When we were young one of the ways we were certain Christmas
was coming was at the start of December mum would put an old cardboard advent
calendar up on our kitchen wall. Each morning my sister and I would take turns
opening the appropriate door on the calendar. It would reveal a picture that
was relevant to the nativity or Christmas in general, and a bible reference,
which we would read together from the bible. It was a great way to build up the
expectation of Christmas and celebrating the incarnation.
When I went online to find images of advent calendars I was confronted by a whole array of different versions. Some beautifully crafted wooden ones, real heirloom sort of things, fitting for family traditions…but also a whole array of others associated with consumer good… Lego Star Wars, barbie, milky bar chocolate, Swarovski crystal and kiwi craft beers. Part of the pressure to make Christmas simply a celebration of consumerism and consumption.
In November we are working our way through Mark Chapter 13.
What is known as the little Apocalypse, where in response to a question from
his disciples about the destruction of the temple Jesus speaks of future
events. Many people have used this and similar passages like an advent
calendar, a count down a tick box to Jesus second coming, his second advent. As
they associate world events with Jesus teaching it is like they open one more
‘last days’ door. There is almost a commercialization
of it as well, with books
and novels written, film series made, and speakers making a living by claiming
special revelation to how it all fits together. There is a heightened
sensitivity in people’s minds to Jesus second coming: In 1948 for the first
time in almost two thousand years Israel appeared again as a nation, We have
been through a millennium. We live in uncertain times, there are wars,
particularly the one in the middle east, we’ve had a global pandemic, significant
environmental issues, and we are facing incredible social and technological
changes. If we simply try and treat Jesus teaching in this chapter like an
advent calendar, we will miss its very relevant and encouraging message for Jesus
disciples, for Mark’s first readers facing growing hostility to the gospel in
Rome, and for us. A message of certainties not idle speculation as we follow
Jesus in a world of change and turmoil.
We are working our way S L O W L Y through what Mark calls ‘the beginning of the Good News of Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God’. The series is called ‘the way of the cross’. As against the cultural expectations of what the Messiah would be like, Mark portrays Jesus as primarily the suffering servant, the key verse being ‘the son of man did not come to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many” and the call is for those who would follow Jesus, amidst world changing events and trying times, to walk the same road of service and self-sacrificial love, trusting God.
Before we look at the reading today, we need to look briefly
at the whole of chapter 13… Mark chapter 13 contains what is Jesus longest
section of uninterrupted teaching in the gospel. It comes at the end of his ministry time and bridges
into the narrative of Jesus passion, his betrayal death and resurrection. This
is symbolised as the chapter starts with Jesus leaving the temple for the last
time. He had entered it with the pilgrims come to celebrate Passover, looked around and left. The next day had cleansed the temple,
tipping over the money changers tables. Then the day after that, after an enacted
parable cursing the fig tree, passing judgment on the religious system of the
temple, he had had a series of confrontations with various factions of the
religious authorities. This resulted in their final rejection of him. Now he
leaves the temple.
In John we have Jesus
teaching at the last supper but in Mark Jesus teaching on the mount of olives
acts as a farewell speech to his disciples. Like in John Jesus prepares them
for what is to come. The emphasis is very much pastoral… Watch out… do not be
deceived… do not be alarmed… be on your guard do not worry… the one who stands
firm to the end will be saved.
The context of Jesus speech is the disciples coming to him after his prediction of the destruction of the temple and wanting to know what are the signs and the times of this happening. Jesus gives some general warning of what is to come in the passage we read out today, then in 13-23 speaks of the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem, but is very clear that this is not the end. However they can look forward to the coming of the son of man and then in 27-34 finishes by giving two parables to encourage watchfulness and faithfulness. William Lane sums it up well when he says “the primary function of chapter 13 is not to disclose esoteric information but to promote faith and obedience in a time of distress and upheaval…” a future of both suffering and mission, as they and we await Jesus return.
Ok let’s look at the reading this morning and what it has to
say to us and I want to do that by looking at the certainties that Jesus gives
his disciples and us.
The first is the
certainty of the destruction of the temple (1-4).
As they leave the temple an unnamed disciple comments on the
grandeur, splendor and that permanent feel of the temple. Look at the stones and
the magnificence of the place. The Herodian temple was amazing. The massive
stones covered at the front in gold. But Jesus simply says that not even one
stone will remain on top of another. When the Romans did come in 70ad burned and
Jerusalem, the gold melted on the temple and to retrieve it the romans
literally pulled the temple apart stone by stone.
But the destruction of the temple was also a certainty
because just like in the Old Testament times when the people of Israel were
taken into captivity in Babylon, they had not keep there side of the covenant
relationship with God. Now the authorities had rejected Jesus and shown that
they too did not keep God’s law.
I don’t think that certainty speaks only to the downfall of
Jerusalem. Which for the disciples would have seemed like the end of the world.
But the church and we have faced times when there have been life and world
changing events. When institutions that seem permanent and give meaning to life
change. Our own time is one such era. In fact it seems the only way to describe
where we are at the moment is by saying what has gone before… We are
postmodern, post-colonial, some say post Christian, I would say post Christendom,
even moving towards being post human, it may be a bit of a humorous illustration,
but amidst all this post stuff the only thing you can’t find is a post office,
and you can no longer say the cheque is in the mail or the post. Empires and
world systems institutions rise and fall and change… It may feel like it
sometimes… but it is not the end of the world.
The second certainty that Jesus talks of is that the disciples
and we will face three great spiritual dangers.(5-9)
Firstly deception because of false prophets and messiahs. Jesus
warns his disciples to watch out and be on guard unless they be deceived. Jesus
teaching in chapter 13 relies heavily on the Old Testament. As Jerusalem was
facing destruction by the Babylonians, Jeremiah confronts many prophets who say
everything will be all right, no need to worry no need to repent, God is
blessing us with peace. In 152 ad as the
romans final destroyed Judea, Bar Cocba on of the leaders of that time, said he
was the messiah.
Down through history there have been people who claimed to
be the Messiah and even claimed to be Jesus come again. It is a spiritual
danger we always face, people who would draw our allegiance from Jesus to
themselves, who would each another ‘gospel’ rather than the one of Jesus. We
live in a time when the internet gives people a platform and way more influence
than they may deserve, and as a friend of mine said every heresy there ever was
alive and well and living on the internet. The desire to find someone or
something that will be the answer is very alive: Political Messiah’s economic
messiahs as well as religious ones. We
can be susceptible to the cult of personality. To be on guard means to be
focused on Jesus, to know his teaching, to be discerning people of the word and
prayer.
Secondly being distracted by world events. Jesus said there
would be earthquakes and rumours of wars and wars and nation would rise against
nation. We are not to be alarmed these thing swill continue to happen. These
things are not to draw our attention away from following Jesus and being agents
of the Kingdom of God. In the first century it may take months to hear of a
war, unless it was happening at your door step, today it seems that every
conflict is caught on camera and ever tension between nations is broadcast
nightly to our homes. Yes there is a Kingdom of God way of responding to these
things… with lament, that this is not the way it should be, with compassion and
generosity to those who suffer from natural disaster and war, and prophetic
voice, Jesus said blessed are the peace makers.
Thirdly, despondency due to persecution and suffering for
the sake of Jesus. We must be on guard, not be taken unawares because these
things will happen. The examples given are being called before the councils of synagogues,
and before governors and Kings. Jesus also goes on to talk of families being
disrupted and handing over family members. You can read the book of acts and see this
play out. The Church in Rome was about to face persecution from the likes of
Nero. The church has found itself down through the ages and in many places a
persecuted minority. We should not however be despondent or loose heart. In
Acts we see that god used persecution to push the church out on its mission
from Jerusalem, into the gentile world. In the world today some of the places
where the church has faced the worst persecution is where it is growing the
fastest. The largest Christian
population in the world just maybe in mainland China, now one of the fastest
growing churches in the world is in Iran. There is truth to the comment that
the church grows by the blood of the martyrs.
Detrick Bonhoeffer, was invited to stay in America before
the second world war, and in deciding to return to nazi Germany where he would
eventually be imprisoned and killed, he said that the church in the west was
weak because it would do anything to avoid suffering. One of the dangers for us
of suffering and persecution is that its too easy to simply assimilate into our
culture and to stagnate, to lose our focus on Jesus and his call to live out
and proclaim the counter culture Kingdom
of God. We must be on Guard.
Amidst these world events and spiritual dangers is the
certainty of mission. Amidst the spiritual dangers Jesus mentions that even
when being bought before governors and kings we will be called to bear witness
to Jesus. The gospel will be preached and proclaimed to all nations. As certain
as difficult times are is the mission that the disciples and you and I are
called to. Jesus calls the hard times birth pangs, contractions and the time
between Jesus death and resurrection and his Parousia are what theologians call
an already but not yet time, Jesus death and resurrection inaugurated the
kingdom of God and we await its consummation, but we live in a time when the
old is passing away and we are invited to be about giving birth to the new… Waiting for the second coming is not a passive
experience it is being called to be about the mission Jesus has called us to. I’ve
been using the Romans Course by the bible society a bit this year and I am
really impacted by the testimonies go with each session. One testimony was of a
Welsh man called Jos who felt the call to be a missionary and was prepared to
go to a small town, village in Wales filled with real troubles and be willing
to respond…working as a rugby officer in the local schools. I know many of you
have recently moved to villages I wonder if you’ve been called there as
witnesses as well… we see many kaianga ora villages being set up and is part of
gods call to us to be prepared to witness there.
The fourth certainty of the presence and power the Holy
Spirit with us as we face difficulties and mission. Jesus said not to worry when
you are called before authorities to bear witness, because the Holy Spirit
would give us the words to say. What gives us hope to endure and courage to
continue is the abiding presence of the risen Jesus with us through the Holy
Spirit. A quick example from my own life is almost the opposite to what Jesus
said, the Holy Spirit allowing me to witness by being silent. When I was in my
late teens I was involved in an outreach coffee bar. It wasn’t that effective. One
night two guys came in and told us that they could prove to us that
Christianity was false. They would give us all the reasons why they didn’t believe,
and we’d get angry and throw them out like everyone else did. Up for a challenge
I said Ok go for it. What followed was about forty minutes not of well thought
out arguments but the hurling of abuse and vile language. I didn’t say much,
but s I happened I felt the presence and peace of the Holy Spirit, I started to
smile. After forty minutes, these guys suddenly looked at each other and said
man we’d better get out of here this Jesus stuff is real.
The last certainty is that Jesus will return and with the
Holy Spirit’s help those who endure to the end will be saved. We can trust
Jesus at his word, and we can trust that Jesus by the Holy Spirit is able to lead
and guide and bring us through the world changing events, the wars and rumours
of war, the persecution and suffering. As we have put our faith in Jesus and
his death and resurrection, we can trust him with our future. Writing to the
church at Philippi Paul says this “ I am confident of this that the one who started
a good work in you will bring it to co0mpletion by the day of Jesus Christ. Mark
13 may not act as an advent calendar, but it acts as an advent promise. Amidst
the certainties of suffering and turmoil, amidst spiritual dangers, there si
the certainty that God is at work, That
the gospel of Jesus Christ is bring about new creation in our world and the
certainty that we can trust the Holy Spirit all the way. So be on watch… do not
be deceived…be on guard…do not to be alarmed…do not worry…stand firm to the
end.
