The Rev. Douglas L. Meyer tells of working at a college radio station during his undergraduate day. These were the days before computers and CDs. They were a small operation so the deejays also read the news. The news they read each hour came in on two teletype machines which clattered away constantly.
What he remembers most was that these machines had bells attached that the broadcaster could hear faintly even in the broadcast booth. These bells would go off when a particularly important story came over the wire. Posted above the teletype machine was a list of what the various number of rings of the bells meant. Normal headlines and news was signaled with only one or two rings three or four rings meant a severe storm or tornado five or six rings meant a major accident or disaster (like a plane crash or ship sinking) seven or eight rings meant a national emergency of some type (like the death of a president) nine or ten rings meant a grave national or global threat (a nuclear attack was the definition in those days.) Under the last entry fifteen rings someone had written, “Cubs win the World Series.” (1)
Today’s scripture lesson would require an infinite number of rings. Mark 13 is one of those chapters in the Bible that would scare you to death if you were to dwell on it and some pastors do dwell on it, as you know. Chapter 13 of Mark is about the end of the world. Earthquakes, giant buildings falling down, wars and rumors of wars and eventually, “the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.” It’s a scene to which even Hollywood with all its special effects could not do justice. It’s scary.
Comedian Bill Cosby says that as a child he loved to be scared. So, he listened to scary programs on late night radio. Even though he knew the stories really weren’t real, he was still prepared. He had a bowl of Jello in the refrigerator. When he would get real scared and think the monster was coming into the house he would smear Jello on the linoleum on the kitchen floor in front of the door outside. He rationalized that the monster would either be scared of the Jello or slip and fall on it, hurting or killing itself upon impact. Of course, he never did get any monsters, but he did manage to hurt his father who slipped on the Jello instead. (2)
The apocalyptic language of Mark 13 about the end of the world is not the sort of thing you want to read right before falling off to sleep. It’s that scary.
But life is scary. Isn’t it? I don’t want to ruin your day, but even if you and I are not here when history comes to an end and the “stars fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies are shaken” there is much in life to fear. If you were in the Twin Towers on 9-11, you would think the world had come to an end. For 2750 people who died that tragic day, it was the end of this world. Every day people die in tragic accidents, or homicides. Every day, someone gets a diagnosis of a fatal disease. We don’t have to think about the end of time to get ourselves into an anxious state. There are enough possible personal tragedies to keep us in turmoil. And so we need to deal with Mark 13. We need to confront the fact of dramatic upheavals that will come to us all as time passes, whether it is the end of the world, or a terrorist attack or a life-threatening disease or whatever may come our way.
None of us knows the future. That’s the first thing we need to see. As the popular saying goes, “If you want to give God a laugh, show Him your Dayplanner.”
It’s only prudent that we make plans and that we keep to schedules, but no one really knows what tomorrow will bring. Be careful driving home today. You never know . . . And, of course, that’s just the point.
I think it’s telling that in this 13th chapter of Mark our Master says that even he doesn’t know when God will bring down the final curtain on the human experiment. We read in verse 32, “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”
Of course, that doesn’t keep self-anointed prophets from setting dates from time to time and getting gullible followers all alarmed. The world will end someday. Every good scientist will tell you that. The Bible teaches us that at that time Christ will set up his kingdom. You would think that would cause Christians to rejoice rather than to recoil in horror. But we do not know when that will be, personally or as a people.
In her book, Out of Africa, Isak Dinesen tells about her cook, a Kenyan named Kamante. She says that one night, after midnight, Kamante suddenly walked into her bedroom with a hurricane-lamp in his hand. He spoke to her very solemnly, “I think that you had better get up. I think that God is coming.”
Isak Dinesen says that when she heard this, she did get up, and asked why he thought so. He gravely led her into the dining room which looked west, toward the hills. Through her windows she saw a strange phenomenon. There was a big grass-fire going on out in the hills. The grass was burning all the way from the hill-top to the plain. When seen from the house, she says, it made nearly a vertical line. It did indeed look as if some gigantic figure was moving and coming toward them. She stood for some time and looked at it, with Kamante watching by her side. Then she began to explain to him what was happening. But the explanation didn’t seem to make much impression on him. She says he clearly took his mission to have been fulfilled when he had called her to warn her.
“Well yes,” he said, “it may be so. But I thought that you had better get up in case it was God coming.” (3)
Well, someday God will come. We don’t know when. But of even more relevance to each of us, there will come a time when God will come for us personally. Maybe you would like to know when that time will be. Most of us, I suspect, would rather not know. It would be too heavy a burden to bear. We would prefer to leave such things to God.
That brings us to the second truth we need to acknowledge: God is still in charge. There is much in life that is beyond our control, but nothing is beyond God’s control. And God is our Abba, our Daddy. He loves us intimately, so why not leave things in God’s hands and relax?
Bishop Desmond Tutu, that amazing South African Christian, once spoke of his own struggle with life and with God. He recalled his favorite cartoon, a picture of God standing next to an open filing cabinet. Open files are strewn around that filing cabinet and God, in obvious despair, has His hand on His head. The caption has God saying, “[O no,] I seemed to have lost my copy of the divine plan.” (4)
Well, God hasn’t lost His copy of the divine plan, and God’s plan is still in effect. God is in charge of how and when time will end. And God is in charge of our lives. God will provide for our needs, regardless of what may come.
Gregory L. Fisher in Leadership magazine tells of teaching a class at the West African Bible College. One day the class was discussing the Second Coming of Christ. A student asked Fisher a question that took him by surprise. The question was this: “What will he say when he shouts?”
The student said, “Reverend, 1 Thessalonians 4:16 says that Christ will descend from heaven with a loud command. I would like to know what that command will be.” Fisher wanted to leave the question unanswered, to tell the student that they must not go past what Scripture has revealed, but his mind wandered to an encounter he had earlier in the day with a refugee from the Liberian civil war. The man, a high school principal, told him how he was apprehended by a two‑man death squad. After several hours of terror, as the men described how they would torture and kill him, he narrowly escaped. After hiding in the bush for two days, he was able to find his family and escape to a neighboring country. The escape cost him dearly: two of his children lost their lives. The stark cruelty unleashed on an unsuspecting, undeserving population had touched Fisher deeply. He also saw flashbacks of the beggars that he passed each morning on his way to the office. Every day he saw how poverty destroys dignity, robs people of the best of what it means to be human, and sometimes substitutes the worst of what it means to be an animal. Fisher says even now he is haunted by the vacant eyes of people who have lost all hope.
“Reverend, you have not given me an answer,” the student demanded. “What will [Christ] say?”
The question hadn’t gone away. “Enough,” Fisher said in answer to the question. “He will shout, Enough! when he returns.”
A look of surprise opened the face of the student. “What do you mean, enough?” And Fisher said firmly, “Enough suffering. Enough starvation. Enough terror. Enough death. Enough indignity. Enough lives trapped in hopelessness. Enough sickness and disease. Enough time. ENOUGH!” (5)
God’s plan is that there will come a time when suffering and death and despair will all be taken away. Enough! God has not mislaid God’s plan. Whatever comes our way, we can trust God for our future. God is in control.
Robert Louis Stevenson once put it like this:
The stars shine over the mountains,
the stars shine over the sea,
The stars look up to the Mighty God,
the stars look down on me;
he stars shall last for a million years,
a million years and a day,
But God and I will live and love
when the stars have passed away.
No one knows what the future may bring but we do Who holds the future. That One is our Loving Parent. God is in control.
This brings us to the final thing we need to say: The scout motto, but also the Christian’s motto for confronting the future is, “Be prepared.”
One of the tasks of life that many of us take quite seriously is to be prepared. We watch our savings, our 401(k)s, our stocks, our mutual funds. We want to have the funds we need for our old age. And we take care to make sure we are part of a good health plan, just in case. And that we have enough insurance for our family.
And we try to take care of ourselves physically and mentally and emotionally. We want to be strong in order to be able to meet any unexpected challenges.
The only place we are apt to shortchange ourselves in our preparations is spiritually, and this is just the place Mark 13 focuses. It may irk us as we drive through rural parts of our country to see the crude graffiti, “Are you prepared to meet God?” That doesn’t keep it from being an important question. Are you prepared to meet God.? Will you be able to give a good accounting of your life when that time comes? Yes, we are saved by grace, not works. That doesn’t lessen our need to grow spiritually. We need deep spiritual resources to draw on for the challenges we may face in the future, whatever may happen to our world. Are you prepared? Have you learned to draw upon God’s strength? Have you learned to trust God for the living of your life? Are you prepared? Regardless of when it will be, one day we will meet our Creator.
There is an enchanting story by Judy Urschel Straaslund, of a small town that had a rather unusual orchestra. Everyone was allowed to join, regardless of musical background. In fact, the Conductor wanted everyone in town to be a part of His orchestra, but some people refused. Some just didn’t want to play beautiful music. Also, the conductor made members sign a contract for life. Once you were committed, you were committed forever. That didn’t appeal to some.
Now, the Conductor had worked long and hard writing a wonderful score of music titled, “The Grand Finale.” He was eager for His musicians to learn it. But after a few preliminary instructions, the Conductor left and let the musicians practice it on their own. His only stipulation: it must be ready in time for the great Concert Day.
Well, all the instruments went off to practice their parts, but it wasn’t long before they were arguing among themselves. The French horns criticized the violins for having such freewheeling, unorthodox methods for their practice together, while the violins were bored by the overly consistent, methodical practice sessions of the French horns. The bassoonists kept to themselves during rehearsal, and rarely let anyone else hear their music. Meanwhile, the drums were out pounding a beat at every strip club and beer joint in town. Was that really the appropriate place for this music to be played?
That wasn’t the only problem. All the different instruments interpreted the musical score differently. Some played it in the style of a hymn, full of majesty and solemnity. Others preferred the style of a victory march, assertive and straightforward. And still other instruments interpreted the score as a love song, gentle and soulful. And there were a thousand other minor variations that drove them all to distraction. It left the town wondering: would the orchestra make beautiful music together on that great Concert Day when the Conductor returns? (6)
And that’s why we can’t neglect Mark 13 with all its scary elements. We need to ask ourselves whether we are ready for the great Concert Day. We need to take an accounting of our lives. No one knows the future, but we know the One who holds the future. What is the state of our soul? Are we prepared for whatever may come our way? Are we prepared to meet God?
1. http://www.holyspirit‑elca.org/SERMONS/2002/021302.html
2. The Rev. William D. Oldland, http://www.stthomasreidsville.org/sermons/20031116.htm
3. (Random House, 1937).
4. Michael W Hopkins, http://www.twosaints.org/Sermons/2006‑08‑06.htm.
5. “Second Coming,” 1991.
6. “The Orchestra,” cited in Stories for the Heart compiled by Alice Gray (Sisters, OR: Multnomah, 1996), pp. 221-222.