November 17, 2024 at Saint Peter the Apostle Church in Naples, FL
Daniel 12: 1-3 + Psalm 16 + Hebrews 10: 11-14, 18 + Mark 13: 24-32
Time is a human invention. It is so basic to our way of life that we often forget that time is something we’ve made up. Some experts believe that the measurement of time began with agriculture since knowing when to plant required a calendar. We know from history that the first mechanical clocks were found in monasteries replacing the sun dial because they worked in the dark when monks kept their obligation to pray at fixed hours of the night.
We have discovered that time is precious with so many activities and obligations crowded into our day. It is so precious that anxiety and sometimes fear of the future creeps into our lives so much so that many will hear the words of this Gospel and be convinced that the end of time is near and it will be terrifying. I’ve always found it amusing to hear self-appointed prophets announce the end of the world. Shakers thought it would be 1792, but John Wesley preferred 1794. With all the hymns he wrote, I’m amazed he did not write one about that. For Jehovah Witnesses it was 1915, then 1918 five times later they said it would 1994. I questioned one of their missionaries about that when they came to my door in 1996. He wandered off a bit confused.
Jesus talks about the end too using the language and images of his day taken from the Old Testament. I suspect that if he were to speak to us right now about the end of time, he would probably use scientific terms and images. We’re more used that than the Old Testament. He might describe the sun using up its energy and this blue rock we’re on would turn to an ice cube and fly off into the universe. He might talk about us destroying everything with a nuclear explosion or some asteroid crashing into this planet.
What we ought to do with this text though is not waste time trying to guess when the end will come, and it is just as useless to try and imagine how. What Mark is calling us to do is not look up into the sky or run around preparing for some cataclysm as though we were preparing for the next hurricane. Mark is urging us to transform our time to the time of God. Mark has no desire to frighten us, but to renew our hope during times of chaos and confusion. He writes to remind us that some of the things we treasure, like our careers, the IRA we depend upon, and even our health will one day be no more. Our separation from them may well be bitter and distressing, but if we are rooted with faith in God’s providence remembering that our precious time on earth could be used to draw us closer into the transforming presence of God, there is nothing to fear.
Mark’s Jesus does not picture the future in detail. No one knows the time of redemption, and he is not telling us what it will look like. All he needs us to know is that suffering will not be the last word — that the one who stands at the end of history is the same one who stood at its beginning. Holding to faith in Jesus Christ, using the Gospel as the compass of our lives will see us through. With every change in direction, with every wrinkle of age, with every changing world and passing stage, we shall always inherit the promise of the Resurrection. That is how Jesus Christ faced his own end in time, endured his own suffering, and that is why he came from a tomb where there was no time into the time of God.