Disasters and Distractions

The scriptures referred to are Luke 21:5-19.

Hollywood loves disaster films: earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, asteroids, ice storms, avalanches, cruise ships capsizing, and let's not forget sharknados! And I get why they make them because they can often attract big name stars who can take home a large paycheck for displaying incredible bravery in the face of terrifying special effects. And Christian movie makers have, since at least 1972's A Thief in the Night, churned out films about the apocalypse, including various versions of the Left Behind series of books, at least one starring Nicholas Cage. But these films like to dwell on all of the terrible disasters from Revelation chapters 6-19 while hardly touching on anything very spiritual. They also tend to take liberties in interpreting the events of that book, depending on what suits their purpose. For instance the locust/scorpion/horse creatures in chapter 9 who wear crowns, have lion's teeth and wings are not shown that way but usually as warplanes or helicopters instead. In addition the beast from the sea, commonly identified with the Antichrist by fundamentalists, is not shown with 7 heads, 10 horns and 10 crowns. It's almost as if they perceive on some level that John was not being literal but symbolic. And maybe that was because he didn't want the Roman Empire to know what he was doing—criticizing them scathingly—so they wouldn't destroy a book that was meant to comfort and encourage Christians who were being persecuted. Because the point is God wins in the end and those who endure are comforted, those who have died are raised and God ushers in his new creation.

In Jesus' day, with a ruthless military empire oppressing the Jews, there was a popular expectation that the end of the world must be near. In fact, a common idea was that the Messiah would be a holy warrior who would throw out the Romans, end the current evil age and set up a Jewish kingdom on earth. Which is why the disciples were anxious to learn from Jesus what would happen at the end of the age. And just as Jesus doesn't fit the then popular idea of the Messiah, he contradicts a lot of the ideas about the end times that are widespread even now.

Right off the bat Jesus says, “Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, 'I am he!' and, 'The time is near!' Do not go after them.” And sure enough we have had numerous false Messiahs over the centuries. There is an entire Wikipedia page of Christians, Jews, Muslims and other persons who claimed to be the Messiah. And people still fall for these charlatans. Jesus tells us in no uncertain terms not to believe or follow anyone who claims to be God's Anointed One, which is what the Hebrew word Messiah and the Greek word Christ mean.

Jesus also says not to follow after people who say “The time is near!” In Matthew's gospel Jesus says, “No one knows about that day and hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” (Matthew 24:36, emphasis mine) At least during his time on earth, not even Jesus knew when it would come. So it is supremely arrogant for any preacher or scholar to say they know more about this than Jesus. But again people fall for this and there have been countless sermons preached and books published that go against what Jesus explicitly said, announcing, “The time is near and I know the date!”

Instead Jesus says, “When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.” He also includes earthquakes, famines and plagues. In Matthew he says, “All these are the beginning of birth pains.” (Matthew 24:8) Which as any parent knows means, “Don't run around in a panic like the father in a 1960s sitcom when his wife starts having contractions. This is going to take a while.”

By the way, not only do disasters not necessarily mean that the world is ending, they also don't mean people are being punished. Jesus asked rhetorically if the 18 people crushed when a tower fell on them were worse sinners than all the others living in Jerusalem—and then said “No.” (Luke 13:4-5) But some televangelists try to blame things like hurricanes on what they see as very bad sinners being in the area of the disaster. And again when asked whether a man was born blind because either he or his parents had sinned, Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but he was born blind so that the acts of God may be revealed through what happens to him.” (John 9:3) And then Jesus heals him. He saw this man's personal disaster not as an excuse to blame someone but as an opportunity to show God's love and grace.

What Jesus is more interested in telling his disciples is how they should behave when they face actual persecution. And by persecution I don't mean being told you must bake wedding cakes for people you disagree with. As we see in Acts, persecution meant being imprisoned (Acts 4:3), having people stone you to death (Acts 7:57-60), being beaten and whipped (Acts 16:22-23), or being the focus of an assassination plot as Paul was (Acts 23:12). It's being punished, not for wrongdoing, but for preaching the gospel. Ultimately the emperor Nero, needing scapegoats for the great fire of Rome that burned for 9 days and destroyed 2/3 of the city, began the first imperial persecution of Christians. According to the contemporary Roman historian Tacitus, Christians were executed by “being thrown to the beasts, crucified, and being burned alive.”

By the way, Tacitus makes one of the earliest references to Jesus by a non-Christian, writing “Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular.” (from Tacitus' Annals 15:44) Notice he thinks Christianity is evil, hideous and shameful. So, of course, he thinks Christians should be prosecuted and executed.

In some parts of the world people are still arrested, imprisoned and even executed for being Christians. So let's not mock the sufferings which our brothers and sisters in Christ are enduring for the faith by magnifying any inconveniences we encounter as if they were actual persecution. Jesus is talking about real martyrs, not people playing the martyr.

So what should we do, besides supporting the human rights of people everywhere to worship as they choose, the same as we do?

In Mark Jesus compares himself to a man going on a journey. “He left his house and put his servants in charge, assigned to each his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to keep alert.” (Mark 13:34) And in Luke's gospel, Jesus tells a parable about how servants should behave when awaiting their master's return. He says, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his household servants, to give them their allowance of food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master finds at work when he returns.” (Luke 12:42-43; cf. Matthew 24:45-46) Jesus wants to find us, not calculating when he will return, but doing the work he has given each of us to do. And what is this work?

Jesus says in John, “This is the work God requires—to believe in the one whom he sent.” (John 6:29) In Greek the word “to believe” also means “to trust”. If you really believe and trust your doctor, and he says “Eat less and exercise more,” you do it. And if you believe and trust in Jesus as God's Son, our Savior and Lord, then you do what he says. What does he tell us to do?

The main thing is to obey the two greatest commandments: to love God with all you are and all you have and to love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus said, “There is no commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:29-31) In addition, Jesus said, “...I say to you, love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be like your Father in heaven...” (Matthew 5:44-45) This leaves us with no one to hate, and thus no one to build a bunker against and build up ammo to dispatch. Indeed, not only did Jesus tell Peter to put down his weapon when Christ was arrested (Matthew 26:52) but he told Pilate that one sign that his kingdom did not come from this world was that his disciples did not resort to violence to free him. (John 18:36) God fights his own battles. He does not need our help nor does he command us to fight. We are to be witnesses and, if need be, martyrs. And in Greek those two words are the same.

Which brings us to one of the chief things we are told to do while waiting for Jesus to return, and that is to proclaim the good news of what God in Christ has done and is doing. If we are filled with his Spirit, he will give us the right words. By the way, speaking of swords, Paul, in describing the armor of God, mentions only one thing that is not protective but is a weapon: “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” (Ephesians 6:17) As Jesus in the wilderness defended himself from the tempter by using only his knowledge of scripture, we need to know what the Bible does and doesn't say as well as the main thrust of its message, which is God's love for all people, including the lost. So just because Paul compares God's word to a sword it doesn't mean we should try to use it to harm people. The author of Hebrews says, “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing even to the point of dividing soul from spirit, and joints from marrow; it is able to judge the desires and thoughts of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12) This makes it sound more like a surgical knife or scalpel, and the use of the word “judge,” which also means “discern,” makes it more of a tool for diagnosis. It shows that we are spiritually unhealthy and describes in what ways. It also gives us the cure: trust in Jesus, the Great Physician, who can heal us and bring us back from spiritual death.

If the Bible gets a bit graphic about the nature of sin and evil and how bad the world will get by the end, it is to puncture our complacency towards our spiritual health. I remember Jerry Lewis on the Tonight show in the 1960s telling Johnny Carson that he would not stop smoking until the then-new warnings on cigarette packs got rid of the weasel words saying “Smoking may be hazardous to your health.” And eventually it was changed to say “Smoking is dangerous and may cause death from cancer and other diseases.” And finally it became “Smoking causes Lung Cancer, Heart Disease, Emphysema and May Complicate Pregnancy.” And smoking rates dropped from nearly 42% of adults in the mid-1960s to 12.5% today. Sometimes you have to spell out the consequences, no matter how ugly they are. Even Jerry Lewis stopped his 4 pack a day habit by 1982—after having double-bypass heart surgery.

So what we can take away from what Jesus says about the End Times?

1) Don't be terrified by disasters. Keep calm. They aren't necessarily the end.

2) Don't fall down the rabbit-hole of trying to predict when things will end. That's God's business.

3) Don't follow false prophets or false messiahs. Follow Jesus only.

4) Trust Jesus and do what he says.

5) Love God above all else.

6) Love other people, even our enemies and those who seem unlovable, not just with our words but in our actions as well. (Matthew 25:35-40)

7) Spread the good news of God's love and grace we see in Jesus, who lived, died and rose again—for us. Get familiar with God's word, so that the Spirit can remind you of it when needed. (John 14:26)

Once when I was traveling home after a long week of working in northern Florida I hit a major traffic jam on the Turnpike as I approached Miami. It took us an hour to go 6 miles. I thought there must be a big accident ahead. There was—on the northbound lanes, which were separated from our southbound traffic by a barrier! What was hindering us was people rubbernecking, trying to get a good look at the wreckage. And one of the things impeding the spread of the good news is people spending way too much time gawking at the disasters in apocalyptic passages of the Bible and missing the point—if we endure, as Jesus says in today's gospel, and follow him, we will arrive safely at our destination: the kingdom of God.

This week has been hard for us to endure. This church has seen two people whom we loved depart this world: Chuck McCormick and Arnie Steinmetz. I heard about Chuck's death after the fact but I was notified of Arnie's deteriorating condition beforehand and was able to go and see him before they removed the ventilator. And I read the service from the Lutheran Pastoral Care book for when life-sustaining care is ended. And one of the passages suggested really struck me as a good one to remember whenever we face some disaster, whether large or small, whether it involves our community or our nation or the whole world, or whether it just touches us personally. Someday it will be the end of the world for each of us. And as we keep in mind and follow what Jesus said about facing the end, we can also take comfort in this passage from Isaiah 43: “But now thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through the fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”