First Reading: Daniel 12:1-3
1“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. 2Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. 3Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.”
Psalm: Psalm 16
1Protect me, O God, for I take refuge in you;
I have said to the Lord, “You are my Lord, my good above all other.”
2All my delight is in the godly that are in the land,
upon those who are noble among the people.
3But those who run after other gods
shall have their troubles multiplied.
4I will not pour out drink offerings to such gods,
never take their names upon my lips.
5O Lord, you are my portion | and my cup;
it is you who uphold my lot.
6My boundaries enclose a pleasant land;
indeed, I have a rich inheritance.
7I will bless the Lord who gives me counsel;
my heart teaches me night after night.
8I have set the Lord always before me;
because God is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.
9My heart, therefore, is glad, and my spirit rejoices;
my body also shall rest in hope.
10For you will not abandon me to the grave,
nor let your holy one see the pit.
11You will show me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy, and in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Second Reading: Hebrews 10:11-14 [15-18] 19-25
11Every priest stands day after day at his service, offering again and again the same sacrifices that can never take away sins. 12But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, “he sat down at the right hand of God,” 13and since then has been waiting “until his enemies would be made a footstool for his feet.” 14For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. [15And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying,
16“This is the covenant that I will make with them
after those days, says the Lord:
I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds,”
17he also adds,
“I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”
18Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.]
19Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, 20by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), 21and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22let us 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. 23Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. 24And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, 25not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Gospel: Mark 13:1-8
1As [Jesus] came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look,Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!” 2Then Jesus asked him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.”
3When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, 4“Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?” 5Then Jesus began to say to them, “Beware that no one leads you astray. 6Many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. 7When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. 8For 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 pangs.”
CHILDREN’S SERMON Share with the person sitting next to you about some experience that was very painful.
Let us pray. Lord may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight my Strength and my Redeemer.
SERMON
We are coming to the end of this church year. Next Sunday, November 24th, is Christ the King Sunday and then we enter Advent and return to focusing on the birth of Jesus. We will change from looking at our faith through the Gospel of Mark to texts from the Gospel of Luke. Last week our Gospel text looked at the poor widow who gave her last two coins to the Temple. Today’s text is called the “Little Apocalypse” because it fortells the coming destruction of that very same Temple. Jesus and the disciples leave our widow and Jerusalem and they look back and admire the Temple. The Jewish people valued the Temple even as we value the White House as a symbol of the United States. But Jesus turns to them and predicts that the Temple will be destroyed. Worship is on the verge of a birthing experience that will be very painful. The Temple will be destroyed in 90 AD, synagogues and churches will develop and Christian believers will come to consider themselves as the temple of God. Those major social shifts will happen even before Christians began to interpret the words in light of Jesus’ promise of return at the end of time as we know it.
Mark records Jesus predicting this masive upheaval and then saying, “This is but the beginning of the birth pangs.” Birth pangs are “regular, recurrant pains associated with giving birth.” They are almost always mentioned in the plural. Webster continues and points out that “birth pangs” have also become a way to talk about social upheaval. It is a way of talking about the disorder and distress associated with a major social change. For those of you who have not had the experience of child birth, I might suggest that because of the recent election we are going through in the United States a kind of birth pangs as certainly social reality will experience major social shifts as we change parties in power. No matter how we voted, we anticipate January 20th and the new president’s first day in office with bated breath. Whether we are women who have birthed a child or not, we are all together as we face the upheaval of a new administration and all the predictions of what that will mean.
“7When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed…”
When a pregnancy becomes a reality, people respond in many different ways. Not all people are excited with joy at the prospect of another mouth to feed and clothe. Some couples are not in committed relationships and so a pregnancy is a major “oops” that is going to force decisions about how to proceed. Some parents realize they will face cross-examination from others because they are still nursing the last child. A pregnancy is a major social change and Jesus accurately talks about the changes that are coming with the crucifixion/resurrection as birth pangs the disciples will soon experience. Judas will betray Jesus. Peter will deny Jesus. Thomsas will refuse to believe until he sees evidence. Those early disciples had varied resposes to the resurrection and had to decide what the Temple met to them in their changing world.
Jesus starts his prophesy with “when,” when we hear about a pregnancy or when we heard the election results we began to invision the future. Martin Luther was criticized for not focusing on end times but hethought he was living in end times because the infedels were\ at the gates threatening Christian Europe. He thought Christ was about to return. World War 1 and 2 looked like end times as war ravaged countries. I imagine that Christians in Ukraine find comfort in these verses as they face not only rumors but the realities of war. The persecuted church laments, “How much longer, Lord.” For many it is their everyday reality and for us it is rumors. We learn we are pregnant but until we feel the flutter of little feet, we are not quite sure if the pregnancy will grow to birth.
Women can also say that as the time to deliver the baby draws close, contractions are counted and the question of whether the pains are regular and recurrent is THE topic of discussion. Is it time to go to the hospital? The birthing bag with clothes and diapers is prepared and sitting by the door, ready for the social change that is approaching. Names are picked. Relatives are informed. Families, men and women, who go through the birthing process, do not really know what the future will look like. They prayfor a successful delivery and a healthy baby.
Jesus says that the birth pangs will be marked by false leaders claiming to be God and who will offer salvation. Lamaze classes had me practice breathing as I labored but as we drove to the hospital, I told my husband, it hurts. It is pain, not just labor! We are not to be deceived. Only God knows the future. Material security is not the same as eternal salvation. All the health, wealth, and prosperity that is preached these days does not change the fact that there are wars in our lives that try to convince us that Jesus does not care. It is so easy to dispair when we watch loved ones suffer with disease, when financial reverses complicate our lives, when children go astray, when friends betray, and it is so easy to become alarmed and to hear the Evil One whispering in our ears that Christianity is not the way.
Jesus tells his followers, “do not be alarmed.” That is often easier said than done. God has provided supports for us. The Holy Spirit is called the Comforter who walks within us during times of birthing pangs. The fellowship of believers, at our best, is a support system when we are bombarded with the trials of life. We can cry on each other’s shoulders. We have Scripture and we have music. We have the testimony of saints who have travailed before us. Our Lutheran heritage was birthed out of the pangs of the Reformation. World War 1 and 2 broadened our vision for the world. This election will produce changes but we must hear the words of Jesus today that we need not be alarmed. God walks with us into the future to create his Kingdom. Take a moment and shake the hand of the person next to you in the pew and say again, “The peace of the Lord be with you.”
this must take place, but the end is still to come
“THIS” must take place. Birth pangs are necessary to the birthing experience. These words throw us back to the Genesis story and foundational truths about our lives. We often get tripped up on whether God created the world in six or seven days and we argue about the roles of men and women. We might even disagree on whether babies are innocent and then learn to sin or if there is original sin. A lesson of Genesis, though,is that God designed life for community and caring. It is not good that we be alone. One of the truths I carry away from the creation story is that God created us in a beautiful, productive environment and it was not his desire that we eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It was not his desire that we carry the responsibility of knowing right from wrong. But it was also his desire that we not be robots and so he gave us choice. When sin entered death became necessary so that we would not need to live forever as fallen creatures. Pain alerts us to realize something is wrong and needs to change. Birth pangs must take place to alert us to prepare for the birth and change. Pain and trials turn our hearts to eternal truths and our need for God. We cry out and he saves. I am not saying pain is good but it serves a purpose and must be because we live in a fallen world as fallen creatures.
Dr. Paul Brand a famous British surgeon wrote a book titled The Gift of Pain. I read it while working in a famine relief camp. He talked about his discovery that painlessness is the root cause for the damage leprosy patients experience. Because of the loss of feeling pain they cannot feel foot wounds or burns. Today we talk about neuropathy. Birth pangs are necessary to proceed a major change experience.
One of the beautiful promises we associate with eternal life is the promise found in Revelation 21:4, 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” Birth pangs are necessary because God is creating the kingdom of heaven and wants to birth a new creation. Birth pangs will pass away.
Birth…“Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.”
HOPE
It is possible today to join the voices in the our world of wars and rumors of wars and to join the endless ponderings about the implications ofour elections, and to even debate about what our political stance should be given the dynamic at the border or the wars raging around us. We canbecome concerned like the disciples with God’s timing. We wonder, “When will all this happen?” Jesus calls us back to the reality that God is building a kingdom that will NOT look like the beautiful buildings of the Temple, will NOT look like Rome enslaving the Jews, and will NOT be characterized by false leaders promising and deceiving us. Jesus calls us to be people of hope. We are only experiencing birth pangs because God is working to create a new kingdom that will be different from what we see. The baby does not look like the embryo growing but does have characteristics of its father and mother. God’s kingdom will not look like a shriveled seed planted in dirt but will become a colorful flower or beautiful tree. We can be people of hope as we experience birth pangs. It is but the beginning of something great. We need not be alarmed. The social changes we are going through must happen because God is working. The goal of the birth pangs is new life, the birth of the kingdom of heaven. Lord, help us to trust.
Let the people of God say AMEN!
On the Way to Wonder 