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Sermon for November 17, 2024
Pentecost 26B
Mark 13:1-8; Romans 8:18-28
Rev. Karl-John N. Stone
Do you ever read the horoscopes? Even if you couldn’t care less about it, I bet you still probably know your astrological sign. Have you ever tried your hand at palm reading? Talked to a fortune teller? Interpreted tarot cards? Maybe consulted the Magic 8 Ball? The fact that all of these exist goes to show how interested we are in predicting the future.
Dr. Adam Grant, an organizational psychologist from the Wharton School of Business observes: “Humans may be the only species that can imagine an unknown future. But that doesn’t mean we’re any good at it. We’re routinely wrong about which career we’ll choose, where we’ll end up moving and whom we’ll end up loving. We fail even more miserably when we try to predict the outcomes of national and global events… In a landmark study, the psychologist Philip Tetlock evaluated several decades of predictions about political and economic events. He found that ‘the average expert was roughly as accurate as a dart-throwing chimpanzee.’ Although skilled forecasters were much better, they couldn’t see around corners. No one could foresee that a driver’s wrong turn would put Archduke Franz Ferdinand in an assassin’s path”, which was the event that started World War 1 [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/12/opinion/donald-trump-election.html].
Since we’re so bad at predicting the future, why do we keep trying so hard? Is it curiosity? Fear? Anxiety? The desire to plan? Wanting to feel in control of our own fate? But even if our attempts to predict the future do ease our fear or anxiety, or help us plan and feel in control—are we really that much in control? Certainly we can take steps that make our goals more likely to happen. We often accomplish things we set our minds to—yet even so, the consequences of our decisions and actions are often unforeseen. If you’re married, how far into the future were you looking on the day you happened to meet your spouse? If you went to college, are you still working in a job related to the major you started with freshman year?
The point is, we live with lots of uncertainty; and we are attracted to anything that promises a little more certainty. The disciples of Jesus were no different. They walked out of the Jerusalem Temple and looked up in awe, saying to Jesus “Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!” The Temple was not only one of the largest and most beautiful buildings in the world at the time, but it also symbolized God’s presence in their midst, and it was considered to be the most permanent thing in existence. As long as the Temple stood, the disciples and everyone else could have some certainty about the future.
How does Jesus respond? He says, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down” (which is exactly what happened when the Romans conquered Jerusalem in 70 AD). The disciples don’t like the uncertainty this creates for them. They want to quell their anxiety and find some way to “look around the corner” at what they can’t yet see. “Tell us, Jesus” they ask, “when will this be, and what will be the sign that these things are about to be accomplished?” Obviously, shaking up the Magic 8 Ball for answers was not an option—but a Messiah? Surely the Messiah might predict the future with more accuracy than a “dart-throwing chimpanzee”!
But Jesus doesn’t really answer their question; at least not the way they want. He doesn’t tell them “when”, and he warns that there will always be people who promise certainty in the midst of chaos—but they are claiming a power they do not have, a power that belongs only to God: “Many will come in my name and say ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray.” The small consolation Jesus gives instead is simply encouragement to not be surprised when wars, chaos, violence, earthquakes, and famine arrive. Maybe Jesus doesn’t tell us “when” because in every generation known to man, these tragedies are happening somewhere. The power of sin and death keep ahold of the world as disasters both natural and man-made continue to plague us. These tragedies have always been happening—this doesn’t mean God wants them or wills them—but they are symptoms of living in a fallen world.
But let’s not forget most important part! “Don’t be surprised” Jesus says, “these things must take place, but the end is still to come.” All the wars and rumors of war, the chaos, destruction, and famine are not signs that the end times are here. These are not the end, because these are not God’s plan of redemption for his creation. Even though we cannot predict the future, we can have faith in the God who has a perfect end in mind—the God who is at work in the world, to bring something good out of the bad that happens, shaping the future to be like Christ. That is the end time we are waiting for—and it’s the end God has promised by raising Jesus from the dead. The risen Jesus is God’s down payment on his promise that life and not death will have the last word. The wars, chaos, earthquakes and famines do not have the last word, and in the end they can’t have the last word because they are not like Christ.
And all of the bad stuff humanity has been living through is, as Jesus so vividly puts it, “but the beginning of the birth pangs.” The world’s suffering, and even our own suffering, is the evidence that we’re going to be born in Christ into a new creation, something around the corner that we can’t fully see yet. Sometimes, when we keep our hearts and minds open in faith, we catch a glimpse of this new thing—God’s new creation pokes its head out and looks around, even in the midst of life’s pain and uncertainty. When is it that we begin to see the future God is preparing? When we have hope. The hope that comes from faith in Jesus.
Christian hope is not the same optimism, and it’s not the opposite of pessimism. Whether you believe you should always look on the bright side because every cloud has a silver lining, or whether you believe in Murphy’s Law that anything bad that can go wrong will go wrong—in either case, you can still have hope in Christ.
St. Paul tells us why in Romans 8:18-28 as he writes (and this is from The Message version of the Bible), “All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it’s not only around us; it’s within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We’re also feeling the birth pangs… [our bodies] are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish [our hope], any more that waiting diminishes a pregnant mother… [Of course, we don’t see what we’re hoping for until it’s arrived]. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy. Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along… praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans.”
The new world being born in Christ comes only through labor pains, and like a mother in childbirth is uncomfortable until the child she is expecting is born, as Christians we’ll always be uncomfortable with the way things are in the world until God’s promises in Christ are completely born.
So, how do live with these birth pangs, as we wait to be born into the new creation in Christ? Reach out to God in faith when you’re living through the uncertainty and discomfort of the present time. Slow down to be aware of Christ’s presence within you, and look for his presence among the vulnerable and suffering people of the world. Follow the nudges of the Holy Spirit as we learn to live by God’s ways of forgiveness and partnership. And finally, encourage one another in faith and community, as you offer yourself in service to your neighbor. Amen.