Monday, November 19, 2018

Twenty-Sixth Sunday After Pentecost (B) 2018

+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.

Text: Mark 13:7
Theme: Do Not Be Alarmed

Dear friends in Christ Jesus,

“Do not be alarmed.”1 These are the strong and comforting words of our Lord. And why does He speak them? Because He knows the propensity of the human heart to be flooded with anxiety in the face of even the smallest threat. The matters He is discussing with His disciples today are by no means trivial. He says, “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.”2 The end WILL come. It’s a matter of when, not if. The Lord will bring all history to conclusion.

Speculation about when (and sometimes, how) the end will come has raged since the beginning of time. Many modern cult and sect leaders have used predictions of a coming apocalypse to gather and galvanise followers. Other doomsayers have pointed to nuclear holocaust or environmental catastrophe as a certain cause for the end of civilisation and even all life on the planet. As believers, we need not worry about religious zealots, alien invasions, or other conspiracy theories about the end of the world. God doesn’t leave unattended business. The same God who put the original creation in order will transform His creation for eternity.

We’re now entering that time of the Christian calendar in which we are more deliberate about focusing on the Second Coming of our Lord. The end of the Church Year and the Season of Advent strike similar themes. The Mighty One declares, "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."3 Everything is moving towards a conclusion. Existence on this earth is not open-ended and indeterminate. A date has been set by the Father when the children of God will be rescued from all dangers and perils forever.

Jesus warns us about unrest, violence, and mass events that take the lives of or injure many people. Such things are happening in our world all the time. They always have been. But we now have more instant and vivid coverage through improved technology. People generally have a much greater appetite for bad news than for good news. Good news doesn’t sell. It’s a result of one of the darker qualities of sinful human nature. The news is typically a litany of the crimes, deception, and violence perpetrated each day. Where would we be without coverage of the weather and sports? What would be left?
But we can’t lay all the blame on the media for the content they cover. Media is a business. They need customers, consumers. Their coverage, in some measure, reflects the market, the interests of the population. Of course, efforts are made also, to create consumer attitudes and control them. Modern media does make it easier to stoke the fear of the masses. Our sinful nature causes us to think of what benefits us first and to fear any challenge to the attainment of the same. All we, like sheep, have gone astray. Acknowledgement that the world will end one day, and certainly that we must all come to terms with our own mortality is a call to repentance. In the end, sinners cannot have it their way.

The world will always exist in a measure of anxiety and turmoil. Conflicts in this life will never completely cease. Yet, what does Jesus say? Do not fear. Do not be alarmed. These things will happen. These are just the beginning of the birth pains. When things are bad, we should be mindful they could still get a lot worse. Knowing this drives us more intensely to rely on the mercy of God in Christ. All of our crutches must be knocked out from under us. Our idols of self-generated security; money, possessions, career, accomplishments, reputation- all must be collapsed under the irrefutable truth that nothing that we have or are can save us from the judgment of sin. Christ alone can do that. There is nothing we can contribute that could make His sacrifice more valid or more effective. He died a repugnant death on the cross for our sins. He rose victoriously from the grave to secure life.

Each of us is a work in progress, but the end goal is not in doubt. The Holy Spirit doesn’t leave unattended what He begins. As the Scripture says, “I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”4 You are His baptized. He feeds you with His own flesh and blood because you are His own flesh and blood. He will not forsake you. Daniel reminds us that the righteous and the wicked will be separated at the final judgment and in eternity. “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.”5 We confess this truth in one of the creeds every Lord’s Day.

Jesus finishes everything He starts. He is not incapable of fulfilling His promises. He is not unwilling to make good on His word. Yes, even those most vexing, haunting, intractable traumas that you have given up all hope of ever having resolved. Those guilt-ridden memories we’d like to erase forever from our minds - these too will be sifted through the transforming sieve of Christ’s redeeming love. He doesn’t condone, or excuse, or reinterpret the sin. He parts the sin from the sinner and cleanses the believer’s soul. Your past will not, it cannot be held against you because the Son of God has received the punishment for your transgressions. There is nothing so evil, so sinister in your past that the Saviour would turn His face away from you.

The world will have upheaval. In the midst of it… we have peace. Jesus is our Prince of Peace. The world will have doubt. In the midst of it… we have hope. “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”6 The world will remain in bondage to selfishness and sin. In the midst of it… we have freedom. “For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.”7 The world will never be free of falsehood. Nevertheless…we have truth. Jesus said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”8 The world will always struggle with hatred. Nevertheless…we have Christ’s unconditional love. God is love.

The end will come, either when human history reaches its divinely appointed termination or when we meet our own personal mortality. But do not fear. Christ will not leave us hanging. We can say with the Psalmist, “The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever.”9

+ In nomine Jesu +

Twenty-Sixth Sunday After Pentecost
18 November 2018
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt

1 Mark 13:7 2 Mark 13:7-8
3 Revelation 1:8 4 Philippians 1:6
5 Daniel 2:12 6 Romans 15:4
7 Romans 8:2 8 John 14:6
9 Psalm 138:8