Hold fast to your
confession of hope, meet together, consider how to provoke one another to love
and good deeds, encourage each other; and do this
all the more as you see the final Day approaching.
As we near the
end of the church year, scripture texts are presented to have us contemplate
the times in which we live. The Apocalyptic
literature is heard at a time when there is war, fear of terror attacks,
bio-logical and nuclear weapons; fear of the foreigner/the migrant, fear of a
loss of values; fear of perfect storms, environmental disasters, a dying plant;
fear of the other --- those with differing opinions, politics, religion, race, and
gender; at a time when we are continually pushed to fear that we do not have
enough and what we have could be lost or taken away at any moment. The text we
heard from Daniel was written at a time of great persecution; a time of war,
famine, religions butting heads, cultural difference; a divide between the rich
and the poor. The text was written, and today is heard, at a time of fear and chaos;
a time that is at the cusp of …
… falling
apart, ending, changing, transforming? Dying and living?
The point of the scripture texts for this morning is
to have us contemplate the time in which we live, and what that means to the
way we are to live. God speaks through the authors’ hands, talking about the end
time, and balances out human fear with images of God’s revelation, of God’s
kingdom yet to come where there will be vindication of the righteous. The text
is a movement from “what-is-wrong-with-the-world;” from desperate circumstances,
to a message of hope. The writings’
ultimate goal is not for people to get lost in the images of destruction and despair,
but, rather, to be filled with hope for a future time.
Daniel writes, --- 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.
People of that
time would see a grand cosmic picture open before them, one that lifted their
spirits and drew hope to a place outside the ashes of their every day lives.
Mentioning Michael- the angel who conquered Satan; would have people think of
the other primary angels in Jewish lore: Gabriel- who was to announce the end
of the world; Raphael- who healed the sick and protected travellers; and Uriel
– who punished evil doers.
In that time, hope
is written as a way to move to a focal point in the future; a place for the
community to direct their energies. Their energy is not to wallow in the ways
of the world, but, to anticipate being wise, to lead others to righteousness, the
result will be cosmic; to shine like the brightness of the sky and the stars
forever and ever.
At
that time,
the text reads that Michael will arise, as the text ends it is the people who are
called to rise; called to responsibility and action. At that
time, was a moment of shifting tides, falling empires and powers, a point
of transition – which looked like utter chaos and felt terrifying--- it was
here where the ash of current chaos transformed into future hope. At that
time, was life lived simultaneously and paradoxically filled with both anguish
and deliverance. This is the breeding ground of hope. Hope is the confession we
are asked to hold on to. We are called
to rise as a people, from our lives intertwined with anguish and deliverance, and
proffer hope to the world.
Hold fast to your
confession of hope, meet together, consider how to provoke one another to love
and good deeds, encourage each other; and do this
all the more as you see the final Day approaching.
Jesus, is with the
disciples, continuing to teach them about what is to take place. The text once again is apocalyptic, speaking
of wars, rumours of wars, nation rising against nation; famine, earthquakes;
the coming of the end – this is the beginning of the birth pangs. And right in the midst of the text, Jesus
reminds the hearer, Do not be alarmed.
As always, the disciples
ask Jesus about what the sign will be that the day is upon them, that the day
is closer; Jesus’ reply: Do you see these great buildings? Not one
stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.
If we recall,
Jesus has been sitting with the disciple facing the Temple. The conversation carries on from last week’s,
where they observed a widow placing coins in the Temple treasury. Jesus teaches
the disciples that the Temple requirements are stealing from the least; that
the religious system is messed up and has lost its way. It has forgotten that
the point is to love God and to love neighbour. Continuing Jesus suggests that all
things -all human things - shall pass away; the stones of the Temple will fall,
the stones of the systems holding people in captivity and poverty will fall;
the unravelling of relationship and the chaos that ensues will be the fall of
power. Jesus alludes to coming days when, at that time, will mean his death …
then wait for it …
From the dead
will rise new life, Christ, with future hope for all.
The disciples
wanted to know when the end would come. Jesus’ answer: Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here
upon another; all will be thrown down. Pastor Rick
Pryce, at Zion in Lunenburg, has an interesting thought about this phrase. It is true that within 40 years after Jesus
death, the stones of the Temple that the disciples and Jesus were observing were
thrown down by the Romans, but, not ALL the stones. Jesus said, that not one stone will be left upon another, in that day. Pastor Rick reminded the clergy that
met together this week, that some of the limestone ashlar blocks of the
Herodian Temple still remain, stone on stone. These 80 tonne stones still stand
in some places to a height of 100 feet above the foundations of Herod’s Temple.
The lighter stones, those weighing 4 tonnes or so, where knocked down, and used
in later buildings around the city of Jerusalem. So not only are there parts of
walls, there is a very large foundation platform (on which now sit 2 large
mosques) that is made of stone; a solid foundation.
Stone is still
on stone. It means that at this time it is not the end…
Kingdoms may
be warring with kingdoms, nations rise against other nations, there are
earthquakes, and fires, and hurricanes, and FEAR the world over; but, today is
not the end. The world is on the edge, a
tipping point, the cusp of….
…hopefully a transformation
that raises spirits out of fear and places hope as a focal point for moving
forward together. This is our work to
do.
As a community of faith, we are called to rise, at this time, of apocalyptic fervor, and
live from Jesus’ words to the disciples, do
not be alarmed. These words come in the midst of fear gone wild. We are
called as a community to keep our wits about us, and our heads working out solutions
to problems, on the way to fulfilling a hope yet to come. For the hope to come
about we should not be alarmed that life as we know it will change, structures
and systems will fall, especially those that in their operating create oppression,
show a lack of care for the widow, and pray off those on the margin.
The end is coming. Yes, we
know, so now what? Note that the texts do not waste time on what is to
come, in the sense of working out what happens in life after, the
nuts-and-bolts of heaven or hell; the texts rather, remind the hearer to have
faith and trust, that God is redemptive. In this, the writer of the Letter to
the Hebrews, has a strong articulation of what we are to be about. Often it is preached that we are to approach
God in humility, asking for forgiveness, -seeking mercy-; here we are
encouraged to approach God in faith (in full hearted hope), knowing that God
has already done everything through the death of Jesus. We need not ask for
forgiveness, it is already done, so we come in thanksgiving, trusting this to
be true. This acknowledges God’s present work in and through us, a confession
that God is present in our lives and thus, in the world. This is not a statement of belief, it is a
confession of hope – faith is what God has done, hope is what is yet to come. Because
of what God has done, we are changed as we live towards the fullness of hope.
Hebrews tells
us that hope doesn’t just happen, human beings create hope through the way they
live. Hope is the responsibility of
faithful people. Hope is our responsibility. It is how we are to tackle fear. It
is how we have a hand in the end of time. At
that time… in this time there is still time, to share the Gospel message of
hope with all people.
The writer of
Hebrews reminds us how to do this: we are to meet together, to consider how to
provoke each other to love and good deeds, and to encourage each other. And the
more fear we see or experience, the more we are to be about these things. Why?
Because hope creates love that transforms death to life.
And as long as
there is stone on stone, a solid foundation, there is time to eradicate fear with
hope that creates love. And at the end, that’s the fullness of God’s redemption.