Sermon for November 18

​The Rev. Joseph Peters-Mathews
November 18, 2018
Proper 28, B / Pentecost +26
St. Joseph-St. John, Lakewood
Mark 13.1-8

In the name of God who makes all things new. Amen.
Jesus says, 
    “Do you see these great buildings? 
Not one stone will be left here upon another; 
all will be thrown down…
This is but the beginning of the birthpangs.”
Living in 2018
    and hearing Mark 13 today
        is what makes the book of Revelation
            eternally relevant.
Despite those who search
    for a certain, knowable date for the end of time,
        the world is always ending
            and always being made new.
We’ll hear from Revelation next week,
    and often hear it in Advent.
Revelation is itself a more dramatic telling
    of the world-changing events of the Gospels, 
        the world always being made new
            through Jesus’ Resurrection.

In today’s passage from Mark, 
    Peter, James, John, and Andrew ask Jesus how they’ll know
        that everything has been accomplished.
His first response is to warn them
    that there will be people to seek to lead them astray,
        people who seek to lead them away from him.
Jesus offers them a vision of the end of the world,
    a vision of hurt and destruction.
California is on fire.
My family’s friends 
are devastated from Hurricane Michael.
Tsunamis have ravaged the Pacific.
Ads were running two weeks ago
    with the president’s face and words from John,
        “And the Word became flesh.”
Regardless of the intention of the group
    “Make the Gospel Great Again,”
        they suggested that the president is 
            God’s word incarnate.
“Beware that no one leads you astray….”

North Korea may or may not be disarming.
The UK’s relationship 
with the European Union 
is uncertain at best. 
A government with whom our country allies itself
    has carried out the execution of a critical journalist
        in their embassy in another country.
Flint still doesn’t have clean water. 
“Nation will rise against nation, 
and kingdom against kingdom…
there will be famines.”
If anyone tells you that Christianity
    is only about being happy
        or that following Jesus will quickly make you happy,
            just remember Jesus’ words today.
The world is always ending
    and always being made new.

Too much of American Christianity
    is spent covering up that people hurt.
There’s a pretend happiness that pervades,
    a dis-ease with telling the truth about problems.
Jesus today tells us
    that problems aren’t new,
        and that problems are part of human life.
Jesus’ words today, though,
    offer more than pretend happiness.
He names and predicts problems 
    that have always existed and will exist
        until all things are made right.
Rather than offer a quick injection of happiness,
    Jesus offers us something that lasts, 
        something that endures:
            hope. 
The world is always ending
    and always being made new.

Jesus says that 
    wars, rumors of wars, conflicts, famines, etc.,
        are the birthpangs — the beginning, not the end.
Platitudes about, “It’ll all work out” 
    aren’t necessarily comforting for people
        fleeing violence in their homelands
            and making a journey thousands of miles on foot. 
“This is not all there is.
    This is not the end.
        Not even death is the end,”
            is the promise of Christianity. 
That’s where Jesus starts today’s text:
    The disciples are astounded about the size of the buildings
        and the sizes of the stones used to make them.
Jesus says something that is disturbing
    but also hopeful.
“Not one stone will be left here upon another;
all will be thrown down.”
Although Jesus is predicting the destruction of the temple,
    he is also letting his followers through time know
        that God is in charge of it all,
            even if we in the short breaths of our lives
                don’t see the whole plan play out.
The world is always ending
    and always being made new.

As the world ends, 
    our call is not to watch it burn.
As we rest in the hope brought by the resurrection,
    we follow Jesus to where he would be:
        welcoming those fleeing war
            and asking what role we and our government play 
                in creating such crises.
As California fires and Gulf hurricanes 
are significantly worse year after year
    we support rebuilding and relief efforts,
        acknowledge that human activity is changing the climate…
            and the poor, Jesus’ friends, are the ones most impacted. 
Beyond acknowledging that,
    we must modify our behavior
        and challenge our representatives 
to change our collective behaviors. 
The hope of birthpangs
    as God has control even of the large stones and buildings
        is not an opportunity to disconnect
            or not be involved. 
The hope of the resurrection
    is that all of creation will be restored to its full glory --
        and it’s in that hope that we work to see all things made well. 
The world is always ending
    and always being made new.
Joined to Jesus in the resurrection by our baptisms,
    let’s see what new life those birthpangs are bringing. Amen.