Know That He is Near
Mark 13:24-37
by Jim Westmoreland
What are you waiting for? So much of life is spent on the verge, almost
there, but not yet. Waiting can be hard. Sometimes, our waiting feels like staring at
unfulfilled expectations. We've waited, but nothing has happened. Waiting can feel like we
will never get what we have wanted so much. We can feel like our wait was in vain.
But, not waiting can be even more sad. No longer waiting, no longer expecting, looking for
that which is better, can lead us to a sense of hopelessness. It is the hopelessness that
stops wanting, stops waiting, that settles down too easily with the way things are rather
than to waste time waiting for what might be.
It takes vision, hope and faith to wait--yes, it takes faith to wait!
There is a passage in the old Jewish book of Zohar that goes like this: "Whenever the
Jews on earth rejoice in their festivals, they give praise to the Lord. They put on fine
clothes and pile their tables with good food. So the angel asks, 'Why do the Jews pamper
themselves so much?' And God answers, 'They have a distinguished guest today. I am with
them.' " Today is a very special day. We are preparing for a very special guest. It
is the first Sunday of Advent. Our celebration begins with the word "Emmanuel,"
which means, "God is with us."--God's Downward Mobility, John A. Stroman, CSS
Publishing, Lima, Ohio, 1996
The title for today's message is "Know that He is Near." It has to do with
Immanuel, and it has to do with the Son of Man, which was one of Jesus' frequently used
titles for himself. This first Sunday of Advent focuses on what is called an Apocalyptic
passage where Jesus describes the coming of the Son of Man. It is about being ready for
Jesus' coming, not as the baby in the manger, but as the powerful, ruling, conquering Son
of Man. Today's gospel reaches fro strange, stirring imagery, signs from heaven, a
darkened sun and moon, the Son of Man coming down on clouds, all to say that the present
world in which we live is not permanent.
The tone in Mark chapter 13 is clearly challenging. When we see the fig tree beginning to
show buds on its branches, it is a sign that summer is near. And, when we see the
dramatic, apocalyptic images that Jesus described, we will know thta He is near. This kind
of imagery in scripture stirs debate on how to interpret it. I believe that the purpose
for this kind of stylized, exaggerated imagery is to give us impressions of that which we
cannot comprehend.
Apocalyptic language about the coming of Jesus is a signal that, whatever Jesus means to
us, His coming has cosmic applications. The sun, the moon, the stars, even the powers in
heaven will be shaken. That's big! Bigger than I can really imagine! But, Jesus gives us
some assurance, because the future has a face and a name--the face and name of Jesus
Himself.
Whenever we hear about the future, we are incline to ask "How?" and
"When?" Jesus tells us in v. 32 "No one knows the day or the hour, not even
the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone." Jesus then says, "Take
heed, be on the alert; for you do not know when the appointed time is," and then, He
tells a story about a man who went on a journey and put his servants in charge of
individual tasks and they were all to be on the alert to be ready when the owner returned.
Over and over Advent is to remind us to Know that He is Near, but we get bogged
down in sentimentalism about a baby in a manger. He is easier to control and not be
intimidated by than the coming of the Son of Man spoken of in the gospel of Mark. If we
happen to be complacent about our spiritual lives, about reaching people, about
ministering to the needs of others, if we are self-satisfied and have no vision, then
today's text is to rock our boats to stir us to see that this world can be more than the
way things are.
Or perhaps, we have struggled to care and to reach out to others. We have felt our own
weaknesses of limited physical ability, and we say, "Our get up and go has got up and
went." We try to speak the language of the people today to share our faith, but it's
like we don't know what to say, or it is like a foreign language. We need help. We need
the heavens to shake, and we need divine deliverance and intervention. Apocalyptic speech
is for those who are desperate, who need heaven-rending, radical change. Can we speak of
such earth-shaking, divine work among us? If God did come in the glory and power of the
Son of Man, would we be threatened or would we celebrate?
Do we Know that God is Near or do we live as if He is too far away to notice us?
If He were to draw near to us today, what would he see?
Dr. Russell Metcalfe share a story about his high school days. He writes, "I was a
junior in Akron North High we had a substitute English teacher, and she was almost always
late for our class, which met on the third floor. She usually arrived with her arms full
of books and papers, out of breath, scolding us, good-naturedly for the most part, into
silence. One awful day she was later than usual, and the class was noisier than usual.
Erasers were flying, books were sailing. It probably doesn't do any good to tell you that,
truthfully, I usually did not take part in the chaos, although I can't say I didn't enjoy
it.
Anyway, on this fateful day one boy, Stanley M. , produced a cherry bomb from his pocket.
The room got very quiet. Stanley lit a match and we held our breaths. The windows were
open-- they were the kind that the middle pane swung out from the top. Stanley evidently
intended to light the bomb in the classroom and throw it out the window toward the
athletic field two stories below. We couldn't believe it-- but Stanley lit the bomb-- and
threw it-- and it hit the window pane above the open window and bounced back into the
middle of the room, under the desks, hissing.
Just at that very moment our teacher came breathlessly into the quiet room-- quiet except
for the hissing-- with her arms full of books. But before she had a chance to worry about
why we were quiet, or what the hissing sound was ---KA- BOOM!-- the cherry bomb exploded,
and instantly the room was full of smoke, and then there was silence again. Our teacher
did not drop her armload of books. She did not miss a step. She simply went over to the
desk and sat down and put her face on the books and papers she had been carrying. I think
it may have been a full five minutes that no one said a word, no one made a sound. I
imagine today the police would been called and someone would be expelled from school, and
there certainly would be a lawsuit. But her awful silence, and the fact that we were all
shocked and stunned was punishment for us all, even Stanley the bomb-thrower. Looking
back, Dr. Metcalfe said, "More than forty-five years later, I still feel that little
woman's pain and disappointment at the chaos that greeted her coming." --Dr. Russell
F. Metcalfe, Jr. Sermon: Gifts Before Christmas.
When Jesus comes, what kind of chaos will greet Him?
The early church heard Jesus' message about the unexpected return of the owner and
understood that this message was to change the way they looked at the world. Things happen
that affect our perspective. September 11 affected many people for a while, but its
influence still lingers.
On October 19, 1989, at 5:04 PM in San Francisco, something dramtic and unusual happened.
It was called the Loma Prieta earthquake. When it rumbled, one man was on the 32nd floor
of a swaying high rise. Of course, the phones went dead, so he couldn't call to make sure
his daughter was safe. The elevators didn't work, so, when the swaying building stood
straight once again, he hiked down the stairwell to his car. Out on the street, the stop
lights were not functioning, and that's when he witnessed a rather amazing thing. People
were not jamming the intersections with panic. Even though many were probably going
home to make sure everybody was safe and to see what the damage was, the drivers were
politely and courteously taking their turn, waiting, stopping, going; waiting, stopping,
going. Nobody was cutting through. Nobody was leaning on their horn. At every
intersection, it was as if everybody knew there was a crisis at hand, and they behaved
very differently from an ordinary weekday after work.
And so the early church community walked through the world differently, as if on watch for
the master's return, as if anticipating the next quake that would shake the foundations of
their lives. The early church community and the Israelites in Babylon were bold enough to
expect the greatness of God.--Rev. Daniel D. Chambers: Sermon: Let Every Heart Make Room
For Promise
God's message for us today is to Know that He is Near.
We are to be on the alert. We are to be ready. While on a South Pole expedition, British
explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton left a few men on Elephant Island, promising that he would
return. Later, when he tried to go back, huge icebergs blocked the way. But suddenly, as
if by a miracle, an avenue opened in the ice and Shackleton was able to get through. His
men, ready and waiting, quickly scrambled aboard. No sooner had the ship cleared the
island than the ice crashed together behind them.
Contemplating their narrow escape, the explorer said to his men, "It was fortunate
you were all packed and ready to go!" They replied, "We never gave up
hope. Whenever the sea was clear of ice, we rolled up our sleeping bags and reminded each
other, 'He may come today.'"
It is the Season of Advent. It is a time to wait for the completing, fulfilling work of
Christ to come in our lives. It is a time of preparation. We are not to be complacent and
without vision. We are to wait and Know that He is Near.