Year C. twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost Luke 21: 5-19, November 18, 2001
Heavenly Father thank you for giving us signs to find your hidden presence. Amen.
Title: “What are the meanings of signs?”
In all three Synoptic gospels, just before the passion narrative, there is a “sermon” on the “last things,” called by some “Jesus’ eschatological discourse” and by others “Jesus’ apocalyptic discourse.” None of the three terms-discourse, eschatological or apocalyptic- is entirely accurate or helpful. The verses in question are not a continuous sermon but a collection of isolated sayings of Jesus put together to summarize his teaching on the end of time. Having said that, one might think that “eschatological” which is defined as, the branch of theology that is concerned with the end of the world or of humankind. A belief or a doctrine concerning the ultimate or final things, such as death, the destiny of humanity, the Second Coming, or the Last Judgment,” would be appropriate. It is not, for Jesus mixed his teaching on the “end of time” or the “end time” with other “ends, “timely ends,” the end of one’s personal time in this world, the end of “the world of meaning” for the Jews, that is, Jerusalem and the Temple, even the end of our own personal worlds of meaning encountered in disasters- cosmic, natural, political, social and personal. While it is true that Jesus used familiar “apocalyptic” imagery- the falling of stars from the sky, eclipses of sun and moon, political upheavals, wars, pestilence, famine, hurricanes and floods- he used them to illustrate, dramatize, emphasize his more profound points than to describe actual occurrences. Such occurrences, he pointed out, happen all the time, in every age. They are not necessarily “signs” of the End. They are signs of evil. Always present on earth, evil flares up at times and becomes painfully and undeniably obvious. Such as what happen on September 11th to the World Trade center.
Luke copied some of what he says here straight from Mark 13:8-11. However, he depends on Mark for more than that. To Mark he adds his own peculiar material, called “L” for Luke. He wants to clarify what Mark has said in the light of two related matters: First, the prophecy that Jerusalem would be destroyed has been fulfilled, Luke writes well after 70AD; and second, the End has not yet come and does not look like its coming any time soon, in earth years. So, he separates, more than Mark or Matthew, the end of Jerusalem from the End Time. It is advisable to refrain from using the term “end of the world” here, for Luke does not use it or really have it in mind. “End Result,” the final state of affairs, might be a better term. In fact, neither Luke nor Mark use the term “Parousia,” which means second coming, for the coming of the Son of Man. Only Matthew does. Luke wants to make a different point.
Jerusalem represented to a Jew his or her whole “world,” his or her whole world of meaning. All the meaning of life was wrapped up in what Jerusalem symbolized. For that city to come to a physical end meant the collapse of their world, wherever they might physically live. Jesus predicted that it would end and it did. Luke wants to say to “everyone who lives on the face of the earth” (21:35) that their world and world of meaning will come to a similar end. Thus, all must prepare for the inevitable, sudden and surprising though it may be. The fulfilled prophecy of the end of Jerusalem serves to bolster the fulfillment of the as yet unfulfilled prophecy of the end of everybody’s world, everybody’s center of meaning and life. The end of Jerusalem was a foreshadowing, a precursor, a harbinger of the big End at the end for all. It was a prime and typical example of what Jesus means when he speaks of the last things, the end, the End Time, the day of judgment, the day(s) of the Son of Man, Notice he does not say the end of all. There is really no clear indication that the physical world, God’s creation, this universe will ever stop existing, at least, in some form. What the Bible and, especially, Jesus indicate is that our world, as we know it, the meaning this world holds for us, will end and where we are when that happens is determinative of where we begin in eternity. Thus this world, especially world of meaning, this time, our time on this planet, is our opportunity to make decisions about who is first in our lives and to live according to that decision, so that the “end” will find us ready to begin.
In verses five to seven,
The Question.
People, most likely visitors or pilgrims, were admiring the physical beauty of the Temple, much as tourists admire the many wonders of the world. Beginning in 20BC Herod the Great had begun renovations and expansions on the Second Temple, the one built after the Return from Exile and dedicated in 515 BC. It was not nearly as grand as the first one built by Solomon. So, Herod was going to make it better and he did. It took until 63AD to complete, a short seven years before it was destroyed again by the Romans. People would be admiring the renovation work. Jesus took the occasion to remark that before long it would be destroyed again. His disciples took his remarks to mean a prophecy, one fulfilled in 70AD. As these verses stand in the text, Jesus could have simply been referring to the undeniable, if rarely admitted, fact that all things decay, die or are destroyed. It is the nature of earth and life on it. Whatever his intent, the disciples ask him when it will happen and how will they know of its coming. Like a person told he or she has terminal cancer, the first question is about the timing of the end and the second one is about the signs indicating its imminence.
In verses eight to eleven, The Signs of the End.
Jesus lists the by-now standard apocalyptic signs of the end- false messiahs, claiming the end is imminent, wars, insurrections, earthquakes, famines, plagues, strange events in the skies- and states they are signs, manifestations of evil in every age, the present one included. His disciples are not to be frightened by them or duped into believing that they are more than they are. They are signs of evil, not the End. They will necessarily precede the End because they are ever present. Because they are signs of evil in every age they are not to be lightly dismissed. They should be taken seriously as reminders, signs that all will end some day- either personally in one’s death, as these frequently cause many deaths in their wake; nationally, in the death of a country conquered or destroyed by another; or naturally, in the death caused by natural disasters, etc. The Christian should interpret these otherwise signs of evil as salutary reminders to shape up before the real and final end.
In verses twelve to nineteen, Persecution, a Sign and a Test.
In verse twelve, before all this happens: The Greek has “before all these things.” While the Greek pro, before, can mean “before,” in the sense of time, it can also mean “before” in the sense of precedence or rank. The Greek may be saying, “More important than all these things, I have just mentioned about disasters, is the personal persecution you will suffer.” The focus shifts from external disasters to personal ones.
In verse fourteen, you are not to prepare your defense in advance; Jesus’ followers will be hauled in front of authorities of every stripe. They need not rehearse their defense. Jesus will take care of their defense when the time comes. Mark assigns this role to the Holy Spirit, but Luke avoids mention of the Spirit in this latter portion of his gospel. He will take up the Spirit’s role much more in Acts. Even family members will turn on them and turn them in.
In verse eighteen, not a hair on your head will perish; this sounds both like a proverb and a metaphorical exaggeration. Of course, their physical life will not be spared, only their eternal life. Persecution is both a sign one is doing right and a test of one’s sincerity.
In verse nineteen, by your endurance you will gain your souls. The disciples may endure all kinds of hardship, torture and even death, but nothing can really harm their essential being if they stand firm.
Our text ends here but the “discourse” continues to make the following points: 1) although Jerusalem will be destroyed in verses twenty to twenty four, the final end is not yet, verses twenty five to twenty eight; 2) the best and only preparation for any “end”- be it the final one or the “in-between” ones is vigilant fidelity.
Sermon
When Jerusalem was destroyed the world, as any Jew would know it, was destroyed along with it. We have the same sort of experiences in our lives. We experience the “end” of many things and the “loss” of many people in a lifetime. The physical world as we know it can be destroyed by flood, hurricane, fire or earthquake. The whole earth does not need to be destroyed, just our little part of it, for us to know what Jesus is talking about. Our social world can be destroyed by “final” arguments ending in divorce, being disowned by family, shunned or “as good as dead.” Our political world can be destroyed by war. Our economic world can be destroyed by depression, recession, or unemployment, not to mention famine, hunger, disease and epidemics. We live in many “worlds,” spheres of meaning, and any of them can collapse at any moment. Our questions are no different from the early disciples: Are there signs of endings and how can we prepare?
The signs are pretty much the same for every generation. These so called apocalyptic events or signs are really no more than the “normal,” part of any age. Wars, pestilence, famine, bad weather, eclipses, family disunity, religious persecution, are part and parcel of life. They do cause the “end” of some people’s lives- many people in some cases. They do cause the “end” of many people’s world, as they knew it. But, they really only become “signs” when their deeper meaning is divined. Just as the hidden presence of God is revealed in and through “signs,” visible, tangible manifestations of that invisible presence, so also the presence of evil is revealed through signs. An event, object or person only becomes a “sign” when this broader and deeper meaning is grasped. What Jesus is teaching is that all the tragedies in our lives that spell E-N-D, for us, if not for all, which may seem like the “end,” the final state of affairs, is not really the “End.” But, they can become “signs” of the “End.” If they do, if we see their deeper meaning, we can grasp that they are not only sources of grief and pain, but also opportunities for growth and joy. We are tested, really pre-tested, by these events. Will we remain faithful to the Lord or will we cave in or give up? Will we stop living, loving, growing, giving, when we experience an “end” of the world as we comfortably knew it? Will we cut and run or will we stand up and face the challenge? Mercifully, Jesus is indicating to his disciples that they will experience the end of Jerusalem, central symbol of all meaning in a Jewish universe. However, it is not the Big End or the Final End, even though it will seem like it at the time. But, there is something to be learned from it. In one sense it is a dress rehearsal for the final End when one’s entire life will be judged, a judgment never to be revised. How Jesus’ disciples fare, behave, and weather these earlier and relatively minor storms will school them and steel them for future ones and, before all else, the final one. These tragic events really only become “signs of the end” when we perceive them from the viewpoint of eternity and as opportunities to test and try our faithfulness, no matter how evil and painful they are otherwise. It is the “more” which we grasp in every situation.
There is really only one preparation for these many “ends” in a human lifetime. It is living well, living our daily lives in the presence of God. He will prepare us, prepare our defense and protect our essential lives. A person may be surprised to learn from his or her doctor that he or she has a terminal illness. It is too late then to prepare. The best preparation, of course, would have been a life of regular exercise and a healthy diet. If the person actually lived that way and still got sick, that person would have a better than average chance of either fighting the disease successfully or of living longer than the ordinary prognosis would estimate. So it is with all the “ends” of our lives. If we daily take care of today’s business and challenges, neither procrastinating nor behaving as if we have all the time in the world, we grow stronger each day to face and live well in the next day, should another day be given to us. If not, we become progressively less equipped to take up the challenges of ordinary life, let alone the challenges of tragedies and extraordinary events. Perseverance up until the End involves a daily fidelity, not some flashy last minute resistance. The “signs,” when they become such for us, are wake-up calls and shake up calls to get us back to what is centrally important about daily life. The “End” of the world is happening all the time in all the little “ends” we experience.
Jesus does not predict when the physical world as we know it will end or even that it will end at all.
In anyone’s lifetime there are many “ends,” wherein a particular world of meaning ceases to exist.
The end of one’s time on earth, one’s physical death, marks an end to these other “ends” and the beginning of living in the End Time, which never ends.
How one lives and loves daily life, that is, with vigilant fidelity to the Lord, prepares one to face catastrophes, major and minor, which catastrophes, in turn, prepare one to face one’s physical death.
Apocalyptic signs are signs of evil, not of the end of the world; Christians interpret them as salutary reminders of judgment day.
Worlds of Meaning: There is not just one world. We live in several “worlds of meaning.” Indeed, every person we know is a “world of meaning.” In the course of a lifetime many, indeed most, of those “worlds” come to an end. It might be the end of a friendship, a relationship, or a marriage. It might be the end or death of a child, a parent, a sibling, a spouse, or a friend. It might be the death of a person whom we do not really know personally but was a symbol to us- a leader, a boss, a teacher, a role model. These are personal “ends, “ personal deaths really, of “worlds of meaning.” These “meaning worlds” are constantly changing, just as are the non-personal worlds of politics, economics, religion, technology, etc. These non-personal worlds can be as major as a tornado or as minor as a thunderstorm or fog. And, of course, the personal and non-personal “worlds of meaning” interact, overlap, intertwine. We all live in a complex of many worlds, many levels, many dimensions, of meaning simultaneously. They all mean something to us. Even the non-personal worlds still have personal meaning for us. When Jesus singled out Jerusalem as a “world of meaning” about to crumble, he was using the primary symbol of meaning for every Jew. Similarly, New York and Washington, D.C. are parallel symbols for Americans. Jesus was pointing out that the whole physical world does not have to cave in for people to experience the tremendous killing power evil possesses and can use. He was also pointing out that as bad as such experiences are, they are also opportunities to reshape one’s priorities, revise one’s values, and reform one’s life, before it is too late and one finds oneself at the “end of the ends, “ at the final point of decision without ever having made that final and determinative decision as to just how one would direct one’s life and who would be in charge of it. Yes, there are many worlds of meaning and they end or die throughout our lifetime. They can be seen as devastations only, as causes for depression and despair or they can be seen as challenges, as causes for repair. We can let the overwhelming feelings of sadness bury us alive or we can rebuild with the final end in mind and live in its light. When we do that all the other “ends” seem comparatively minor, less fearsome, and more survivable. We experience so many deaths along the way, every day really, that our physical death is really the end of death, the death of death, its conclusion. On the other side of it is life without death, without disasters, without disappointments, without disease, depression or despair.
Signs: Anyone can point to the apocalyptic signs we find in the Bible- false messiahs, wars, insurrections, earthquakes, famines, plagues, strange events in the skies- and link them up with current events. That is because they happen in every age. They are signs of evil, not of the end of the world, although they do spell the end of the world for many people, but not for all. Again, for Christians, they are salutary, though painful, reminders of our ultimate end, preceded by judgment day. As such, they do become “signs” for us, but very different ones than for those who erroneously think they have found the key unlocking the secret of when and how the physical world will end. When the physical world will end, if at all, is a scientific question, not directly related to our salvation, not really a religious question, though how we treat the physical world does affect our salvation. In Jesus Holy Name. Amen.
