UNLESS YOU KNOW MORE THAN JESUS, YOU'RE WASTING YOUR TIME

Dr. Richard J. Henderson November 15, 2009

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1 Samuel 2:1-10 (responsive)
Mark 13:1-8

Introduction

We Americans seem to have an obsession with the end of time. Back in the seventies one of the best selling books was titled, The Late Great Planet Earth, by Hal Lindsay. Lindsay took passages from the bible, like the one we read today, compared them with events that were happening at the time, and tried to show that the end was near.

Predictions were that the world would end in the 1980's, but when that didn't happen, he revised it so that the world would end soon, but not a specific time. By 1990 this book had sold 28 million copies.

Hal Lindsay became a millionaire by predicting that the end of the world was upon us. The joke that went around at the time was that he took his millions and invested them in long term growth securities!

More recently, we've seen the whole series of "Left Behind" books. For years they were at the top of the best seller list. This time the books made hundreds of millions of dollars. Predicting the end of the world is both popular and profitable.

Today, dozens of web sites predict the end of the world. I understand there is even a "rapture index" to tell you how close we are to the end.

And I just heard this week that predictions are going around that the world will end on 10-10-10, although others say it will be 12-12-12. There seems to be no end to the end of the world predictions.

I

In the passage we read this morning Jesus doesn't start out talking about the end times. He only says that the temple will be destroyed soon. We can say that blandly but the temple was a major architectural achievement. We talked last week about how huge the stones of the temple were (48 feet by 18 feet by 12 feet) and the layout covered a huge amount of space. Herod built it hoping to appease the Jews and to impress the other powerful rulers of his day. It was one of the great achievements of humanity.

The temple was actually a whole complex of buildings with courtyards, massive porches, balconies, courts with colonnades, and enormous stairs.

We know about the majesty of the temple not just from the bible but from the historians Josephus and Tacitus. Tacitus described it as a mountain of white marble adorned with gold. He called it "a temple of immense wealth."

For Jews the destruction of the temple was a massive tragedy far beyond what the 9-11 tragedy means to us. The temple was the center of religious and political life. Most Jews felt that they were closest to God when they were in the temple. There was a sense of pride in the beauty of the temple.

So when Jesus says that the temple will be destroyed this is a shock beyond what we can imagine. For many it bordered on blasphemy. How could Jesus claim to be from God and talk about the temple being destroyed? Jesus' statement about the temple was one of the accusations used against him when he was arrested.

II

Part of what Jesus is saying is that the temple, as beautiful as it is, is only a structure built by human hands. The temple is an object, a building. You can't depend on it. You can't put your faith in it.

Remember when King David wanted to build the first temple? Nathan spoke for God when he said, "What do I need a temple for? For years I traveled with you wherever you went. When you were in the wilderness I camped out with you there. The closest I ever came to a home was the representation of my presence in the Ark of the Covenant. And you carried that with you wherever you traveled." In essence he said, "Don't mistake a building or an object for the presence of God." God cannot be contained in an Ark or a church or a temple.

III

The disciples take Jesus' words about the temple and make them into a question about when the end time is coming. What signs will there be that the end is approaching? Just as people today want indications of when the end is coming, so the disciples ask what they can watch for as signs that the end is near.

Jesus answer is that there will be wars and rumors of wars; nation will rise up against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes and famines.

That doesn't exactly pinpoint the precise time of the end, does it? Has there been any time since Jesus said those words that there have not been wars, conflicts, earthquakes or famine somewhere in the world?

I think Jesus is saying if you rely on the building of human hands, you will be disappointed. We felt that ourselves with the attacks of 9-11. If you depend on nature, the land can't be trusted because there will be earthquakes and volcanoes, the sea is just as unreliable because there will be tsunamis and hurricanes like Katrina. You can't depend on the air, because there will be tornadoes that tear apart the land. You can't trust agriculture because there will be famines and floods. You can't trust human wisdom because some of the brightest and best have led us into horrible, disastrous wars. It seems like there isn't anything we can trust.

IV

Except that since the beginning of recorded history people have turned to one source that can be trusted. Before humans were even able to write, people trusted in the One who had created them. Nearly 3000 years ago someone wrote, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil; for you are with me..." And just this week someone said, "I don't know how I would have gotten through this without trust in God."

A long line of witnesses declares faith in the Creator, the source of goodness, the author of love, the One who requires justice and freedom.

The temple may fall but our faith will not fall. We can't trust any other than God, the God we have loved and studied and prayed to, the God we continually thank. The end may come, but it will not mean the end of our faith.

V

The point of talking about the end times is not to calculate when it will happen; it is to be ready for it whenever it happens. Jesus said, "About that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."

So, unless you know more than Jesus, it's a waste of time to predict when the end will come. More important is to live a life of faith, so that it doesn't matter when the end comes. You don't need to calculate that time; you just need to be ready for that time.

Conclusion

When Jesus' disciples asked him for a sign of the end, Jesus didn't answer them in any definitive way. They were really asking the wrong question. The point is to trust what can be trusted; not human planning, not nature, not a church building or a congregation.

Trust God who has come to us in Jesus of Nazareth. Trust the One who created the world and loves it. Trust the One who loved you enough to lower himself and become human, the One who cared for you so much that he went all the way to the cross.

Trust in the Spirit who opens you to God's presence and strengthens you for the challenges before you.

When you trust in God, you don't have to worry about the end.

Amen

© Richard J. Henderson 2009