Signs of the Apocolypse

 Mark 13:24-37

Advent 1

December 3, 2023

The Beginning is Near
Imaginary Foundation

 

This chapter in Mark is called a little apocalypse.

Every first Sunday in Advent, we read these little apocalypses.

 

Each of the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark & Luke)

have these little apocalypse.

They all talk about things that we fear.

Terrible suffering, wars, hatred, persecution,

vitriol from family, natural disasters

and then, after that  things don’t get much better.

The sun will be darkened,

the moon will not give out light

the stars will fall, and the powers of the heaven will be shaken

Pretty much our worst nightmares.

 

Each one of these passages talk about signs

to watch out for to know when this is coming.

They don’t specifically enumerate the signs,

but they say you’ll know it when you see it.

And you shouldn’t miss them,  so you should keep watching.

If you’re keeping alert, it should be obvious,

like every year when you see the leaves on a tree come out,

you know summers about to come,

the signs will tell us the end is nigh.

 

Just in time for Christmas I guess. I think it seems contrary

to the spirit of Christmas that we like to evoke.

The arrival of the long awaited savoir,

is preceded by imagery of desperation, hopelessness, destruction,

the opposite of salvation.

 

I think the problem is that these little apocalypses have kind of

been made into full blown, frightening theologies for many Christians.

They seem focused on the future in fear and dread and foreboding.

They look at Jesus second coming as a time of disaster

and hopelessness for the everyone.

  

I think it works to keep followers is a constant state of alert and panic.

So focused on self-preservation to think of much else really.

Some of them even stockpile food and weapons and a 

hefty amount of suspicion of everything.

These groups of Christians seem fixated on who is good and who is evil,

who is for them and who is against them. 

Because, of course, they’re on the right side, and looking for signs to tell one from another.

 

Now, we don’t believe that this kind of fixation is necessary.

As Lutherans, we take more seriously the part of this lesson,

when Jesus says “about that day or the hour no one knows”

We take that as an order for us not to dwell on the things

that are only God’s business and above our paygrade so to speak.

But this kind of theology has leaked out into the mainstream,

so that even if we’re not one of those Christians, these apocalypse

passages and talk of the second coming of Jesus is frightening.

But Jesus does tell us to keep awake.

and there is a lot of scary stuff happening now isn’t there?

I mean doesn’t it feel like we’re on the brink of something awful?

Not just in this country, but around the world.

 

The division in our country is huge.

Families and friends have been divided by political

convictions and it seems like we can’t have a civil conversation any more.

The climate is becoming more and more erratic

leading to worse and worse natural disasters.

People have been terrorizing the country with guns

and all sorts of other  creative methods of

violence meant to wield fear and power.

It seems like Artificial Intelligence is about to do

something scary and unpredictable, but I’m not sure what.

It seems like our leaders are ruling almost exclusively by corruption.

 

And for so many people today, life is actually awful. 

With unbearable wide-spread poverty and the hopelessness that comes with it

the price of housing everywhere is so out of control

so that just surviving is difficult.

It’s so bad that many have checked out or are apathetic.

There’s an epidemic of addiction and an enormous rate of suicide.

 

And the war in Ukraine is now going on for nearly a year

much longer than I thought possible.

And the week-long cease-fire in Gaza ended on Friday.

It seemed so hopeful, with hostages and prisoners being

released, but then it ended, for a reason it doesn’t seem

we’re privy to, and already, just over the weekend,

more than 200 people have been killed in that small area.

 

Things are very scary right now and there are “signs”

I’m sure many people are frightened of what’s to come

I’m sure our doomsday preppers are in overdrive

because of these events and these apocalyptic passages.

 

Many of us at the moment can, of course,

just decide to turn away and ignore what we see.

I mean things are looking pretty nice here on

Hilton Head, I can just choose look away and remain distracted.

 

But Jesus has asked us to be awake

be aware and to look at the signs.

But the signs fill me with a dread when I do think about it.

 

Why does Jesus want us to keep awake?

Does Jesus want us scared and nervous all the time?

Does Jesus enjoy our anxiety?

Is this a way to scare us and to control our behavior?

No, I don’t think Jesus is telling us this to raise our

anxiety, Jesus actually wants to lower it.

Jesus tells his disciples and us about these little apocalypses 

and scary signs, but all of these little apocalypses end the same way,

there is fear, there is suffering, and then there is Jesus.

 

Jesus tells us that the suffering and fear are

just a precursor to God’s presence with us.

The bad things that seem to be closing in on us

are an assurance to us that God is near us.

That’s the point of these little apocalypse passages.

Not to fill us with new dread about new, awful things on the horizon,

but give us the assurance that when awful things are happening,

we are sure to experience God’s presence.

The word apocalypse is from the Greek

and it means “uncovering”, “revealing”, “revelation”

not the end of the world like it’s come to mean,

but the uncovering, revealing, and revelation of God’s presence.

 

When the sun is darkened and the stars are falling,

and things seem to be getting seriously worse for all involved,

that is the time that the son of man will come in his greatest glory,

you can be assured of that.

 

Just like many of us have felt the presence of God the most

during the worst times of our lives.

Just like when disaster strikes, the helpers come out of nowhere,

after the suffering, God will be with us.

 

What if we heard the word apocalypse that way,

and instead of fear and dread,

we reacted with joy, hope, and anticipation?

Not because everyone else will suffer and I will be raptured,

or some other weird logic like that.

But what if Jesus return was joyous for the world?

 

Our expectations about Jesus second Advent

should be shaped by what we know about Jesus first Advent.

When he came to us as a child, lived and suffered with us,

and finally poured out his love for all creation on the cross

when the sun was darkened and the powers in heaven were shaken,

when God took the worst of creation and gave us the best.

The coming of Christ is a welcome presence,

the arrival of our dearest friend.

 

No one knows the time or the hour,

It might be a surprise, but we should be

waiting in anticipation not in dread.

Watching all the signs and when terrible things happen in this world,

as they always do, we mourn, we get angry, we will do our best to help

the situation, but we can also ask and notice what God is doing,

how God is using the situation, what new life God is creating out of the old.

  

Christ was with us then, Christ is with us now, and Christ will come again.

In our greatest hours of suffering and fear Christ will be there.

 

We know that even in the worst of times,

Even in all the awful stuff that is happening right now.

Even in times of desperation and hopelessness.

God ‘s power will prevail, somehow some way,

the end of the story will be better than the beginning

or the middle of the story even.

 

The season of Advent is a time for us to wait for Christmas –

the remembrance that Jesus was born and God came to us –

but it’s also a time of hoping for the time

when our deepest prayers

for this world will be answered.

When the sun is darkened, and the moon doesn’t give light

and the stars fall from the heavens and all seems lost,

we know that God will be nearest to us then.

 

When terrible things happen,

we have faith that it is not the end,

it is just the beginning of God’s presence with us.