Twenty-fourth
Sunday After Pentecost, Year C November
17, 2019
Malachi
4:1-2a; 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13; Luke 21:5-19
This is the last Sunday in Pentecost – the long green
days are summer are ending. Next Sunday, we will celebrate Christ the King
Sunday, and in another week, the year starts all over again, with a new Advent
season and another three-year cycle of the Revised Common Lectionary.
One of the reasons we use a three-year cycle of the
lectionary is that it allows us to immerse our lives in most of the major
stories of the bible. This year we have highlighted the gospel of Luke, and
here we have seen many faces of Jesus… Teacher Jesus, Moral Jesus,
Miracle-making Jesus, we have learned a lot from him. But this Sunday more than
any so far, we hear Prophet Jesus, reminiscent of the Old Testament prophets
and apocalyptic writers. He gives voice to the difficulties of the day, and
looking around, we realize that he’s more necessary these days than ever.
Apocalyptic literature is defined as prophetic writings
which use unsettling language and imagery as a means to assure the faithful
that we should keep our trust in God even under the most difficult
circumstances. There are only a few instances of this in the New Testament,
including this passage from Luke. Here, Jesus tells his listeners not to be
afraid (Luke 21:9). He is not predicting a specific catastrophe, merely reminding
people that bad things happen to good people. And when they do, we should not
be terrified or follow anyone who says that these are God’s punishment and
nearness of the end of the world. Instead, we should continue to trust that God
is always present in our lives. And a new day will come.
Jesus reminds us that God triumphed over chaos in
creating the natural world. God called a people to God’s own, and while they
often took the very longest way to get around to God’s way of thinking, God was
always there. Jesus reminds us that this is exactly who God has always been and
who God will be in forever. 2000 years later, we remember that his death and
resurrection are God's ultimate act in a struggle of cosmic proportions. With
the presence of the Holy Spirit, God is with us still. The bad news of
yesterday is not the end of the story. Jesus’ promise is this – that love will
ultimately triumph and with God at our side, we will win.
This is very Good News because we are living in
perilous times. Every day, people in our families and pews go to work,
believing that the leadership and sacrifices of good people will turn the will
of the world toward good. Some days it seems to be playing out OK, but others,
we go home wondering if it’s worth the time and energy and money it takes to
keep our ship on course.
In addition, some are hindered by poverty, sickness,
war, and prejudice. We are burdened by the mistakes of our pasts and the
uncertainty of our futures. We get caught up in the swirl of our own feelings
and experiences, forgetting that there is a bigger world, a bigger truth, a
promise of God’s presence, not matter what.
Many of us come traditions that baptize infants, and
we do that under the theological belief that God works in our lives before we
are able to understand what that means… that God is the primary actor and when
we follow him, we are responding to a love that calls us home. And that means
many of us think we don’t have a story to tell… no dramatic turn from darkness
to light… no lightning bolt out of the blue… nothing that seems very worthy of
standing out from the crowd.
Except we do. Because all of us, if we slow down and
look within, can remember those moments when God and Christ felt very real,
very certain, very known. And we can remember how that realization changed the
way we lived. Maybe it softened our attitudes, or changed our focus, or gave us
new purpose and meaning. Those are every much salvation stories as any we have
ever heard. They are your stories. They are my stories. They matter to us, and
they matter to others.
They are the very evidence of Jesus’ promise. In the
grand scheme of life, we are held safely in God’s love, God’s hope, God’s life.
That does not mean we will never know difficulty or fear. It does not mean that
we will live without pain or even persecution. It also doesn’t mean that we can
take whatever treasures we accumulate with us when we go. Jesus reminds us that
these are not the markers by which our lives will be measured. Our lives are
measure by enduring love.
As we go home today, I want you to think about two
words that Jesus used and how they pertain to your lives. Testify and
endurance.
In Christ, our lives are redefined. And whatever
benefits or adversities we encounter, they are the means by which we are called
to testify about who God is and what he has done for us. For some of us, this
word testify is difficult. I have a good friend who spent hours each week
trying to perfect her testimony, preparing to stand up at Wednesday services to
share what Jesus meant to her. She said that inevitably, someone would stand up
before she could and share about being saved from drugs or alcohol or bad
relationships. Deflated, she would huddle back into her seat, not believing
that hers would stand the test of time. It took a long time, she said, to
realize that her testimony of “I can’t remember a time when I didn’t feel close
to God,” was just as valid, just as important, and something that someone would
need to hear.
So I want to tell you that whatever you have to say
about who God is and how God has been with you, it’s going to be amazing
because it’s about who God created you to be and how your relationship with
gives you strength in the midst of whatever comes your way. Write it down and
practice it if it makes you feel better, but trust me, your testimony doesn’t
just come from your own words, but from the Holy Spirit working within you, to
live a faithful life, and will give you words when they are necessary.
Next, what do you think of when you say the word,
“Endurance?” Do you think marathons, or binge-watching Netflix for a whole
weekend? That’s not exactly what the Jesus is talking about. I don’t think he
wants us collapsing at the finish line, dragging ourselves over the line with
the last of our strength, or becoming so engrossed in the 12 seasons of the Big
Bang Theory that nothing else gets done.
The endurance Jesus speaks us is an endurance of the
soul, rejoicing in the Lord in all things: in good times and bad, in
celebration and in persecution. In fact, that is the only way that we can truly
endure… by faithfully connecting with the Lord every day, by humbly asking his
help and aligning our attitudes and actions with his guidance… particularly as
it is revealed in his life and word.
The word gospel actually means Good News. And the best
of the good news is that we are not in this life alone. Jesus is with us every
step of the way. We need not rely on training, conditioning or dieting for our
endurance. His grace is the source of our strength. His Word is the foundation
on which we build a life of faith. To endure, we must constantly seek it, cling
to it, live in it, rejoice in it. And as a community, we are called to hold one
another up, to be present together, enduring together, in worship, in
community, and in love.
Jesus never promised us an easy way. In fact, he told
us to expect the disapproval, and even the hate of others for claiming his
power in our lives. And yet it is that
very power that helps us to go on, day by day.
This is our testimony - we are followers of Jesus and children of God.
Sometimes that will bring us joy, sometimes nothing but pain. But in the end, we are called to tell Jesus’
story, no matter what, and tell it as our own. We all have a story to tell.
Don’t give up, Jesus says. Keep the faith. The Kingdom
of God is here!
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Peace, Deb
