From Fr. Tony K
1) The end time phobia: French "prophet" and
astrologer Nostradamus (1503-1566), foretold that the world would end when
Easter fell on April 25.
This happened in 1666, 1734, 1886 and 1943; it will occur
again in 2038. In 1379, St. Vincent Ferrer (1350-1419), a Spanish
Dominican monk, basing his prediction on the number of verses in the Book of
Psalms (2,537 verses), predicted the demise of the world in AD 3936. By
the end of 1998, the Mount of Olives Hotel, run by Palestinian Muslims,
wrote to 2,000 Protestant Christian groups in the U.S. asking "How would
you like to be reserving your rooms at the Mount of Olives Hotel, to wait for
the ‘second coming" of Jesus on the first day of the new millennium,
2000 A.D.?" Scientists, also, fueled public anxiety by citing
a series of possible ways, including, nuclear war and collision with a comet,
in which the world could come to an end. A very popular book in 1989 was
89 Reasons Why the World will End in 1989. The Jehovah’s Witnesses
frightened gullible followers at least 3 times during the last century with
their “end of the world” predictions in 1914, 1918 and 1974. It is this
paranoid fear that led people to die in the mass suicides organized by Heaven’s
Gate and Jim Jones. The film Omega Code, released in October, 1999, was
an independent movie funded by the Trinity Broadcasting Network, the largest
Evangelical Christian TV network in the U.S. It was promoted by a team of
2,400 U.S. Evangelical pastors. The plot involved a portrayal of the
“rapture” at the imminent “Second coming” of Jesus, when “born again” and
"saved" Christians, both alive and dead, are supposed to fly upward
in the air to meet Jesus. The film was rated in the top 10 grossing
movies for October, 1999. Over 17 million copies of Tim LaHaye and Jerry
Jenkins' novel Left Behind on the “Second coming,” were sold by July 27, 2000.
This is how modern man reacts to the reality of the coming of the end of
the world. Hence, today’s readings remind us that we should be well
prepared and always ready to meet Jesus at any time, daily in our brothers and
sisters and at the end of our lives or the end of the world, whichever comes
first.
2) Bingo first!
Who cares about the Second coming?: There is a second group
of people who ignore Christ’s Parousia and stick to their addictions. A woman
was hurrying home from work. This was her Bingo night. Suddenly she spotted
this fellow standing on the edge of the pavement holding aloft a placard which
read: The end of the world is near. She went up to him and said, ‘You say the
end of the world is near.’ ‘That’s right, missus,’ he replied. ‘But are you
sure?’ ‘Quite sure, missus.’ ‘And you say it’s near.’ ‘Yes, missus.’ ‘How
near?’ ‘Oh, very near.’ ‘Could you be more precise?’ ‘This very night, Missus’.
She paused for a moment to reflect on this. Then in a voice full of anxiety,
she asked, ‘Tell me, son. Will it be before or after Bingo?’ (Flor McCarthy in
New Sunday and Holy Day Liturgies).
3) Two Polish men were taking their first train trip to
Warsaw on the train. A vendor came down the corridor selling bananas
which they'd never seen before. Each bought a banana. The first man eagerly
peeled the banana and bit into it just as the train went into a dark tunnel.
When the train emerged from the tunnel, he looked across to his friend
and said, "I wouldn't eat that if I were you." "Why not?”
asked his friend. “Because, it makes you temporarily blind.”
3) A motorist with poor eyesight was driving through a dense
fog and was trying desperately to stay within range of the taillights of the
car ahead of him. As he squinted and worried his way along, trying to
stay on course with those taillights, the car in front suddenly stopped, and
his car hit the car in the front. The driver of the rear car got out and
demanded to know why the other driver came to such an abrupt stop.
"I had to," he replied, "I'm in my own garage!"
4) Once upon a time a TV commentator (on PBS) delivered a
pessimistic editorial on a Friday evening broadcast (taped earlier in the day).
The world was in grim shape, he told the camera. Global warming was worse than
anyone had thought it was. The population of the world would double again in
the next twenty year. It was likely that an asteroid would hit earth before the
end of the next century. Rage was increasing the third world countries against
our wealth.
The races were polarizing in America. The crime had turned
up again. Our schools were total failures and would not, could not get any
better. There was a drug and alcohol epidemic in white suburban high schools.
Divorce rates were increasing. Abortions were at an all time high. A wave of
bad news was sweeping the earth and thee was nothing anyone could do about it.
When the taping was over, he got into his Mercedes and drove
rapidly into the country to escape the Friday night traffic rush. At his house
on the shore of the lake, he relaxed in the sauna, sipping from a large glass
of Barolo wine, swam in the pool, wrapped himself in a robe, and sat on the
deck as the sun set. He poured himself a second glass of wine and, as the sky
turned red and then purple that life was very good indeed.
5. "You’ll wish you were Jewish!!" A
Protestant minister and a Catholic priest enjoyed teasing their Jewish rabbi
friend, continually asking him when he was going to convert to their faith.
When the Holidays rolled around, the rabbi sent them a card with the
following: "Season’s Greetings! Roses are reddish, Violets are
bluish; When the Messiah comes, you’ll wish you were Jewish!!"
6. Missed the “rapture” by a minute: A certain
man, Herbert Washington by name, was so taken up by the nearness of Christ’s
second coming and “the rapture” that he became a pain in the neck to his
coworkers. So his coworkers hatched a plan to pay him back in his own
coin. One day, when Herbert went to the washroom, they laid their work
clothes on their chairs and hid in the supply room. When Herbert came
back from the washroom, he thought the rapture had taken place. The
Muslim janitor, who was part of the joke, pretended to have witnessed everyone
disappear and ran around the office feigning panic. Herbert fell to the
ground clutching his heart and screaming, "I knew you'd forget me, Jesus!
What did I do wrong?" He was rushed to a local hospital with
what was diagnosed as a mild heart attack. (Fr. Munachi).
7. The Second Coming. A Sunday school teacher asked
his class, “If I sold my house and my car, had a big garage sale and gave all
my money to the church, would that get me into Heaven? “NO!” the children
all answered. “If I cleaned the church every day, mowed the yard, and
kept everything neat and tidy, would that get me into Heaven?” Again, the
answer was, “NO!” Again the teacher asked, “Well, then, if I were kind to
animals and gave candy to all the children, and loved my wife, would that get
me into Heaven?” Again, they all answered, "NO!" “Well
then how can I get into Heaven?” A five-year-old boy shouted out, “YOU
GOTTA BE DEAD!” Good insight for a five-year old!
|
8. Somnambulist or Methodist? "Be constantly on
the watch! Stay awake," Jesus commands. The
signs-of-the-times are such that, clearly, this is no time for somnambulists.
A somnambulist, as you know, is a person who walks in his sleep.
On the eve of his wedding, a young man decided to confess all to his
fiancée. He went to her and said, "My love, there is something I
feel I must tell you before we are married; something you must know. It may
make a difference in your feeling toward me. You see, I am a
somnambulist." The young lady thought for a moment, then replied,
"Oh that's all right. There's no problem. I was raised a
Methodist. We can go to your Church one Sunday and to mine the
next." |
|
#1: Scientists on the end of the world: Scientists
have fueled public anxiety by citing a series of possible ways in which the
world could come to an end, e.g. (a) Sucked into a black hole.
A large dead star which has collapsed and has become so incredibly dense that
even light cannot escape it, a “black hole” is thought to be a fatal
attraction for any nearby matter; (b) Climate change.
Another ice age or glacial period is expected in 2,000–10,000 years; if and
when it occurs, over eight billion people will try to survive on 30% less
land mass; (c) The Greenhouse Effect. A predicted
temperature increase of 6o F is expected by the year 2030; if
this occurs, polar regions will thaw, ocean levels will rise and vast areas
of earth will be flooded; (d) Collision. Earth may be hit
by a meteorite, asteroid or comet; (e) Cosmic Rays.
Earth’s magnetic field is waning at present, making it susceptible to the
rays of an exploding supernova and/or solar flares; (f) Nuclear
War and its Aftermath. A familiar and frightening scenario: a possible
nuclear war could wipe out up to 90% of the U.S. population and 50% of that
of Russia; (g) The Death of the Sun. Considered as the
ultimate disaster, the eventual cooling of the sun will occur only after an
intense period of heating up which will boil away earth’s oceans and bake its
crust unto lifelessness. [Patricia Datchuck Sánchez, Celebration.]
But Today’s readings give us the assurance that our God will be with us all
the days of our lives and that we will have the ongoing presence of the Holy
Spirit in our midst guiding, protecting and strengthening us in spite of our
necessary human uncertainty concerning the end time when “Christ will come
again in glory to judge the living and the dead.” So, the Church advises us
to entrust the unknown and unknowable future to God’s caring and capable
hands. # 2: $ 57, 000 for Jesus’ shopping in his
second coming: In 1981, a man left $57,000 in his will to
Jesus. It was for His own use when He returned at the Second Coming. The
money was to be invested at the highest interest in the meantime. Does anyone
really think that Jesus will be shopping at a posh department store for a new
seamless robe and sandals upon His return? Does anyone feel money is what He
shall require from us at the Parousia? Is this what the Nazarene is all
about? Christ is more interested in the way we conduct our lives this moment
rather than tomorrow. He is more eager to see us improve life for others
today than He is to remove us from it. Andrew Greeley has some wise thoughts
on this point. The Second Coming, the New Age, the New Epoch, he says, can
and should be happening throughout this day and week. I saw the Second Coming
at a Soup Kitchen where I worked. A white woman volunteer gave a black man
soup, pasta, and coffee. As he was leaving, he thanked her. Then she noticed
the bad condition of his shoes. She told him to wait. From the clothing
closet, she brought several pair. The woman got down on her knees and fitted
each pair. Finally, she found his fit. In this forty-minute encounter, Jesus
in His Second Coming was present. I was watching Him washing His apostles’
feet all over again. I witnessed the New Age today at a fast-food restaurant.
A busload of children treated their waitress with kindness. “Please” and
“thank you” were more plentiful than hamburgers and cokes. They cleaned their
table. They left a generous tip and a happy waitress. There was no doubt but
that the Lord was present. I see the New Epoch every time one of you gives me
$100 and asks me to give it to a family having a difficult time. If one looks
sharp enough, you can see a smile on Christ’s face. I observed the New Order
yesterday. I was lost and could not find the correct road. I asked directions
of a young man. Though he was in as much a hurry as I, he U-turned and told
me to follow him for several miles. Then he put my car on the correct road.
Can you not hear Jesus applaud as I tell you this story? I heard of the
Second Coming yesterday. A mother told me of her return from a long journey.
On her kitchen table, she found a dozen carnations waiting to greet her. The
benefactor was her teen son. That day she saw Christ in her boy. I saw the
New Epoch last week. A priest had heard that hostiles in a parish were
gleefully giving another priest, whom he hardly knew, a hard time. He phoned.
“May I buy you a good lunch?” The trip cost him not only the restaurant bill
but also a round trip of 140 miles, and over half a tank of gas. Was not the
Nazarene riding with him that day? You, I am sure, can fill in the blanks and
tell me of the times when you saw the Second Coming this past week. And
hopefully you were the cause of it.
(Fr. James Gilhooley) #1: “You’ll wish you were Jewish!!” A
Protestant minister and a Catholic priest enjoyed teasing their Jewish rabbi
friend, continually asking him when he was going to convert to their
Faith. When the Holidays rolled around, the rabbi sent them a card with
the following: “Season’s Greetings! Roses are reddish, Violets are
bluish; When the Messiah comes, you’ll wish you were Jewish!!” #2: Missed the “rapture” by a minute: A
certain man, Herbert Washington by name, was so taken up by the nearness of
Christ’s second coming and “the rapture” that he became a pain in the neck to
his coworkers. So his coworkers hatched a plan to pay him back in his
own coin. One day, when Herbert went to the washroom, they laid their
work clothes on their chairs and hid in the supply room. When Herbert
came back from the washroom, he thought the rapture had taken place.
The Muslim janitor, who was part of the joke, pretended to have witnessed
everyone disappear and ran around the office feigning panic. Herbert
fell to the ground clutching his heart and screaming, “I knew you’d forget
me, Jesus! What did I do wrong?” He was rushed to a local
hospital with what was diagnosed as a mild heart attack. (Fr. Munachi). #3: The Second Coming. A Sunday school teacher
asked his class, “If I sold my house and my car, had a big garage sale and
gave all my money to the Church, would that get me into Heaven? “NO!”
the children all answered. “If I cleaned the Church every day, mowed the
yard, and kept everything neat and tidy, would that get me into
Heaven?” Again, the answer was, “NO!” Again the teacher asked,
“Well, then, if I were kind to animals and gave candy to all the children,
and loved my wife, would that get me into Heaven?” Again, they all
answered, “NO!” “Well then how can I get into Heaven?” A
five-year-old boy shouted out, “YOU GOTTA BE DEAD!” Good insight for a
five-year old! #4: Somnambulist or Methodist? “Be
constantly on the watch! Stay awake,” Jesus commands. The
signs-of-the-times are such that, clearly, this is no time for
somnambulists. A somnambulist, as you know, is a person who walks in
his sleep. On the eve of his wedding, a young man decided to confess
all to his fiancée. He went to her and said, “My love, there is
something I feel I must tell you before we are married; something you must
know. It may make a difference in your feeling toward me. You see, I am
a somnambulist.” The young lady thought for a moment, then replied, “Oh
that’s all right. There’s no problem. I was raised a
Methodist. We can go to your Church one Sunday and to mine the next.” 24 Additional anecdotes: 1) The end time phobia: French
“prophet” and astrologer Nostradamus (1503-1566), foretold that the world
would end when Easter fell on April 25. This happened in 1666, 1734,
1886 and 1943; it will occur again in 2038. In 1379, St. Vincent Ferrer
(1350-1419), a Spanish Dominican monk, basing his prediction on the number of
verses in the Book of Psalms (2,537 verses), predicted the demise of the
world in AD 3936. By the end of 1998, the Mount of Olives
Hotel, run by Palestinian Muslims, wrote to 2,000
Protestant Christian groups in the U.S. asking “How would you like to
be reserving your rooms at the Mount of Olives Hotel, to wait for
the ‘second coming’ of Jesus on the first day of the new
millennium, 2000 A.D.?” Some scientists fueled public
anxiety by citing a series of possible ways, including nuclear war and
collision with a comet, in which the world could come to an end. A very
popular book in 1989 was 89 Reasons Why the World Will End in
1989. The Jehovah’s Witnesses frightened gullible
followers at least 3 times during the last century with their “end of
the world” predictions in 1914, 1918 and 1974. It
is this paranoid fear that led people to die in the mass suicides organized
by Heaven’s Gate and Jim Jones. The
film Omega Code, released in October 1999, was
an independent movie funded by the Trinity Broadcasting Network, the largest
Evangelical Christian TV network in the U.S. It was promoted by a team
of 2,400 U.S. Evangelical pastors. The plot involved a portrayal of
the “rapture” at
the imminent “Second coming” of Jesus, when
“born again” and “saved” Christians, both alive and dead, are supposed to fly
upward in the air to meet Jesus. The film was rated in the top 10
grossing movies for October, 1999. Over 17 million copies
of Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins’ “Second Coming” novel, Left
Behind, were sold by July 27, 2000. This is
how modern man reacts to the reality of the coming of the end of the
world. Hence, today’s readings remind us that we should be well
prepared and always ready to meet Jesus at any time, daily in our brothers
and sisters, and at His Final coming for us — at the end of our lives or the
end of the world, whichever comes first. 2) Bingo first! Who cares
about the Second coming? There is a second group of people who ignore
Christ’s Parousia and stick to their addictions. A woman was
hurrying home from work. This was her Bingo night. Suddenly she spotted this
fellow standing on the edge of the pavement holding aloft a placard which
read: The end of the world is near. She went up to him and
said, “You say the end of the world is near.” “That’s right, missus,” he
replied. “But are you sure?” “Quite sure, missus.” “And you say it’s near.”
“Yes, missus.” ”How near?” “Oh, very near.” “Could you be more precise?”
“This very night, Missus.” She paused for a moment to reflect on this. Then
in a voice full of anxiety, she asked, “Tell me, son. Will it be before or
after Bingo?” (Flor McCarthy in New Sunday and Holy Day Liturgies). 3) The Judgment Day: President John F.
Kennedy was very fond of a particular story, which he often used to
close his speeches during his 1960 presidential campaign. It is the story of
Colonel Davenport, Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives back
in the year 1789. One day, while the House was in session, the sky of
Hartford suddenly grew dark and gloomy. Some of the Evangelical House
representatives looked out the windows and thought this was a sign that the
end of the world had come. Uproar ensued, with the representatives
calling for immediate adjournment. But Davenport rose and said,
“Gentlemen, the Day of Judgment is either approaching or it is not. If
it is not, there is no cause for adjournment. If it is, I choose to be
found doing my duty. Therefore, I wish that candles be brought.”
Candles were brought and the session continued. Today’s
readings contain the same message: we need always to be prepared to
receive Jesus at his second coming by accepting him now as our personal
Savior and doing now what he has commanded us to do. 4) Left Behind: The scene is the interior
of a Boeing 747. It is the wee hours of morning and the plane is somewhere
over the Atlantic en route to London. The captain leaves his cockpit and
strolls down the aisle intending to flirt with the senior flight attendant.
She is in shock. People are missing. They have vanished leaving shoes, socks,
clothes, jewelry-everything behind. An elderly lady, sitting in first class,
cries as she holds her husband’s sweater and pants. She has been left behind.
(Matthew 24: 40): “Two men will be in the field, one will be taken, the
other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill, one will be taken
and the other left.” So begins Left Behind, the first
novel of the immensely popular fiction series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry
Jenkins. Sixteen volumes are now on the market with 62 million copies sold
for $650 million, along with a movie, web site, 2002 calendar, and survivor
kits for children and youth. Tyndale publishers tripled their company’s
profits in two years. But the truth is that Left Behind is
fiction, not fact. It has more to do with finances than faith. Its miracle
lies in its marketing, not its theology. The Rapture, on which the whole
series is built, is the remote idea that believers will somehow be caught up
in the clouds with Jesus to avoid the great persecution spreading over the
earth. Matthew knows nothing about “rapture” when he talks about the endtime.
Just read the text. In Verse 36 we read, “No one knows about that day or
hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” Who
of us is smarter than Jesus? Jesus didn’t even know. Why should we try to
second guess the Savior?
(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/frank-schaeffer/end-times-election-result_b_777865.html) 5) Additional endtime predictions: People
have been predicting the end of the world since the first century. St.
Paul thought Christ would return in his lifetime. Hippolytus, one
of the early philosophers, predicted Christ would return in AD 500. In 960,
German theologian, Bernard of Thuringia, calculated
the end of the world would come in 992. Some were so sure the world was going
to end in 1000 A.D. that they did not bother to plant crops.
Astrologer, Johann Stoeffler, said the world would be flooded on
February 20, 1524. Solomon Eccles, in 1665, ran through the
streets of London carrying blazing sulfur on his head announcing that the
world was going to go up in flames within the year. In 1874, Charles
Russell, founder of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, concluded that Christ
had already returned, but people would have another forty years of grace. In
1914 the denomination was forced to revise its timetable. Herbert
Armstrong, in his publication, Plain Truth, set the date for
the end of the world as January 7, 1972. The Year 2000, and more
specifically, the projected Y2K computer problem, caused
many to think that the “end was at hand.” Some people made statements such as
“a United Nations world-takeover is imminent” and that “Y2K will be the event
that they use.” Some even claimed that Jesus spoke of Y2K in His Olivet
Discourse, using Luke 21:25 as justification: “There will be signs in sun and
moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the
roaring of the sea and the waves.” On September 12th of 2001, a false quotation of the 16th
century French astrologer, Nostradamus, spread across the Internet, saying,
“Metal birds, striking twin brothers, will mark the end of the world.” The
Bible says our times are in God’s hands. We think in minutes. God thinks in
millennia. Psalm 90:4 states, “For a thousand years in Your sight are as
yesterday, now that it is past, or as a watch of the night.” Martin
Luther said in the 1500’s, “We have reached the time of the white
horse of the apocalypse; this world can’t last any longer.” On April 3, 1843,
one-half million Seventh Day Adventists waited for the end
of the world. Some even climbed mountains hoping for a head start to heaven.
Remember the Y2K scare at the turn of the last millennium? (http://www.tnnonline.net/tribnews/paranoia/milmadness/index.html) 6) More endtime fixations: Endtime
fixations are not exclusive manifestations of ancient communities. On October
23, 1844 thousands of Christians sold their earthly possessions, dressed in
white robes, climbed to the tops of the highest mountains they could find,
climbed to the tippy-tops of trees to get even higher, and waited for Jesus
to return. They had been told this was the date by William Miller,
a farmer from western New York who dabbled in apocalypticism which led him to
declare this as the date of Jesus’ return based on his exegesis of the
Scriptures. When no one went anywhere but down the mountain, he announced a
calculation error. The real date was to be six months later, which also came
and went as his followers now went . . . away . . . for good. Jim
Jones was another apocalyptic leader. In the 1970s he moved
his People’s Temple Full Gospel Church from San Francisco to
Guyana, where he could wait for the endtime by creating a community that
would live as if the endtime had already occurred. On November 18, 1978, Jim
Jones and 911 of his followers ended their wait for the endtime by drinking cyanide-laced
Kool-Aid. Other apocalyptic communities, from Mother Ann Lee’s Shakers to
John Humphrey Noyes’ Oneida Community, sublimated their endtime energies into
crafting, the first, Shaker furniture and the second, Oneida silverware.
Jesus’ words to his disciples this morning warn us against such idle
speculations or apocalypticism. Apocalypticism can be defined as a set
of beliefs and behaviors flowing from the assumption that humans are able to
discover the date of the coming consummation of time, the coming Day of the
Lord and the return of the Son of Man by using the speculations, learning and
lore of sages and scholars, ancient and modern. 7) Still more Doomsday bluffing: Anticipating
the end of the world in 1975, twenty-four men, women, and children from Grannis,
Arkansas, moved into one tiny house and waited there for ten months. The
end did not come as they had expected, and they were evicted for not paying
their rent. In 1986 a man named Richard Kieninger of Garland, Texas,
organized a group of people to survive the calamities of the end of time. On
May 5, 2000, Kieninger’s followers planned to witness the last day from a
dirt pile. Similarly in 1525, a German preacher. Johann Stoeffler, predicted
the end of the world by flood. All of his parishioners built boats and rafts
to survive the end. When the flood did not come, they threw Herr Stoeffler
into a deep pond. Such was the case on October 22, 1844. The followers
of William Miller, a farmer turned preacher, donned white
ascension robes and waited on a hilltop for the Second Coming of Christ. When
Christ did not come, they adjusted their beliefs and formed what is now known
as the Seventh Day Adventist Church. Jesus said that we should not wait by
trying to guess the date. Said Jesus, “But of that day and hour no
one knows, neither the angels of Heaven nor the Son, but the Father alone” (Mt
24:36). He wanted his followers to be ready for the day of the coming of the
Lord at any time. He said that we must be ready because the Son of Man is
coming at an hour we least expect. Jesus’ call is clear. He calls his
followers to expect the end – of our own lives, as of the end of the world –
to come at any moment. 8) Christ is coming; be prepared: When the
bi-partisan 9/11 commission members made their final report to Congress, they
began their report with these words. “September 11, was a day of
unprecedented shock and suffering in the history of the United States. The
nation was unprepared. …. The 9/11 attacks were a shock, but they should not
have come as a surprise.” What follows is a long list of warning signs that
had been generally ignored by the Clinton and Bush administrations in their
pursuit of other matters. Things have changed since then. Now the unofficial
creed of the American Homeland war on terror is, “Be Vigilant, Be Watchful,
and Be Prepared.” We must not be caught off-guard again. There are Christians
who approach the coming of Christ the way the government deals with the war on
terror. They ring out a danger and they announce a warning. With concern,
they say, “You’d better get ready! You’d better watch out — because
before you know it, Christ will come.” 9) Jesus is the living Lord who will come again:
To live by Faith also means we will do what we can to offset the threat of
the annihilation of life on earth, first of all, by registering our outrage
at the atrocities that war, by itself, inflicts upon people. Not many of us
can afford to do what Joan Kroc, the widow of the founder of McDonald’s fast
food chain, did just after Memorial Day had been celebrated in 1985. She
bought full page advertisements in newspapers and had the following quote
from the late former-President Dwight D. Eisenhower printed beside his
picture in his military uniform: “Every gun that is made, every warship
launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from
those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.
This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of
its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children … This
is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening
war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.” Beyond our voiced or
written objections to the arms race or the bomb race, it is for us
Christians, as the expression of our Faith in God, to do the good works of
love and mercy – feeding the hungry, caring for the poor, telling people the
Good News in Jesus Christ – incumbent upon those who believe Jesus is the
living Lord who will come again. [George M. Bass, The Cradle, the
Cross, and the Crown, (CSS Publishing Company, 1986), 0-89536-817-X] 10) “Does anybody really care?” The musical
group, Chicago, recorded a song several years ago asking, “Does
anybody really know what time it is? Does anybody really care?” When
it comes to predicting the end of the world, Jesus says, nobody knows what
time it is but God, so why should the rest of us try to learn it? 11 “He’ll find me hoeing cotton when he comes.”
There is a beautiful Afro-American Spiritual song about waiting for the
Lord’s second coming doing one’s duty faithfully: There’s a king and a captain high, and he’s coming by and
by 12) Saints and endtime: St. Francis of
Assisi, Saint of Nature, was hoeing his garden one day. A philosopher friend
approached him and asked, “What would you do if you learned you would die
before the sun sets?” St. Francis reflected for a moment and replied, “I
would finish hoeing my garden. I would be faithful to what I am doing
now.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer was asked by critics, “Why do you
expose yourself to all this danger? Jesus will return any day and all your
work and suffering will be for nothing.” Bonhoeffer said, “If Jesus returns
tomorrow, then tomorrow I will rest from my labors, but today I have work to
do. I must continue the struggle until I am finished.” 13) Wake up and stay awake: Ever since
the attack on the World Trade center in New York on Sept 11, 2001,
there have been nonstop warnings to be alert to possible terrorist attacks.
In U. S. airports repeated public announcements from Homeland Security advise
whether the level of alert is yellow, orange or red. People are asked to be
vigilant. Today’s second and third readings want us to move to red alert.
Paul wants the Romans to wake up and Jesus warns us to stay awake. (Sr. Dr.
Barbara E. Reid, NT professor at CTU, Chicago) 14) In the end all will be fine…Robert
Muller was an undersecretary of the United Nations. He wrote practically
using apocalyptic imagery: “We are witnessing a unique moment of evolution,
the birth of collective organs in the human species. For the first time
humankind is emerging as a global organism with a common blood stream, a
central nervous system, a shared heart, a corporate brain, and a common
destiny.” He said it is a secular way. The prophet and today’s Gospel uses
more mystical terms. Let us live with this vision: humanity in labour to give
birth –through distress and pain –to that human and divine organism of whom
Jesus is the head, [Joseph Donders inPraying and Preaching the Sunday
Gospel; quoted by Fr. Botelho.] 15) “Then comes the dawn:” Years
ago an old municipal lamplighter, engaged in putting out his lights one by
one, was met by a reporter who asked him if he never grew tired of his work
in the cold dark night of labour. “Never am I cheerless,” said the old man,
for there is always a light ahead of me to lead me on.” “But what would you
have to cheer you when you have put out the last one?” asked the writer.
“Then comes the dawn.” said the lamplighter. A man of the world might have
asked Jesus the same question. One light after another did he put out: the
lamp of popular acclaim, the lamp of patriotic approval, the lamp of
ecclesiastical conformity –all for the sake of God’s love which burned in his
heart and showed him a better way. At last even the light of his life was to
flicker out on the hill called Calvary. What then? We hear his voice, “Into
Thy hands I commend my spirit,” and then the dawn came. [Carl Knudsen in The
Living One; quoted by Fr. Botelho.] 16) The sound of the Gospel: I
read recently of a small foundry town where mills are kept running day and
night. The steam hammers, some of them several tons in weight, are constantly
kept busy, beating out the huge masses of molten metal. The inhabitants of
the town had become accustomed to the constant noise, and could sleep soundly
through the night without being disturbed. One night, because of some
breakdown in the machinery, these hammers suddenly stopped working, and the
consequence was that nearly everyone in the town woke up. What awakened them?
Not the oft-repeated stroke of the heavy hammers, but their sudden stopping.
This reminds us of the state of millions of people in our day. While the
Gospel hammer is kept at work, millions within sound of it are fast asleep.
But the time will come when the Lord shall return and take his people away,
and then the hammer of God’s word shall suddenly cease. Then there shall be
an awakening of many-Gospel hardened sleepers, but it will be too late. [C.
Johnson in Quotes and Anecdotes; quoted by Fr.
Botelho.] 17) The coming of the Lord: A
200-seater amphitheatre, costing 20,000 pounds, was built overlooking the
Sydney Harbour, Australia, in 1925, for the second coming of Christ. Members
of ‘The Order of the Star of the East’, led by Hindu mystic Krishnamurti,
believed that Christ would soon return to earth in human form and walk across
the Pacific Ocean to the amphitheatre, When he did not arrive in 1929, the
group dissolved, and a block of flats now occupies the site. May we be aware
of the signs of His coming and always be prepared! [Anonymous; quoted
by Fr. Botelho.]. 18) Cry, the Beloved Country: Alan
Paton was a South African writer. Among the books he wrote was the haunting
story, Cry, the Beloved Country, which poignantly described
the situation in South Africa under apartheid. Paton had a
dream. He dreamt of a new day for his beloved South Africa, a day in which
there would be justice and equality for all. For this reason, he entered into
politics and fought to end the iniquitous system of apartheid.
For decades, he followed his dream, and worked generously and courageously to
make it a reality. It was a dream that many said would not be realized. Yet
it was. Unfortunately, Paton did not live to see it. He died before the dawn.
The prophet Isaiah had an even bolder dream, a dream of universal brotherhood
and peace. Isaiah’s vision was a splendid one. It would only be realized by
the coming of the Lord Jesus. (Flor McCarthy in New Sunday and Holy
Day Liturgies). 19) Death comes sometimes in a most
unexpected manner. Atilla was the fearsome ruler of the Huns from AD
434 to 453. He was a public enemy to the Roman Empire. Twice he attacked the
Balkans; he marched his army through France; and his rulership spread from
Germany to the Ural River and from the Danube River to the Baltic Sea. Many
today regard him as a monster, a cruel dictator who ruled through fear. His
death was really mysterious. He died on his wedding night from a simple
nosebleed. Bruce Lee’s son Brandon was on the set of the film The
Crow in which he was playing the lead role. One scene required Lee
to be shot by a prop-gun firing blanks. The gun had been used several times
before in filming but a cheaply made round of blanks had lodged part of the
lead in the barrel of the gun. It caused his death. Jesus said: “But as for
that day or hour, nobody knows it.” Hence he asks us to be prepared. None of
us is guaranteed the next breath. (Fr. Bobby Jose). 20) “I shall return!” The Japanese
bombed Pearl Harbour in Hawaii on December 7th, 1941. Soon after, they
invaded and occupied the Philippines. The US General Douglas McArthur was
stationed in the Philippines, and on March 11th, 1942, he was forced to leave
the islands. Before leaving for Australia, he promised the islanders “I shall
return.” On October 20th, 1944, two and a half years later, he kept his
promise. He landed on one of the islands and announced, “I have returned.”
This heralded freedom for the Philippines. -Jesus assures us: “Heaven and
earth shall pass away before my word passes away.” (Jack McArdle
in And That’s the Gospel Truth; quoted by Fr. Botelho). 21) Vision of a better future: The
leader of a certain Indian tribe was dying, so he summoned his three sons and
said: “I am dying; before my death, I must choose one of you to succeed me as
the head of our tribe. I have the same task for each of you. I want you to
climb our holy mountain and bring me back something beautiful. The one whose
gift is most outstanding will be the one who will succeed me.” The following
morning the sons set out on their search, each taking a different path up the
mountain. After several days the sons returned. The first brought his father
a beautiful and rare flower that grew near the summit of the mountain. The
second son brought his father a valuable stone, round and colorful which had
been polished by the wind and the rain. The third son, who came empty handed,
said to his father: “I have brought back nothing to show you father. As I
stood on the top of the holy mountain, I saw that on the other side was a
beautiful land filled with green pastures. In the middle of these pastures is
a crystal lake. I have a vision of where our tribe could go for a better
life. I was so overwhelmed by what I saw and by what I could see that I could
not bring anything back.” The father replied: “You shall be our tribe’s new
leader, for you have brought back the most precious thing – the gift of a
vision for a better future.” Today’s Gospel on the end time warnings gives us
a better vision of how to lead our lives. (Dennis McBride; quoted by Fr
Botelho). ' 22) Making Adjustments: An
old sea captain named Eleazar Hall lived in Bedford, Massachusetts, during
the time of the great sailing ships. He was renowned, legendary, and revered
as the most successful of sea captains of the day. Captain Hall was often
asked about his uncanny ability to stay out so long without navigational
equipment. Eleazar simply replied, “Oh, I just go up on deck and listen to
the wind and rigging. I get the drift of the sea, look up at the stars, and
then set my course.” Well, times changed at Bedford. The big insurance
companies moved in and said they no longer insured the ships if the captains
didn’t have a certified and properly trained navigator on board. They were
terrified to tell Eleazar. But to their amazement he said, “If I must, I will
go and take the navigational course.” Eleazar graduated high in his class,
and having greatly missed the sea, he immediately took off for a long voyage.
On the day of his return, the whole town turned out to ask him the question:
“Eleazar, how was it having to navigate with all those charts and equations?”
Eleazar sat back and let out a long low whistle. “Oh,” he replied, “it was
simple. Whenever I wanted to know my location, I’d go to my cabin, get out my
charts and tables, work the equations and set my course with scientific
precision. Then I’d go up on deck and listen to the wind and the rigging, get
the drift of the sea, look at the stars, and go back and correct the errors I
had made in computation.” When I heard that, I prayed, “Lord, I want to know
you that way. I want to go up on deck, hear Your quiet Voice in my heart,
consider Your eternal Word, and then go back down below and make adjustments
to all those fine, logical, scientific plans I’ve drawn up in my head.” Ron
Mehl fromSurprise Endings; (quoted by Fr. Botelho). 23) It began in “the hole”! There
is a story of a hardened criminal serving a life sentence, who felt such
despair that life had no longer any hope for him. His behavior got so mean
that he was sent to solitary confinement for three weeks in what was known as
“the hole.” One day while in “the hole” a remarkable thing happened. He was
lying on the cold cement doing sit-ups when he noticed that something was
wedged into the back corner of the cell, under the sleeping platform. He had
no idea how it got there but figured a former resident of “the hole” must
have left it. He wiggled it out. It was, of all things, a copy of the New
Testament. Now the thing that is so remarkable is that the inmate actually
began to read from it. The inmate had always been a dynamo of power and
energy. Suddenly, he began to wonder what would have happened to him had he
used his power and energy for good rather than evil. The thought completely
boggled his mind. For a long time he lay there thinking: “Why did God create
me? Why did God create someone who would end up behind bars? Why did God
create someone who would die to goodness and love and be buried in a tomb of
evil and hate in a prison cell?” What happened next is hard to describe. A
surprising thought entered the inmate’s mind. The greatest event in history
began in a tomb- a tomb just as secure and guarded as his cell. That event,
of course was the resurrection of Jesus. A second thought jolted him. What
happened to Jesus could happen to him too, in “the hole.” Because of Jesus’
new life and glory, he too could be reborn. He too could be re-created. In a
sense he too could rise from the dead. At that moment something roused deep
inside him; he felt it stirring. He asked Jesus to come to him and raise him
to a new life, to re-create a hardened criminal into a new person. And what
happened to Jesus in the tomb happened to the prisoner in his tomb, “the
hole.” The resurrection power of God brought him new life. That man was Starr
Dailey, who after being released from prison became one of the pioneers of prison
reform in the United States. (Mark Link). 24) “But as for that day or hour, nobody
knows it.” Atilla was the fearsome ruler of the Huns from 434 to 453
AD. He was public enemy to the Roman Empire. Twice he attacked the Balkans;
he marched his army through France; and his rulership spread from Germany to
the Ural River and from the Danube River to the Baltic Sea. Many today regard
him as a monster, a cruel dictator who ruled through fear. His death was
really mysterious. He died on his wedding night from a simple nose bleed. Bruce Lee’s son Brandon was on the set of the film The
Crow in which he was playing the lead role. One scene required Lee to be shot
by a prop-gun firing blanks. The gun had been used several times before in
filming but a cheaply made round of blanks had lodged part of the lead in the
barrel of the gun. It caused his death. Jesus said: “But as for that day or hour, nobody knows
it.” Hence, he asks us to be prepared.fr. Bobby Jose). ******* |
The first reading from the Book of Daniel speaks of the end
of the world. "There is going to be a time of great distress, unparalleled
since nations came into existence." The apocryphal style is a form of
writing used by the prophets not to frighten the people. The purpose is not to
speak of the future but to look at the present differently. What is happening
at present might look terrible; it may appear that we are heading for worse
times. Whatever happens, the Lord has not and will not abandon his people. The
prophets were reassuring the people, who were losing hope that they should not
give up. "When that time comes, God's people will be spared. Those who lie
in the dust will rise again." In fact, in the midst of death the prophet
speaks of the hope of resurrection. No matter how terrible the circumstances
that surround us, no matter how hopeless the world around us may seem, our God
is a God of hope and new life.
|
"I shall return!" The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour in Hawaii on December
7th 1941. Soon after, they invaded and occupied the Philippines. The US
General Douglas McArthur was stationed in the Philippines, and on March 11th
1942, he was forced to leave the islands. Before leaving for Australia, he
promised the islanders "I shall return." On October 20th 1944, two
and a half years later, he kept his promise. He landed on one of the islands,
and announced "I have returned." This heralded freedom for the Philippines.
-Jesus assures us: "Heaven and earth shall pass away before my word
passes away." Jack McArdle in 'And That's the Gospel Truth' In the Gospel of Mark we find similar apocryphal language
being used by Jesus as he describes the end of time. "The sun will be
darkened and the moon will lose its light and the stars will fall from the
heaven." But we have to remember that these are not signs that God is
destroying the world but signs that He is coming. In the midst of what is
fearful comes the Lord to ease our fear. We may be surrounded by terrible
circumstances and calamities but that should not get us down. There will always
be difficult moments in our lives. These are not a punishment from God; they
are the entry point for His coming into our lives. The important thing is to
look beyond, to read the signs of the times and to believe in His reassuring
word. What is important is how one looks at all that was happening to us and
to our world. Our faith gives us the vision to look beyond the obvious to the
deeper reality that is beyond. This faith vision is based on the word of God,
and the promise that the Lord gives us. "Heaven and earth will pass
away, but my words will not pass away." As we struggle to live in
troubled times, as we are battered by the storms of life, as we are harangued
by prophets of doom to await the end, only our faith vision will help us to
look beyond to the Lord who will never abandon us. The Lord says: "When
you call to me I will listen to you, and I will bring you back to the place
from which I exiled you." Vision of a better future The leader of a certain Indian tribe was dying, so he
summoned his three sons and said: "I am dying; before my death, I must
choose one of you to succeed me as the head of our tribe. I have the same
task for each of you. I want you to climb our holy mountain and bring me back
something beautiful. The one whose gift is most outstanding will be the one
who will succeed me." The following morning the sons set out on their
search, each taking a different path up the mountain. After several days the
sons returned. The first brought his father a beautiful and rare flower that
grew near the summit of the mountain. The second son brought his father a
valuable stone, round and colourful which had been polished by the wind and
the rain. The third son, who came empty handed, said to his father: "I
have brought back nothing to show you father. As I stood on the top of the
holy mountain, I saw that on the other side was a beautiful land filled with
green pastures. In the middle of these pastures is a crystal lake. I have a
vision of where our tribe could go for a better life. I was so overwhelmed by
what I saw and by what I could see that I could not bring anything
back." The father replied: "You shall be our tribe's new leader,
for you have brought back the most precious thing - the gift of a vision for
a better future." Dennis McBride It began in "the hole"! There is a story of a hardened criminal serving a life
sentence, who felt such despair that life had no longer any hope for him. His
behaviour got so mean that he was sent to solitary confinement for three
weeks to what was known as "the hole." One day while in "the
hole" a remarkable thing happened. He was lying on the cold cement doing
sit-ups when he noticed that something was wedged into the back corner of the
cell, under the sleeping platform. He had no idea how it got there, but
figured a former resident of "the hole" must have left it. He
wiggled it out. It was, of all things, a copy of the New Testament. Now the
thing that is so remarkable is that the inmate actually began to read from
it. The inmate had always been a dynamo of power and energy. Suddenly, he
began to wonder what would have happened to him had he used his power and
energy for good rather than evil. The thought completely boggled his mind.
For a long time he lay there thinking: "Why did God create me? Why did
God create someone who would end up behind bars? Why did God create someone
who would die to goodness and love and be buried in a tomb of evil and hate
in a prison cell?" What happened next is hard to describe. A surprising
thought entered the inmate's mind. The greatest event in history began in a
tomb- a tomb just as secure and guarded as his cell. That event, of course
was the resurrection of Jesus. A second thought jolted him. What happened to
Jesus could happen to him too, in "the hole." Because of Jesus' new
life and glory, he too could be reborn. He too could be re-created. In a
sense he too could rise from the dead. At that moment something roused deep
inside him; he felt it stirring. He asked Jesus to come to him and raise him
to a new life, to re-create a hardened criminal into a new person. And what
happened to Jesus in the tomb happened to the prisoner in his tomb, "the
hole." The resurrection power of God brought him new life. That man was
Starr Dailey, who after being released from prison became one of the pioneers
of prison reform in the United States. Mark Link Making Adjustments An old sea captain named Eleazar Hall lived in Bedford,
Massachusetts, during the time of the great sailing ships. He was renowned,
legendary, and revered as the most successful of sea captains of the day.
Captain Hall was often asked about his uncanny ability to stay out so long
without navigational equipment. Eleazar simply replied, "Oh, I just go
up on deck and listen to the wind and rigging. I get the drift of the sea,
look up at the stars, and then set my course." Well, times changed at Bedford.
The big insurance companies moved in and said they no longer insured the
ships if the captains didn't have a certified and properly trained navigator
on board. They were terrified to tell Eleazar. But to their amazement he
said, "If I must, I will go and take the navigational course."
Eleazar graduated high in his class, and having greatly missed the sea, he
immediately took off for a long voyage. On the day of his return, the whole
town turned out to ask him the question: "Eleazar, how was it having to
navigate with all those charts and equations?" Eleazar sat back and let
out a long low whistle. "Oh," he replied, "it was simple.
Whenever I wanted to know my location, I'd go to my cabin, get out my charts
and tables, work the equations and set my course with scientific precision.
Then I'd go up on deck and listen to the wind and the rigging, get the drift
of the sea, look at the stars, and go back and correct the errors I had made
in computation." When I heard that, I prayed, "Lord, I want to know
you that way. I want to go up on deck, hear your quiet voice in my heart,
consider your eternal Word, and then go back down below and make adjustments
to all those fine, logical, scientific plans I've drawn up in my head." Ron Mehl from 'Surprise Endings' The end of the world Flor McCarthy in 'New Sunday and Holy day Liturgies Then comes the dawn Years ago an old municipal lamplighter, engaged in putting
out his lights one by one, was met by a reporter who asked him if he never
grew tired of his work in the cold dark night of labour. "Never am I
cheerless," said the old man, for there is always a light ahead of me to
lead me on." "But what would you have to cheer you when you have
put out the last one?" asked the writer. "Then comes the
dawn." said the lamplighter. A man of the world might have asked Jesus
the same question. One light after another did he put out: the lamp of
popular acclaim, the lamp of patriotic approval, the lamp of ecclesiastical
conformity -all for the sake of God's love which burned in his heart and
showed him a better way. At last even the light of his life was to flicker out
on the hill called Calvary. What then? We hear his voice, "Into Thy
hands I commend my spirit," and then the dawn came. Carl Knudsen in
'The Living One' |
Sermons.com
Have you ever tried to make a prediction? Here are some
predictions from the past. All from people who were trusted individuals:
Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, in 1943 said, "I think
there is a world market for maybe five computers."
Popular Mechanics magazine in 1949 made this prediction:
"Where a calculator on the ENIAC is equipped with 18,000 vacuum tubes and
weighs 30 tons, computers in the future may have only 1,000 vacuum tubes and
weigh only 1.5 tons."
There was an inventor by the name of Lee DeForest. He
claimed that "While theoretically and technically television may be
feasible, commercially and financially it is an impossibility."
The Decca Recording Co. made a big mistake when they made
this prediction: "We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the
way out." That was their prediction in 1962 concerning a few lads form
Liverpool. Their band was called the Beatles.
As the disciples walked out of the Temple in Jerusalem Jesus
paused, looked back at the Temple and predicted, "Do you see all these
great buildings. Not one stone will be left on another." To the disciples
this was bedrock. Nothing could bring down these walls. "Look, teacher!
What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!" they said to Jesus.
The smallest stones in the structure weighed 2 to 3 tons.
Many of them weighed 50 tons. The largest existing stone, part of the Wailing
Wall, is 12 meters in length and 3 meters high, and it weighs hundreds of tons!
The stones were so immense that neither mortar nor any other binding material
was used between the stones. Their stability was attained by the great weight
of the stones. The walls towered over Jerusalem, over 400 feet in one area.
Inside the four walls was 45 acres of bedrock mountain shaved flat and during
Jesus' day a quarter of a million people could fit comfortably within the
structure. No sports structure in America today comes close.
You can then understand the disciples' surprise...
___________________________
A number of years ago, leaders in a church decided to
track down the congregation's drop-outs. They combed through the membership
list, put together a list of names, and sent out volunteers two-by-two to knock
on doors and invite the absent members back to church.
As is often the case, the volunteer visitors discovered that
most of the people visited had found other things to do on Sunday morning. One
person said, "I would come back to church if it didn't conflict with my
tennis time." Another said, "We came to church when our kids were
involved. When they outgrew Sunday School, we stopped going." Another
said, "I enjoy going to church on the really big days, like Christmas,
Easter, and the Fourth of July. Compared to those days, other services are a
little bit dull."
One response was different. Two volunteers named Jack and
Esther went to see a man whom nobody knew. He lived on the end of the street,
in a big house behind three overgrown pine trees. It took the volunteers a few
minutes to find the front door. All the curtains were drawn. It looked like
nobody was home. Suddenly the door swung open, and a thin man with a shock of
white hair said, "My name's Tarnower. What do you want?" They said,
"We're from the church. We stopped by to see you." He invited them
in. They explained why they had come.
In a few minutes, he was shaking a bony finger at them.
"I'll tell you why I don't go to church anymore. It's because I got in the
habit of reading the Sunday Times before I went to the worship service."
Esther leaned forward. "Tell us," she said warmly,
"how did the newspaper keep you from coming to church? Did you get caught
up in the sports section and lose track of time? Or the comics?"
Mr. Tarnower looked at her with wild eyes. "No,"
he said, "I read the news. It's an awful world out there. There are a lot
of diseases I don't understand. Wars break out. Families fall apart. Children
run through the streets with handguns. People die prematurely. Listen, the
world is falling apart, and the church can't do a thing about it."
"Well," Jack said, "you ought to come back.
We have a nice minister, a fairly good choir, and a Bible study on Wednesday
nights. You might enjoy our program."
"No," Mr. Tarnower said, "I don't think so. I
get out for groceries, but that's all I want to face. I went to church for a
while, but the world got worse. When my wife died, I decided to sit in here,
watch everything fall apart, and wait my turn. I don't go to church anymore.
The church has nothing to say."
He has a point. We live in a rough and painful world that
seems to grow worse each day...
___________________________
On the Preparation Committee
It is understandable that some Christians have grown
impatient over the centuries, and have tried to speed things up a bit. I love
what someone once said about the return of the Lord. "God did not put me
on the Time & Place Committee; He put me on the Preparation
Committee." Our job is not to speculate about times and seasons, but to
make sure that we are living as God wants us to live - sisters and brothers to
one another - here and now. Some folks are "so heavenly minded they are no
earthly good."
Donald B. Strobe, Collected Words, www.Sermons.com
The Disciples as Tourists
Tourists. As Mark 13 opens, the disciples are like tourists,
gawking at the more striking features of "the big city" that they
were visiting for the high and holy festival of Passover. If there had been
cameras in those days, you can almost picture the disciples mugging for the
camera in front of the magnificent opulence of the Temple. Little bands of
tourists wearing bright orange hats would be milling through the plazas and
colonnades of the Temple as tour guides with bullhorns shouted forth impressive
statistics. "Some of these foundation stones weigh 5 tons and were brought
into the city through the massive efforts of thousands of masons and
slaves."
Appreciative "Ooohs" and "Ahhhs" would
follow each stunning stat.
It was, all in all, a heady atmosphere. You couldn't help
but look up to see the towering heights. When I've been in places like Chicago
and New York City, I know full well that standing on a sidewalk and staring up
at the towering heights of the Sears Tower or the Empire State Building is the
surest way possible to have me be easily identified as a tourist. But I can't
help it! I don't want to look like some hick from the outback who is bowled
over by skyscrapers, but they are just so impressive. They simply dwarf you!
And so I steal as many heavenward glances as I can.
The disciples were like that. They don't want to look like
simple fishermen from Galilee and the like, but let's face it: you just don't
see stonework like this back on the farm. Their enthusiasm is so great that
they cannot resist pulling Jesus into the action. Their master seems oddly
unmoved by the ramparts and architectural heights of Jerusalem. He is the only
one NOT craning his neck and mugging for the camera. So the disciples try to
bring him around. "Teacher! Lookee here - isn't this one massive hunk of
limestone!? Isn't the craftsmanship on these carvings impressive? Can you
imagine what it must have taken to raise up such a high edifice!?"
But Jesus meets their breathless enthusiasm with a shrug of
his shoulders. "Yes, I see them. But you know what? Even the biggest of
these stones will soon fall and be thrown down. One day, there won't be a
single building to look at here."
Scott Hoezee, comments and observations on Mark 13:1-8.
_________________________________________
Humor: False Prophets and Messiahs
Several years ago, Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks did a comedy
skit called the "2000 Year Old Man". In the skit, Reiner interviews
Brooks, who is the old gentleman. At one point, Reiner asks the old man,
"Did you always believe in the Lord?"
Brooks replied: "No. We had a guy in our village named
Phil, and for a time we worshiped him."
Reiner: You worshiped a guy named Phil? Why?
Brooks: Because he was big, and mean, and he could break you
in two with his bare hands!
Reiner: Did you have prayers?
Brooks: Yes, would you like to hear one? O Phil, please
don't be mean, and hurt us, or break us in two with your bare hands.
Reiner: So when did you start worshiping the Lord?
Brooks: Well, one day a big thunderstorm came up, and a
lightning bolt hit Phil. We gathered around and saw that he was dead. Then we
said to one another, "There's somthin' bigger than Phil!"
Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks, 2000 Year Old Man
__________________
Is The Mule For Sale?
Once upon a time there was a woman married to an annoying
man. He would complain about everything. One day he went to the creek with his
mule. He complained so much that the mule got annoyed and kicked him to death.
At the funeral, when all the men walked by the wife she shook her head yes and
every time the women walked by she shook her head no.
The minister asked "Why are you shaking your head yes
for men and no for women?" Her response was, "The men would say how
sorry they felt for me and I was saying, "Yes, I'll be alright." When
the women walked by, they were asking if the mule was for sale . . . "
Staff, www.Sermons.com.
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"I Would Plant an Apple Tree"
Martin Luther was once asked what he would do if he knew that the world was coming to an end tomorrow, and he said: "I would plant an apple tree." In other words, Luther, trusting in God's gracious, unmerited mercy would live life just as he had been living it. When John Wesley was asked the same thing, being an obsessive-compulsive type, he said that he would arise at 4:00 AM, preach at 5:00 visit the sick at 7:00, go to communion at 8:00...etc., until the questioner realized that that was exactly what Wesley had planned to do tomorrow anyway! Because we believe that God is like Christ, we can dare to live in faith and hope and love now; trusting God for whatever the future holds, because we believe that God holds the future, and that God's Name and God's Nature are love.
Donald B. Strobe, Collected Words, www.Sermons.com
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Don't Panic
"Don't panic!" Those are the words I frequently
say when someone has come to see me and they are in the midst of a crisis. They
may have lost their job, had a marital crisis, a problem with a child, or found
themselves in serious financial trouble. They are anxious. It seems like the
world is caving in on them. They feel lonely and afraid. They can't see any way
out of their predicament.
It has been my experience over the years as a pastor that
when folks are desperate they tend to run, quit or act in haste. I am not
discounting their pain or minimizing the crisis, rather I am merely helping
them to see that their perceptions have exaggerated the crisis. Or, they have a
distorted perception of reality.
This was the case with the disciples. They were being
persecuted by an oppressive government. They were powerless and under immense
pressure. All seemed dark and hopeless, so much so that they wondered if the
"end" was near. They were desperate, blinded by their anxiety and
totally unable to see into the future.
They are no different than us. Whenever things are happening
in the world of epic proportions, like hurricanes, wars, catastrophes or
plagues there are those who believe that the world is coming to an end.
Keith Wagner, Are You Having an Anxiety Attack?
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History Is Going Somewhere
William Barclay wrote in his book The Mind of St. Paul,
"The great value of the doctrine of the Second Coming is that it
guarantees that history is going somewhere. We cannot tell how it will happen.
We cannot take as literal truth the Jewish pictures of it which Paul used. We
need not think of a physical coming of Christ in the clouds, or a physical
trumpet blast. But what the doctrine of the Second Coming conserves is the
tremendous fact that there is one divine, far-off event to which the whole creation
is moving; there is a consummation; there is a final triumph of God."
William Barclay, The Mind of St. Paul, New York: Harper and
Bros. 1958, p.229
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Gollum's Riddle
In the Hobbit by JRR Tolkien Bilbo Baggins has met Gollum
for the first time. Bilbo is lost and needs to find his way out of Gollum's
cave. Gollum will show him the way out if he can answer a riddle.
This thing all things devours,
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stone to meal;
Slays king, ruins town,
And beats high mountain down.
Bilbo is stumped. He doesn't know the answer to the riddle and after being pressured by Gollum says, "Give me time." Gollum hears the word "time" and mistakenly takes it as Bilbo's answer, which of course is right. Time devours all things, even massive Temples.
