Sermon Briefs: Mark 13:1-8

In a provocative article published over thirty years ago, Daniel L. Miglior ¹ suggests that the Christ event is the opening up of history to surprising possibilities. "The proclamation of the resurrection of the crucified inspires a missionary consciousness which aims at `infecting men with hope' (J.C. Hoekendijk)." The biblical understanding of God, asserts Migliore, is not as a timeless absolute who stands above or beyond history but as a promising power who keeps history on the move toward new horizons. Simply, the biblical God is experienced as the one who shatters the old and commences the new; the one who "creates ever fresh openings for the building of a genuine human community of righteousness and love."

Three Hoping Skills,² by Roderick K. Durst, suggest a fresh hearing of the old axiom: "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Durst invites his congregation to consider the notion that hopelessness corrupts and absolute hopelessness corrupts absolutely. Hope is at the core of all coping skills. Without hope, argues Durst, we cannot cope with life. Coping skills are essential for daily survival. Hoping skills are cloned and honed as we learn the eschatology of Jesus. Sensitive to the need to clarify Christian nomenclature for the contemporary church, Durst defines eschatology as that branch of biblical truth that deals with God's plan and lordship of the future. Eschatology tells us to hope in the Resurrected One who will return.

Durst identifies three hoping skills in the first eight verses of Mark's eighth chapter, sometimes called the Little Apocalypse. Jesus' intent is that by applying these hoping skills as Christian eschatologists, we can practice an open-eyed hope that enables the strong coping skills necessary for faithful living and ministry. First, be alert to enchantment with human achievement. In verse 1, the disciples sought Jesus' affirmation of the magnificence of the temple buildings. "Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!" Durst quotes the British apologist Alan Richardson who once asserted that Christian apologetics suffered a decline in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries due to Christianity's being over impressed with technological and scientific achievements. Christian hoping skills, argues Durst, stay alert by enjoying human achievement but knowing that we must look beyond human ends to the One who stands at the end.

Second, be alert to deception by keeping your eyes open to Scripture. Jesus warns us to keep our eyes open, including open to all the insights the Bible contains. The alternatives are deception or apathy. "Many will come in my name, claiming, `I am he,' and will deceive many" (Mark 13:6). Durst points to the Jonestown Massacre as example in point: the massacre reveals that deadly deception began when the members and leaders of the People's Church in San Francisco closed their eyes to the contradictions between the words of Jesus and their beloved Reverend Jones. Keeping your eyes open to the Scriptures, observes Durst, is an incredible coping skill and an antidote to deception.

Third, be alert but not alarmed. Forewarned is forearmed, so Jesus warned his disciples that the experience of war, earthquake, and famine would precede the end. But this preceding would be like a false labor before real birth. Stay watchful, but do not rush to the hospital at the first pain.

Durst concludes his sermon with the affirmation that the world has a right to expect Christians to out-hope their troubles. Christians expect trouble, but we expect Christ more! Nothing shall separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. None need be without this hope. None who calls upon the name of the Lord shall remain hopeless.

Richard B. Vinson approaches this text from another vantage point in his sermon, Don't Be Led Astray.³ Here, Vinson suggests that what Jesus seeks to do is to wake the Twelve up a little. He pounced on an innocent remark—"Isn't that a beautiful building?"—with a cold prediction: "It will be destroyed piece by piece." This was the Temple, mind you, the central institution of God's people, a holy spot of prayer and sacrifice. It will all come crashing down, said Jesus.

Vinson asks that we notice two dynamics in the text: First, think about the words of Jesus. Crashes, upheavals, tragedy—Jesus is saying that this is the stuff of history. These things will happen, and they will happen to you. Don't look to be spared these things because you are God's people. Don't count on a miraculous rescue. Miracles occur, of course. But we are not to bank on one. Instead, make up your minds that you may be in the midst of difficultly or suffering for a while and keep your faith strong.

Second, look at the audience for these words of Jesus; the disciples. No one, asserts Vinson, would bet on the disciples making it through even one earthquake or rumor of war. These guys have shown very little stamina or perceptiveness. They don't understand Jesus, and they are afraid to commit to his message of the cross. But Jesus addresses them as if they have a chance to succeed.

This text is finally a word of grace; that God knows how weak we think we are but that we are stronger than we realize. We will not have to face difficultly alone. When dreams fail and disasters come and we find ourselves up against a wall, we may wonder if we can make it. Beware, Jesus is saying to his disciples, I have warned you ahead of time. Don't let the hard times catch you napping. Steel your faith to face the hardest times. And listen in your hearts for the Spirit's help, because you will not be alone.

A helpful commentary for preaching Mark's Gospel is, Preaching Mark by Robert Stephen Reid and published by Chalice Press. Reflecting upon this text, Reid suggests that the point of this teaching is to call the disciples to watch how they live. If one were to ask what this text requires of its reader, the answer must come back simply: exercise faithful vigilance; be alert! In fact, argues Reid, one could argue that Mark's Jesus purposefully puts a "pox" on those who try to calculate dates precisely because a fixation on dates tends to obscure the task of living in present vigilance. Those who only await the end tend to withdraw rather than taking up a cross to follow Jesus. To those in the "present" judgment, Mark has Jesus emphasize that the one who stands firm to the end, rather than the one who calculates it, will be saved.

Doug Hood

NOTES

1. Daniel L. Migliore, "The `Theology of Hope' in Perspective," The Princeton Seminary Bulletin, Vol. LXI, Number 3 (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton Theological Seminary, Summer 1968), pp. 42-43. 2. Roderick K. Durst, "Three Hoping Skills," The Ministers Manual 1997 Edition, ed. James W. Cox (Harper San Francisco, 1996), pp. 198-199.

3. Richard B. Vinson, "Don't Be Led Astray," The Ministers Manual 1994 Edition, ed. James W. Cox (Harper San Francisco, 1993), pp. 202-203.