The End Is Still To Come
Sermon by Pr. Sharai Jacob on the Second Sunday in Advent, Lectionary 33 + Saturday, November 16, 2024
The disciples admire the stones in the large buildings as they leave the temple. They are amazed at the scale of the place, but Jesus shuts them down immediately. I find myself being that person in conversations often. I try not to say it out loud, but when my friends get excited about McDonald’s new deals or when they gossip about the latest Tesla model – all I can think of are the atrocities that are fueled by those companies. I’m aware that it kills the mood when I mention colonialism or the evils of capitalism during a night out with friends, so I hold back.
Jesus had no qualms about ruining the mood. He totally destroyed the disciples' sense of wonder. I assume they walked most of the way to the Mount of Olives in silence after that? Staring at the giant stones in impossibly large walls and wondering how they could ever fall. Imagine the fear they must have felt as Jesus’ words sink in. The destruction of the temple could mean the destruction of their whole way of life, their cultures and communities.
I wonder how many of us can relate to the disciples' fears? I have felt it since the presidential election in 2016, the feeling that something so large and sturdy might be beginning to crack and crumble. The structures and systems I assumed would be there forever were beginning to bend and warp. And if we walk through events we’ve experienced since then, the cracks have only gotten bigger.
People were rounded up, separated from their children, and caged like animals at the border. A global pandemic had us all locked in our homes, six feet apart for years. George Floyd was murdered and every single state roared with protests for a summer. Weird extreme weather conditions, floods and hurricanes and fires. A riot at the capitol. I’m missing things I’m sure. Remember how refugees were whipped by border patrol officers on horses that one time? Then more recently, the public became more aware of apartheid and genocide in Palestine. As well as the genocides in Congo and Sudan. Oh, and the Queen died! That was a joyful moment for many of her colonies. And this recent election was preceded by the revealing of a plan to remove many of the rights that protect people who are marginalized in this country.
The structures we assumed would always be there, even though they are oppressive, give us a sense of security. A feeling of stability. Maybe even a sense of control. And year after year, we are witnessing the stones fall and the walls crumble around us. I’m not saying that these are the end times, but I think we do live through little apocalypses throughout our lives. For many of us the thing we think will always be there isn’t the government but our families, our parents, siblings, children. And it breaks our world to lose them.
A few of the disciples feel the weight of a coming apocalypse and they go to Jesus in private. They ask when it will happen and what signs they should look for. Jesus warns the disciples that there will be people who claim to be Jesus, who offer some false salvation. It is tempting, when the world is crumbling, to cling to whoever or whatever offers you some kind of stability or control. Jesus explains to them that there will be wars and rumors of wars, that there will be earthquakes and famines. Nations and Kingdoms will rise against each other. And then he says that these are the beginning of birth pangs.
“Do not be alarmed, the end is still to come.” Jesus words feel out of place here. How can you tell us that an apocalypse is coming, but we shouldn’t be alarmed. All of those things are alarming.
My parents and grandparents joined the majority of South Africans in destroying a racist and vile government in South Africa, and together, people of all races built a new government in its place. They had to live through the destruction of every structure they knew. They struggled through what was essentially a civil war, alongside peaceful protests and falsified news stories that pitted allied communities against each other. There was death and suffering. And they held onto hope that, in the end, they would be able to reach equality and freedom.
Jesus says the end is still to come. Jesus is reminding us that our story doesn’t end in suffering, that even the actual real big-time apocalypse will not end in suffering. Our daily, weekly, yearly apocalypses are not the end. “The End” sounds like the most dreadful time, like a black hole that swallows up everything good or bad. It sounds like death. But Jesus has turned death on its head. Has turned it into a doorway to new life, to a better, more perfect life.
The promise of Christ’s second coming has been a source of hope for many oppressed people across the world. We believe that in the everyday apocalypses, Jesus is present and working alongside us. And because of who Jesus is, how Jesus lived, died and lived again we can look forward to the last days, to the second coming and find eternal Hope. The day will come when injustice will finally meet true justice. When freedom finally reaches us all. When care for humanity and the Earth finally outweighs greed. “The end is still to come,” and there is nothing that can stop it.
