Pentecost 23

May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

SEASON: Pentecost 23
PROPER: 28B
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: November 19, 2000


TEXT: Mark 13:14-23 The Little Apocalypse
“But be alert; I have already told you everything.”

See also: Daniel 12:1-13

ISSUE: - Apocalyptic scripture speaks of terrible times, and is a sign of the end of an age. The challenge of the church is to stand firm for Jesus Christ. Every age seems to know its difficult times. Christians are called upon to stand firm in our faith and not be distracted. We believe that God is with us in Christ, and will see us through those difficulties. The age to come for the Christian is the prevailing Kingdom and Realm of a victorious God to whom we have been led through the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
We are coming now to the ‘end’ of the church’s year. This is the 23 Sunday of Pentecost, with next Sunday being the last of the Pentecost season. It is transition period of moving from the life story and teachings of Jesus in the Gospel to the transitional period of John the Baptist calling for repentance, and followed by the birth of Jesus as the herald and of a new age.
The readings today, and up coming lectionary readings are defined as “Apocalyptic” readings. They are readings that deal with the end of the age. There is in both the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures a number of sections that are apocalyptic in their structure. One of the earliest apocalyptic writings is the story of Noah and The Ark. The story tells of a time when there is great hatred and injustice, wickedness. It is a time of great unfaithfulness toward God. Noah, the one righteous man of the time, follows the instruction of God, preparing for the devastation that is to come in the great flood. It is a time of great transition. Evil is washed away, and a new order begins.
The Book of Daniel tells of extraordinarily difficult times for Israel, conquered by evil destructive enemies. The Book is thought to have been written during the reign of a pagan ruler Antiochus Epiphanes IV had desecrated the Temple in Jerusalem by slaughtering pigs on the altar, turning the Temple into a brothel, and erecting an image of himself. For people living in this age, they saw it as an abomination, the end of the age, and with anticipation and hope that God would bring about a new age.
The most popular apocalyptic literature is the Book of Revelation. It tells of a period of great tribulation and turmoil for the early church during the persecutions. The Roman Emperor and Empire is seen as the great beast, that was about to devour the child to born of the virgin. The dragon is the beast of the Empire consuming all that is good and holy. All of this is written in symbolic language that the people of the time understood quite well. But Revelation is also a message of great hope that a new Jerusalem will come and Christ will be the ultimate victor.
Mark’s gospel refers to the “desolating sacrilege’ being set up. He warns the people of the time, a very difficult time is coming, the end of the age. God’s people will be going through a great period of transition. Apocalyptic literature is usually written in periods of transition. Now recall that last Sunday was the story of the Widow giving her last penny. Jesus saw this scene as one of great injustice. The Temple leadership in league with the Romans had become terribly corrupt. Jesus leaves the Temple telling his disciples that every ‘beautiful’ stone will be torn down. There was an indication that the Emperor Caligula planned to place a statue of himself in the Temple, declaring himself to be a god. Thus, Mark says in this gospel, ‘“When you see the desolating sacrilege set up” (you know what I’m talking about) then you can expect all hell to break loose. It will be the end of the age. Flea to the mountains, and God forbid that it is winter or that a woman is pregnant.’ By the time Mark is writing this gospel, the Temple was being destroyed by the Romans. It was leveled and never rebuilt. They raised flags with the image of the Emperor over the ruins. But consider what that meant. The Temple was Israel religious center. It was the seat of its government. To lose that was to lose everything. Then end is and had come. If the destruction had not stopped when it did no one would have survived by the grace of God. There were false messiahs, false messengers who led people to believe that they could fight back, but that was impossible against such a formidable Roman force. The final message is that Christians keep the faith. Stay faithful and God will prevail, and a new age of hope will come. The faithful shall be saved and come through the ordeal.
Even in our own time we have experienced apocalyptic events. There have been in recent years for many of us periods of great cultural anxiety. Those who lived through World War II sure new the anxiety of that age. The great vulture, the horrible dragon was laying waste in Europe. Adolph Hitler. Democracy was being gobbled up. Genocide was rampant as six million Jews were murdered. The war ended with an atomic explosion when the sky turned black in Hiroshima. It was truly an apocalyptic age. The world then looked forward to a new age of the rebirth of democracy and of peace.
The next generation brought about a new apocalyptic ear. The Cold War, that was most vividly expressed and not really so cold came the shape of the Vietnam War. The age of cultural anxiety continued as that period was fought out on the battle field and in the streets and colleges of this country. Remember one of the popular movies, Apocalypse Now! We lived on the brink of disaster in the so called cold war through the Cuban missile crisis.
Even today we live in a period of great cultural anxiety in so many ways. Terrorism is a significant and an insidious beast. Milosevich, Sadam Hussane and Asamabad bin Ladin (spellings?)are the beasts of our age. They are the names and the images of the beasts of our age. The weaponry of nuclear weapons in the hands of terrorist, laser weapons, biological weapons of destruction are an awful frightening reality in our time.
Since the recent unresolved election cultural anxiety is heightened in this threatened age. A peaceful government and election by the people, and the peaceful transition of power are up for grabs. It is scary. We are uncertain about the future leadership, and how a country will be governed in the midst of such political division, not to mention that it appears that the real governing forces are not individuals by large controlling corporations and lobbyists. The struggle between good and evil continues. Drugs, racisim large corporations, horrendous weaponry, sexism are all the beasts and the dragons of our time gnawing away and consuming what we cherish and create dissension and grief.
Notice the symbols and icons that have developed in our own culture in our ages of anxiety. We had Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Spiderman, the Ningent Turtles. In all of these is the subtle recognition that humanity needs something stronger, something beyond itself, and stronger than itself, something more powerful and at one with justice, with righteousness, and hope. We loved characters like Roy Rogers and John Wayne, western heroes. We try to look to fellows like Gus Griffin and Christa McCalluf, astronauts, that gave us some hope that we could reach for the stars. But quite often even our cultural idols or icons disappoint us, some like Magic Johnson, Pete Rose, Jim Jones and Jimmy Swaggart turn out to be nothing but false messiahs.
Where do we turn? We have to turn to God. We have to be faithful, loyal and committed, in a world that is ailing. We need a new rainbow. We need a new Jerusalem. We need God, and the Realm, Domain, or Kingdom of God. We need the Christ who can and does lead the way. We need the resurrection that lifts us up in hope. What is that we have seen in Jesus Christ. We have seen the one who came and entered into the human condition. We saw Jesus who in humble birth embraced the expendable peasantry, the poor, the lame, the blind, and the imprisoned victims, and who stood firm in his accusations against the corrupt powers of this time. In Christ we see the stories and parables that call for the great reversals, the great turn a rounds required. Those who are of faith, loyalty, trust, and commitment are invited to step into the Kingdom of God. Stay awake, be alert, the Kingdom of God has come in Christ, and continues to come.
We do not escape the fact that every age has its apocalyptic events. The struggle between good and evil goes on. But for those of faith, the victory, the hope, we embrace and hold fast to the Christ. Christ’s Kingdom, the Kingdom of God is realized and continues to come into being. God will have it no other way until the full victory is accomplished.