As we continue
our push to the end of the Church year, we encounter an interesting piece of
literature in Mark. What makes the piece
so challenging, I think, for us modern readers is that we really do not read
and write in this genre anymore. The
style is called apocalypsis. It comes from the Greek word that means unveiling,
rather than final battle or destruction or whatever you might assume apocalypse
meant. Apocalyptic literature, in our
Judea-Christian heritage, often spoke of
how or taught how God was at work in the events of the world. As western people based in science, we tend
not to look for God at work in the world around us. Many of us are closer to the deism of Thomas
Jefferson than the Christianity of the Apostles and disciples. We like to think that God is out there, but
we want Him at a safe distance. If He
gets to close, He might figure out who we are.
It is, of course, natural that the Church
should focus on unveiling the actions of God in the world around us. Each time we gather, we remind ourselves that
Christ lived, suffered, died, and was raised again for us. What was the big sign in Mark’s Gospel that
we have access to God again through the Christ?
The tear of the Temple Veil, from top to bottom. Talk about an unveiling! To outward appearances, the son of a
carpenter dying in the Roman occupation of Israel is less than noteworthy. Heck, except for the resulting claims that
Jesus was raised from the dead, the famed historian Tacitus barely gives Jesus
of Nazareth a paragraph in his voluminous writings. It remained for the Church to give meaning to
what Jesus endured. It remained for the
Church to testify to the reality of the Empty Tomb. We enshrine that testimony, if you will
pardon the word use on my part, in our Eucharistic liturgy which we celebrate when
we gather.
We may take such unveiling for granted
since we do it often, but we sure struggle with it in other areas in
Scripture. And if we, the Church,
struggle with it, how much more will society around us! Imagine two thousand years hence how the
world would view our business practices of the late 20th and early
21st centuries if they unearthed books of the comic strip
Dilbert. If comic strips have gone away
by that time, they might well read the strips as a “how to” manual for how we
ran our businesses today, missing out on the sarcasm, irony, and goofy behavior
of the characters. On second thought,
given the way we run our businesses, Dilbert might not be example of potential
veiling over time. . . By the laughter, I’m guessing at least some of you get
what I am trying to say or work in a business that has a Dilbert spy employed!
In one of those moments that makes you wonder
if the Apostles and disciples ever listened, one of the disciples points out to
Jesus the magnificence of the temple.
I’m guessing this disciple was at a bathroom break during the teaching
on the widow’s mite. Jesus then makes
this incredible pronouncement. “Not one
stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.” It is a statement that His accusers will try
to use to have Him put to death. It is
also a statement that turns out to have been prophesy. Those of us who read history know that within
about three decades of His giving this statement, Jesus will be proven
correct. In an act of wanton destruction
and more animalistic fervor than conditioned soldier, the Roman soldiers will
pull the temple apart, once they are finished raping and killing. The scene was anything but glorious. As the Romans broke through each of the
walls, fierce fighting occurred.
Eventually, the defenders were driven into the temple. So crazed were the attackers that they pulled
the temple apart after winning. The
gruesome scene, however, caused Titus, the son of Emperor Vespasian, to refuse
the Senate’s offer of the garland of victory.
Titus reportedly tossed the garland to the crowd while stating there was
no glory in defeating a people whose god had clearly deserted them.
Think on that for just a second. The son of the Emperor refused the garland of
victory because the god of those conquered had clearly deserted them. Can you imagine? I know commentators want to make a big deal
about how the thought of God abandoning His people would have been unimaginable
to the Jews at the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry. But would it have been so unimaginable? Would not faithful people have in mind the
Exile? Was there not another example, or
more, of God’s seeming abandonment of His people because they served idols
rather than Him, because they listened to their own hearts rather than His torah, because they turned the rightful
worship of Him into a business that weighed heavily on the poor that He
loved? Would the idea of God allowing
the temple to be destroyed again really be that crazy? Sure, those who paid little attention to His torah, to His prophets, to His heart
might have found the idea as preposterous as rebuilding it in three days’ time. But what of the faithful?
As is so often the case in Mark, we are in
the midst of another chiasmus, or literary sandwich, that is making and
repeating a point or more. In this case,
I think, it is the more. On the one
hand, deceivers will appear, wars will occur, and our job is to watch, to see,
to perceive. And in the very middle of
this literary sandwich is this promise that His followers will be persecuted
for following and glorifying Him. Still,
He promises victory. Still, in the midst
of those persecutions, wars, false witnesses, still He wins. His return will be unmistakable. No one will be able to miss it, neither those
who claim Him Lord nor those who reject Him!
And our instruction in the midst of this chiasmus, this literary sandwich
of which Mark is so fond of using is the command, not a suggestion but a
command, that we watch ourselves.
Jesus is telling His disciples and us that
we will face persecution, we will face hatred and mockery precisely because we
cling to Him as Lord, especially in the midst of these cosmic or international
or local events. These events are simply
the beginning of the birth pangs, He says.
What He is unveiling is that these events signal the destruction and His
return. But Jesus does not give the
disciples nor us specific signs. Jesus
does not say that He will return when the temple is destroyed or rebuilt. He does not say that on December 31, 1999 He
will return. He does not say that He
will return when there is an eclipse, or a flood, or a fire, or an
earthquake. Those events, though, as
tragic and painful as they are, simply remind us that He is returning.
It is, I think, significant that Jesus
uses birth pangs to describe this process.
In the one sense, we are being reborn.
Unsurprising to you present, I have a bit of experience with the
birthing process. But there are a number
of you who have been present for your children’s births. There are a number present who have delivered
babies. Were any the same? Did they all last x hours and y minutes? Did the cervix widen at a predictable case
that suggests a linear motion over a set time?
Were the babies all the same size?
Were the pregnancies all identical to the day, hour, minute, and
second? Of course not! Births are as unique as the individuals they
produce! Each one has a story of pain
and suffering, or a needle in the back, and then incredible feelings of
love. Really, mothers, can you really
explain even to your husbands the why you were willing to suffer what you
did? Can you ever really put into words
the how you could put yourself through those nine months in a way that would
make us dads truly understand why you were driven to conceive and to birth?
And just as each our birthing processes
are unique, our rebirthing processes are unique, too! The sins that tempt me are different that the
sins that tempt you, or your neighbor, or the person beside you in the pew, or
even our children. For reasons known
only to Him, God uses the refiner’s fire to purify us. Oh, we can say we believe He is Lord, but
when does our rubber hit the road? When
is our mettle tested? During our
suffering. When we are powerless to stop
the suffering, He must step into the breach!
It is then, then, at our impotence that we see His power at work in the
world around us.
This last couple months have produced what
I call low hanging fruit sermon illustrations.
The suffering in Paris is simply too early and too raw for us to draw
much from it. If God is good, why did He
let those terrorists get away with so much destruction? Yet, even after only a couple days, we are beginning
to hear tales of how Christians and others responded to anarchy and
destruction. Some officers, doing their job
at the soccer stadium, discovered a bomb-vested man and ended up giving up
their lives to save the lives of those in a stadium. Some ran toward the shooting to tend or
comfort the wounded and dying. Already
the French press is interviewing people and discovering that some of these
people were driven by the faith in God.
In France. In post-Christian
France, there are still Christians willing to lay down their lives for complete
strangers. What, do you think, gave them
the confidence? What, do you think,
convinced them that this world, this body, this life was worth sacrificing for
someone else? Our Lord and His promise.
And while Paris will dominate our news
cycle until the next event, there have been others. What about the hue and cry over the red moon
super eclipse or whatever it was called?
How many “Christians” claimed to know that the eclipse was THE sign,
even though our Lord refused James, John, and Andrew privately. In seeking that special knowledge of Christ
and His plan, they became instruments of the Enemy who would love to lead us
all astray from God. Now that the world
has continued on, how as our Lord glorified in their bad prediction? How has their false testimony made our
testimony about Jesus seem more believable?
Have they not made it harder for all of us? Thankfully, and mercifully, we serve a God
for whom nothing is harder or impossible.
He can overcome any false testimony.
He can use what was meant for evil for His redeeming purposes.
What of the church shooting in
Charleston? I know that event was tragic
for those who lost loved ones. I mourn
for them whenever I see them cry in interviews.
But in those interviews I have watched, I have also seen that steeled
face of our Lord. Just as He steeled
Himself to Jerusalem, they seem to be steeling themselves to forgiveness. They struggle with the wantonness of the
crime, but they recognize that our Lord promised them that such was the lot of
those who follow Him. And so many, after
mourning, remind themselves, the interviewer, and those listening that their
loved ones are alive even today! As much
as they miss them, they are so happy to have known them and to know that now
they reside in the shade of our Lord with all the martyrs, and that their
voices have joined the cry, “How long?”!
Lastly, pick your favorite natural or
manmade disaster over the last year or two.
Have there been floods?
Tornadoes? Earthquakes? Droughts?
Wars? All are happening around us
all the time. What are they? Jesus instructs us that they are simply the
beginnings of the birth pangs. They are
simply reminders to you, to me, to all His faithful followers that His return
might be as imminent as a baby’s birth when the mother is in labor. That the birth pangs have lasted 2000 years
may not be as surprising when we consider it on that scale. Nor should it surprise us or catch us
unawares if the next pang turns out to be the last contraction that precedes
His appearing! That possibility ought to
inspire each of us with a sense of urgency.
Just as each of us during the push phase would expect the doctors and
nurses and midwives and doulas to be present, we should be present to the
possibility that His return may happen any moment.
Jesus was careful not to give specific
dates and specific signs to presage the date of His return. First, Elijah needed to come. He did.
Jesus needed to suffer, die, and be raised. He did and was. The temple needed to be destroyed. It was.
The disciples needed to suffer because of their loyalty to Him? They did and do. And the Gospel needed to be preached to the
ends of the earth. It is. All His requirements have been met. All the pre-conditions for His return have
been fulfilled. His return, like that of
a birthing mother who is dilated to 10cm, can happen at any time. In the meanwhile, it is our job to reach out
to others in His name and to guard ourselves that we do not fall away because
we have forgotten His words. Rather, it
is our job to remind ourselves and others that the events have occurred just as
He said they would, and that they point to the glorious day of His return. Events like Paris or whatever comes next do
not testify against God. Thanks to His
unveiling, they remind us that we and the world around us are in the midst of
those beginning birthing pangs that one day, maybe today, maybe tomorrow, maybe
two thousand years from now, will lead to our rebirth in His eternal and
glorious presence!
Peace,
Brian†
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