By: The Rev. Russell E. J. Martin
I remember some years ago while I was in the checkout line at the grocery store my roving eyes landed on one of those ubiquitous tabloids whose headline reads “Prophecy Declares the End of the World is Near!” Without hesitation, I bought the magazine, not because I had any great question or concern about the world’s end but rather to use as a teaching aid in my adult discipleship class. Interestingly enough, once I dove into the magazine I found that it contained not a single “Doomsday” prophecy but a pair of contradictory predictions. Not surprisingly, they were from two different “reliable sources,” and they were mutually exclusive of one another. This exclusivity was a fact that I emphatically pointed out to my class. What is the fascination that people have with such oracles of the END? We live in a time when many people are concerned about whether or not the “Blood Moons” signals at the dawning of the Last Day(s)! That is not to say that such concerns are irrelevant or unimportant. Whatever import they may have is of at least third or fourth order of its significance. No matter what level of substance we attach to such matters, there are things which may actually be of even greater importance. Things were no different during Jesus’ day.
This is precisely the point that Jesus is making to James, John, Andrew, and Peter as they sit on the Mount of Olives, which lay directly across the Kidron Valley from the Herod’s Temple, the most prominent feature of Jerusalem at the time. Jesus addresses his friends concern about the close of the age. Take note that Jesus’ answer to their “burning” enquiry is not to respond to the question that these disciples asked but rather a gentle redirection of their thoughts to the underlying and thus more important issue, which should concern them. We, like the disciples, can get so caught up in the “when” or “how” of things that we can miss the “forest of trees”, meaning that we become so enamored the end of things that we do not really consider the larger question of what is really important and what is not. Jesus points His friends back to an even greater concern.
Namely, whether or not they might be led “astray” and whether or not, despite all the earthquakes, famines, tribulation, wars, beatings, and so forth, they will be faithful in their proclamation of the Good News and, most importantly, whether or not they would endure to the end and be saved (c.f. Mark 13:9-13).
This is something for us to consider as well! Are we, more concerned about if or how the end will happen or our endurance and survival/salvation? Even in the midst of Jesus’ description of the things to come He issues two promises to which we must hold fast.
First, He will send the Holy Spirit who will guide our very words and actions amidst our tribulations and second, that the one who endures will be saved. Instead of worrying about things over which we have little or no control, Jesus is inviting us trust in Him, for He alone is sovereign over all things including the judgment to come. So will the end come? Yes, absolutely! The question is how will you meet that day-in your own strength or in the Lord’s? Do not be led astray by your own anxieties or by the machinations others. Rather hold fast to the timeless perfect Word of God.