By Deacon Rev. Virginia Jenkins-Whatley
Sermon: Mark 13: 1-8
We can turn on our television sets or radios
in our cars on any given day and there will
be an event that was just described
happening somewhere in our world today.
We hear about these things so much we are
almost immune to them until they happen
close to home.
Our Scripture lesson for today is guaranteed to
raise the pulse a bit. In it Jesus begins to tell the
disciples of signs of the end of the age. The
entire chapter has been called Mark’s mini-
apocalypse. It’s reminiscent of the style and
theme of the Book of Revelation which is the
classic Christian example of apocalyptic writing.
Apocalyptic literature was a special kind of
writing that was very popular at the time of
Jesus. It dealt with looking at the end of the
world using very clever and meaningful symbols.
Imagery—often powerful and wild imagery, was
used to paint word pictures.
In our lesson, Jesus responded to a comment on
how magnificent the Temple was. He looked past
the building to a time when it would be
destroyed. Indeed the Temple was to be
destroyed within a generation of Jesus speaking
these words. Jesus then took the disciples on a
verbal journey to the end times. All of the chapter
focuses on symbols and events that will show
that the end time is about to happen. But the
reason Jesus told the disciples these things
wasn’t so they could pinpoint a date. It wasn’t to
give them a heads up so they could get their
affairs in order. It wasn’t to let them gloat when
things happened and they could say “I told you
so.”
Actually, with the exception of the destruction of
the Temple, none of the disciples saw the things
Jesus said would usher in the end of the world.
We haven’t seen them yet, 2000 years later. The
point Jesus was making was to watch out—be
prepared— persevere in the midst of the
struggles to come. Soon, there were going to be
times when Christians truly believed that the end
was near. Within a decade or two, nearly all the
12 disciples would be dead- –mostly as martyrs.
Within a generation, persecution would seek to
destroy the Church, even as the Temple was
destroyed. The end of the world didn’t come but
threats to bring about the end of faith and the end
of the Church were certainly on the horizon. The
key was to be alert—be prepared and persevere.
Believers would have to dig deep to continue to
be enthusiastic and energetic about a faith that
could cost them their lives. Things wouldn’t be
easy for anyone who followed Jesus. Their own
end could come at any time. In effect Jesus was
telling the disciples that they would have to live
on the edge. Danger would lend an edginess to
their lives. Their faith would have to persevere in
the times when it would be a lot easier to give up
and give in to the pressures that opposed God.
After the resurrection and after the Church was
up and running, many in the first generation
Church did actually believe that Christ would
return before they died. They lived in expectation.
They lived with energy and enthusiasm because
they fully anticipated they would live to see the
Second Coming. I doubt that their adrenaline and
heart rate stayed locked in a high-octane mode.
But they lived on the edge. They lived with an
edge. They lived with an attitude that remained
focused on the Lord, day in and day out.
Remember, late in 1999, when some people
thought that the New Year would bring about the
end of the world? The year 2000 was anticipated
with a curious mix of excitement and foreboding.
Of course, as our calendars flipped over from
1999 to 2000, nothing special happened. Even the
computers seemed to take it all in stride. I
remember reading, though, that Church
attendance spiked in the last few months of
- People wanted to make sure their
connections were in place, just in case. There
certainly was an energy– -an edge to living in the
last few days of 1999. But nothing happened.
Things quickly returned to normal.
911 real thoughts to the end of the world were
real. The terrorist attacks of 911 occurred almost
in our back yards. I was driving to work on 911
and saw all the planes hovering in the sky over
Newark airport on the turnpike and thought
something was happening at the airport. I turned
up my Cd and kept rocking out all the way to
work not realizing life changing events were
happening. The giant walls of the world trade
center were crumbling. Destruction and death of
innocent souls was occurring and all we could do
was watch the morning news cast in horror until
we lost all communication.
Did we receive forewarning to prepare ourselves?
Did the powers that be have information and
didn’t respond responsively?
All we could think about at that time was if the
end was near. Where will the enemy strike next?
Where do we go what do we do? We all became
panic stricken. We lost our sense of comfort and
were literally on the edge . Thousands of people
in the streets of NYC running in the dust and
debris for their lives, heart pounding, pulses
racing, adrenaline rushing.
Since 911 the world has experienced
devastating fires, floods, earthquakes,
tornadoes etc which can be perceived as signs
of the end of time. Sidewalk evangelist will
stop you on the street with their predictions of
the end.
I wonder if living on the edge might not be an
important lesson for us, as Christians? The edge
I’m talking about is what the first generation
Christians had. The edge that came from
listening to Jesus’ words to watch out—be alert—
be sure to persevere in faith.
Our hope is in Christ’s return, which will be the
main event of the end times. We must be
careful not to be deceived by world events.
Instead we must look forward to the greatest
event in history-Christ’s return for his church
AMEN