Mark 13:24-37
When I was young…sometimes…my mother would buy me a box of Cracker Jacks at the grocery store.
- Remember the surprise you would get when you opened the box?
- It was usually right on top.
- A small toy.
- And I was delighted.
- Well…one time I got a little red top.
- And I would spin the top and it would go round and round…fast.
- But it would always slow down and begin to wobble and finally stop…and fall.
- Later…I learned that the winding down of my little top was called entropy.
- That is…the running down of a system.
You know…our earth is running down too…running out of get-up-and-go.
- Just like my little top.
- Just like I am running down too.
- Running out of get-up-and-go.
Well…you know the earth is actually wobbling…it’s called axial precession.
- It says in the Book of Genesis that God made creation…the world out of nothing.
- And Genesis also says that God created order out of chaos.
- That there was an explosive burst of energy.
- And God breathed life into the cosmos.
- And God flung the stars and planets and the solar systems out into the universe.
- And ever since the earth has been winding down.
- You know…in a state of entropy.
So…the earth is slowly moving away from the sun.
- Falling out of orbit.
- The Sun is cooling down.
- And there is a decreasing gravitational pull.
- Creating less atmosphere.
- Causing more sun to get through to the earth.
The arctic ice caps are melting.
- I have been to Alaska three times and have seen it.
- You know…the melting glaciers.
- Causing oceans to rise.
- New Orleans is losing its delta.
- Rain forests are disappearing.
- Deserts are growing in width and breath.
- There is an increase in carbon dioxide.
- Causing average temperatures to rise.
- All of this causing animals to lose their habitat.
Of course…we cannot measure all this stuff that is happening with a twelve-inch ruler.
- Because it’s happening exceedingly slowly.
- But learned women and men can measure this stuff with their fancy scientific instruments.
- But still…much of it…we can taste and see and smell and touch and hear with our five senses.
In the same way the Old Testament Hebrews believed there was a kind of spiritual entropy.
- A spiritual winding down of God’s relationship with humankind.
- That God had only so much Love.
- That God had only so much grace.
- That God had only so much forgiveness.
- That God had only so much tolerance.
- That God had only so much restraint.
- That God had only so much time.
- That God had only so much patience.
- That God had only so much hope.
- That God had only so much cope.
But Jesus declaims to the people:
- “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.
- There will be signs in the sun…the moon…and the stars…and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves.
- People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world…for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
- Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
- Now when these things begin to take place…stand up and raise your heads…because your redemption is drawing near.”
Hopelessness:
- Cosmic entropy.
- The universe careening out of control.
- Being flung chaotically into outer space.
- Human trafficking.
But Jesus says:
- “Heaven and earth will pass away…but my words will never pass away.”
So…natural law does not have the final say…the final word.
- Christ reverses this winding down:
- By his vicarious intervention in the universe.
- By his personal and benign and friendly identification with the earth.
- By his glorious incarnation.
In Christ…God will never run out of Love.
- In Christ…God will never run out of forgiveness.
- In Christ…God will never run out of tolerance.
- In Christ…God will never run out of restraint.
- In Christ…God will never run out of forbearance.
- In Christ…God will never run out of time.
- In Christ…God will never run out of patience.
- In Christ God will never run out of hope.
- In Christ…God will never run out of grace.
Jesus asks us to “be on watch and pray always…
- That you will have the strength to go safely through all those things that will happen and to stand before the Son of Man.”
- Jesus says: “Heaven and earth will pass away…but my words will never pass away.”