Scripture: Luke 21:25-36
God wins!
We get our third week straight of Apocalyptic Scripture texts and there is a certain temptation for me on this vacation week to make those two words not just the beginning of my sermon, but the whole thing. I had a seminary professor who did that once. His whole sermon: one sentence long.
It’s not a bad idea. These words are true and they are an accurate reflection of the Scripture readings before us, but the dilemma I spoke about last week remains. It is easy to say it, easy to understand it, but believing it is often something else entirely.
This has been far from an uneventful week as I rested and recreated (mostly by pretending to be a Jedi Knight in a Star Wars computer game). Those of you who read my devotional blog heard about things back in Davis, WV. My friend Chris was badly burned after a hunting accident. My friend Betsy, whom you met when her husband preached my installation three years ago, announced that she has cancer. My friend Don passed away after a long and fruitful life.
Reflecting on Don’s impact on my life brought to remembrance that weekend 11 years ago when it felt like my whole life was falling apart. The death of a beloved pet, the announcement of major surgery, and slow suffering of my dying grandfather all at once. We somewhat jokingly refer to bad news coming in threes and these two examples from my life are certainly no exception. But I got to wondering. How many times has it seemed in my life that the world was ending?
And perhaps, for our purposes today, it would be good for all of us to ask that question. How many times has the world ended for you?
It’s easy to answer that question somewhat flippantly. I know I’ve joked about how I’ve survived Y2K and the Mayan Apocalypse of 2012 and more than one of the late Harold Camping’s predictions of the last day. More than one blood moon too. But that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about those times when everything went wrong. I’m talking about those times when we wondered how we would go on. I’m talking about those times when OUR world seemed to be coming to an end.
I lose count of the number. When my first love walked away. When my grandfather did die. When I lost my home in the financial crisis. When I, in this very room just six months ago, could barely stand up because of the pain. And what about you? That time when your spouse or sibling or parent or child died? That time when you lost your job and didn’t know what you were going to do next? That time when someone broke your heart? That time when you heard that dread diagnosis? Any or all of the above?
It may seem macabre to remember such times, but they do serve a purpose for us. As nightmarish as they were, we are still here. We got through it. And we didn’t do it alone. In the midst of all our worst moments in life, all the times when it seemed our world was ending, God was there.
There is a particular formula in the Old Testament when God introduces himself or makes some grand pronouncement. When Connie and I were studying Genesis and Exodus together in my Friday Bible Study, we noted how often it showed up. God would say something to the effect of “I am the God who brought you out of the land of Egypt...”
There’s a very pragmatic reason God does that. Past is prelude. If God was there for us in the past when life got hard, how much more so will he be with us in the midst of whatever we might face tomorrow.
God wins! When we read Apocalyptic texts like Daniel or Revelation or even our passage from Luke this morning, it’s easier to believe that when we remember all the times he’s won before. Jesus is not speaking in isolation here. When he talks about “redemption” and the “kingdom of God” drawing near, his words have impact because they are building upon generations of God’s work in this world. And one doesn’t even need to be a student of history to see that. All one has to do is look at their own lives.
Each one of us, in our own way, has been through hell. Whether it was the hell of disease, heartbreak, financial trouble, death, or whatever, it matters little. But in the midst of our hells, God was there. As we proclaim in our creed, Christ “descended into hell.” He came to be where we were and where we are, so we would not have to face life alone. And proof of that is before us. We’re still here. We made it through. As hard as it was, we made it.
God wins. He wins and he gives us that victory. As the season of Advent dawns upon us this week and we light the first candle as a symbol of “light in the darkness,” let us remember all the times when God stood by us in the midst of our darkest hour. This is the season of hope and hope is easy when we remember that God will not forsake us. Not then, not now, and now ever. Amen.
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