A father knocks on his son\u2019s door. \u201cJaime,\u201d he says, \u201cWake up!\u201d Jaime answers, \u201cI don\u2019t want to get up, Papa.\u201d The father shouts, \u201cGet up, you have to go to school.\u201d Jaime says, \u201cI don\u2019t want to go to school.\u201d \u201cWhy not?\u201d asks the father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThree reasons,\u201d says Jaime. \u201cFirst, because it\u2019s so dull; second, the kids tease me; and third, I hate school.\u201d And the father says, \u201cWell, I am going to give you three reasons why you must go to school. First, because it is your duty; second, because you\u2019re forty-five years old; and third, because you are the headmaster.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anthony de Mello, a Jesuit priest, tells this story at the beginning of his book, \u201cAwareness.\u201d He uses it to send home his message that in order to lead a spiritual life one has first to wake up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Gospel passage today is also a wake-up call. It comes from the chapter of Mark that has come to be known as \u201cthe little apocalypse.\u201d Apocalyptic is the loud knock, the harsh voice, and the cold floor meeting your bare feet when you would rather stay safe and warm in your comfortable bed. Apocalyptic is always a call to wake up to spiritual reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus is always saying things to startle his followers into wakefulness. At the beginning of this chapter in Mark, Jesus comes out of the Temple with four of his disciples. One of them comments, \u201cLook, teacher! What huge stones! What wonderful buildings!\u201d You can imagine a sunny day, the smiling disciples, and then, splash!, Jesus throws the cold water of apocalyptic by telling them, \u201cThere will not be one stone left here on another \u2013 not one that will not be thrown down.\u201d The disciples smiles turn to anxious frowns and they ask, \u201cWhen \u2013 when will this happen \u2013 how will we know when it\u2019s about to happen?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus does not answer their question directly. First, he warns them of the sufferings and persecutions they will suffer and exhorts them to endure. Then, finally, he tells them more specifically about the destruction of the Temple. He says the sign that the moment has arrived will be the appearance of the \u201cdesolating sacrilege.\u201d This phrase comes from the book of Daniel where it refers to the altar to Zeus set up on the altar of burnt offering by Antiochus Epiphanes in 168 BC. This act of idolatry was \u201cdesolating\u201d because it put an end to temple worship at that time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now Jesus is using this historical phrase to predict a future and similar event. There will be some future desecration that will lead to the end of the temple. Although we\u2019re not sure what that desecration was, we do know that the temple was destroyed in 70 AD by the Romans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this passage we see two aspects of apocalyptic: the predictive and the historic. The passage was predictive when Jesus uttered it, but it was predictive in the historical setting of his time. But is that all this passage has to say to us? Doesn\u2019t this reading render the passage moot for us today?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, trying to make apocalyptic relevant for today is where many, many people get in serious trouble. How many of us shudder when we remember the utterly convinced friend who assured us that 666 stood for Henry Kissinger? Or, in the next decade, the person who said 666 stood for Ronald Reagan? There is even an independent church in Amarillo, Texas that only last year said the true identity of the antichrist might be \u2014 Prince Charles! Using apocalyptic as literal predictions of the future of the planet earth \u2014 and trying to match up symbolic language with actual people and events will only lead to terrible abuses. One has only to remember David Koresh in Waco, and before him Jim Jones in Jonestown. Beware of anyone who thinks they can tell you exactly how the end times will be or when they will come. As Jesus said, no one knows this \u2014 not angels, not even Jesus himself \u2014 but only God, the Father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, when I suggest there might be more in this passage, I am not suggesting we go down the predictive road which leads nowhere. And although the historic reading of the text is important, there is a third way to think about apocalyptic. According to Richard Hays in his book \u201cThe Moral Vision of the New Testament,\u201d one can also think and interpret apocalyptic as theopoetic. In other words, poetical language used to make a theological point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The point of what Jesus says in this passage is not: go sit on your rooftops and wait for me to come again. Neither is it, roll over in bed and go back to sleep, because this has no meaning for you. This passage paints a picture of terrible disaster and suffering and it implies that this distress is the great tribulation which precedes the end of the age. The truth is the world has never been without massive suffering: wars, famines, refugee migrations, mass murders and holocausts, natural disasters \u2013 when they are happening to you and to people you love it is the great tribulation \u2013 it is the end of the world as you know it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And when this great tribulation hits \u2013 are you awake or asleep? Do you come prepared with a knowledge of God\u2019s love and care, which can give you hope and stamina to endure? Or do you come as people who have postponed knowing God? Do you come as casual or nominal people of faith? Or do you come with commitment and trust? Do you hear this wake up call as a call to greater responsibility for the stewardship of your life and all creation? Or do you hear it as an excuse to abdicate responsibility \u2013 and project onto God your own destructiveness?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The great tribulation is here. And those who are awake are called to stay awake \u2013 to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ to those who have no reason to hope and to minister to any in need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus wants you to wake up to the fact that the decisions you are making today have eternal weight. You can decide to roll over and go back to sleep. God will not force you to wake up. Or, you can get up and discover you\u2019re forty-five or twenty-one or seventy years old and have a job to do. It\u2019s time to get up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This sermon was written by Elizabeth Welch Parker<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A father knocks on his son\u2019s door. \u201cJaime,\u201d he says, \u201cWake up!\u201d Jaime answers, \u201cI don\u2019t want to get up, Papa.\u201d The father shouts, \u201cGet up, you have to go to school.\u201d Jaime says, \u201cI don\u2019t want to go to school.\u201d \u201cWhy not?\u201d asks the father. \u201cThree reasons,\u201d says Jaime. \u201cFirst, because it\u2019s so dull;…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":201212,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_tec_requires_first_save":true,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[43,52,33,1953],"tags":[364],"class_list":["post-511908","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sermons","category-sermons-that-work","category-the-season-after-pentecost","category-worship-and-prayer-menu","tag-proper-28b"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":43,"label":"Sermons"},{"value":52,"label":"Sermons That Work"},{"value":33,"label":"The Season After Pentecost"},{"value":1953,"label":"worship_and_prayer_menu"}],"post_tag":[{"value":364,"label":"Proper 28B"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":[],"comment_info":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/511908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/sermon"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/511908\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3475771,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/511908\/revisions\/3475771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}