Humorist Lewis Grizzard writes about a man in his hometown named Luther Gilroy. Luther claimed he was out plowing his field and saw a sign in the sky that said THE END IS NEAR. So Luther let his mule and his cow out of their pens, gave all his chickens away, and climbed on top of his house to await the end. When it didn't come, he pouted and refused to come down off the roof. Finally, his wife called the deputy sheriff, who came over and said, "Luther, you idiot, I saw that same sign. It didn't say, `The end is near.' It said, `Go drink a beer.' Now come down off that roof before you fall off and break your neck." (1)
From Jesus' day to the present people have speculated about when the world would end. Over the centuries people have made calculations and predictions, sold or given away all their belongings, and gathered at appointed places to wait for the end of the world and for Jesus to return. Obviously, the world has not yet come to an end and Jesus has not returned.
Still, we wait. We look around at the world in which we live filled with violence and crime and racial tension. We read about child abuse, spouse abuse, drug and alcohol abuse, and we say, "Things just can't keep on going the way they're going." Times of uncertainty and crisis trigger thoughts about the end of time. And people always want to know when.
Jesus and his disciples were in Jerusalem for what would be Jesus' last week on earth. It was a confusing time for the disciples. They thought that once they got to Jerusalem great things would happen, and Jesus would establish his earthly kingdom. Things didn't turn out quite that way. Jesus had upset the religious officials and they were actively plotting against him.
It was in this time of confusion that the disciples were admiring the beauty of the Temple. The Temple had been restored some thirty years before and workers were still completing the detail work. The Temple could be seen from all directions as people approached Jerusalem. The outside of the building was covered with so much gold that an onlooker could scarcely look directly at it in bright sunlight. Josephus, the noted Jewish historian, described the temple as a sight to behold. "The Temple appeared to strangers, when they were at a distance, like a mountain covered with snow, for as to those parts of it that were not gilt, they were exceedingly white." (2)
As the disciples admired the Temple Jesus told them, "As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down." "Unthinkable!" thought his disciples. The Temple was built for all generations and would never be destroyed. Yet Jesus told them that one day the beautiful Temple would be nothing more than rubble. The disciples asked the question that has been on the lips of every generation since, "Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?" The disciples wanted to know when their world was going to crumble.
"Beware," said Jesus, "that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, `I am he!' and `The time is near!' Do not go after them." Jesus did not want his followers to become too preoccupied with thoughts of the future. He did not want them to be led astray by persons who make meaningless calculations. He did not want them to be paralyzed with fear.
"When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first," Jesus told them. "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven." This will be a time of trial, Jesus tells his disciples, and they will not be exempt. But neither will they be alone.
IN TIMES OF NEED, JESUS PROMISES THEM, YOU WILL RECEIVE STRENGTH FROM BEYOND. Rabbi Harold Kushner reflects on this strength. "I have seen weak people become strong," he writes, "timid people become brave, selfish people become generous. I have seen people care for their elderly parents, for brain damaged children, for wives in wheelchairs, for years, even decades, and I have asked myself, where do people get the strength to keep doing that for so long? Where do they get the resources of love and loyalty to keep going? The only answer I come up with is when we are weary and out of strength, we turn to God and God renews our strength, so we can run and not grow weary, so that we can walk and not feel faint." (3)
In times of persecution, in times of suffering, in times when our world seems to be crumbling, in times of our greatest need, we will receive strength from beyond ourselves. That strength comes from God. Jesus warns the disciples that the days ahead will be difficult. But they are not alone. And neither are we.
BECAUSE HE IS WITH US, WE CAN CARRY ON EVEN WHEN THE WORLD AROUND US IS FALLING TO PIECES. There were times in the disciples' lives when everything seemed to go wrong. People rejected their message. Some even tried to kill them. There were times when they did their very best and no one responded. Sometimes they were run out of town. Being a follower of Jesus required patience and endurance. It still does.
Bruce E. Olson tells of his experience as a missionary in South America. "I got off the plane in Venezuela that hot August day back in 1962 with only seventy-two dollars in my pocket, nineteen years old, alone, unable to speak Spanish, but convinced that the Lord had told me to go to South America and preach to the Indians."
He made friends with some natives and learned to speak Spanish. One day a respected colleague asked him, "Have you ever heard of the Motilone tribe?" He then described a legendary Stone Age Tribe that had resisted civilization. No one had ever learned their language. Few entering their territory ever returned. Bruce felt his heart stir, and he wrote, "I sank back in awe. I knew then that those were the people to whom God wanted me to go."
It was no easy task to reach these people. "We chopped our way through the jungle for seven days," he remembered. As they were making their way through the jungle, an arrow pierced his thigh. He fell to the ground. Out of the ferns stepped five squat brown men, eyes glittering under short-cropped hair. "I had met the Motilones," he writes. "They dragged me to my feet and I limped with them to their settlement." As the days passed his wounds festered. "I developed amoebic dysentery and began hemorrhaging blood," Bruce recalled.
Things would get much worse before they got better. "The period that followed was a nightmare of pain and trial," he remarks. "I continued to try to bring God's love to those people." For two weeks he lay in a hut dying. Finally, one of the natives took him to a clearing where he was picked up by a helicopter and taken to a hospital in Maracaibo where he was told it would be six months before he would recover. He could never return to a jungle climate. "But I had a deepening peace in my heart," Bruce wrote. "God had brought me to the Motilones; God would help me to continue. Within three weeks I was back up the river." Bruce Olson never gave up. He lived with this tribe for four years and eventually introduced these people to the love of God. (4)
Where do we get the ability to keep going even when everything appears to be going wrong? From God and God alone. In times of need we receive help from beyond. Thus we persevere. This brings us final thing to be said.
FOLLOWERS ARE NOT TO SIT BY AND DO NOTHING WHILE WAITING FOR CHRIST'S RETURN. While we wait we have work to do.
What kind of work? All kinds of work ” loving work, encouraging work. Let me give you an example.
Douglas Maurer, fifteen of Creve Coeur, Missouri, had been feeling bad for several days. His temperature was ranging between 103 and 105 degrees, and he was suffering flu-like symptoms. His mother, Donna, took him to the emergency room where blood tests revealed one of the most agonizing things a parent can learn about a child. Douglas was diagnosed as having leukemia.
During the next forty-eight hours, Douglas endured blood transfusions, spinal and bone marrow tests and chemotherapy. For five days his mother stayed in his hospital room. The doctors were frank about his disease. They told him that for the next three years he would have to undergo chemotherapy. They told Douglas that he would go bald, and that his body would most likely bloat. Upon learning this, he went into deep depression.
On his first day in the hospital he said to his mother, "I thought you get flowers when you're in the hospital." One of his aunts called Brix Florist in St. Louis. His aunt wanted the sales clerk to be aware of the flower arrangement's significance. "I want the planter to be especially attractive. It's for my teenage nephew who has leukemia," she told the clerk. "Oh," said the salesclerk. "Let's add some fresh-cut flowers to brighten it up."
When the floral arrangement arrived it was beautiful. Douglas opened the envelope and read the card from his aunt. Then he saw another card. The second card read: "Douglas ” I took your order. I work at Brix Florist. I had leukemia when I was seven years old. I'm 22 years old now. Good luck. My heart goes out to you. Sincerely, Laura Bradley."
Douglas' face lit up. His mother said, "For the first time since he had been in the hospital, he had gotten some inspiration. He had talked to so many doctors and nurses. But this one card, from the woman at the florist who had survived leukemia, was the thing that made him believe he might beat the disease." (5) Often it is the little extra things that we do that make a difference. Loving things, encouraging things. Whether the world comes to an end today or billions of years from now, we want to be found not sitting on a roof-top looking crazily into the sky, but ministering to God's children.
I'm sure you've heard of Marva Collins. She's the brilliant educator who founded Westside Preparatory School in Chicago in 1975. She has nurtured and cherished so many children, including three of her own. She has taken the children under her tutelage to exceptional heights. She expresses it this way: "God gives me a strong back to endure the pace of what is expected of me here and to be reminded that we eat an elephant one bite at a time...and if this is my last day on earth I will never have to say, `God, I wish I had done more.'" (6)
What a great spirit. We can go on even if the world around us like the Temple at Jerusalem is crumbling. Why? Because He is with us. He has promised us strength from beyond ” strength not only to endure, but strength to do those loving things, encouraging things, He has called us to do in His name.
1. Lewis Grizzard, CHILI DAWGS ALWAYS BARK AT NIGHT (New York: Villard Books, 1989), p. 52.
2. THE INTERPRETER'S DICTIONARY OF THE BIBLE (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1962), pp. 551-553.
3. Harold Kushner, WHO NEEDS GOD? (New York: Summit Books, 1989), p. 137.
4. Bruce E. Olson, "Mission to the Strangest Place," SNOWFLAKES IN SEPTEMBER, (Nashville: Dimension for Living, 1992), pp. 22-26.
5. Bob Greene, HE WAS A MIDWESTERN BOY ON HIS OWN (New York: Athenaeum, 1991), pp. 17-19.
6. Pearl Bailey, BETWEEN YOU AND ME (New York: Doubleday, 1989), p. 84.