Isaiah 51:4-6; Jude 20-25; Mark 13:24-37
Well this Sunday is a big Sunday in the Church Year! If you didn’t know it, it is the LAST Sunday of this church year. Next week starts Advent and the beginning of a new journey through the church calendar. This Sunday is also called the Sunday of Fulfillment in which we celebrate Christ fulfilling his ultimate plan for his people. It is also Christ the King Sunday in which Christ is celebrated as our ultimate King and Lord. And on top of all that it is the Sunday in which many churches talk about Thanksgiving! So it can be kind of hard to figure out what to talk about!
I’m going to start by talking about Thanksgiving, and we will get to the other stuff along the way, because in reality, all these topics are very closely related. In fact, anything that we talk about comes back to remembering the mercy and love that Christ has for his people, and encouragement to remember this in all the seasons of our lives. So it’s not going to be as complicated as it sounds!
That’s good, because this is a complicated time of year. How many of you have already started making preparations for your Thanksgiving Dinner? What kind of stuff do you have to do to get ready? From plane reservations for those who are travelling to making sure you have the right kind of cranberries, to washing the nice plates, to getting the right sized Turkey, and on and on and on! It get a little Crazy!
For the last couple of years Anne and I start thinking about Thanksgiving really early because we reserve a Turkey from the Poultry Science Club at OSU. It’s kind of odd, they raise this Turkey, and care for it, and learn about Poultry Science, and do all kinds of hard work. And then I come through on the Last Thursday in November and eat it. Anne likes the Turkey because it’s lean and organic, I like the Turkey because after I eat until I can’t stand it anymore, I can put my fork down and say, “I made my yearly contribution to science!” But in order to do this, we have to plan, to be diligent about reserving a Turkey all the way back in October so we can be sure to get one.
So I have to admit that I was not as up on my Thanksgiving History as I thought! What do you picture about the first Thanksgiving Meal? All kinds of pictures of these elaborate spreads, and Indians and Pilgrims dressed in their best clothes with their faces washed and their hair combed. Obviously a well planned event, invitations sent out well in advance, coordinated with precision. (“OK, Frank you bring mashed potatoes, and Running Bear, you bring a pie).
But that isn’t at all what happened in 1621, what is officially celebrated as the first Thanksgiving! There was no great pre-planning, or invitations, or forethought. The day started because the Pilgrims were going to have a big meal to commemorate the Harvest. And they went out to shoot some game to cook that evening. Well, the local tribe heard the gunshots and figured they were under attack and got 90 fighting men together and rushed the Pilgrims. When they finally got close they realized that there was no attack, but a big meal and these 90 natives decided, that they were all dressed for war an nowhere to go. So they left, and used their weapons to hunt some game of their own and came back. And then they had 3 days of feasting and games. A great time was had by all, but it wasn’t really a religious, or a meaningful celebration. And truly we would not have an Annual Thanksgiving Dinner now if things had just stopped there.
What made this holiday a Holy Day was actually what happened 2 years later. Things were very different this time. People thought for sure that they were all going to die. The crops were not looking good, in fact for 2 whole months there was no rain, not even a sprinkle. There were no aqueducts, or hoses to turn on, or anything like that. And as their stores of food dwindled away, they realized that the future was bleak. So they did the only thing left that they could. They prayed, they called out to God, as Isaiah 51 says, they lifted their eyes to the heavens and waited on the Lord.
And the rains came, and the tears streamed down hungry faces, and the crops grew. So the real first Thanksgiving meal was planned. It wasn’t thrown together, it wasn’t happenstance, it was planned, and solemn, and meaningful. Because it was truly a celebration of something real, this time. It was a celebration of their dependence upon God. A Thanksgiving for God showing them where to look in difficult times, and thanksgiving for a God who delivers His people.
And whether it’s an official holiday or not, these are good things for us to remember to do as well. To celebrate our dependence upon God, to remember where to look when times aren’t so easy, in fact, to celebrate God’s promises in the midst of real difficulties! We get a sense of this in each of our readings for today. They are all very different in one sense. One is from Isaiah 51 and deals with people who are held captive and prisoner away from their homeland, Mark is a Prophecy from Jesus about the coming persecution of Christians in the near and long term, Jude talks about people who scoff at believers, and try to divide churches, and teach lies, and follow their own path instead of God’s.
But in another sense, these lessons have one major theme in common. They all point us to what really matters, they all challenge us to see past all the details and struggles of daily life to see what will be left for us in the end. In short, all these lessons literally command us to wake up, to pay attention, to lift our eyes to the blessings that we can only see clearly when everything else is stripped away.
Take a closer look at Isaiah. These words were written for a people who could look at their lives, and I’m sure they did, and say, “Man things used to be so much better for me!” And in a lot of ways they would be right. They used to have a great city, and homes, and wealth, and stuff. And now they don’t have any of that stuff to look to, it’s all gone. They are captives, slaves, the low of the low. They don’t have money, or pride, or positions of power. They have nothing! It’s not a situation that I would wish on anyone.
But listen to the Words that God tell them. He says, you don’t have nothing. In fact, you are more blessed now, because now, without all this other stuff to cling onto and distract you, you can look for help where you should have been looking this whole time.
“Give attention to me, my people, and give ear to me, my nation; for a law will go out from me, and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples.
Look to ME, God says. All this other stuff won’t last. All this other stuff doesn’t matter. If you lost everything, if you are a slave, if you are broken down, but you have ME. Well, you have what matters. In fact, you have everything. Listen and be challenged by these words: Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath;
Look at what you have! Look as far as you can see, what is going to happen to all this?
the heavens vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and they who dwell in it will die in like manner;
None of this stuff, none of this challenge, none of this dishonor, or oppression can last! It is going to vanish, disappear like smoke, wear out like an old pair of work boots. Look up as far as you can see. Look out as far as you can see, look down and dig down as far as you can, and you still won’t find anything that matters in the end.
They weren’t blessed as far as the world is concerned. But God calls them blessed because they are beginning to be able to see what God wants them to see, to experience what does matter to God, and what should have mattered to them when they were wasting their time chasing after, and loving, and striving for the stuff of this world. God tells them: my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will never be dismayed.
Can you relate to this at all? Have you needed to be reminded of what is most important and what really matters? Hear what I’m saying, stuff does matter. When your car is in the shop, it stresses you out, and you need money to eat and live, and it’s nice to be able to work and save up for something you’d like (vacation, car, nice food, whatever). But have you ever found that you devote too much of yourself to these thing? Have you ever been so focused on these things that you lost sight of God, or at least got a cloudy picture of him for awhile? Good words for us, MY SALVATION will be forever, and MY RIGHTEOUSNESS will never be dismayed, or turned back. (can I get an AMEN?). Good, because don’t think for a second that I don’t write sermons for myself too. I’m glad you’re with me.
Mark has some similar words for us. In the verses before our readings, the disciples were walking into Jerusalem, and marveling at all of the great buildings: One disciple says, “Look Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent Buildings!” We’re like that too. We marvel at all kinds of things, “What a great house, what a beautiful car, is that a phone or a computer?, what a great retirement plan, and on and on.” What does Jesus say about that city of Jerusalem? Probably the same thing he would say about all the stuff we so admire, “Do you see all of these great buildings? Not one stone here will be left upon another, they will all be thrown down!”
It won’t last. “Heaven and earth will pass away, by MY WORDS will not pass away.” One day nothing else will matter. There will be a new heaven and a new earth, and not one of these things you hold so dear now, will you care about at all then. So what does God tell his disciples. FOCUS! BE ON GUARD! KEEP AWAKE! STAY AWAKE! He’s not telling them to go out and buy a triple shot espresso, or start studying for a final test, or anything like that. He says to them, remember what I say is important. Focus on what I tell you is important. Remember the GOSPEL. Remember MY WORD. Remember that I am coming back. Not as a scary message or a warning, but simply to say, no matter what, this is what matters. A good message for us too! How often do we neglect to read and hear God’s Words, which will never pass away, because we are too preoccupied with everything else, everything else that will go away, that won’t be part of our lives forever, that won’t be there for us in the end? (AMEN) STAY AWAKE! (Can’t say that in a sermon too often).
Now the reading from Jude. Jude was written to a group of people that we don’t know much about. But we do know what they were facing. There were false teachers who had wormed their way into the congregation and who were trying to tempt the Christians away from the Word of God. And the Holy Spirit gave Jude some important things to tell the Christians. First off, keep yourself committed to the one who is committed to you. Keep yourself wrapped up in the things that are most important. “But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.” Be built up in faith, and prayer, and the Word, which points you to the Mercy of Christ and Eternal life. Don’t neglect these things!
Then he goes on to say in essence, keep these things close, but not just for yourself, but so you can share the Word, share the mercy of Christ, you can share the hope of eternal life through the cross with others: “And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.” Bring the Gospel to others, but don’t get bogged down with their sins! This is a good reminder for us today as well (AMEN). We can think of all the different reasons why we exist, and why God put us on this earth. But the most important reason we are here, why we exist, is to experience the Love of Christ, and then to share that Love and Gospel with others. How often do we get it backwards, and do this if and when we have time, not thinking about every day as another opportunity to love people for Christ’s sake.
We get lost pretty easily. We have a lot in common with the people in Isaiah’s Day, and Mark’s Day, and Jude’s Day. But the most important thing we have in common with them, is that God loves us even at our lowest, and most sinful, and most shameful moments. And God hasn’t given up on us either. That’s something to keep in mind this Thanksgiving.
You’ll hear lot’s people talk about all that they are thankful for, and most of it is great stuff! Family, place to live, food to eat, job, friends. But what we have to be most thankful for, is that we know who to be thankful to. We are thankful for a God whose salvation is Forever, whose Word is forever, and who died on the cross for all of our sins, and rose again on the third day so that Jude could write that awesome ending to his book: “Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen”
Thank God! Thank God that he loves you so much that he will count you blameless and welcome you into his presence after everything else has vanished and worn out. And THEN go and load up that Thanksgiving plate, and pour on some more gravy, and douse that pumpkin pie with whipped cream, and smile and thank Him for everything else too. Can I get an AMEN?
