Traditionally, Advent is a season of expectation and waiting, preparation and anticipation.  Our RCL scriptures for this Advent season also include some apocalyptic texts, ones that disrupt our usual way of viewing Advent and the Incarnation.  They encourage us to watch for God to be revealed in our world now, adding a new layer of insight about the Christmas season.  Emmanuel – God with us – is here now and will come again.  

The theme for this week is Jesus will appear again.  The selected passages are … 

No Escape but Risky Love

Mark 13:24-37 (NRSVUE)

Back in 2014, escape rooms became popular forms of group entertainment.  Does anybody know what an escape room is?    They are immersive experiences where the participants are the main characters, taking part in an adventure that involves using clues to solve puzzles and progress through the game.  The goal is to escape the room within 60 minutes.  Sometimes families or work teams go to an escape room to build collaboration and have fun.

Human beings enjoy puzzles and figuring things out, and often we try to apply that problem-solving skill to a biblical text.  This is especially true of apocalyptic texts, such as our sermon text found in Mark 13.  But scripture is not a puzzle to be figured out to avoid pain and suffering, and faith isn’t an escape room.  Instead, we’re going to look carefully at the characteristics of apocalyptic literature in the Bible, think about the audience Jesus was speaking to, and consider the hope of Advent the passage conveys for us as modern readers.  Let’s read Mark 13:24-37.

To begin our exploration of this text, we need to understand the characteristics of apocalyptic literature and the context for this passage in Mark.

Characteristics of apocalyptic literature

Apocalyptic literature tends to be dualistic, contrasting good with evil and picturing in vivid terms the ultimate victory of God’s good purposes.  In Greek, “apocalypse” means “to reveal,” so the symbolism and imagery used in apocalyptic literature is not intended to be a puzzle, but an opportunity to gain perspective and clarity about God within the world’s chaos.  Apocalyptic literature in the Bible often asks the tough questions, such as “if God is all powerful, then why do believers suffer?”  Its intention is to convey hope for God’s deliverance, and stylistically it does this through imagery, poetry, and dream-like visions that were familiar to the audience of that time period.  Mark’s gospel adopts some of these stylistic elements of apocalyptic literature.

Context of Mark 13:24-37

Barclay’s Commentary calls Mark 13 “one of the most difficult chapters in the New Testament for a modern reader to understand,” explaining that the Jewish history and thought found in the chapter would have been familiar with readers in that period, but completely foreign to today’s readers.  Jesus used his audience’s familiarity with apocalyptic literature in the Old Testament, coupled with its language and imagery, to convey the hope of the Second Coming.

For the immediate context of Mark 13, it is helpful to consider that Mark wrote his gospel around 70 CE after the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, and that event shaped his telling of the gospel story.

• For example, Mark knew what happened with the temple, so he chose to have Jesus prophesy about the temple’s destruction as a means of establishing his authority as the Son of God (Mark 13:1-23).

We’ll look at two of the themes in Mark 13:24-37 – the second coming and keeping watch.

The Second Coming:     

But in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.  Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory.  Then he will send out the angels and gather the elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven. (Mark 13:24-27 NRSVUE)

The main focus is on the second coming of Christ, but this is entangled with the Day of the Lord and its symbolism and imagery referenced in the Old Testament.  Jesus’ audience was familiar with oppression, both from within their culture and from without.  They hoped and dreamed of the day when the Lord would free them, and these dreams and visions found their way into Old Testament books.  The apocalyptic Old Testament books were not intended to be “maps of the future and timetables of events to come,” as Barclay says, but rather, they were poetry and visions and hopes for God’s intervention in the future.  Jesus took the language and imagery his audience would be familiar with and used it to convey the hope of the Second Coming before he was crucified and resurrected.  Notice the imagery in Mark 13:24-25 and how it corresponds, at least in part, with what happened at Jesus’ crucifixion as referenced in Luke:

But in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. (Mark 13:24-25, NRSVUE)

It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, while the sun’s light failed, and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. (Luke 23:44-45, NRSVUE)

By using the imagery and language his audience was familiar with, Jesus foreshadowed the significance or greatness of the Second Coming, as well as his crucifixion.  His point was not to focus on specifics, such as the order of events, but on the significance, hope, and certainty that he would return.

Keeping Watch:     

From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near.  So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates.  Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place.  Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven nor the Son, but only the Father.  Beware, keep alert, for you do not know when the time will come.  It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch.  Therefore, keep awake, for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening or at midnight or at cockcrow or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly.  And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake. (Mark 13:28-37 NRSVUE)

This section of our sermon passage offers the chance to rethink what we’re looking for and why.  Rather than looking for signs that we interpret as indicators of the Second Coming, we instead “keep watch” for the ways we delude ourselves into thinking we can determine God’s timeline.  If we consider Mark 13:28-31, we might think we’re expected to figure out the “puzzle,” but we can contrast that with Jesus’ words in Mark 13:32-33:

From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near.  So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates.  Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place.  Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. (Mark 13:28-31, NRSVUE)

But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven nor the Son, but only the Father.  Beware, keep alert, for you do not know when the time will come. (Mark 13:32-33, NRSVUE)

Barclay’s Commentary points out that Mark 13:28-31 pertain to the destruction of the Temple, not the Second Coming, whereas Mark 13:32-33 reveal that even Jesus did not know the time of his return.  No one does, nor are we expected to know or figure out when the Second Coming will occur (Mark 13:35).

The reality of the Incarnation, God becoming a man, is risky when you consider our proclivity to anthropomorphism (i.e., attributing human characteristics to nonhuman beings) and what happens when we think God acts like us.  Theologian Karoline Lewis says this:

God becomes us to bring life to that which would surely die and to bring a new heaven and a new earth to the moments when the sufferings and despair of our earthly life is more than we can bear.  Advent gives us the time and space once again to believe in and live out this reality.

Jesus’ admonition to “Keep awake” or “Keep alert” gives us pause when it comes to thinking we have the mystery of God figured out.  The Second Coming is our chance to revel in the mystery of God and to bask in the hope-filled promise that Christ’s return is certain.

Mark’s apocalyptic gospel gives us good news in a world that often seems to be off kilter. The good news isn’t that we must figure out clues, like we’re in an escape room, to know when the Second Coming will happen and escape from the world and its problems. The real good news (some call it “the really real”) is that even though we may feel overwhelmed and ready to give up in light of the problems facing humanity, God will never give up.  In fact, God chose to come closer to be with us in our mess through the Incarnation.  In Jesus, God’s willingness to be inextricably linked with humanity is revealed. Boston University Homiletics Professor Rev. Dr. David Schnasa Jacobsen calls this a “risky proximate love.”

God is revealed as coming close with a divinely authorized risky love that leads all the way to the cross.  This is no triumphant fix-it God … This is a God who apocalyptically reveals Godself precisely as the mystery for us in the face of our broken realities.

When God enters time, we can expect disruption, and that won’t be comfortable or easy.  As we begin the Advent season, we are encouraged to know that whether we’re ready or not, Jesus will return, and our challenge is to keep watch for the ways that God shows up now in our beautiful and broken world.

Call to Action: This week, look for evidence of God in your life.  This can include anything from noticing beauty in nature to personally specific examples of answered prayer.  When these instances occur, offer thanks for the Incarnation that made possible God’s fully embodied presence (Jesus) in your world.  Instead of waiting for Christmas and the celebration of Incarnation to happen, consider how living in the present with the knowledge of God’s constant presence (the Holy Spirit in you) changes your perception to a more hopeful and grateful stance.

Mark 13:24-37  NRSV

²⁴ “But in those days, after that suffering**, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, ²⁵ and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.  

** Mark 13:1-2,3-8,9-13,14-17,18-23

²⁶ “Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming * in clouds’ with great power and glory. ²⁷ Then he will send out the angels and gather the^[e] elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.  

* See Acts 1:6-11 re: the Coming

* See 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18  re: gathering of the elect

²⁸ “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. ²⁹ So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he^[f] is near, at the very gates. ³⁰ Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. ³¹ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.   

³² “But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven nor the Son, but only the Father. ³³ Beware, keep alert,^[g] for you do not know when the time will come. ³⁴ It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. ³⁵ Therefore, keep awake, for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening or at midnight or at cockcrow or at dawn, ³⁶ or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. ³⁷ And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.”    

William Barclay’s takeaway from today’s passage …

There are three special things to note in this passage.

(i) It is sometimes held that when Jesus said that these things were to happen within this generation he was in error. But Jesus was right, for this sentence does not refer to the Second Coming.  It could not when the next sentence says he does not know when that day will be. It refers to Jesus’ prophecies about the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple and they were abundantly fulfilled.

(ii) Jesus says that he does not know the day or the hour when he will come again.  There were things which even he left without questioning in the hand of God.  There can be no greater warning and rebuke to those who work out dates and timetables as to when he will come again.  Surely it is nothing less than blasphemy for us to enquire into that of which our Lord consented to be ignorant.

(iii) Jesus draws a practical conclusion.  We are like men who know that their master will come, but who do not know when.  We live in the shadow of eternity.  That is no reason for fearful and hysterical expectation.  But it means that day by day our work must be completed.  It means that we must so live that it does not matter when he comes.  It gives us the great task of making every day fit for him to see and being at any moment ready to meet him face to face. All life becomes a preparation to meet the King.

We began by saying that this was a very difficult chapter, but that in the end it had permanent truth to tell us.

(i) It tells us that only the man of God can see into the secrets of history.  Jesus saw the fate of Jerusalem although others were blind to it.  A real statesman must be a man of God.  To guide his country a man must be himself God-guided.  Only the man who knows God can enter into something of the plan of God.

(ii) It tells us two things about the doctrine of the Second Coming.

(a) It tells us that it contains a fact we forget or disregard at our peril.

(b) It tells us that the imagery in which it is clothed is the imagery of Jesus’ own time, and that to speculate on it is useless, when Jesus himself was content not to know.  The one thing of which we can be sure is that history is going somewhere; there is a consummation to come.

(iii) It tells us that of all things to forget God and to become immersed in earth is most foolish.  The wise man is he who never forgets that he must be ready when the summons comes.  If he lives in that memory, for him the end will not be terror, but eternal joy.

CLOSING PRAYER