Year B
Mark 13:1-8
The Very Rev. Denise Vaughn
The Signs of Waiting and Watching
If you saw the 2002 thriller movie Signs, which stared Mel Gibson, or the advertising for it, it featured crop circles, a real-life phenomenon that started appearing in wheat fields in southern England about 30 years ago and since then has occurred in several other countries. At first, some believed they contained mysterious messages left by the aliens who created them. But, then, the mystery was revealed when in 1991 two English farmers confessed they had created at least a few of them and then demonstrated how they did it. After the farmer’s confession, many believe that the other crop circles discovered were created by pranksters who copied the idea.
Yet, there are still those who continue to believe the alien theory with others proposing various other explanations. Just search “crop circles” on the internet, if you want to read some wild and very different stories. When you begin watching the movie, you may think that the title “Signs” is referring to the crop circles that appear in the field of a Pennsylvania farmer named Graham Hess. Graham just happens to be an Episcopal Priest, played by Mel Gibson who has lost his faith for various reasons. But, you discover as you continue to watch the movie, that the title refers to something else altogether, something more important to real life and faith.
The makers of the movie used this fascination with crop circles as the stage for a story that asked the question throughout the movie: Is there someone in charge of things or are we alone in this world to figure everything out for ourselves? The movie encourages us to “see” the signs all around us that point to the possibilities unfolding in every moment. We can live a fear-based life relying only upon ourselves and what we can reasonably explain and predict. Or we can trust that a Great Catcher is and always will be there to sustain us and sends allies to help us when we are in dire straits. At the end of the movie, Graham Hess is back in his clericals with his faith restored.
We live our lives surrounded by all sorts of signs. In the biblical world, people were big believers in signs. For example, in Genesis, after the great flood ends, and only Noah’s family remains, God comes to Noah and promises a new covenant between God and all of Noah’s descendants. God says that never again will the whole earth be destroyed by a flood. And the evidence of this covenant and promise is the rainbow. Thus, Noah’s family and generations since are reminded of God’s promises every time a rainbow appears in the sky. For Hannah, in the OT Reading today, the sign that the Lord God had remembered her was when she conceived and bore a son named Samuel.
When we get to the time of the New Testament, especially when Jesus walked the earth, people began demanding more. We hear this in the disciples themselves today who ask about signs, wanting to know what the sign’s will be that will precede the destruction of the temple. Rather, than name the signs, Jesus warns them not to be fooled by the troubles that will arise, including wars, earthquakes, and famines. These are just the beginning of the birth pangs.
They didn’t necessarily get their question answered, but we can certainly understand why the disciples would ask for the sign’s. We all would like to know what is going to happen next so we can make good choices. We draw conclusions from signs and spend a great deal of time trying to predict the future from them. Christians love trying to predicting the future. Many want to know when the end of the world will happen: it has been a preoccupation for centuries. Jesus today invites us to take the long view. The end might often look imminent, but it still might be some way off. We, like the disciples, can become so focused on discerning the signs of the times that we neglect our more important mission to witness to the gospel today.
This section of the gospel from Mark is often called the “little apocalypse,” a term associated with the second coming of Christ and the end of time itself. As the disciples and Jesus leave the temple in the final week of Jesus’ life, we hear the disciples marvel at the size and sturdiness of the temple and Jesus’ shocking answer that there will be an end. It is difficult to know just exactly what Jesus is referring to — his death, the destruction of the temple, or the second coming at the end of the world. It must be noted that by the time Mark wrote the gospel, Jesus had died and rose from the dead, and Mark and his readers had most likely witnessed the desecration of the temple in 70 AD. And the second coming or end of the world, they believed would happen within their lifetime.
A poll taken almost a decade ago by the Pew Research Center found that nearly one in five American Christians do not believe in Christ’s second coming and there is little reason to believe much has changed in the past ten years. Jesus is very clear today that the end is on the horizon but that it is less important to know the date and more important to live with love of God and neighbor every moment, so that if the world ends today or tomorrow, we are prepared, our souls are prepared to be with God. As the followers of Christ, we have before us our mission. And although the birth pangs have begun anything that leads us astray from that mission Jesus tells us is not of God and must be avoided. This reality challenges us to faithful and expectant waiting without falling prey either to panic or complacent apathy. It calls us to steadfastness with hope.
The author of Hebrews tells us that we are to “hold fast to hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. And to consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together…but to encourage one another, and all the more as you see the day approaching. Because of Christ’s priestly work we are encouraged to live out the righteousness that God commands from us. We are to draw near to the Lord, and to engage in good works daily with confidence, faithfulness, and mutual fellowship till the very end. Then others will follow our example.
It will not be easy Jesus tells us. Faithfulness is never easy. Like those early believers, we too, hear the warnings and become anxious when we consider the coming end. We too, keep studying the signs and looking for some kind of direction. Among all the possibilities, there is only one sign which will truly help us and that sign is the cross which speaks both a fact and a promise. Through Christ’s one offering we are reconciled to God and called to share in the work of reconciliation. By accepting and sharing in the sign of the cross we are able to press on to proclaim the gospel and trust the Holy Spirit to help us through every difficulty.
The real question for us is not “Is the end near?” but rather “Is God near in our lives leading us to be Christ’s signs in the world?” Knowing, that there is someone in charge and we are not alone enables us to let God be who God is, and to put our energy and effort into being who we are the Church that points to the presence and power of God at work, not tomorrow but today. A challenge from Mark for sure today just as every gospel writer has left the church. John in his gospel calls the church to love one another. Matthew and Luke call the church to engage in mission to the Gentiles, to those who are “other.” It is Mark who leaves us with likely the most daunting: “Beware….keep awake,” watch, resist, hold out for the coming of the Son of God. This is just the beginning of the birth pangs.