[Below you'll find, first, the video of today's 11:00 AM worship with the people and friends of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio. It's the modern service. We have a traditional service at 8:45 on Sunday mornings. Beneath the video is the text of the message for the day.]
Mark 13:1-13
The temple in Jerusalem of first-century Judea was impressive. It was made of more than 100-tons of stone. It was built to impress. That’s why the words of one of the disciples at the start of today’s Gospel lesson, Mark 13:1-13, are understandable. “Look, Teacher!” the unidentified disciple says to Jesus, “What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!”
But Jesus is unimpressed. That’s because Jesus knows not only that the temple is going to be destroyed in 70 AD, He also knows that He and His death on the cross are about to make the temple and the sacrifices that took place there, forever obsolete. After Jesus offers His body and blood on the cross, no sacrifice of animals or grains will ever again be needed. Instead, people will only be “made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” (Hebrews 10:10) So, Jesus hits the disciples with what they see as an alarming prophecy. “Do you see all these great buildings?” Jesus asks the disciple. “Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.” (Mark 13:2) Jesus’ words stunned the disciples. So much so that later, four of them--Peter, John, James, and Andrew, the first four to be called by Jesus--approach Jesus with a question. “Tell us,” they say to Jesus, “when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?” (Mark 13:4)
You’ve heard me say before that if we give Jesus an inch, He’ll take a mile. We may come to God the Father with prayer in Jesus’ name with nothing more than a bundle of confusion and half-baked, half-sinful desires. But because we come to God in Jesus’ name, the Holy Spirit will turn our jumbles into prayers for God’s Kingdom to come and for God’s will be done in the lives of the people for whom and in the circumstances about which we pray. “We do not know what we ought to pray for,” the apostle Paul says, “but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.” (Romans 8:26) This is true of the disciples’ and others’ encounter with Jesus in today’s gospel lesson. The disciples thought they needed to know how to live if the temple, the place where sacrifices were made, disappeared. Instead, Jesus knows that what we all need to know is how to live because, at His cross, He became the perfect, definitive sacrifice for our sin, and how we who trust in Jesus are to live until that day when we see Jesus face to face. Bishop Dan Selbo says that Jesus here tells us how to live today in light of tomorrow. And he said that there are five ways Jesus tells us to live in our lesson. I think he’s right.
First, Jesus tells us that we’re to be confident of His return. Jesus says elsewhere in Mark’s gospel that one day, “people will see the Son of Man [Jesus] coming in clouds with great power and glory. And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.” (Mark 13:26-27) Because we know that Jesus will return, we who trust in Him as our God and Savior can live confidently. Jesus has done everything necessary to destroy the power of sin and death over our lives. The future of the cosmos and our personal destinies are in His hands. And there’s nothing we can do or must do to be right with Him. We simply bring our sins and our trust to Him and He covers us in His victory over sin and death. We can look to Jesus’ return confident that by His Word and Sacraments and the faith in Christ they have created in us, we belong to God forever!
Second, Jesus says that we’re to be careful not to be led away from Christ. “Watch out that no one deceives you,” Jesus tells us. “Many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and will deceive many.” (Mark 14:6) We’re to be wary of anyone or anything that leads us away from Jesus. If a legalistic Christian tells you that you have to observe certain days or eat certain foods to gain the freedom from sin and death Jesus has already earned for you at the cross, don’t listen to them! If what are called “antinomian” Christians tell you that it doesn’t matter what you do--that you can even sin unrepentantly--close your ears to their nonsense. If family members, spouses, friends, political leaders, celebrities, hobbies, fads, or obsessions are pulling you away from Christ, you need to be careful and turn back to Jesus. Jesus is the only One worthy to be followed. Be careful about who you listen to.
Third, Jesus says we’re to be cautious. There are religious kooks and crooks who will tell us they’ve figured out when Jesus is coming back. But Jesus says, “When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.” (Mark 13:7-8) “The sinful world is gonna be the sinful world,” Jesus is saying. The best way to ensure that we don’t become desperate or stupid in the face of false messages is to live in daily fellowship with the God we know in Jesus. Read God’s Word. Pray. Fellowship with and in accountability to Christ’s Church. Stand under Christ’s grace and authority alone. I have been astounded in recent years to see how much hope that people who call themselves Christians put in political leaders and political parties, left and right. But Psalm 146 tells us: “Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save. When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing. Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God.” (Psalm 146:3-5) Be cautious about signing on to causes or philosophies or candidates.
Fourth, Jesus says to construct our lives on things that last. The God we know in Jesus is the only sure foundation, not any human works. The apostle Paul says in Ephesians 2:8-9: “...it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” A life that lasts, a life that endures through the chaos of this world and perseveres into eternity with God, is built on the God we know in Jesus Christ alone! Psalm 127:1 reminds us, “Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain.”
Fifth, Jesus tells us to commit each day to following Him. He warns Christians that, “Everyone will hate you because of me.” But then He promises, “the one who stands firm to the end [in following Him] will be saved.” (Mark 13:13) And since the One making this promise has died for us and risen from the dead, we can trust that promise. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus says, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23) During Advent, which starts on November 28, we’re asking all of our members to read a chapter a day of the Gospel of Luke in whatever English translation helps you best to hear God’s Word for you. Through His Word, God will help you to follow Jesus each day.
The world can throw all sorts of things at us. Jesus tells us to live today in light of the eternal tomorrow He gives to all who believe in Him: confident of His return; careful of not being led away from Jesus; cautious in discerning the words of those claiming to speak for Jesus; constructing our lives on Jesus alone; and committing each day to following Jesus. Jesus has told us, as you know well, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) Jesus is where grace, life, and truth are, no matter what’s going on in the world. When you build your life on Jesus even when the world is falling apart, when you endure in following Him, you will always be safe in God’s hands. Amen
But Jesus is unimpressed. That’s because Jesus knows not only that the temple is going to be destroyed in 70 AD, He also knows that He and His death on the cross are about to make the temple and the sacrifices that took place there, forever obsolete. After Jesus offers His body and blood on the cross, no sacrifice of animals or grains will ever again be needed. Instead, people will only be “made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” (Hebrews 10:10) So, Jesus hits the disciples with what they see as an alarming prophecy. “Do you see all these great buildings?” Jesus asks the disciple. “Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.” (Mark 13:2) Jesus’ words stunned the disciples. So much so that later, four of them--Peter, John, James, and Andrew, the first four to be called by Jesus--approach Jesus with a question. “Tell us,” they say to Jesus, “when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?” (Mark 13:4)
You’ve heard me say before that if we give Jesus an inch, He’ll take a mile. We may come to God the Father with prayer in Jesus’ name with nothing more than a bundle of confusion and half-baked, half-sinful desires. But because we come to God in Jesus’ name, the Holy Spirit will turn our jumbles into prayers for God’s Kingdom to come and for God’s will be done in the lives of the people for whom and in the circumstances about which we pray. “We do not know what we ought to pray for,” the apostle Paul says, “but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.” (Romans 8:26) This is true of the disciples’ and others’ encounter with Jesus in today’s gospel lesson. The disciples thought they needed to know how to live if the temple, the place where sacrifices were made, disappeared. Instead, Jesus knows that what we all need to know is how to live because, at His cross, He became the perfect, definitive sacrifice for our sin, and how we who trust in Jesus are to live until that day when we see Jesus face to face. Bishop Dan Selbo says that Jesus here tells us how to live today in light of tomorrow. And he said that there are five ways Jesus tells us to live in our lesson. I think he’s right.
First, Jesus tells us that we’re to be confident of His return. Jesus says elsewhere in Mark’s gospel that one day, “people will see the Son of Man [Jesus] coming in clouds with great power and glory. And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.” (Mark 13:26-27) Because we know that Jesus will return, we who trust in Him as our God and Savior can live confidently. Jesus has done everything necessary to destroy the power of sin and death over our lives. The future of the cosmos and our personal destinies are in His hands. And there’s nothing we can do or must do to be right with Him. We simply bring our sins and our trust to Him and He covers us in His victory over sin and death. We can look to Jesus’ return confident that by His Word and Sacraments and the faith in Christ they have created in us, we belong to God forever!
Second, Jesus says that we’re to be careful not to be led away from Christ. “Watch out that no one deceives you,” Jesus tells us. “Many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and will deceive many.” (Mark 14:6) We’re to be wary of anyone or anything that leads us away from Jesus. If a legalistic Christian tells you that you have to observe certain days or eat certain foods to gain the freedom from sin and death Jesus has already earned for you at the cross, don’t listen to them! If what are called “antinomian” Christians tell you that it doesn’t matter what you do--that you can even sin unrepentantly--close your ears to their nonsense. If family members, spouses, friends, political leaders, celebrities, hobbies, fads, or obsessions are pulling you away from Christ, you need to be careful and turn back to Jesus. Jesus is the only One worthy to be followed. Be careful about who you listen to.
Third, Jesus says we’re to be cautious. There are religious kooks and crooks who will tell us they’ve figured out when Jesus is coming back. But Jesus says, “When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.” (Mark 13:7-8) “The sinful world is gonna be the sinful world,” Jesus is saying. The best way to ensure that we don’t become desperate or stupid in the face of false messages is to live in daily fellowship with the God we know in Jesus. Read God’s Word. Pray. Fellowship with and in accountability to Christ’s Church. Stand under Christ’s grace and authority alone. I have been astounded in recent years to see how much hope that people who call themselves Christians put in political leaders and political parties, left and right. But Psalm 146 tells us: “Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save. When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing. Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God.” (Psalm 146:3-5) Be cautious about signing on to causes or philosophies or candidates.
Fourth, Jesus says to construct our lives on things that last. The God we know in Jesus is the only sure foundation, not any human works. The apostle Paul says in Ephesians 2:8-9: “...it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” A life that lasts, a life that endures through the chaos of this world and perseveres into eternity with God, is built on the God we know in Jesus Christ alone! Psalm 127:1 reminds us, “Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain.”
Fifth, Jesus tells us to commit each day to following Him. He warns Christians that, “Everyone will hate you because of me.” But then He promises, “the one who stands firm to the end [in following Him] will be saved.” (Mark 13:13) And since the One making this promise has died for us and risen from the dead, we can trust that promise. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus says, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23) During Advent, which starts on November 28, we’re asking all of our members to read a chapter a day of the Gospel of Luke in whatever English translation helps you best to hear God’s Word for you. Through His Word, God will help you to follow Jesus each day.
The world can throw all sorts of things at us. Jesus tells us to live today in light of the eternal tomorrow He gives to all who believe in Him: confident of His return; careful of not being led away from Jesus; cautious in discerning the words of those claiming to speak for Jesus; constructing our lives on Jesus alone; and committing each day to following Jesus. Jesus has told us, as you know well, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) Jesus is where grace, life, and truth are, no matter what’s going on in the world. When you build your life on Jesus even when the world is falling apart, when you endure in following Him, you will always be safe in God’s hands. Amen
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