Year C
Luke 21:5-19
The Very Rev. Denise Vaughn
“Don’t Worry-Be Happy”
Speculation about the events surrounding the “end times” has occupied faithful believers since the days of the prophets. Through the centuries, the faithful have awaited the “Day of the Lord” with anticipation knowing it would usher in a great reversal of fortunes. The lowly and the great, the rich and the poor, the mighty and the weak would all trade places and the rulers of this world, would give way to the rule of God. Along with the anticipation we are to have for those days, if we are truthful with ourselves, we are also a bit terrified of the events that will surround the end of the world as we know it. We pray for the return of Jesus and at the same time hope it doesn’t happen today. Yet, all the text’s today are unified in their call for us to be fearless, awake and alert and ready for anything.
The attitude we are to have concerning the future is expressed in the title and song Bobby McFerrin released back in 1988, ‘Don’t Worry—Be Happy!’ Whatever the future may hold, God can be trusted to see us through. If we are faithfully carrying out the work God has given us to do, we need not dread what is to come. We don’t have to worry. We can be happy because we are beloved children of God and inheritors of God’s creation. And Jesus today, in our gospel text, a text full of bad news that could make us fearful, tells us we have nothing to fear and encourages us to not worry, as he engages with the disciples and others about the beautiful Jerusalem temple
As the people stood marveling at the beautiful temple, Jesus proposed the unthinkable and seems to be warning the disciples about the second temple’s destruction which did in fact take place in 70 AD on Roman orders. Naturally, Jesus’ remark prompted a question. When? The disciples immediately assume that Jesus is talking about the end of the world. And although the passage does culminate with the vision of the Son of Man coming in glory to bring redemption, Jesus explains that a great deal will happen between the end of the temple and the coming of God. He assures the disciples that the end times are in the future and that they will not happen all at once.
He gives them some rather odd advice he says, “Many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and ‘The time is near!’ Do not go after them he tells them. Do not be lead astray by false prophets proclaiming the arrival of the end of time. Do not get carried away by a world full of people with huge emotions-anger, terror, hatred, fear, anticipation. And even when things get personal, and they themselves are under attack, they are to keep their hearts fixed on their one main purpose, which is to testify faithfully and to trust in Jesus, both for the immediate words that they are to use, and for their own salvation. They are not to be afraid, because God will not abandon them to this destruction.
This promised future of God’s salvation offered hope to the disciples then and it offers hope to us as we are still waiting for the “Day of the Lord.” Hope, when it is grounded in the gospel of Jesus Christ, is the persistent, enduring, and trusting expectation that God’s will shall be done. We find hope for the future when we see God’s promises being fulfilled in the past. And we see God’s promises and their fulfillment throughout Scripture. The promise carried in the rainbow that God will not destroy God’s creation again, finds its fulfillment in God’s voice through Isaiah today, announcing “a new heaven and a new earth.” “There, no one will ever again hear the sound of weeping. God’s care will endure and become all the more obvious: “Before they call, I will answer,” God says, and “while they are still speaking I will hear.”
This part of the book of Isaiah was written sometime between 740-700 BCE after the return of the Jews from exile in Babylon. The Babylonians had defeated Judea and destroyed the first temple and the city of Jerusalem. They came home to a ruined Jerusalem and their sole hope was that God would come and miraculously reestablish the nation. Isaiah promises that all the work they will put in – tearing down the ruins so they can build again; tilling the soil so they can plant food; teaching their children about the God of their fathers and mothers, and the ruler of the universe, all this will bring about a new Jerusalem that will be a joy and a new relationship with God delighting both God and the people.
This picture painted by Isaiah is of a transformed world. Where the people are living meaningful lives and where the perfect creation envisioned in the beginning of time in Genesis is fully realized in this world. This vision should encourage us to live in hope because the story is not over yet. Thus Isaiah can say, “God is indeed my salvation; I will trust and won’t be afraid.” Fear can be set aside-together with anxiety and restlessness about the future. This hopeful reality of the future Jesus addresses today when he announces that: “not a hair on your heads will be lost” amid natural disaster, apocalyptic upheavals, and persecution.
God is trustworthy and sure in whose hands are time and eternity. While all around Jesus people are trying to work out what will happen, what they should do about it, how they can force events into a pattern, he tells them, to forgo this speculation. Tough times are inevitable. “By your endurance you will gain your souls.” Once we get though something, we know we can do it, and can help others. We can share words of hope and actions of love with one another. We just have to be willing to set our hands to the task and not become satisfied with the injustices of the world. Hope motivates and empowers us to work for a better tomorrow, not out of fear but that God’s will be done on earth as in heaven.
The kind of tomorrow is what Isaiah showed us. He showed us what the world was meant to be, and how in God’s time we will experience these things. Paul told the Thessalonians they could begin to experience this harmony of all living in peace by working together as the household of God. And Jesus wants the disciples to know that persecution doesn’t destroy us. It strengthens us. God’s will shall be accomplished, but for us to get there we must be willing to endure. We must be willing to work toward God’s will for justice, peace, reconciliation, and joy.
Not allowing ourselves to become distracted or led astray by speculations surrounding the “end times.” Because, whatever the future may hold, God can be trusted to see us though. In the meantime, we should look at all of this as an opportunity to testify to the love of God, and to our hope in God’s good and loving plans. Rooted in the promise of Christ to come again now in our midst and one day again at the end of time. Don’t Worry – Be Happy! “By your endurance you will gain your soul!”