November 28, 1999
"HOW TO GET READY FOR THE END OF TIME"
Mark 13:24-37
The text: "But in those days, after that suffering, the
sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light,
and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in
the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see 'the Son of
Man coming in clouds' with great power and glory. Then he
will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four
winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven…"
From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch
becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that
summer is near. So also, when you see these things taking
place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly I
tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these
things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away,
but my words will not pass away. "But about that day or
hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the
Son, but only the Father. Beware, keep alert, for you do
not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on
a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in
charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to
be on the watch. Therefore, keep awake---for you do not
know when the master of the house will come, in the evening,
or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may
find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to
you I say to all: Keep awake."
This sermon was delivered by the Reverend Gene R. Preston
on Sunday, November 28 - the first Advent Sunday of the last
Advent season of our millennium - at Community Church Hong
Kong. The speaker is attempting to examine useful and
healthy attitudes for Advent, the season of waiting for
Jesus, and in the broader context of the end of our
millennium and the dawning of what too many fear and dread.
A great many flowering and fruiting seasons have passed
in "figland" since Jesus saw that fig tree on the outskirts
of Jerusalem and used it as a metaphor for the imminence of
the end of time. "FROM THE FIG TREE LEARN ITS LESSONS: AS
SOON AS ITS BRANCH BECOMES TENDER AND PUTS FORTH ITS LEAVES,
YOU KNOW THE END IS NEAR"
The fig tree was a symbol of all the other signs and
wonders which Jesus projected as evidence that God would
consummate his judgement and his purpose in history: The
destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, natural disasters,
the defeat and collapse of the devil and evil.
This string of prophetic warnings about the end of time
make up what is known as the "Little Apocalypse" in Mark l4.
Because nearly 2,000 years have come and gone and this
dramatic closure of history has not occurred. Christians,
at least sophisticated and Western-acculturated ones, have
grown indifferent to the sobriety of Jesus' prophecies.
It seems to be the case that the imminence of the end of
our millennium, an event to which most persons who have
lived before us never had the occasion to experience, is
rekindling apocalyptic, end-of-time fervor among some
Christians.
I read of some Christian groups, and others, who have
stocked up their cases of food and bottled water and secured
their bunkers for what they believe, whether fearing or
hoping is not clear, will be the end of civilisation,
history and the human race as we move into the next
millennium.
Like most of you I suspect that we will slip into the
next millennium. If there's any staggering, it will not be
from earthquakes, but from too much millennial partying.
And yet dare we pass over glibly the several scriptural
texts which show Jesus had a heightened sense of our human
destiny coming to conclusion under God's judgement and
within his purpose?
The Advent season begins with these rock-em and sock-em
texts instead of the baby in the manger images which are
reserved for Christmas. Why? I believe it is to reawaken our
eyes and wills to the transcendent power of God, which just
because it is not evident upon our time table, is
nonetheless real and which requires our sober reverence.
During the long wait of human history most members of our
race in modern times have turned their attention away from
the skies, and away from their own spirits, in pursuit of
other goals: The pursuit of wealth and things and power and
the hedonistic enjoyment of every day. Even the church
universal has grown passive about Jesus' coming and engaged
in divisive quarrels over questions of leadership and
worship styles and the "correct" interpretation of
scriptures and many other quite secondary issues which, if
the Church really believes Jesus was returning, would be
seen, for what they are, just playing games are rearranging
ecclesiastic chairs.
I think we need this Little Apocalypse word from Mark.
The world will not always be business as usual, for God has
promised to intervene to complete the work of redemption
begun in Jesus Christ's earthly life, death and
Resurrection.
The sun will grow dark and the moon will fail to shed its
light. The stars will be shaken from the heavens. In terms
of natural physics, we know these very phenomena are likely
to happen. But we project the collapse of the universe
billions of years ahead so much so as to dim any sense of
closure.
The apocalyptic vision reminds us that the Lord who flung
the heavens into being will tumble them down; but the
catalyst for this implosion will not be the natural collapse
of all matter but the complete revelation of the Son of God.
Christians are not just waiting around for something
interesting, or awful, to happen. We are expecting Jesus'
return and we are working for His Kingdom in the meanwhile.
Like a farmer who plants and tills and waters and runs the
farm while also waiting patiently for the crops to grow, we
actively work for God's new world while we await Jesus'
promised return.
Let me suggest three simple stances for appropriate
waiting for Jesus:
First, LOOK UP! Let us renew and reaffirm our faith that
God is in control of the universe. We must look out to see
what God is doing, whether old or new things. We just can't
sit around doing nothing. And if God is in control and if
we are his highest creation for stewardship over the earth
and the skies, we must undertake the work of saving the
environment. Judgement is the spark for enhancement, not
the allowance for indifference. Look up and see all that
needs doing in Hong Kong and across the globe to give honor
and glory to the King of Kings when he returns to claim in
the fullness of God's time his kingdom. We just can't wait
around.
LOOK OUT! On the horizon of the millennium are new
phenomena with which our faithful expectation must come to
terms. There, stretching before us, is cyberspace: The
Church will be in new ways an electronic church and must
join the processes of rapid communication and intensive
relearning of our truths.
The millennium also projects the era of moral relativism.
Christians generally resist moral relativism because we
think it must leave to moral degradation. But what if moral
relativism, combined with cyberspace communication, could
raise moral consciousness and expand human tolerance? The
millennium now ending was until recently an era of moral
absolutism which seemed to have produced intolerance, group
hatred, and theological wars. Perhaps through sharing
cyberspace and information we truly will come to see the
race as resident on the same earth with all subject to the
same standards of decency and respect and mutual care.
We must look out in order to construct new strategies and
pursue relevant actions to realise human hope and dampen
despair. We can't just wait around.
LOOK IN! Outward anxiety and general agitation are not
the only Christian responses to the coming age; at the time
of the last millennium the Christian monastic order grew
strong. This was an invitation for Christians, not so much
to withdraw from the world which was dark and threatening,
as to regroup in shared fellowships with a renewed emphasis
upon meditation, prayer, worship and generally sharing the
inner life and the outer life.
I believe Jesus would want us to cultivate inner peace as
the appropriate way to wait for His Coming. And in doing
that we discover we are not entirely bereft of Jesus now.
We are simply waiting for a fuller or more radical
revelation of a Jesus who is always with us and especially
when we seek his presence in our inner hearts and share his
presence with others.
There is much work to be done. Is that not why Jesus' own
sense of destiny is filled with calls to remain awake, keep
alert, work hard. Jesus knew how much remained to be done.
Anywhere we look we see fields ripe for tending. Nations
are groping toward reconciliation and need help; bombs and
bullets target innocent victims with regularity; they need
banning and stilling; Children are shooting their
classmates; our schools need reordering and our children
need loving and caring for. Homes are broken by deceit and
lives are shattered by selfishness. They need truth.
Prejudice blinds us to the goodness and gifts within others;
we need liberty in the Holy Spirit. A continent on our
doorstep struggles toward greater opportunity and economic
equality and yearns for greater light.
Those who wait for the Lord will receive power to act in
His name. As we enter another Advent season in these weeks
before Christmas - and before the dawn of a new millennium -
we announce not only that Christ has come into our world of
darkness but that he will come again. And so we wait,
looking up, looking out, looking in, and acting.
We don't know how or when or even if God will break into
human history in some dramatic and cataclysmic way. Jesus
said we are to be spared those details; he said even he
himself did not know. The Son of God is not all knowing; he
is all saving. He announced God the Father is in our lives
and interested in every moment we live and in the moment of
our death, too. And because we know God still reigns, we
can wait with hope even while we work to tend the vision of
the kingdom that will one day come fully to reality.
Pastor
Gene Preston
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