,

for Jesus to come and to free them from persecution.

Expectations were high:

Come, Jesus come!

Kick out the oppressors and

rise up the oppressed into a new kingdom

– on earth as it is in heaven –

where peace, love, and justice will reign.

It was this context

in which our gospel author was writing.

In today’s world,

Apocalyptic could only find agency

In a Hamas tunnel or a Ukrainian trench.

The thirteenth chapter of St. Mark’s gospel

was written in the midst of deadly persecution

to a people facing violence and death at every turn,

because of their faith,

their choice to become a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Antiochus IV, and his legions of Roman soldiers,

were tightening down the civil strife and unrest

that engulfed Judea in the second half of the first century.

It is in this context that Mark recalls from the oral tradition

Jesus’ answer to the disciple’s questions:

when? and

what will be the signs?

I understand Jesus to be

anticipating the needs of all those who would, and will, suffer for him.

Jesus was not only speaking to his disciples,

But he is also speaking to the members of the first century church, and

to you and me today.

Jesus will return and

God’s kingdom will be established

after the temple is destroyed,

after much suffering, and

after many cosmic disruptions:

the sun and moon will darken,

the stars will fall, and

the heavens will be shaken.

Then the event will take place,

the Son of Man will come,

not like MacArthur landing on a beach,

but from a cloud,

with power and majesty.

Justice will be executed and

the elect will come from everywhere to join him.

But when will this be?

(I’d like to know,

You know,

So I can plan accordingly)

Jesus clearly tells his disciples that

it can happen at any time.

Just like a budding fig tree is a sign

of the end of the rainy season in Palestine and the start of the hot summer,

so too will there be signs of his coming.

Only God knows exactly when.

If everyone knew, well, then

no one would have to keep watch.

No one would have to act

with a sense of imminence and urgency.

The early church acted with a sense of imminence and urgency

Unlike any time before or since.

That first century church took the Gospel and shared it,

as if there was no tomorrow,

because they believed there wasn’t.

They made it their imminent concern

to spread faith in Jesus Christ

– his redemption and salvation –

to all four corners of the globe.

Success was most pronounced in places of

crisis and persecution.

“If Jesus planned on gathering his elect,

then we should try to make as many people his elect

as quickly as we can,” or so it was reasoned.

When they talked about saving people to Jesus Christ,

they actually meant it.

For only the elect, the chosen, the few, the faithful

would be gathered and saved.

As time went on and no big event took place,

no flashy Parousia occurred,

the church faced a crisis of faith.

Theologians returned to the drawing board.

Either Jesus wasn’t coming, or

he is coming in some other fashion than a global consuming apocalyptic event.

After 2,000 years,

With few exceptions,

the church (and I) have stopped waiting

for a literal, big time event.

Yes, there are still a few,

mainly from conservative fundamentalist backgrounds who are still in crisis,

who still wait,

who still calculate the coming of the Lord,

who run the numbers and roll the dice.

But for the large part,

the end has been rethought.

As for me and my house,

The end has come, and is yet coming.

This message of Jesus

is something that has obtained greater clarity with

notable life events and

with the passing of time.

For me,

after prayer, biblical study, and a lifetime of spiritual development,

the coming of Jesus is an event that occurs

when we surrender our will to God’s will,

when we receive the forgiveness of our sins,

and when we claim Christ’s salvation as our own.

The Holy Spirit fills us in our salvation.

The death of this mortal body

Ceases to be a life-and-death struggle or apocalyptical crisis.

Death becomes an occasion for celebration.

The struggle and pain of this mortal life is ended.

The final journey is complete.

Christ has come, we say.

Christ is come.

Christ will come again.

But, for many,

the coming of Jesus is an event that occurs at the onset of death.

No one knows when death comes,

not even the death-row felon.

It can be as quick as the next heartbeat or

as long as the slow 2 to 20 year progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

Death can be at our doorstep with the change of a traffic light or

Death can wait for over a hundred years.

When death comes,

and I can assure you it will for each of us,

that is when our Lord will come.

How or why, I don’t know.

I only know that it takes faith to believe;

faith in the assurance of Jesus when he said,

“Lo, I will be with you always.”

Christ will come to judge the quick and the dead.

Until that time comes,

we are told to keep watch,

to actively wait,

to act with the same sense of imminence and urgency

that empowered the early church.

This is the message that is ours this day.

This is the value of the biblical apocalyptic for our church 2,000 years later.

This is the value of apocalyptic, for your faith and mine.

Advent is the time of watching,

of waiting expectantly,

for the coming of Jesus.

The past narratives of the annunciation, conception, and birth of Jesus,

the writings of the Old Testament prophets, and

the proclamation of John the Baptist in the wilderness

all become the living sign and symbol

of the Christ that is certain to come.

We are called

to carry out our Christian commission to make disciples of all the earth,

baptizing in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,

We are called

to spread the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ – to love our God and our neighbors – as if there is no tomorrow,

because there may not be.

Jesus has given to us this sense of urgency.

Watch.

Wait.

The time is coming.

It is coming soon.

Be prepared.

Prepare others.

Prepare the world for the coming of the Lord.

The good thing about urgency

is that it makes one put life into perspective.

Priorities have to be made.

If something just isn’t important enough, it doesn’t get done.

There is just enough time to get done everything that needs done,

So don’t become distracted by the irrelevant.

Disregard the unimportant.

When our priorities get out of alignment,

we lose the sense of urgency,

of the imminence of Christ, and

we fall deaf to this morning’s Gospel message.

To a large extent this church,

and every church,

has lost some of its sense of urgency.

The maintenance of the building becomes more important than

Filling our pews or growing our Sunday School.

The pastor’s popularity becomes more important

than winning people to Jesus Christ.

Restructuring of the institutional framework becomes more important

than creating disciple making ambassadors and placing them into the mission field.

It is easy to forget that

Each of us is a hair’s breadth away from disability, coma, or death.

It is easy to slow down and become complacent with the status quo.

With a loss of inertia and momentum

It quickly becomes too much effort to change and grow.

But scriptures tell us this morning that

this is no time to be complacent.

• There is no time to kick back and relax.
• There is no time to allow negative or pessimistic attitudes to keep us from moving forward.
• There is no cost that is too big to keep us from completing the will of God for us and for our lives.
• There is no time to be held back for a lack of committed people. The Lord has you and me.
• There is no time to toil over figures which add up to defeat or failure.

Lean into Christ.

Together we make three.

There is a majority the general population who are unchurched,

who need to be made disciples of Jesus and baptized by his Spirit.

What does apocalyptic mean for us today?

It means that

we are called to recapture the zeal and vitality that was once ours,

both here (at Rush) and for the church around the world.

This apocalyptic urgency is a gift to us,

to you and me and our church.

It is a gift from God.

It is one of God’s many ways to inspire us,

to cheer us on,

that we might thrive and grow into the future.

Leave here today with a sense of urgency in everything you do.

Open yourself and allow yourself to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Watch and listen for what God is calling you to do.

Pray.

Listen.

Discern.

Then do what God wants you to do.

Do it with excellence.

Do it with a sense of urgency.

That is the only way to keep watch!

Behold, the Lord is closer than you think,

even behind the next door.

The word of our Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Amen.