Sermon: “The End Is the Beginning”

Text: Mark 13:1-8

33^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)

November 15, 2009

Scripture introduction.  Our second reading this morning is from the 13^th chapter of the Gospel according to Mark, the first eight verses.  Several weeks ago we considered a passage from Revelation, also known as the Apocalypse; this chapter from Mark is often called the “little apocalypse.”  Apocalyptic writings tend to deal with what we would call the “end times.”  It is one thing to read about the end times in Revelation or in the Old Testament book of Daniel; but when Jesus himself begins to speak in this way, our ears really perk up.

Our passage for this morning is introduced by Jesus’ prediction that the magnificent Temple in Jerusalem would be destroyed.  Privately, four of Jesus’ closest disciples question him about when this would happen and what the signs of the end times would be.  Answering them, Jesus describes the kinds of events that are common in apocalyptic literature—false messiahs, earthquakes, famines, wars, and reports of wars.  By the time that Mark’s Gospel was written—probably in the late 60s or early 70s—there had been false messiahs, earthquakes, and famines.  In Judea there had been uprisings by Jewish zealots against Roman rule, and Rome had dispatched the legions to put down the revolt.  As Jesus had predicted, the Temple itself was burned and then demolished by the Roman army.  Indeed, as can be seen even today, there was not left one stone upon another. 

But listen carefully to the text.  Jesus said, “Don’t be deceived or led astray: these are not signs of the end times, but rather the beginning of the birth pains.”   

Sermon.  It is not hard to imagine Jesus and the disciples leaving the Temple precincts—the last time for Jesus, according to Mark—and looking back upon the huge stones of the Temple, layered with gold leaf on its eastern front.  While the Temple itself was destroyed in the year 70, still visible are the tremendous stones that were used by Herod’s builders to create its below-grade retaining wall.  What a “shocker” to hear Jesus say that all of this would be destroyed!  Surely, this prediction was the subject of their conversation as they walked out the eastern gate of the Temple complex, down and across the Kidron Valley and up to the top of the Mount of Olives.  I suppose every Jerusalem tourist from ancient times to the present has enjoyed this magnificent view of the old city.  The vantage point is perfect for in-person viewing or photography—high enough and far enough away to afford a good perspective yet close enough so that one retains a sense of human scale and proportion. 

By the time that Jesus and his disciples settled down at the top of the hill, the disciples must have been “putting two and two together.”  Any set of circumstances that would result in the total destruction of the Temple would have to be cataclysmic indeed, for this was believed to be the place where God’s presence was most closely felt by humans.  Surely, God would not allow the destruction of the Temple except as a part of some even more momentous happening.  As Jews who were familiar with the apocalyptic writings of the Old Testament, they must have assumed that if the Temple were to be destroyed, it would signal the end of time—that day when God would cleanse the world of all unrighteousness and usher in the new age of peace and blessing.  So Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked Jesus privately, “When will the Temple be destroyed, and what will be the signs of the end times?” 

Although Jesus’ response extends through the end of chapter 13, he never answers the first question: he never said when the Temple would be destroyed—only that it “must happen.”[1]  By the end of the chapter, Jesus finally has answered the second question by giving some signs of the end.  Using symbolic apocalyptic language that would have been very common in his day, Jesus said that the sun and the moon would be darkened and the stars would fall from heaven and the powers in the heavens would be shaken.  Then, and only then, would the Son of Man prophesied by Daniel be seen “coming in clouds with great power and glory.”[2]  Jesus added that no one, not the angels nor even Jesus himself, no one but God the Father knows the time when that will happen.[3]  So as one commentator has observed,[4] most of chapter 13 actually consists of Jesus telling these four disciples what will not be a sign of the end times.  And there are a lot of non-signs.

Our text for this morning lists some of them—war, famine, earthquake, false messiahs, destruction of the Temple.  After the conclusion of our reading, Jesus expands the inventory—the persecution of Christians, the preaching of the gospel to the Gentiles, strife among family members, and the desecration of the Temple.  All of these are signs that the end has not come.  Now think about that for a minute.  We are familiar with writers and preachers and self-appointed prophets claiming to discern in the events of our days signs of the fast-approaching end of time.  One of the most recent—released two days ago—is the movie 2012,[5] based on the premise that the sophisticated Mayan calendar, with its 5,126-year “long-count” cycle ending in 2012, predicts the end of the world three years from now.  According to the Chicago Tribune, December 21, 2012, “marks the first winter solstice in 26,000 years when the sun and Earth will be aligned with the center of the Milky Way.”[6]  Guess what:  the movie includes earthquakes, floods, and other natural disasters.  Should we start spending our savings?  I don’t think so.  Every year we have earthquakes, wars, famines, persecution of Christians, and the gospel being preached to the Gentiles.  The Temple, before it was destroyed, already had been desecrated by the Romans.  According to Jesus, these are not signs of the end times.  Because they happen in every age, the end times could come at any time.

In other words, these are the things we live with in normal times.  Jesus acknowledged that in God’s plan of history the end times would come, but he did not speculate about when that might be.  Since no one but God knows, our concern should simply be to get ready and remain ready.  That, I think, is why so much of chapter 13 talks about the trials that the followers of Jesus will face.  Some Christians have been opposed by family, and others will be in the future.  Some Christians have been put on trial for their beliefs and have been punished by governmental and church authorities.  Think of Martin Luther King, Jr., in the Birmingham jail or Dietrich Bonheoffer’s execution in a Nazi prison.  There may no longer be a Temple in Jerusalem, but over and over again, the holy things of life have been desecrated by a world that does not seem to understand or appreciate them.  False messiahs from Simon bar Kochba to Jim Jones to David Koresh have come, and gone.  And, thankfully, the gospel is still being preached to Gentiles.  Jesus’ main point is that we should be watchful and alert in every age.

Maybe Jesus focused on the present and the near-future because that is what we have.  And it is filled with troubles as well as blessings.  You know the earthquakes that have rumbled through your lives.  There are times when all the things we thought were solid begin to liquefy and roll like waves on the ocean.  The structures of our lives, our families, our children’s lives, our jobs—structures and relationships we have worked so hard to build—crack, totter, and fall.  There are times of famine when our spirits are hungry for love, for acceptance, for understanding, and for friendship.  And even when things are relatively good in other parts of our lives, there is still that nagging hunger for understanding the meaning of it all.  There are wars that go on inside of us as we struggle against temptations.  Jesus warned his disciples, and he warns us, that all these things will come.  Until the end finally does come, until the great day of the Lord, when the Son of Man will be seen coming with the clouds, life will have these challenges.  Just because the disciples knew him and had faith in the salvation that he promised did not mean that they would be spared unhappiness.  And he urged them to remain faithful in the face of these trials.  Those who persevered would be glad that they had.  And Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would be present with them through the hard times. [7] 

And the best news of all is that our current troubles are not an end in themselves but rather are the beginning of the birth pains of something new and glorious—not just for us but for the whole created world.  Pain is pain, but it helps to know that the pains of the current age lead not to death but to new life.  We may go through a famine of the spirit, yet our spirits emerge cleansed and stronger for the experience.  We may suffer earthquakes in our personal lives, but through them we can develop a stronger sense of God’s constant presence and loving providence for our deepest needs.  In the words of the old hymn, there may be “fightings within, and fears without,” but the Lamb of God, the Prince of Peace, can calm them.

As Christians we do have one reliable sign of the end times, and that is baptism.  It is a sign of our cleansing and of our engrafting into Christ, who at the end of time will come with the clouds to establish his rule on earth.  Baptism is God’s promise to us that no matter what our lives may hold, God holds us and is present somewhere in the middle of it all, working tirelessly to bring about renovation and rebirth not only in our lives but in Creation itself.  Baptism is the beginning point of our lives as Christians—the beginning of the birth pangs—and as a sign it points to our own end time, when we will rest from our labors and enjoy God forever.