Jesus tells us about the last days of this world  (November 15, 2009)
By Rev. Bert A. Thompson

This Sunday and the next are the last two Sundays in the Church year, before the new year starts with the season of Advent. On these last two Sundays, Jesus tells us about the last days of this world. On these last two Sundays, Jesus prepares us for the end of all created things.

In our Gospel lesson, Jesus tells His disciples that the wonderful Temple in Jerusalem will be destroyed. The name “Jerusalem” comes from “Shalom”: the Hebrew word for “peace”. But there will be no peace for the city that has rejected Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace. In 70 A.D., just as Jesus said, the Roman empire attacks that rebellious city of Jeru-Shalom and brutal war decimates the city of peace. Your bulletin cover shows part of that slaughter. (David Roberts, artist, 1850; England)

Peter, James, John and Andrew ask Jesus: “When is this going to happen? What are the signs – what do we look for?”

Jesus prepares His disciples for the trouble that lays ahead. He knows His own victory over sin and death will bring persecution. His disciples will be considered heretics. They will be tried in church courts. They will be expelled from their own houses of worship, the synagogues they grew up in. The government will be used against them. Yet Jesus assures them that the Holy Spirit will equip them for the challenge. “Don’t worry what you will say. Just speak what you are given by the Holy Spirit.”

Everything Jesus says has either happened or is happening right now. Many people come in Jesus’ Name and deceive many. In the 1970s, a man named Jim Jones deceived many using the Name of Jesus. Over 900 people followed him into mass suicide. Many more will come deceiving, using Jesus’ Name. Nations will fight against nations. There will be famines and earthquakes and troubles. These are only the beginnings of sorrows. And, as always, Christians will be persecuted for worshipping and telling others about Jesus.

Last week, a number of church leaders went to Washington, D.C. and tried to do a good thing. They begged Congress to make sure no tax dollars in the new health care bill would be used to pay for the killing of unborn babies. Immediately, powerful voices called for removal of these churches’ tax exempt status. Will St. Luke ever lose its tax exemption? If you think that will never happen, look at all the things we thought would never happen. If we think our financial situation is difficult now, just imagine if we had to pay taxes on this property.

Persecution will happen. It may be the loss of a job for speaking out against what is wrong. It may be refusal of family members to listen to us. It can and will get much worse.

In the lifetime of many of us, we saw the Soviets smash altars and pulpits and turn church buildings into factories and warehouses. If Russian citizens insisted on going to worship, they could not get a good job. Relatives and neighbors turned each other in to the secret police. Jesus warned us: brother will betray brother to death and a father his child. Children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death, all because we worship God and tell others about Jesus.

Pretty depressing, isn’t it? America has been such a safe place for so long. We don’t understand what it was like for our ancestors or what it is like right now in Muslim countries where Christians are severely punished for telling others about Jesus.

We would rather ignore such things. I have a cartoon that shows a bearded, white-robed prophet walking on a downtown sidewalk. Most cartoons have him carrying a sign saying: “The End is near!” but this prophet carries a sign saying: “The End is being totally ignored!” That’s not what Jesus wants.

Jesus does not want us to ignore the End. Instead, He wants us to be watchful and waiting in anticipation of His return. The world, however, wants us to fear the end of all things.

Have you heard the latest? The Mayans, native Americans of Central America, had a calendar that spanned thousands of years. Their calendar comes to an end December 21, 2012. A new movie is out about this. Using the Mayan calendar, many people say the world will end in 2012. This is not true. It only means a new calendar needs to be made. However, dozens of new books are telling us how to survive the end of the world in 2012. Wait a minute. If the world really is going to end, how are you going to survive?

It’s amazing how people listen with both ears open to an old calendar of a tribe who apparently did human sacrifice but the same people have no time to listen to Jesus.

But, wouldn’t it be nice to know when the end of the world will be? Jesus knows better than to tell us. But He doesn’t leave us without a warning or without His wonderful promise.

Jesus says, “Watch out that no one deceives you.” You can be fooled, so watch out. The devil’s a lot trickier than you think he is. Listen to what you are being told. If your preacher doesn’t preach condemning Law and redeeming Gospel, if your preacher doesn’t point to Jesus’ cross and resurrection and to Jesus’ Body and Blood on the altar; if your preacher doesn’t point you to Baptism, and to holy Absolution, run away from him. Run to a pastor who only preaches the truth about Jesus.

Jesus’ disciples wanted a sign. This world is that sign - earthquakes, famines, natural disasters. As St. Paul says in Romans chapter 8, the entire creation groans under the burden of our sin, waiting for our resurrection, the redemption of our bodies.

All the wars, rumors of war, earthquakes, famines - Jesus calls “birth pangs”: the labor contractions of the new creation. Just as giving birth is painful and often difficult, so is the coming of the new creation. It involves dying and rising - the death and resurrection of Jesus Himself and now through Jesus, your own death and resurrection.

Jesus prepares us to be alert to the times in which we live. Live with eyes and ears open to the signs of His coming. Be ready. But how can you be ready? Jesus Himself keeps you ready for Jesus to come again. He brings you here to live in your Baptism, receive Absolution and feast on the food of heaven here at Jesus’ Table.

Jesus says, “He who endures to the end will be saved.” That’s a promise from Him whose word is sure and true. He won’t ever fail you or abandon you or go back on His word to you. You have the sure and certain signs from God Himself. You are baptized, the testimony from God that your name is written in the Lamb’s book of life. You have Christ’s body and blood in the Lord’s Supper, which you take with you to the end of your days. You have His Word and promise of forgiveness, that in the death of Jesus your sins are covered. In Christ Jesus, God has made peace with you. In Christ crucified, you are already a part of the new heavenly Jeru-Shalom, the city of heavenly peace.

These last days are not days for anxiety, uncertainty or panic. These are days for alertness, readiness, watchfulness, expectation, longing, hopefulness, patient endurance. There will be hardship, pain, difficulty but these are only the birth pangs of a new creation that has already come to you in Christ. “He who endures to the end, will be saved.” You have Jesus’ promise.

Trust Him to the very end, for He is faithful. Jesus will never leave you nor forsake you. Amen.