Sermon 14th November 2021 – All Saints Day
Text: Mark 13:1-8 – Kept safe
until the Day
Human beings have always been
interested in what we call “End Time” prophecies. People have for centuries
checked their horoscopes – have consulted clairvoyants and tinkered in other
ways of reaching the afterlife such as Ouija Boards and Tarot cards or even
Fortune Cookies. In the Old Testament times people would consult those who
claimed to be able to conjure up Spirits to try and find out what the future
holds especially when going out to war. In the Old Testament priests used
something that was called a Urim and Thummim which I’m not really sure what
they were but it was a way of consulting divine spirits to perhaps determine
guilt or innocence or other judgments. And there is the infamous account of
King Saul who wanting to consult God but couldn’t when being attacked by the
Philistines. So he went and sought out the Witch of Endor who then dragged up
from the dead the spirit of the prophet Samuel.
For many Christians and even
non-Christians the Book of Revelation has been a mysterious book which many
believe holds a timeline of events that lead up to the final days of life. So
many people are looking at what we are going through in these days and trying
to match it up against the Book of Revelation timeline which even talks of
things like pestilence which is basically a fatal epidemic or pandemic. It
talks of wars and other catastrophes leading up to the great holy land battle
of Armageddon. It speaks about dragons and beasts and some are even attributing
the vaccine to the Mark of the Beast in Revelation 13 which says you cannot buy
or sell without the Mark of the Beast and linking it to the vaccine mandates
regarding who can buy and sell and go to work. And when we had the earthquake a
couple months ago people were scrambling for their bibles looking up passages
such as our Gospel reading today where Jesus says - Nation will rise against
nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various
places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birth pains.
The fascination with end times
and knowing the future is a way that brings us comfort because if we know
what’s happening then perhaps we can prepare for it or even control it maybe
even prevent it. That’s how people often find comfort in life and death
situations. We like to be prepared for the future. We like to be in control. Have
our house paid off – have a good retirement nest egg to allow us to live
comfortably – start looking after our bodies with exercise and better eating
habits. We are in control of our future – or are we – because no matter how
much control we take, death is still inevitable.
You know as well as I do that
even the most prepared can face that unexpected event that turns their life
around. This is what Jesus is trying to teach us and his disciples today when
he prepares them for the coming cataclysmic events. Jesus disciples were still
trying to find their security in their human achievements;
As Jesus came out of the
temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what large stones and
what large buildings!” To this, Jesus
points out reality: “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be
left here upon another; all will be thrown down. And as the Jews will soon
experience, their hopes and dreams were destroyed when their Temple -the symbol
of God’s presence with them, was destroyed in 70AD.
So Jesus is pointing them away
from seeking comfort in their physical surrounds and belongings to faith in
God. Jesus says this because there will always be threats to destroy our
physical securities including earthquakes, wars or anything else that can
destroy our physical comforts.
To build up true security we
look not for physical but spiritual strength which come to us when we keep up
our faith life which would include prayer, worship, reading the bible, and the
sacraments – our Baptism and Holy Communion. Why are these important? Because
we will always be tempted to more physical and material assurances when we look
away from God It’s human nature that goes right back to the Garden of Eden with
Adam and Even tempted to more physical and material assurances rather than
trusting God.
We need to be able to discern
false teachings that lure us away from security in Jesus, or as Jesus puts it -
Many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. Anything
that takes our hopes away from Jesus. And that’s why our reading from Hebrews
also encourages us in our faith life when it says:
Let us consider how to provoke
one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the
habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day
approaching. The Day being referred to is Judgment Day when Christ returns to
bring an end to our life here on earth.
As we commemorate All Saints
Day today this Day has come for many of our loved ones who now wait for the Day
when Jesus brings us all home. It is our Christian faith that now comforts all
who mourn because we know what happens for those whom God has called home. That’s
why St Paul in Thessalonians says – let us grieve but not as those who have no
hope – we have hope. God promised that all who believed in his Son shall
receive eternal life in Heaven and in Heaven the Book of Revelation says there
will be no more mourning because there will be no more death. And our Hebrews
reading reminds us that God will never let us down in what he has promised. It
states: Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he
who has promised is faithful. Whatever God has promised will be fulfilled – God
cannot go back on his promises.
In Baptism God makes a very
special promise to all of us. In Mark 16:16 he says – whoever believes and is
baptized WILL be saved. WILL be saved – there is no ambiguity or uncertainty
there. As Baptised believers we are protected from the coming of Judgment Day
mentioned in Hebrews. As were the Israelites when the destroying angel as
Passover protected them when he saw the blood of the lamb. We too are protected
on Judgment Day by the blood of our Lamb – Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who
takes away the sin of the world – our sin.
Daniel also speaks about that
Day when he says - Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to
shame and everlasting contempt. But he also assures God’s children of
protection: At that time Michael, the
great prince, the protector of your people, shall arise. There shall be a time
of anguish, such as has never occurred since nations first came into existence.
But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone who is found written
in the book. The Book of Life. On that day we will receive our new birth. But
prior to birth there are birth pains as Jesus points out. And those birth pains
are what we are experiencing now in two ways.
There is the birth pain of
living in this fallen world with its suffering and pain. There is the physical
pain of suffering. But there is also the birth pain as we grieve for our loved
ones who have passed from this life to their new life. And after the birth
pains have ended and our new life begins the pains of this life shall be
remembered no more as we live in the presence of God who wipes away all our
tears. Where our sins are remembered no more either by God or ourselves. Our
hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure
water. Water that began in our Baptism.
Most of us, if not all of us,
have a loved one who has passed from this life. But we grieve, not as those
without hope but with hope in Jesus Christ our Lord And because of our faith in
Jesus Christ, we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus,
by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain – the
curtain that once kept the people from the presence of God until it was torn in
2 at Jesus death.
And since we have a great
priest over the house of God, we can approach with a true heart in full
assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and
our bodies washed with pure water. So as the Day of Judgment approaches, let us
encourage one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
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