Worst Times, Best Times
Lk 21:5-19[1]
I grew up in an era when everybody was asking about the “end
times.” Hal Lindsey’s book, The Late, Great Planet Earth was the
handbook for interpreting God, the Bible, and the end of the world. I guess he was the voice of the Left Behind philosophy in that day. [2] The popularity of Tim LaHaye’s series only
bears witness to the fact that this kind of thinking is still around. People still view the “end times” with fear
and trembling. Except that one of the main reasons why this approach to the
Christian faith has been so popular is that there’s a huge exception
clause. Faithful Christians don’t have
to worry about the trials and tribulations of the “end times” because they are
going to be taken to be with Jesus in the “rapture.” Hence the language of being “left behind”--it
refers to the poor souls who haven’t yet embraced the Christian faith who are
going to have to endure the “great tribulation.”
Besides the fact that this whole approach to the Christian faith is
incredibly heartless when it comes to the fate of most of humanity, the problem
is that it makes nonsense out of what the Bible actually teaches. I think our Gospel lesson for today is a case
in point. Contrary to what the
fear-mongers of our day have to say about the last times, Jesus said that his
followers would be right in the middle of it all. He said they would be arrested and persecuted
(Lk. 21:12), that they would be betrayed even by members of their own family
(Lk. 21:16), that they would be “hated by all because of my name” (Lk.
21:17). It sounds like Jesus envisioned
Christians enduring the hardships and trials of the last times along with everyone
else--perhaps even more so.[3]
Unfortunately, our lesson for today is a bit confusing. Some of what he says seems to
refer to events that would happen in their lifetimes--wars and insurrections,
the Jewish people falling by the sword and Jerusalem being trampled by the Gentiles
(Lk. 21:23-24). And, in fact, about 40
years after Jesus’ death the Jewish people fought a three-year war to throw of
the yoke of their Roman conquerors. It
was a war, however, that they were destined to lose. And as payment for their rebellion, the
Romans destroyed Jerusalem and its magnificent Temple. And many of the people got caught up in the
violence--Jewish people and Christian alike.
But some of what Jesus refers to in our lesson seems to point to a time
in the future--a time when there would be “dreadful portents and great signs
from heaven” (Lk. 21:11) and the nations would see “‘the Son of Man coming in a
cloud’ with power and great glory” (Lk. 21:27).
So it’s hard to know if Jesus was talking about something that was to
happen in the near future or about the end times. I think the answer is that he was talking
about both. He knew that the Jewish war
would be just as devastating for his followers, and he used that catastrophic
event to warn them about the hardships that they would face until the final
cataclysm, the return of Christ.[4] And so Jesus urged them to “be alert,”
praying for strength, so that they wouldn’t be caught off guard when the day of
his return actually would come (Lk. 21:34-36).
And he promised them that the final outcome of all of the trials and
hardships would not be destruction but their redemption (Lk. 21:28)![5]
In fact, it seems that the trials and hardships that were to come upon
those who followed Jesus were to be intentional, not accidental. Jesus said that the purpose for all of this
was to give them “an opportunity to testify” (Lk. 21:13). Now, if you’re like me, you might like to
take a pass on that kind of “opportunity.”
But in fact it would seem that Jesus was trying to tell them that the
hardships they would undergo because of their allegiance to him would actually
give them the perfect opportunity to bear witness to their faith. Think about it: it’s one thing to share your
faith with someone over coffee at a local cafe.
It’s another thing altogether to bear witness to your commitment to
following Jesus when your life is at stake, or you are threatened with bodily
harm, or you are facing some form of attack.
Then your witness is backed up in a powerful way by your actions.[6]
Part of the mindset that I learned growing up was that we lived in a
country where nobody would be persecuted because of their faith. We took great comfort in that, just like
people take comfort in the idea that Christians will be spared from the
hardships of the end times. But the
truth is that those who commit themselves to follow Jesus and to live out the
values of God’s kingdom will always face trials and hardships in this
life. Just ask the people who were
threatened and beaten and killed for standing up for justice during the Civil
Rights movement.[7] Suffering is part and parcel of what it
means to follow a Savior whose path led him to the cross! But trials and hardships are never the last
word in our faith. When we are overcome
by the difficulties of the present life, we need to remember that “our
redemption is drawing near”![8] If we can do that, if we can maintain our
faith in the face of the worst that our times can throw at us, then they can
become the best of times for us, because we will have the chance to really show
a doubting world what it means to be a Christian.[9]
[1] ©
2013 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by
Rev. Dr. Alan Brehm on 11/17/2013 at First Presbyterian Church of Dickinson, TX.
[2]
This view, known as Dispensationalism, was first articulated by J. N. Darby in
the early 19th Century, but it was popularized by C. I. Scofield in
the “Scofield Study Bible” that has been a popular version of Bible among
fundamentalist Christians for over 100 years.
[3]
Cf. Fred B. Craddock, Luke, 245,
where he says that “Disciples are not exempt from suffering,” and that there is
in this text “nothing of the arrogance ... born of a doctrine of a rapture in
which believers are lifted above the conditions of persecution and
hardship.” Cf. similarly, R. Alan
Culpepper, “The Gospel of Luke,” in New
Interpreters Bible IX:402, where he acknowledges that “in every generation
there are those whose religion is simply a form of escapism into the fantasy of
futurism.” Cf. also F. Dean Lueking, “Gaining
One’s Soul,” The Christian Century
(Nov. 4, 1998): 1019, where he says that in the face of speculation about “signs”
what is needed is “Disciplined, enduring discipleship.” He says, “The key to the End Time is the
cross, not heifers and stones and rebuilt altars.”
[4]
Cf. Joseph A. Fitzmyer, Luke X-XXIV,
1329, where he said that the Gospel of Luke views the destruction of
Jerusalem “in a microcosmic view; it
sees the crisis that the earthly coming of Jesus brought into the lives of his
own generation, but sees it now as a harbinger of the crisis which Jesus and
his message, and above all his coming as the Son of Man, will bring ‘to all who
dwell upon the entire face of the earth’ (21:35).” Cf. also Ibid., 1349.
[5]
Cf. Craddock, Luke, 248, where he
points out that looking to the end time in the midst of suffering “should aid
us in keeping gains and losses in proper perspective ... and cheer us with the
news not only that today is a gift of God but also that tomorrow we stand in
the presence of the Son of man.”
[6]
Cf. Fitzmyer, Luke X-XXIV, 1340.
[7]
Cf. Culpepper, “Gospel of Luke,” NIB
IX:402-403, where he says that in spite of the escapism some have embraced, “every
generation has also had its courageous and prophetic visionaries who devoted
themselves completely to Jesus’ call to create community, oppose injustice,
work for people and make a place for the excluded. Every generation, therefore, is called back
to the teachings of Jesus by the examples of those who have suffered
persecution and hardship because they dared to strive to live out Jesus’ call
for a community that transcends social barriers, that cares for its least
privileged, and that confronts abuses of power and wealth.”
[8]
Cf. Craddock, Luke, 247: “The final
changes in heaven and earth are not ... to usher in a time of terror for the
faithful; rather they are to realize that these are signs of the time of their
redemption (v. 28).”
[9]
Cf. Craddock, Luke, 243, where he
says that the whole point of “apocalyptic” teachings that look to the end times
is that it presents “a dramatic witness to the tenacity of faith and hope among
the people of God,” especially when they
have to endure suffering. Cf. also
Culpepper, “Gospel of Luke,” NIB
IX:411: “The message of the eschatological discourse, ... needs to be
proclaimed in every time because it is one of hope: ‘Your redemption is drawing
near’ (21:28). God’s word will never pass away (21:33).”
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