Pentecost XXV Sunday, November 18, 2007
By pastor John Jorgenson
Text: Luke 21:5-19
“When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, He said, ‘As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.’
“They asked him, ‘Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?’ And he said, ‘Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and ‘The time is near!’ Do not go after them.’
“ ‘When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.’ Then he said to them, ‘Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.’
“ ‘But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. This will give you an opportunity to testify. So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name. Not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls.’ ”
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise be to God.
Jesus certainly predicted what was to make up the future. Much of what was in existence at that time has been covered up. As the years have gone by, archeologists dug up some elements of that past history. They were seeking to understand what happened as we, and our world, developed. We have learned from their efforts that the actions predicted by biblical writers have come true.
For example, Jesus predicted that we certainly will and wedo have lots of people claiming to be faithful to God and to the teaching of Jesus. We have had wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes, famines, pestilences and other terrifying things, including terrorists!
As Jesus said it is not easy to remain consistently faithful with the variety of challenges in our world. Today we have the means and the opportunity to talk with anyone globally and what do we do? Well we offer everything from God’s message of freedom and responsibility to the most absurd scams one can dream up from dot.com lies and trickery to winning a multimillion dollar lottery without even entering or buying a ticket.
For example, just last Thursday I got an email that a company in England had been notified of my winning a lottery in Africa and they were holding some two million, five hundred, thirty two thousand, one hundred and thirty seven English Pounds for me. That suggests that I had won approximately five million dollars without even doing a thing. My email address had been entered and it came up as one of 29 others to become THE winner and now the money was ready for delivery. All they needed was some “minor personal information” to make sure they had “the right person” and for me to “pay some very nominal fees” to allow them to deposit the funds in the bank of my choice here in the United States. I mean after all with that huge amount that I had won, what do a few “little transfer fees“ amount to when you think of the millions in the account just waiting for me to lay claim for it. I mean how simple and trouble free could they make it? They did it all, and now all I have to do is respond.
Gee maybe I should send in my name and address here on Jolly Road. We could start up and have our own Mega Church, the first in Plymouth Meeting or maybe even Montgomery County! HAH! Yeah Right!
Thank God for the essence of faith we have and that we share. Thank God for Google where one can find out information about such greedy persons on the Internet. Just for fun I checked and found out that the address on the email sent to me is one of 419 other known scam addresses used every day to lie and cheat on the Internet.
Seems to me this is what Jesus was talking about some 2000 years ago as well as did many of the writers of Old Testament biblical material, who were warning people of that time about the greed and the selfish nature that humans were capable of exhibiting.
That warning is still true and the Biblical writings are also just as true and accurate in terms of describing how evil people can be and the nature of God as the only effective counteracting force we have available.
What is important for me in my life is that I live in this space at this time and I do this thinking and I carry out these actions. The living, the space, the time, the thinking and the actions have their basis either in what God wants done or what some other selfish greedy source of motivation like me wants done. I become a battleground like that what is described in the book of Job if I do not take seriously the function of Baptism and Holy Communion. The impact they have on my faith, its growth and development as the expression of Gods commitment to all of us as created beings is very important if I am to survive in this world and be the person God created me to be. This is true for all of us.
So as we consider this text we come to four basic ideas or concepts about Jesus and about our lives as disciples, followers of Jesus. First of all we learn that Jesus understood history and tried to interpret the actions of history for us. While some did not see the downfall of civilization and history, Jesus did and tried to warn us of what was to happen.
Second, Jesus was completely honest with those who came to hear and see Him. In fact there were times when Jesus was rather blunt in how He interpreted live activities and how followers might be affected by what was going on and by becoming a disciple.
Third, Jesus promised that despite the ugly nature of what was to come and what His followers could expect, not one would ever be left alone. No matter what horrible acts to which we could be subjected and that we experience, Jesus never leaves us alone.
Fourthly, Nor does God ever leave us, which is the lesson we learn from the cross when Jesus called out, “My God, My God why have you forsaken me?” God was welcoming Jesus home at the time of His final moment as a member of the human family on earth. This report assures us that Jesus was not deceiving anyone or taking advantage of a situation. Jesus shared our every experience, including death, and also shares with us God’s promise of life after death and demonstrates that reality. What a relief that is for each and for all of us. We are now free to live and to be the people that God created already. We are free. That sure makes Thanksgiving meaningful! Enjoy the holiday.
Amen.