Scripture readings: 1 Peter 4:7-19; Mark 13:14-37
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| Walking along the Columbia River Desert Aire/ Mattawa, WA March 2018 |
There was a little boy who constantly begged his parents to
let him have a dog. Their answer was always the same: he was too young.
Finally, they told him that he was responsible enough to get
his dog. So, they all went to the pet store, and his parents turned him loose
to choose his own puppy.
It was hard for him to make up his mind. There were Labrador
puppies, Dalmatian puppies, beagle puppies, and dachshund puppies. Finally, the
boy chose one little mutt-puppy who was wagging and wagging his tail like
crazy.
When his parents asked him why he wanted that mutt-puppy, he
explained that he liked the way the puppy wagged his tail, “I want the dog with
the happy ending.”
The story Jesus tells in chapter 13 of Mark is a story with
a happy ending. It just happens that it is a scary story with a happy ending. The
scary part takes up most of the story, and the happy part almost doesn’t get
told before Jesus closes the book. But we will look at that later.
Jesus told the story in answer to a question his disciples
had. They had all been wandering together around the buildings and courtyards
of the great Temple in Jerusalem.
It was a wonder of the ancient world. Enormous wealth had
been committed to rebuilding the ancient place and making it as overwhelming
and inspiring as possible. The complex was huge: forests of columns, the
whitest marble, gold leaf and gold plate. The first century historian Flavius
Josephus reported that some of the stones were a large as 37 feet long, 12 feet
high, and 18 feet wide.
Naturally, the disciples were in awe. “Look, Teacher! What
massive stones! What magnificent buildings!” And Jesus said, “Do you see all
these great buildings? Not one stone here will be left on another; every one
will be thrown down.”
Later, Peter, James, John, and Andrew came to him, on the
Mount of Olives, and they asked, “Tell us, when will these things happen? And
what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?”
Jesus never really answers this question. They ask Jesus:
“When?” Jesus doesn’t answer that question. He confesses that he doesn’t know
when. He says: “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in
heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”
Our problem with this is that we are human beings and we
really want to know the answer to questions like this. We want to know the
future. And we want to know the future because we want to be in control.
In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit,
the “Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil,” because they wanted to
be in control. They wanted to be their own little gods.
Even Christians are tempted to try to be our own little
gods, and so Christians for the past 2,000 years have tried to figure out the
answer to the question Jesus said that even he didn’t know the answer to. In other
words, Christians have spent the past 2,000 years trying to be smarter than
Jesus.
That’s just part of our problem. Can anything good ever come
of that?
I’ll share my theory of why Jesus didn’t know when the last
days would come, and why it may be better for us not to know. My theory (and I
don’t know where my theory comes from) is based on 1 John 4:8: “God is love.”
We believe that God is the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
I believe it is the nature of the Father to plan and
provide. Love requires that as an ingredient. I believe it is the nature of the
Son to trust and serve. I believe that this is also a necessary ingredient of
love. And I believe it is the nature of the Spirit to honor and connect,
because this is also part of love.
This is the pattern I see in how the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit relate to each other.
But the Son is about trust and servanthood. When Peter first
heard Jesus predicting his death on the cross (8:31-33) he rebuked Jesus, and
Jesus said, “Get behind me Satan. You do not have in mind the things of God,
but the things of man.” Peter did a devilish thing by attacking the trust the
Son in the Father.
Later (10:43-45) Jesus said: “Whoever wants to become great
among you must be your servant; and whoever wants to be first must be the slave
of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to
give his life as a ransom for many.”
Jesus didn’t know the time of his return because it is his
special nature, as the Son, to trust and serve. His Father knows the time, and
that is enough. The Son may know the time now. But I don’t believe we know that
for sure.
It’s especially in trusting and serving that Jesus gave us
our salvation. It must be in trusting and serving, as the Son, that enables
him, even now, to give us life in God.
Since Jesus, the trusting and serving Son, is the one who
makes us sons and daughters of God, the pattern of his relationship goes on
through us. So, our own trusting and serving, without our knowing the Father’s
schedule, is the way we now have life in Jesus the Son.
We can’t have life in Jesus and contradict him at the same
time. Jesus didn’t need to know the time of his own returning. Neither do we.
The purpose of God for our lives is for us to be like Jesus.
It is good to know things, but it is not always necessary.
What is necessary is for us to trust and serve. And that is
what Jesus’ story is about. Jesus answers the question, not of “When will these
things happen,” but of “What will it mean to trust and serve till these things
happen?”
Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny
himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” (8:34) Part of the work of Jesus on
the cross, beyond the forgiveness of our sins, was to carry on his own
shoulders the world’s troubles and sorrows: “Surely he has borne our griefs and
carried our sorrows.” (Isaiah 53:4)
Jesus never leaves us, not even in our worst times. Now we
are his hands and feet in the world, and Jesus will not have his hands and feet
be absent from this world even in its worst times, even when those times are
called the Great Tribulation.
In Jesus’ telling of the story of the beginning of a new
world, at his return, it is not until the human beings on earth actually see
“the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory;” not until then is
it that Christians will be gathered from the ends of the earth to the ends of
the heavens to come down with Jesus.
We are like Christ, the Son of the Father, in this world.
And, just like him, God’s people will never be absent from what goes on in the
world he loves. Jesus promised to be with us always, even to the end of the
world. Surely he meant that he and we would be present together, in this world,
to the very end.
The average Christian, today, does not live in North
America, or Europe. The average Christian lives in China, or Laos, or
Indonesia, or Pakistan, or India, or Iraq, or Sudan, or Syria, or Zimbabwe, or
Nigeria, or Venezuela, or Cuba.
The average Christian today lives in harm’s way. The average
Christian today lives in a present or an anticipated Tribulation. This was the
normal Christian life in the first century and this has not changed.
Even in the safety of America we face the very same troubles
and fears that any of our uncommitted neighbors face. Only we face those
troubles in fellowship with Jesus. We may be blessed, but we are not immune to
anything in this world; not now, not never. This is what Jesus is saying.
The disciples wanted to know when to be ready. Jesus’ answer
was “always.” Always be ready.
When they asked about signs, the disciples wanted to know
what the things were that they would have to be ready to face. Jesus’ answer
was that the signs were everything. Trust (live faithfully) and serve (be a
servant), and do this in the face of everything: in the face of conflict; in
the face of sickness; in the face of disaster. Trust (live faithfully) and
serve (be a servant); even when governments and churches turn against you.
Trust (live faithfully) and serve (be a servant) when everyone turns against
you, even those you love.
Jesus says that there will come a time when all human powers
will work together and try to put an end to the faith of God’s people; or put
an end to their very lives. When that happens, Jesus says you can run, but try
to run in the right direction. And even at that, don’t be afraid.
What if the disciples had asked: “What should we be afraid of?”
Jesus’ answer would be, “Don’t be afraid of anything.
Whatever comes, you and your brothers and sisters will be able to outlast it,
because the Lord rules. The Lord controls the clock. The Lord is stronger than
anything that can come against you.”
Jesus said, “In the world you have tribulation; but be of
good cheer. I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) “So, don’t be afraid of
anything.”
But wait! There is one thing that Jesus warns us to be
afraid of. Maybe Jesus should have said this more clearly: “Fear only one
thing. Fear sleep. Fear taking things for granted. Watch! Be alert!”
Jesus says that we are like servants who have been given
assigned tasks in our master’s house. Our assigned task is to follow Jesus by
being the same kind of servant that he always is. Trust and serve, and don’t
stop.
Do Jesus’ work. Speak his words. Be his hands and feet. Be
his mouth. Every day we have choices that challenge our alertness to Jesus.
We are asleep if we don’t see the meaning of our choices.
Our choices are all either for or against Jesus, whether we are on trial before
an emperor, or on trial before our friends and neighbors. We decide from day to
day what we shall be in eternity.
This would be scary, except for one thing.
The truth is that we are waiting for Jesus. The Son of Man,
coming in clouds with great power and glory, is Jesus who died for our sins,
and for the sins of the world on the cross. Jesus loves us. He is planning a
reunion of all God’s people in earth and heaven, including us. The Lord is
planning a celebration with us.
Jesus compares the end of the story to the end of spring,
and how you feel when you see the trees in bud. This time of year, we know how
good that makes us feel.
The good news is that, as serious as Jesus is about our
choices, he is also serious about giving us the right things to be serious
about. Jesus is giving us a special kind of freedom. Those who follow Jesus don’t
hide from what’s going on in the world. The people of Jesus can live in the
real world without fear, without anger, without self-righteousness, and without
any false sense of security.
What Jesus gives us is the call to trust and serve. This is
the way to love with an open heart. This is the way to be loved till the end of
time.
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