15th November - Canon Stephen Carter

2^NDBEFORE ADVENT 2009   THE EUCHARIST

Mark 13:7

When you hear of wars and rumours of wars, do not be alarmed: this must take place, but the end is not yet.

The remaking of the film, “The Omen” suggests that there is still a fascination with predictions of the end of the world: the day when the anti-Christ,  marked with the sign of the beast, will return to earth for the final show down.

We live in a pessimistic age, when people are faced with the very real possibility that the world as we know it may come to an end. That it could happen in our life time. We are daily bombarded with dire warnings about the changing environment and global warming. We are conscious of the dangers of rogue states getting their hands on nuclear weapons. There is a fear that new viruses may mutate and wipe out huge numbers of people in terrifying pandemics. There are many people who believe that we are approaching the end of the world. And there are some world politicians who seem determined to help it along and  make it happen more quickly!

Throughout history there have been times when it was believed the end of the world was near. This should not surprise us. In today’s Gospel Jesus warns us that there will be false alarms and false warnings of the end of the world. Many will be misled, he warns. But the end is still to come.

The sayings in today’s Gospel occur in the passage know as the Little Apocalypse. This is a collection of Jesus’ sayings about the end of the world. The Parousia is the technical word that is used to describe the Second Coming of Christ. New Testament scholars tell us these sayings of Jesus were remembered, thought upon and preached about among the early Christians. As some of us were reflecting at the Bible study on Wednesday, this was just at the time when the hopes for Christ’s immediate return were beginning to fade.   

The first Christians had believed that Christ would return very soon. Life in a hostile world was beginning to seem harder and longer than they had anticipated. The words of Jesus seemed to imply that the end would be soon: but not very soon. Not before there had been wars and rumours of wars and earthquakes and persecution.

But Jesus’ emphasis is on the “Not yet”. He warns us not to get excited about rumours that he has returned. Not to speculate about the day and the hour when  the end will come. It was becoming clear to those first Christians that they were not going to be able to drop everything to welcome Christ’s return. They must first settle down a long life of witness and service: perhaps even to be tested by persecution and martyrdom. But still the end is not yet.

Twenty centuries have passed since Mark wrote his Gospel. The long haul has proved far longer than any of those first disciples could have imagined.

In a strange way we are like those first Christians. We know neither the day nor the hour of the Lord’s return. So how are we to understand the amazing prophecies and images of the end, which we see in the New Testament? What are we to make of it all?

Firstly, all these prophecies speak of the conviction that the whole story is leading somewhere. That the Universe  and our existence in it, are not some meaningless accident. That there is a divine purpose. Yes, there will be an end: but an end that is far more than a termination. Rather, Christ’s coming will be a consummation- the conclusion and the fulfillment of God’s ultimate purpose for the whole of his creation.

Secondly, as Christians we are on a long journey. The end is not yet. But we are traveling on the road. We have to go on living in the rough and tumble of the real world. Our Christian lives must be lived out among the changes and chances of this fleeting world: with all its conflicts and upheavals; with its wars and rumours of wars –and earthquakes in divers places.

But thirdly- and this is the promise found in today’s Gospel-“he who endures to the end will be saved”. These Sundays before Christmas are a preparation for the celebration of the first coming of Christ. But they also life our eyes to that other Advent: the End-when all our questions will be answered and all our longings fulfilled. The one, who in his first coming came as a servant, will come again as the Lord of all Creation. There will be no mistaking him when he comes. For every eye will behold him.

“Hope deferred makes the hear sick” says the old proverb. Because Christ did not return in their life time, some of the first Christians began to loose heart. They had to be exhorted not to be like the servant who thinks his master is late in coming.

“He that endures to the end will be saved” said Jesus. For some of those Christians, enduring meant persecution, even martyrdom. This is still the case for some Christians in our world today. There are Christians in many countries who need heroic courage and superhuman fortitude.

But for most of us, I guess the Christian life is rather more ordinary. Just a question of being faithful, saying your prayers, going to church, being a Christian in the world – and just getting on with it. And so we go on waiting and longing for Christ’s return-for his reign of love and justice: for an end to war and oppression suffering. In Advent we yearn for that day.

But the end is not yet. But he who endures to the end will be saved.