Looking Forward to the Light

Have you ever looked forward to something just to have it disappoint?

I remember there was one year I was watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving day parade as a kid

And we all know if you are a kid the whole parade is fun, but there is one person at the end of the parade who you are really excited to see right?

You are excited to see Santa right?

And I understand that Santa is busy this time of year and sometimes he has to send his helpers to the mall or other events

But I thought for sure that Santa would have been at the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade

But heres the thing, because it got to the end of the parade and Santa is on the TV and he looks jolly, but the issue is it zoomed in on his face and you could see that the beard was face.

And I remember thinking I waited the whole parade to see Santa, but then he was only one of his helpers

And I am sure Santa had something come up

But I remember being disappointed.

But you know we are going to be in a passage of scripture today that takes place in a culture that is similar to ours,

where there were things they looked forward to or placed their hope in that did not deliver.

They placed there hope in having power

but what they found is it did not deliver

They placed their hope in the government,

but it did not deliver

Some placed their hope in false gods,

but they did not deliver

And we get this picture of this context of all these false hopes, but in the middle of this there is a true hope that emerges.

And so we are in Mark 13:24-37

And to be honest at first glance this passage seems a little dark and a little bit of an odd passage for the first week of advent as we approach Christmas.

In fact it actually takes place towrds the end of Jesus’s ministry which is weird

And some of you might be thinking “Pastor this is not the “holly jolly passage” we wanted after Thanksgiving”

But this is one of the passages of scripture that has been used traditionally for hundreds of years.

And so we are going to be diving into this passage today and what we are going to find is that the reason this scripture is used is because it points to the ultimate hope we have.

And so if you have your Bible you can turn to Mark 13:24-37 or you are welcome to follow along on the screen, but we will be starting in just the first few verses. It says this:

Mark 13:24–27 NIV

24 “But in those days, following that distress, “ ‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; 25 the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’ 26 “At that time people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 27 And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.

So I told you its a little bit of a weird passage, to start out advent with, but if you are familiar with advent in the church it is a season where we look forward to the light of the world which has down to us as a baby.

And something really interesting is that scholars have labeled this passage the 2nd advent, because you will notice its not talking about Jesus coming as a baby, but it is talking about Jesus returning and coming again.

but there is still this weird factor of things being dark

And there are a ton of different interpretations of this passage that we could talk about, but I think it would be easy to loose sight of on of the main themes which is: there may be darkness and things that seem chaotic, but in verse 26 it says that the the of the world, the son of man is coming.

And this is the beautiful part of this passage because in advent we are looking forward to Christ coming as a baby,

Which has happened and because of this we have a taste of the kingdom of heaven

But we are also looking forward to Christ coming back again where there is no more pain, where sin is gone and ultimately where the kingdom of God comes in full.

And this give us hope!

I mean it is almost like if you are into football and you record a game.

You get into it right?

I mean there are scary parts, there are parts where you might feel defeated, there are highs, there are lows

But say someone leaked the final score of the game

Well you are still watching TV and seeing the score of the game, and there are times you might get frustrated

But ultimately you know how the game is going to end.

And life isn’t a game (unless your talking about the board game),

but similarly in this passage Jesus is saying look I already know how the story ends

And because of this there might be hard times in your life.

There may be really difficult period or challenge that happens, but we have this hope where first off Christ is with us now and we can experience that hope now

But also we have this hope that Christ is coming and we know that He will make all things right.

Well lets move to the next part of the passage because Jesus starts by telling how this hope is coming,

But He switches to a Parable in the next part which is Mark 13:28-31 it says this:

Mark 13:28–31 (NIV)

28 “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 29 Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door. 30 Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

So Jesus says its almost like a fig tree heading out of winter and spring and heading into summer

And really Jesus is saying there is a life that is coming

You know I hate winter (I like a few small snow falls, but ultimately winter is terrible)

Because its cold, its grey outside, trees have no leaves, the grass is dead, pretty much everything is dead and its sad

But as it gets to spring we have a few 50 degree days and soon things start to grow and life starts to come back.

And this part of the passage is saying look there is this life that is coming into the world.

and we need to recognize it so we understand that there is hope.

And look at this last part of where we are this morning. It is Mark 13:32-37 and it says:

Mark 13:32–37 (NIV)

The Day and Hour Unknown

32 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. 34 It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with their assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch.

35 “Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. 36 If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. 37 What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’ ”

And so flowing out of this Jesus comes and says get ready. Be on guard!

And he tells them its like a master going away and the people who work in the household so not know when he is coming back.

A modern version of this would be for the teens if your parents went away on a vaction for a week or two

And you knew they would be home, but did not know the exact time.

And so they left you with a list of things to do around the house

but instead of you working on the list they come home to discover you are throwing a massive party!

I am assuming that would not go to well right?

But in a similar way God has said there is a day I am coming back.

And this passage shows us that there is some sort of preparation that needs to take place on our end.

And really this starts with an inward preparation.

I mean we need to start with us asking ourselves where are we in our walk with God

Are we in a relationship with Him?

Or have we surrendered everything to Him in our lives?

Because if we have done this then it will flow outwardly where we live out our walk with God daily.

Its kind of like if you throw a rock in a body of water.

I mean you have this big splash from the water where the rock is, but then there are ripples that flow outwardly.

But in the same way we have this light that when we accept Christ it starts in us, but it shines outwardly

Which means the world should be able to see the light of Christ in us, right?

Because do we believe that the light of Christ shines brighter or do we believe darkness overcomes His light?

I really hope our answer is that Christ light overcomes!

And if you agree with that statement then that means the world should be actively seeing His light through you and seeing it in our church!

If Christ light is in us then we should be involved in compassionate minitries

If Christ light is in us then we should activly be speaking against injustice

If Christ light is in us then we should be telling and showing as many people as possible that light.

I mean if you honestly looked at yourself this morning would you say that the life you are living iis shining the light of Christ.

And I want to end on the last couple words of this passage. Because I love the ESV translation of it because Jesus tells them:

“Stay awake”

Say that with me: “Stay awake”

You know I love how Jesus ends this, because He says “stay awake” in the sense of we cannot loose sight of our relationship with God

But also stay awake that we do not mix our faith or get our faith mixed up with all these things in our culture that will leave us disappointed or distort the light of Christ in us.

Because like I mentioned in the beginning our politics can’t save us

Our job cannot save us

but nothing can save us other than the light of Christ.

What would it look like for us to stay awake focusing on the hope that is coming?

Because it is the only hope that can save.

Will you pray with me?