Waiting for the End?

A sermon by
The Rev. Janice Ford
November 15, 2015
Mark 13:1-8
Why is the worldAmerica, in particularso fascinated with the
end of time? Think about it. There have been numerous movies
made depicting the apocalypse. Books, articles and discussions
about the Book of Revelation abound because some think it
predicts how the end will happen. When the calendar changed to
the year 2000, there were many who believed the world would
end. Others said the end would come with the prediction in the
Mayan calendar. I find it interesting that, in a society so
preoccupied with trying to squeeze out every minute of every day,
people spend an inordinate amount of time imagining how it will
end. Is it curiosity? Is it just that because humans cannot control
when the end of the world will come, that we feel compelled to try
and guess? It leads me to wonder whether people fear it or
welcome it. We can make a good case for either, I think.
At a certain point in his ministry, Jesus popularity may have been
close to that of a modern day rock star. The poor and
marginalized were especially excited by the power and authority
with which he interpreted the Hebrew text, and they felt protected
when he took on the politics of the heavy handed rulers from
Rome. His healing miracles were legendary, and his verbal
sparring with the Jewish leaders filled his followers with hope and
faith. So, when his disciples stood before the temple in
Jerusalem, they likely felt that their Messiahs time had come.
Jesus would be as strong as the temple stones. He would never
be defeated. The people of Israel would be delivered from their
enemies.

Sadly, that would not be the case. Jesus knew it, and he tried
many times to explain his future to his disciples. They did not
want to hear it. He predicts the destruction of the Temple which
was also a foretelling of his own death. The disciples still neither
want to understand or simple cannot. Instead, they focus on the
physical destruction of the Temple. They want detailswhen and
how will it happen? Jesus tries to refocus them once again. He
warns them that others will come and claim to be the Messiah
pretending to have all the answers to their questions. Many will
be led astray. He tells them that truly bad things will happen
wars, earthquakes, faminesbut that these things are just the
beginning of the birth pangs.
What an odd thing for Jesus to say! Birth pangs? Shouldnt he
have said, The beginning of the end? That would make more
sense, right? Well, that would be right if Jesus truly was talking
about the end, but he is not. Jesus is talking about death leading
to new lifeeternal life with him. As we all know, human birth
does not happen without the pain of labor. The mother labors,
and the babys life in the womb ends, even as his or her life
outside it begins. Later, as the child grows into old age, his or her
life in this world endsoften accompanied by pain and suffering-even as his or her life in eternity begins.
Jesus is not concerned with when and how this world will end,
and my sense is that he does not want us to be concerned with it
either. There is no way to predict it. Even Jesus himself said he
did not know when the time would be. What he does want us to
be concerned with is being ready. Not only are we clueless as to
when the world will end, we are also clueless as to our own
lifespan. Even someone who suffers from an incurable illness,
and whose death appears immanent does not know exactly when
the moment will be. Doctors may predict, but no one really
knows. We need to be ready to move from this life into the next.
The new life will happen no matter what. It is inevitable.
2

How do we embrace and prepare for this inevitable change, this

movement from one life to the next? We know from our own lived
experience that time does not stand still for anyone. Times
change whether we want them to or not. To hang on to the past,
or even the present, robs us of the opportunities that may be
waiting for us in the future. I agree that not all change is good,
but the truth is that the negative part of change lies not with the
change itself, but rather with the manner in which the change is
effected by very broken human beings. The daily changes in
technology, for example, are good for many things in many ways,
but there are broken people who use that technology for evil
intents.
The same is true for the changes we experience in our own lives.
We cannot stop the aging process. We cannot avoid our
mortality. But we can use the time we have in our mortal bodies
to stay in right relationship with God and others. That is how we
prepare for the change to new life that we know will come. Each
one of us knows full well how to stay in right relationship with God
and others. As competent adults, we know the difference
between right and wrong. We understand the vows we made and
affirmed in our Baptismal covenant. Will we always get it right?
Of course not. We know it, and God knows it. So we make
amends and try once again to live out this amazing gift of life in
the best way possible.
My friends, lets not worry about when or how the world will end,
or when or how our own lives will end. Neither let us live with a
false sense of security believing that we have an unlimited
amount of time until the birth pangs begin. Instead, let us focus
on living our lives so that we can birth ourselves into new life with
God whenever our last day comes. Amen.