If These Walls Could Talk
RCL Year B • Sermon • Submitted
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Why is it in human nature to focus on the ending of things or we focus on the negative side of a story or event and really hold onto it? Think about this pandemic that we are going through. If the pandemic itself wasn’t bad enough we have had a lot of other terrible things happen during it. In fact 2020 wasn’t a great year in a lot of different ways.
We have had the murder hornets show up in the United States. There were the bushfires in Australia which destroyed so much habitat. We had some of the worst fires and floods in our country and in other countries as well. The riots in Minneapolis and beyond. I can’t tell you how many times I would briefly pop onto Facebook and see multiple people posting and reposting memes about what could possibly happen next. One of the ones that popped into my head as was thinking about it was a picture of a bunch of aliens standing around talking about how they’re up next for 2020. The other one was a calendar for the rest of the year of 2020 and it had a whole bunch of horrible events listed by month. It’s no doubt that 2020-21 have been difficult for everyone due to the pandemic and I know that at least a few people have wondered if this is the beginning of the end. Is this how the apocalypse starts?
I am sure that is the same kind of thinking the disciples had when they heard Jesus tell them that the stones of the temple would one day be cast down and destroyed. Then when his disciples ask him about he makes it sound even worse than just the temple walls being destroyed. Jesus goes on to say that there will be people who claim to be Jesus and lead people astray. There will be wars and rumors of wars, but don’t worry. Also more events are going to happen like nations fighting one another and there will be earthquakes and famines everywhere. I don’t know about you but I doubt this is the kind of conversation that Peter, James, John and Andrew were expecting to get into when they asked Jesus when the Jerusalem Temple would be destroyed.
I think the disciples were baffled enough by the idea that the temple would be destroyed. Herod built the temple to be a wonder of the Ancient world and it was incredibly impressive. Even though it was built by Herod and the Empire it was still a symbol of God’s presence and the central place of worship for the Jewish people. The thought of its destruction had some pretty serious repercussions. That combined with everything else Jesus says makes it seem like it’s basically the end of the world doesn’t it?
Typically when we think of the end of the world we think of things like the apocalypse. We think of things like the Left Behind books and movies that came out years ago. Dystopian or Apocalyptic literature has been a blossoming new genre especially for the young adult readers with books like The Hunger Games, The Hundred, and many more. Isn’t that what we think of when we hear the word apocalypse? Honestly, when you hear the word apocalypse don’t you think of death and destruction and the end of most things with just a few survivors? That is definitely how many people view the book of Revelation from the Bible and so we have this general idea that there will be terrible calamity, death, and destruction. And people who don’t have faith also view the world will one day look similar as societies and governments fall apart and the world descends into a Mad Max movie. Almost all of chapter 13 from Mark talks about these kinds of things, not just the short 8 verses that we get. Which is why people often refer to it as Mark’s apocalypse.
Hopefully I haven’t filled you with complete dread and despair because there is good news here, and there is news that people don’t often think about when they read Biblical apocalyptic literature. I believe that’s the case because of what I said at the very beginning. We, as people tend to focus on the ending of things and the negative instead of the positive. While the pandemic was and is a terrible event happening in our world so much good has come because of it. People have really stepped up to make sure that people had masks by making them at home and handing them out for free. Families were able to spend more time together. People helped those who were on the front lines. Churches were forced to get into online worship en masse to serve everyone at home and it has now continued. In fact when I first started posting worship services online someone who was homebound due to chronic illness told me she would have never wished this pandemic on the world, but it has allowed her to worship with her church family, something she hadn’t been able to do in many years. Worshipping with her church family had nothing to do with being in the walls of the church or surrounded by such large buildings.
You see the point of this kind of literature isn’t meant to scare and depress us, it it meant to talk about the new things that is about to happen. Apocalyptic literature isn’t doom and gloom, it’s not about death and destruction it is about what God is going to bring about next. A colleague of mine very brilliantly pointed out our reading ends with this is the beginning of the birth pangs. Again we think about the pain of childbirth and when we talk about birth pangs that may be where our mind goes, but childbirth isn’t just about the pain experienced, but it is about the new life that is being born. There absolutely is pain in the act of childbirth, but there is also the pure joy of seeing that baby when it’s born. God is making something new through Christ and today as well.
We may be going through a difficult time with the pandemic and everything else we associate with it, and we may not be 100% sure where to go or turn to next, but I for one choose to look at what’s coming next. That’s why I’m so excited about our generosity campaign. By committing our gifts to God we are telling God that we are investing in something new. We are looking forward to a better tomorrow. That we will not let the difficulty of today drive us from what may be tomorrow. Ater every sunset comes a sunrise, and with that comes a new day to embrace the gift of life that God has given us, and the message that Christ has placed in our hearts thanks to the power of the Holy Spirit.
This is our last day in the Gospel of Mark and even though in our church year we are going to head back to the beginning as we enter Advent and celebrate Jesus’ birth, we need to also be mindful that the next steps in Jesus’ journey in Mark is his arrest, death and resurrection. As we end Mark and as Mark ends his story of Jesus we begin new again the story of Jesus with Luke and celebrate his birth. Through Jesus’ death, the ending as we typically think of it there is life and a new beginning. When Jesus enters this world as a baby there are literal birth pangs and new life. This is the Christian story. There is always hope and God is always making something new out of the difficulty of life. Each and every one of us is a part of that new beginning. We are offered life and peace, grace and forgiveness. Our baptism is dying and rising.
Embrace not the ending of things, but all the new things that God is making possible through the world and through us. For God makes all things new and we are blessed to be a part of that newness. May God bless you to see and be a part of each and every new day that we have and that newness is a gift to have and to share with this whole world so all may know the joy of life and more importantly a life with our God who is a God of new beginnings. Amen.