It's The End of The World As We Know It

Sermon as Preached at Lambs and Evington UMC 11/18/12

 

Scripture- Mark 13:1-8

 

It's the end of the world as we know it. It's the end of the world as we know it.It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine. I remember this song by R.E.M fondly because of New Year’s Eve Celebration when I was still in school. This was no ordinary New Years Eve however, this was December 31, 1999, The night we moved into the new Millennium. We all remember that New Years Eve, because the whole year prior to it the world had been hearing about Y2K. There was a scare that computers had not been programed to be able to switch into the New Millennium, and so when the clock struck midnight, they would revert back to 1900 and all chaos would ensue. There were rumors that all bank data would be lost causing wall street to crumble. Rumors flew around that transportation systems would be knocked offline and trains and airplanes would all crash. There was even rumors that we would lose control of our nuclear weapons and that they would randomly fire when the clock struck midnight. In essence, the new millennium would cause the destruction of the world. And so I sat with friends at a New Years celebration waiting and anticipating, and I remember as the ball was about to drop, that song, “It’s the end of the world as we know it was playing.” Tempting fate.  But the song ended, the ball dropped in New York City, and nothing happened.

            Predictions of the end of the world are nothing new. This year in particular we are hearing over and over again new predictions of the world ending.  Well actually the aren’t new at all, they come from predictions from the Mayans, because December 21, 2012 is when the Mayan calendar will end. While many of us laugh at this prediction, seeing it as a fun cultural reference to talk about, many people are also taking this very seriously. The see wars in other countries or the threat of nuclear weapons in Iran and say that it points towards this prediction being true. Others who are displeased with the results of the elections claim that it shows that the end of the world must be coming. Most troubling however, is that many Christians are using their beliefs to support a Mayan prediction.

            This is nothing new either. Even last year, Christianity and numerology in the Bible was used to predict that Christ was coming back on May 21. I remember this clearly as well, because it was the day that I was flying from America to South Africa. The joke was that we’d be stuck in the air because there was going to be nowhere to land. Sadly though, many people took this extremely seriously. People quit their jobs to spend more time with their families. People sold all they had, some even took advantage of the hysteria and collected money on “fire insurance.” May 21 passed, and once again nothing happened. These people who had thrown away their lives because they were so sure the time had come, were now left with nothing, nothing except humiliation.

            In our scripture for today, Jesus does talk about the end of times, but listen to what he has to say. He tells the disciples. “Beware that no one leads you astray. 13:6 Many will come in my name and say, 'I am he!' and they will lead many astray.13:7 When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come.13:8 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birthpangs.”  This is but the beginning of the birthpangs.

            In our passage Jesus is warning us, warning us against many of the things I have just talked about. He tells us that there will be wars and rumors of wars, but that does not mean that the end is necessarily near. He tells us that nations will rise against other nations, kingdoms against kingdoms, but that the end is still to come. He even tells us that there will be earthquakes and famines and we can imagine other natural disasters around the world, and yet these are but the beginning of the birthpangs. Maybe most importantly, Jesus tells his disciples to beware of false prophets, those who claim to be Jesus, those who claim that they know the end is coming. In this passage Jesus is telling us, do not get caught up in every prediction of the end of times.

Let’s be clear though, Jesus doesn’t tell us that there won’t be a time in which he returns, in fact it is quite the contrary. After all that is something that is crucial to our Christian belief, we even celebrate it during communion when we say, “By your spirit make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world until Christ comes in final victory, and we feast at his heavenly banquet.” As Christians we have a vision of that day of when Christ will fully reign over the Earth. Revelation tells us that Christ will make all things new, and that in the end people from every tribe, nation, tongue and so forth will gather around the throne in praise and celebration of our Lord Jesus Christ. As Christians it is important to hold on to this vision, but at the same time Jesus warns us about listening to the false prophets, he warns us about getting swept up in all of the end of the world talk. Even in this passage let’s look at what Jesus actually says.

After leaving the temple, the disciples say to Jesus, “Look Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings.” To which Jesus replies, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another, all will be thrown down.” It is to this statement that the disciples ask him, “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished.” And it is to this question by the disciples that Jesus begins his discussion about not listening to the false prophets and that all of it is only the birthpangs. So what does this teach us. It teaches us that first and foremost, this discussion is far less about the destruction of the world and much more about the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. That’s what sparked the conversation after all, the disciples were amazed by the size of the Temple, and Jesus tells them that one day it will be destroyed. We must remember that in those times the Temple was the center of both commerce and religion. The temple was revered, cherished, I would dare to say even idolized, because it was viewed as the place where God resided. When the first Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians the Israelites went into great despair, as we hear in Ezekiel God tells the Israelites, : “I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land. ²² I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. There will be one king over all of them and they will never again be two nations or be divided into two kingdoms. ²³ They will no longer defile themselves with their idols and vile images or with any of their offenses, for I will save them from all their sinful backsliding,^[b] and I will cleanse them. They will be my people, and I will be their God.”

            God fulfilled his promise to the Israelites, Jerusalem was restored, and a new Temple was built. But now we have Jesus, looking at this newly created Temple, this symbol of God’s presence and promise to the Israelites, and he is prophesying that this soon will be destroyed. Why? It is because here Jesus is showing us the beauty of our vision of the end of times, and that is a vision of hope, and vision of unity, and a vision of love. What Jesus is saying is that this Temple, this holy monument that symbolizes God presence with the Israelites will be fall, because there is a new king. God’s presence is no longer only with the Israelites, God does not reside in Jerusalem, The Lord is Lord of all, Jesus Christ is King and now Jews and Gentiles, men and women, slave and free are all part of this new kingdom, the Kingdom of God.  God fulfilled his promise to unite Israel under one king, and now Jesus is taking it one step further, now the whole world will be united under one king, and the King is Jesus Christ.

            So Jesus tells his disciples when you hear rumors about war and battles between nations, and when it comes to pass that the Temple is destroyed, don’t listen to those who claim that this is the end of the world, but know this is only the start. The destruction of the Temple was a sign a new kingdom has been established through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, but Christ reminds us that it was only the beginning. That we now have a hope of a time where all people around the world are united by Christ, that we now live in a kingdom that has already been established but has not yet come into fruition.

            And so we hear this message of Christ, a vision of the kingdom of God, a kingdom where all are united in love, where Christ and king, and we compare them to all of the talk of the end of times that we are used to hearing and it sounds drastically different. We are so used to hearing about doom and gloom, about the destruction of the world, but if we read the Bible the world is not going to be destroyed, in fact quite the opposite, the world is going to be made new! All things will be one day restored to the way God originally intended before we perverted with sin. Our vision is that we and all the Earth will be perfected through Christ. So beware of those who come in the name of Christ claiming the end of the world, for we believe in something far more spectacular than that, we believe in a world made new by Christ.

            Next week we will see what it means for us as Christians to live in the midst of a kingdom that has already been established, but has not yet arrived, but as we conclude for today, let me give a little advice on how to interpret what I have said today, I know that what I have said has gone against what many have learned since they were children, I have possibly even angered some of you, and for others it is simply a lot of information to process, so let me with just one word of advice. In the midst of the Nazi attacks on Britain in World War II, in the middle of the fear of invasion, the seeming doom that would come to the nation, an ad was placed all around the nation with the simple phrase, “Keep Calm, And Carry On.”  If there is one take away from this message today it is to keep calm and carry on. That doesn’t mean live however you want, but it means continue to live your Christian life; praying, worshiping, loving each other, and serving the community and the world. Christ doesn’t tell us when he will return, but through the gospels he tell us how we should live now. So in the midst of all of the speculations of war, and economic destruction, when so many once again claim that the world is ending,  keep calm and carry on. Carry on living the life that Christ has called you to live.