Live today for tomorrow

Good morning. My name is Ray Huff and I am an authorized lay worship leader for the Upper Susquehanna Synod. I am very proud to be with Walt Haussmann and Lou Kolb in this endeavor.

I am also not getting any younger. I keep reminding myself of the old adage: Old too soon and smart too late!

A few weeks ago I attended my first high school reunion. It was the 50^th reunion for the Class of 1965 of Peabody High School in Pittsburgh. A lot of things have changed in those 50 years, although I thought I looked fairly much the same except for a few wrinkles and pounds. My classmates changed big-time. They were really old! Even my high school changed; the old Peabody High School is now a charter school, the Barack Obama Institute for International Studies, 6-12. I would bet that their alma mater is not the same as ours was. Yep, I still remembered it!

We got caught up in the good old days. Since then, there has been a flurry of emails of remember whens and other nostalgia. If only we could return to those days of playing until the streetlights came on, double dog dare you, kick the can, and Father Knows Best. Life in the rear view mirror...life in the past-how we wish we could go back to those good old days. They were full of hope and the dream of parents was that their children would have a better world than they did.

We don't have quite that dream today. For many, the future does not look as bright today as ours did yesterday. These are rough times marked by ISIS, disease, immigration and refugee issues, unemployment or underemployment, and the like. Some folks say that they fear the world that their children and grandchildren will inherit.

If we look at today's lessons, we can see that not much has really changed at all. The Book of Daniel and this particular lesson from Mark deal with the end of things. Daniel is known for its apocalyptic writings and Mark 13 has been called the Little Apocalypse. These writings have been referred to by a fancy name; eschatology. In simple terms, writings having to do with the end of the present age, the so-called last things in the light of Christian hope.

Let's look at Mark and try to sort things out. We all know that Jesus preached in public throughout the land. In today's Gospel, He speaks privately with His disciples.

Now the immediate question is, "What is Jesus talking about here?" It seems like Jesus starts this sermon talking about one thing, and ends it talking about something entirely different.

One possibility is that this whole sermon is about the Jewish revolt against Rome from 66 to 70 AD. And this event certainly appears to be where Jesus starts his sermon, since he’s been focusing on the destruction of the Jewish temple since chapter 11. As they leave the temple after a series of debates, Jesus and his closest disciples walk onto the Mount of Olives, where they can see the whole temple structure from a great distance. Remember the temple was massive, probably the largest and most elaborate religious temple in the entire ancient world at this time. Jesus’ disciples are awestruck by the sight, as they admire the great buildings. This leads Jesus to predict the temple’s demise, that not one stone will be left on another. Indeed, the Romans did just that. Herod's temple had doors, walls and floors of pure gold. The Romans dismantled every stone to get to the gold that had melted into the cracks during the great fire with which the Romans began to destroy the entire city.

THERE WILL BE MANY SIGNS. Jesus is telling them about the end of time and things leading up to that event. He tells them that before that occurs, there will be deceivers. False messiahs and false priests will deceive many. They (and we) are to be on guard for these deceivers. In Mark's day there were false prophets and messiahs who were plaguing the church with their predictions. James Jones (Jonestown massacre) and David Koresh (Branch Davidians in Waco), and Sun-Yung Moon are but three examples of deceivers in our time.

There are less-recognizable examples of what could be termed deceivers. An example would be the mega-churches with huge buildings, lots of charisma, and a watered-down message that tries to offend no one.

Jesus tells of wars and rumors of wars. We have had them since the beginning of time. According to famed historian Will Durant, in the 3,421 years of recorded history, there have been 268 years of peace. The history of our world is of war. Jesus said that wars and rumors of war would increase as the end of time approached. My classmates and I have lived (although some died) through at least five U.S. wars in our time.

There will be earthquakes and famines and troubles that will be the beginning of the sorrows. We had the Black Death some centuries ago. Today we have AIDS, Ebola, SARS and other deadly plagues. Jesus says that these will be the beginning of the sorrows. A mother will tell you that that in giving birth, the contractions are just the start of a long, hard time ahead. Of course, the intense pain is rewarded with a baby. The pain that Jesus speaks of does not result in an immediate blessing. Jesus (and we) trust that the birthpangs will result in God's final vindication and blessing.

Mark's message was that this is not the end; we have the mission still before us because the gospel has not reached every nation; stay faithfully at your task and in your witness. Any teaching or idea, however religious and banked by Bible verses, which pulls us away, in panic or in neglect, from the Christian mission in the world is from a false prophet. (Fred Craddock).

THERE WILL BE DELIVERANCE. Jesus knew that He would be crucified. He told the disciples that they must be on guard, for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues you will be beaten; and you shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake for a testimony against them. The disciples indeed suffered for Jesus' sake. Eleven of the twelve disciples were martyred in the name of Jesus. Dietrich Bonhoeffer (whose picture hangs near the church office) was martyred by the Nazis after his standing up for the church against Hitler's regime.

In Acts, the first believers became witnesses to the truth. They faced horrible persecution and death. Many face the same fate in other parts of the world. Each week we are reminded of those who were murdered for their faith in the Prayer of the Church.

Here in America in general and St. Mark's in particular, we don't face the extremes that others have endured in the past and in the present. It is rare that a brother will betray another brother to death in America. This is not so rare in the Middle East. Fathers here don't betray their sons, and children do not rise up against their parents so that they will be put to death. This again is not so rare in other parts of the world.

But, with the erosion of families, the breakdown of communities and the values that our parents held so dear, and a growing feeling of people feeling that they can do whatever makes them feel good, the message of Jesus is not reaching everyone.

Yes, my classmates and I got all nostalgic as we were lost in the 60s once again. Many feel that it would be great to return to those days...or would it? Despite all of the problems in the world, I feel that the present day is a gift from God and it is up to us to make the most of it.

It is something like driving while looking through the rear view mirror all of the time. That mirror shows us where we've been and we can't go back there. We need to check the side mirrors as well to check for unforeseen obstacles. We certainly need to be sure to keep looking ahead through the front window so that we stay on course to our ultimate destination. I think that the message of Mark is that we need to do all that we can in our lives to continue to preach the message of Jesus's death, resurrection, and promise of eternal life, so that all will hear the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Instead of living in the future, God wants us to live our lives in the present. We should look forward to Christ’s second coming, but we can’t live in the future. We can, and must, live our lives in full devotion to Jesus Christ during this time of war and turmoil.

It is God's victory for which we wait, and in which we trust in the meantime. Let us all live and stay on course in the present so that we will safely arrive to His promise of our heavenly home. Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.