Daniel 12:1-3               Psalm 16                      Hebrews 10:11-14 (15-18) 19-25        Mark 13:1-8

All three readings for today point toward the end time on judgment day. In my OT class, Dr. James Sanders explained the three keys to understanding the scriptures:  we must consider the perspective of the writer, the cultural influences of the time. The first two are closely related, and the perspective of the reader.  In order to understand the perspective of the writer, we must understand something about the time and understanding of the people to whom the scriptures were written. This helps us consider the message, or theology, the writer was attempting to convey to the reader.  Living in the OT or NT times was not at all like the experience of growing up in American, Western Europe, or the Philippines in the 20th and 21^st centuries.  Cultural norms, morals, and experiences were dramatically different.  Yet, there is a thread of similarities that we share as part of our humanity with the people of those times.  Temptations to turn from God and worship false idols are as true for us today as it was in biblical times.  We are tempted to place ourselves, our own desires and needs over that of God’s desire for humanity.  We are reluctant to acknowledge God’s part in our successes, and we often fail to see the needs of others. 

Knowing that oppression was overt and violence a part of life during Old and New Testament times helps us know that their understanding of God was skewed by their experiences just as our understanding is skewed by our experiences.  Our perspective and how it differs from the people of Israel and the writer, is the third key to understanding the scriptures.  Our enlightened understanding of the value of human life often places us at odds with what we read.  God’s punishment of the people of Israel by allowing the Babylonians to defeat them in battle is hard for us to understand – but then again, the thought of God fulfilling his promise to the people of Israel by directing them to conduct genocide on the people who had occupied the Promised Land doesn’t fit with our understanding of a loving God either.  And for many of us the thought of an End Time is foreign to our theology – our understanding of God.

In Adult Forum, we’ve been discussing the root of evil, and in so doing, we have participated in the age old struggle of humanity to understand how God could allow the awful pain and suffering we experience in life.  We’ve explored the notion of “original sin” in which Adam and Eve ate the fruit from the tree of knowledge.  From that point forward, humans have had a thirst for independence from God. We have tried to learn more and more so that we might be in control over life and death.  We have sought immortality through science – a goal we are not likely to achieve.  And, in so doing we neglect our relationship with God.  This, some theologians argue, is the source of evil – our own feeble attempts to “play God” by controlling others and our environment. 

The people of Israel, though guilty of these attempts, also longed for a time when there would be peace throughout the world.  They longed for a world without violence and corruption – and they could only imagine that world if their God were to take control of all of creation – thus ending suffering.  In Daniel this morning, we read about how they believed this would come to be:  “There shall be a time of anguish, such as has never occurred since nations first came into existence. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book.”  They wanted peace, but they also wanted justice.  They wanted God to avenge all the wrong and reward the righteous, the people whose names were written in the book – as if God was keeping a score card in heaven to be used on the Day of Judgment to decide who would suffer and who would be delivered. 

In today’s Gospel reading, Mark reports that Jesus spoke of war and famines, the rise and fall of nations, and of false prophets to come claiming to be Christ – all of these events, Jesus describes as “birth pangs” as humanity is born into the kingdom of God.  Jesus says this in response to his disciples’ questions as to when the end will come.  Jesus described the events that have taken place over centuries – but he did not give a time.  Suffering is a part of life and it can be the source of new life.  Like through the pain of childbirth, new life can emerge.  That is not to say that God wishes or even causes our suffering, but God can bring good out of evil, and as in the crucifixion, new life out of death. 

The reading from Hebrews addresses the end time, when, the writer quotes from Jeremiah, saying: 

This is the covenant that I will make with them
after those days, says the Lord:
I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds,

he also adds,

I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.

Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

All three of these readings today, are written with a particular view, one in which God sets every time right in the end. In these verses from Hebrews, we are reminded of two very important points – first that the peace of God will come about, when what God desires for us, is in our hearts and in our minds.  The second is that God does forgive us for what we have done, and what we have left undone.  Now, the writer of Hebrews is using this to explain why sacrifices for sins are no longer necessary.  He points out that God, in Christ, offered himself as a single sacrifice for all, that we are all forgiven. He writes, “For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.”  What does it mean to be sanctified?  It means simply to open our hearts and minds to the possibilities of what God has in store for us.  We must be open so that God can put the laws in our hearts and write them in our minds.  The laws, God’s desire for us, are not rules but are a guide for living, a guide for life in Christ.   

            In the last two verses from today’s reading in Hebrews, we heard “And, let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

            The end time, “the Day approaching,” should not be our focus.  We, too, desire a world at peace, but God does not intend for us to live our lives in fear of the day we die.  No, Christ conquered dead and we need not fear the end.  God’s intent is for us to usher in the Kingdom of God.  Peace begins in our hearts and we are to provoke one another to love.  We meet together here for worship and fellowship, and we encourage each other. 

            Last Sunday I spoke of our pledges as a form of prayer.  It is a prayer of thanksgiving and will be used by St. Andrew’s so that we might continue to come together in this space to worship God and encourage each other.  Our gifts of service are included with these pledges of financial support.  This morning, we will commission our Chalice Bearers and Eucharistic Visitors – just one of the forms of ministry our members are involved in providing.  And then, in our Eucharistic Celebration, we will offer all our ministries and pledges unto to God.  In the name of one God, Father, and Son of Holy Spirit. Amen.