Second Coming
Notes
Transcript
I have two questions for you this morning:
1. Are you getting ready for Christmas?
On our recent road trip to North Carolina, I surprised Krista by playing Christmas music on the radio. She knows that I can only handle one holiday at a time and I don’t want to get into the Christmas spirit until Thanksgiving is over. In fact, I usually don’t get into anything resembling the spirit until the week of Christmas. As a result, my family often calls me an old curmudgeon. This year, to the shock of my wife and daughter, I decided to change it up and enjoy the fullness of the season.
As you can see around the sanctuary, the church is getting ready for Christmas as well. We had a hearty crew come in yesterday and hang garland and wreaths, put up the Nativity outside and decorate the crismon trees.
And last night, I joined my bride outside of the Mission Center to enjoy the Christmas parade and hand out bags of popcorn.
‘Tis the season to be jolly!
All of these activities help us get ready for Christmas when we remember the birth of our Savior in a manger over 2000 years ago.
The second question:
2. Are you ready for Jesus?
Two different questions. The first question is about celebrating a holiday - which includes remembering the reason for season and hearing once again the nativity story. But it also all the other stuff - setting up Christmas trees, buying and wrapping presents, baking cookies and treats, decorating the house - all the different activities associated with this time of year.
The second question has to do with our heart and mind. Are we ready for Jesus? Are we anticipating his imminent return? Are we shaping our daily lives around the core mission that he gave us: to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
And are we courageous enough to follow Him when times get tough?
This answer to the second question, are we ready for Jesus, is at the root of today’s gospel reading out of Mark.
First, let’s back up a bit and look at the context so we can understand why Jesus said what he said.
This is near the end of Jesus’ ministry - one chapter later Judas is arranging to betray Jesus and the disciples gather for the Last Supper. We are getting close to Jesus’ arrest and death.
In the chapter leading up to today’s scripture, Jesus had been teaching in the Temple in Jerusalem - the very epicenter of Jewish worship. It was during this teaching that a scribe came up to him and asked “which commandment is the most important?”
Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Big teaching day at the Temple. I imagine the disciples were feeling a bit like the campaign staff of a promising political candidate running for office. This rising star has come out of no where - a man of the people - and His message is resonating with the crowds. There is excitement in the air. There is also worry - while the candidate has soared in the polls, some of his speeches lately have been highly critical of the establishment. He says and does things that are not politically advantageous - in fact, he seems intent on saying things that you would think would turn people away. But all in all - they have arrived. A few years ago they were interns placing their bet on a long shot - and now they are at the center of power and prestige. (of course, Jesus is not a political candidate, but hopefully you get the illustration)
As they were leaving the Temple, the disciples were marveling over the beauty and magnificence of the building complex itself.
One of the disciples even commented to Jesus, “Look Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!”
They weren’t lying. The Temple was impressive. In his commentary on Mark, Dr. Ben Witherington writes...
... some of the stones were twenty-five by eight by twelve cubits—in other words, huge. They were also bright white in color, and Josephus (the ancient historian) tells us they were ornate. The temple would have covered some one-sixth of the whole city’s space. In the sunlight it would have appeared like a white mountain of marble decorated with gold.
The problem is that Jesus’ disciples were still looking at the world through unspiritual eyes. What was impressive to them was not impressive to their master.
It is something His followers today still struggle with. We tend to gauge success and power by what we can see with our eyes - big buildings, charismatic leaders, abundance of things - and fail to see the spiritual rot right below the surface.
With the arrival of God’s Son, the center of worship was no longer the Temple with its sacrificial system. The center of worship would now be in Christ himself. The Temple had become corrupted - Just a few days prior Jesus had flipped the tables and chased out the money changers from the Temple for turning God’s House of Prayer into a marketplace.
So Jesus responds to his disciple:
Mark 13:2 (ESV)
“Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”
As they continued to walk, I’m sure the disciples were mulling over what he had said. The Temple would be completely destroyed? God’s house would be laid waste. He must be speaking about the last day/the end of time.
They continued walking down from the Temple across the valley and up the Mount of Olives. When they sat to rest - a few disciples, Peter, James, John and Andrew, approached Jesus and asked:
“when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?”
Jesus responds and for at least the past century - quite a few Christians have missed his entire point and have attempted to calculate some time line or look for some series of signs that would signify the end is near. Books have been written on the End Times - several dates have been proposed only to pass on by without the end coming, a whole theology on the rapture has been developed - that at the end, before great trials and tribulations occur, God is going to yank all Christians out of the world and spare them the troubles that are to come - which has to make you wonder, why didn’t he spare all the Christians that faced horrible persecution throughout history - why does the church in last days avoid suffering? The answer is simple - it does not.
When we actually hear what Jesus says - it is pretty clear - the end will come when the end will come. No one knows when - not even Jesus. Only the Father knows. And when it happens - it will be unmistakeable - there will be no doubt. In the meantime, there are hardships ahead - keep the faith and stick to the mission.
A close reading of chapter 13 reveals a series of imperatives:
See that no one leads you astray
Do not be alarmed
Be on your guard
Do not be anxious
understand this
Be on guard
Keep awake
Stay awake
Everything Jesus is telling them is for the purpose of giving assurance and to keep them focused on their mission.
And Jesus began to say to them, “See that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. This must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. These are but the beginning of the birth pains.
The disciples asked for signs. Jesus says - there will be false Messiahs, wars and rumors of wars, natural disasters and famines - these are not signs. These things will happen (they always have) - they are but the beginning of birth pains. The Jewish people viewed God’s redemption of His Creation to be like a woman giving birth - a painful process, full of suffering, that leads to new life arriving.
To try read world events and figure out when Christ is coming (which I admit I at times do) - is really not worth the effort. What is worth the effort is making sure that I doing the work he has left me to do when does return.
David Garland writes...
Mark The Coming of the Son of Man (13:24–27)
Busying oneself with calculations about dates is thus a fruitless exercise that can only distract from the mission that God has called the church to do—to preach the gospel. God does not require a studious deciphering of international threats and natural disasters but spiritual vigilance that makes one ready for Christ’s return whenever he comes
So it is important for us to stay on task and not be overly concerned about reading the signs of the times. Everything that needs to happen for Jesus to return has already happened. All that is left if for God to determine when - and that is not for us to know.
In this chapter, Jesus is also answering the question posed to him about when the Temple will be destroyed - and it can be easy to mix his response of the timing of the end times and his response to the destruction of the Temple as being one and the same. In fact, the disciples assumed it would be all at one time.
Jesus says...
“But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not to be (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let the one who is on the housetop not go down, nor enter his house, to take anything out, and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak.
He goes on in more detail - but the message is this: using language found in the book of Daniel, Jesus warns that the Temple will be desecrated by a horrific act and when it happens - if you are follower of Christ - get out of town, flee - because things are about to go downhill rapidly.
Jesus was likely referring to an incident during Rome’s siege on Jerusalem when a group of Jewish Zealots slaughtered a bunch of their own people in the courtyard of the Temple.
The destruction of the Temple did in fact occur just as Jesus said it would. Every stone was overturned by the Romans.
As Ben Wirthington notes:
It is interesting that when Titus’s troops burned the temple, there were apparently hidden reserves of gold in the treasury which had not been pilfered and that melted under the intense heat of the fire. The liquid gold apparently seeped through the cracks between various of the stones of the temple, leading the greedy Romans to pry the stones apart (“not leaving one stone on another”) to retrieve the gold!
When I read this chapter as a whole, it appears to me that part of Jesus’ message to his disciples is this: The trials and sufferings Christians will face in fulfilling their mission will be enough - don’t get caught up in national zeal and find yourself trapped among those facing God’s judgment. Bear witness, but when you see the signs I tell you - get out of dodge.
The advancement of the mission is the priority. And as stated, it will come with its own problems.
And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. And brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death. And you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
Persecution and betrayal like this happens today in parts of the world. There are Christians today living under intense pressure - who are clinging to the promises of Jesus for those who endure.
Once again, Dave Garland in his commentary writes:
Mark Bridging Contexts
Christians need to be forewarned so that they can be forearmed. They will face adversity, harrowing persecution, false alarms, and the ruin of nations, even their own. He wants to “inspire faith, endurance, and hope in the face of the impending sufferings of the church and of the Jewish nation.” He also wants to assure the fainthearted. Persecution should not take them by surprise. When one lives in the midst of a firestorm of persecution, one cannot always perceive how God’s purposes are being accomplished in the world. Mark helps readers see that the persecutions they suffer must be suffered. Things may look bleak and all hope seem lost, but God is still fully in control and God’s purposes will triumph. They may not understand why they suffer, but they can take comfort in knowing that they follow the steps of their Lord.
So let me ask the question again…Are you ready for Jesus? Are you keeping your eyes on the mission?
One last quote, I forgot who wrote it, but they said:
Mark Contemporary Significance
The most important thing that Christians have been called to do is to preach the gospel to all the nations
We are called to share our faith in Jesus with everyone - by our words and our actions. Are you ready for Jesus?