What If…?
Grace to you and peace from God our Creator, from our Risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and from our Sustainer, the Holy Spirit. Amen.
What would you do if you knew the world was going to end tomorrow? For the disciples, the gospel writer Mark is setting the stage for the end of the world, and in so doing pressing them and us with that very question. What would you do if you knew the world was going to end tomorrow? “…the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the power in the heavens will be shaken.” The stage is set for the grand yet terrifying entrance, “Then they will see ‘the son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory. Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.” That image evokes at the very same time both a sense of terror and fear on the one hand, and on the other way a sense of complete joy and peace.
What would you do if you knew the world was going to end tomorrow? Would you make your way to the most beautiful spot you have discovered on planet earth? Would you reconcile with a long lost friend or a family member from whom you are estranged? Would you hold the love of your life closely and tenderly as long as you possibly can? Would you do everything you could do to get to your children, your grandchildren, or your dearest friend? Would you listen to your favorite piece of music? Would you feast on your favorite foods? Would you walk the beach? What would you do if you knew the world was going to end tomorrow?
I cannot help but think that it is difficult for us to imagine. Considering where we live and how we live, imaging the end of the world is a stretch. I wonder if we are too comfortable, too set in our ways, too used to having plenty to consider what the end of the world would be like – let alone figure out how we would spend our last day before the world, as we know it ends.
But it’s different in different parts of the world – isn’t it? Late Friday came the release of the first group of Israelis taken hostage by Hamas on October 7. Their world as they knew it ended on October 7. They do not need to speculate like we do about what the end of the world will be like. It is certainly true for a 37 year-old Israeli named Yoni Asher. His wife, Doran and his two daughters Raz, 4 years old and Aviv, 2 years old were among those released. In a video posted shortly after they were reunited after 7 weeks of separation filled with terror and trauma, that young father and husband said this, echoing that mix of sadness and fear on the one hand and on the other hand, joy and peace, “It is permitted to feel joy and also shed a tear…but I am not celebrating and I won’t celebrate until the last of the hostages are returned.”
From the prophet Isaiah, “O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence – to make your name known to your adversaries, so that the nations might tremble at your presence!”
Adversaries – what Hamas is to Israel, and what Israel is to Hamas – and often caught in the middle are the Palestinian people and the people of Israel. To date more than 14,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war. Of those 14,000 killed, over 5000 are children. Over 5000 children. Those mothers and fathers and brothers and sister and grandparents do not need to imagine, they do not need to speculate what the end of the world is going to be like. One man from northern Gaza said this, “Our people are gone. There is no one left.” They are living the end of time. They lived the end of the world. The Palestinians know – just as the Israeli hostages know what it is like when the sun is darkened and the moon does not give its light and the stars seem to fall from heaven and the powers in the heavens are shaken.
During the current cease-fire, many Palestinians want to return north to their homes, simply to bury their dead. Asa’ad Agha, who is a displaced Palestinian from northern Gaza said this, “These are our homes, (where we left) our money, our things, our belongings,” said “Our children died, we haven’t been able to bury them. We want to bury them. We have martyrs tossed all over the streets.”
What would you do if you knew the world was going to end tomorrow? What would you do if it seemed like and felt like your world was coming to an end? Yoni Asher, the Israeli, who was reunited with his wife and two young daughters, embraced them with joy, as he said, but shed tears of sadness at the same time for the remaining hostages. And Asa’ad Agha, the displaced Palestinian just wants to get home with time enough to bury the children.
How did they get to such a place – to such a reality that every day for them seems like the end of the world? How did we get to such a place – that their reality – over there in the Middle East – in the land the three major religions call home – that their reality is so far removed from our reality? Or is it?
Listen again to these words of lament from the prophet Isaiah, “6We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities (our short-comings) like the wind, take us away.7There is no one who calls on your name, or attempts to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquity.
Is that what the end of the world looks like and feels like for us? “We all fade like a leaf and our iniquities, our wrongdoings, like the wind take us away…” Yes. The answer is yes. With our shortcomings, there is fear. There is sadness. There is guilt. There is doubt, but at the same time there is something else that Yoni Asher knows all too well, joy in the midst of sadness. Peace in the midst of war. Forgiveness in the midst of sin. We, too, know the both/and.
And the prophet Isaiah knows too well the both/and for his prophecy does not end with us like a filthy cloth. Listen again to the words of the prophet Isaiah: 8Yet, O Lord, you are our Father we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. 9Do not be exceedingly angry, O Lord, and do not remember iniquity forever. Now consider, we are all your people.
We are the clay and you are our potter – shaping us into children of God. Shaping us into the image, the divine image of God! But when? How? At the end of time? On the last day? When will God shape us? To find the answer (Yes – there is an answer!) the gospel writer, Mark takes us on a fascinating journey. So very quickly, let’s do a deep dive into just one verse from today’s gospel text from Mark. We laser focus on verse 35 – “Therefore keep awake, for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn.” When will Jesus come? We know if we pay attention to the clues. Mark gives us the answer through his clues.
Here are the clues to answer the question, “When will Jesus come?” Clue #1 – in the evening – code for Jesus’ last supper with his disciples, which took place in the evening. “When will Jesus come?” Clue #2 – at midnight –code for the disciple’s betrayal of Jesus when they fell asleep late at night while Jesus led prayer. “When will Jesus come?” Clue #3 – at cockcrow – code for Jesus’ trial and Peter’s denial of Jesus when he said, “I do not know this man you are talking about.” At that moment, the cock crowed. “When will Jesus come?” The last clue – #4 – at dawn – code for the trial before Pontius Pilate, “As soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation and Jesus was led away and handed over to be crucified.”
All clues lead us to Golgotha. All roads lead us to the cross. All signs point to the nails in Jesus’ hands and feet and the thorns on his head. When will Jesus come again? When will the heavens shake and the sun darken? At the precise moment when Jesus is nailed to the cross. All clues led us to Golgotha. All roads lead us to the cross. When will the stars fall from heaven? When will the end time come? At the precise moment, Jesus breathed his last breath and exhaled, “It is finished.” At that precise moment, God’s love poured out for all of us and for the entire world. At the precise moment of resurrection, a new day dawned, one filled with hope and joy and peace, hope and joy and peace for all people.
What would you do if you knew the world was going to end tomorrow? The cross, the cross of Christ frees you to live as if each day is the last. Amen.
Sources:
CNN November 24, 2023
The New York Times November 25, 2023
Working Preacher – Pastor David Lose, November 20, 2011