Do Not Be Led By Fear

MARK 13:1-8 

As [Jesus] came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!” Then Jesus asked him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.” 

When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?” Then Jesus began to say to them, “Beware that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birth pangs.” (NRSV)

Grace to you and peace from God our creator, from Jesus Christ, our redeemer and friend and from the Holy Spirit, our sustainer and guide. 

I do not go to horror movies. I know they are big hits in the box office, but its not for me. I refused to go on the Tower of Terror at Disneyland. I have read a couple of Stephen King novels, but that is just not my genre. I don’t like to be scared. It is not recreation in my mind. There’s enough scary stuff in the real world we have to deal with, I don’t have to turn to made-up stuff to be scared.

And my husband can tell you, I’m not all that great, at times, at dealing with the scary stuff. If there is something I am worried about, I have been guilty of not telling him “to try to protect him” until it gets so bad I have to admit that it won’t go away. By then it is harder to deal with and much more stressful over all. It would have been so much better to have told him about my fears up front and dealt with it together from the beginning.

In a way, I have done that to God too. I have been known to be fretting about this or that to my friend and she will say back to me, “That’s rough. Have you prayed about it?” “Oh, no. I guess I should, huh.” What was I thinking? It was stressing me out, so why didn’t I turn to God for help? Did I think I shouldn’t burden God? Silly me. God wants us to ask for help. God is there for us… because scary happens. 

Both our Daniel reading and the Gospel text are in the apocalyptic genre; the horror movies of biblical literature. Stories of the end of time are meant to turn our hearts toward God, to help us keep our focus, to remind us that hard times will happen and we will have to face scary stuff, but God is with us through it all, and and God has given us each other to help us through. And even more importantly, God’s goodness will prevail through it all. 

Apocalyptic literature pits God against evil in a cosmic contest that is played out on earth. Good vs evil. Fear and destruction are the tools of the evil side to make us humans lose our faith. All too often when we are afraid, we turn inward and think we have to handle it ourselves. We don’t ask for help. We forget to pray. Fear hinders us from trusting each other or trusting God. It destroys community when we don’t ask for help. It destroys faith. Faith and fear are opposites. When we give in to fear, faith diminishes. When we cling to faith though, fear will be overcome.

And that’s the thing about apocalyptic literature. It is written in times of trouble and distress AS A REMINDER that God will prevail and we are not alone. The congregation Mark is writing for has been through stuff. Most scholars agree the gospel of Mark was written somewhere in years 70-72CE. The siege of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple in 70CE was the culmination of a series of cataclysms in the generation of those who would be reading this gospel for the first time. Around 50CE there were the years of the great famine in Palestine. You may remember Paul was taking up a collection on his travels for the poor and suffering in Jerusalem. This is what that was going on then. Then, before they had forgotten about that, Laodicea, a large and wealthy city to the north, in what is now Turkey, was completely destroyed by an earthquake in 60CE. Earthquakes were not unknown in the whole mediterranean region, but this one was probably similar to the 1906 earthquake that leveled San Francisco. It was devastating. And even in the days before the internet… word travels fast. They all knew it was terrible. And if it could happen to Laodicea, it could happen to anyone.

But Jesus is saying, “These things aren’t the signs that the end is near.” No. These things are just part of life on earth. There is no generation that hasn’t had famines and earthquakes and wars and firestorms and hurricanes and blizzards and need I go on? All of it makes life difficult ON TOP of the usual interpersonal stuff that people do to one another. 

No, I don’t need to go on. I know you know this stuff. It is all around us. And we have a choice. Do we live in fear? Or do we cling to faith? It is the eternal choice. We have to make that choice anew each and every day. That’s why Martin Luther recommended starting each day with the sign of the cross and a prayer remembering your baptism, thanking God that you made it through the night just past and offering the day ahead to the glory of God. Each day we have to decide anew: Will we trust that God is with us? Will you believe that God will see you through it? 

Jesus’s warning is this: “Beware that no one leads you astray.” (Mark 13:5, NRSV) and then 28 verses later, after more warnings he gives his best advice: “Beware, keep alert.” (Mark 13:33, NRSV)  The temptation to go it alone is always going to be a threat. Giving in to fear is always going to be an option. But I declare it an option to resist, because in the long run, it does not pay off. God is present. If we pay attention, we will notice God with us. Keep alert. Pay attention. And besides, we know the end of the story.

“Love wins.” as Rob Bell, one of my favorite preachers, is known for saying. God will come out on top of every fight. But we are SO prone to forget that. We need constant reminding. But so does the world. Fear is everywhere out there. And our faith, our Christian community, is meant for more than a ‘safe house’ where we can be secure against the big bad world. We are meant to put our faith to work, bringing relief to those who are in need, bearing witness to God’s presence among us, EVEN IN THESE SCARY TIMES, and bringing good news to a world that needs it so badly. 

So keep the faith, remember to pray, and tell others that God is near, so there is no need to live in fear. 

During this time of silence, you might pray for God to lead you to someone who needs your word of hope. Or maybe you already know who that is, so you might pray for the opportunity to bring comfort to that person who is living in fear. Either way; pray, and keep alert.

30 Seconds… Silence for reflection follows the sermon. 

Holy God, come into our hearts and increase our faith. Inspire us in serving your people and being the church for the good of the world. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

(The other readings in the lectionary were Daniel 12:1-3 and Hebrews 10:11-25)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.