Luke 21:5-19
was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.” They asked him, “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?” And he said, “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. “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.” Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven. “But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. This will give you an opportunity to testify. So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls.
Well, that seemed a bit grim. But that was then, right? Maybe that stuff is just olden days stuff? I think we should probably test it just to make sure. Okay, let’s see here… Got the clip board… got the Doomsday check list securely fastened… got a pen… Alright… so here we go. Are there any Wars around? Well, there’s Ukraine, so… check. Insurrections? Ew, yeah, January 6, big ol’ ugly check. Nation rising against nation, check. Kingdom against Kingdom, yup, got that. Earthquakes, famines and plagues… check, check, and a big ol’ COVID positive check! Dreadful portents… that’s called “the news” since 2016, check. Great signs in the heavens… what do you think… do the dueling billionaire rockets count for that… Yeah, I think so… especially THAT one! So check! Great! We’ve checked off all the signs, everything looks to be in good order and so according to my checklist here it looks like we’re all lined up for the end of the world! Great!
Or not. I mean, it was a funny bit, but not at all responsible Biblical interpretation. Look at what Jesus and the Disciples are actually talking about. They weren’t talking about the end of the world. They were talking about the destruction of the Temple. Something that would no doubt be catastrophically bad, on the real good, to catastrophically bad, scale. BUT it’s not the end of the world. And they weren’t at all talking about OUR times today. They were talking about their times back then, when in the year 70, the Temple was indeed destroyed by the Romans.
So if predicting the end of the world is not what this lesson is all about (something that Jesus says even HE can't do as God’s SON) then what is this all about? For that, I believe we must turn to one of the great theological minds of all times… and I'm sure with that introduction you've already guessed I'm talking about Dory, from Finding Nemo.
Dory who, by the way is not a Dory, but a Blue Tang… but I digress. What Jesus is trying to tell his disciples in this story, is the same philosophy that Dory expresses in her seminal and memorable work… “Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.”
Now Jesus wasn’t inviting his disciples to swim toward P. Sherman’s house at 42 Wallaby Way, Sidney. Jesus was telling the disciples to just keep swimming toward God’s vision for all of creation. That vision gets laid out in a bunch of places in Scripture but, conveniently for today, it’s right there in the first lesson. Life will be a delight. No weeping. People living long, full lives. Everyone will have a roof over their heads and an abundance of food on the table. There will be an unbelievable peace covering the lands… we’re talkin'... lamb and wolf eating together... kind of crazy peace! Jesus was inviting his disciples to “just keep swimming, just keep swimming” toward THAT vision no matter what went on around them. He told them that when the hard times came (and they inevitably do, over and over and over again) we disciples are to shout this vision into the darkness and just keep swimming.
THAT, my friends, is what Christ Trinity Church is here to do! We are here to shout that vision into our town’s, our country’s, and our world’s darkness du jour! We are here to be those unusual people who do kindness for no other reason that the world needs a bunch of it! We are here, based at 180 Main St. in the heart of the Sheffield Metroplex to paint pictures of God’s overwhelming abundance when the world cries constantly of its catastrophic scarcity. We are here to model living overtly generous lives, giving beyond what fear tells us is a safe and comfortable amount. We are here at Christ Trinity in every season and in every level of darkness and light to make a joyful noise, to break forth into joyous song and sing praises! Christ Trinity is here, on the frontier of the rest of the world to be an outpost of Hope, inspiring those around us, regardless of every obstacle put in their way, to "Just keep swimming, Just keep swimming" toward God’s vision for all of creation until God’s sunrise fully shines and we and all of creation walk fully into God’s light without a shadow to be found... Walk into the day where all the wars, and plagues, insurrections, and dreadful portents and all of the other slithery-serpent-stuff we live with now is completely and totally and forever… left in the dust.
THAT is what this church is about. THAT is the calling to which we are called. THAT is the mission that together we support with our singing and our caring and our laughing and our generous giving. THAT is WHO and WHOSE we are! Amen.
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