Mark 13,28-37. Eternity Sunday

 Mark 13,28-37  5522

Ewigkeitssonntag (27. Trinitatis) 75 

Pontianus, Bishop of Rome, Martyr 235 

20. November 2022

1. ℣ I know the thoughts I think toward you, saith Yahweh: 

℟ Thoughts of peace and not evil (Jeremiah 29,11 23. Trinity). 

O Holy Trinity, enthroned on high; inspire us to songs with joy, so that we give You, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, praise, honor and thanks for Your glory, power and strength that You manifest in our midst and for our good.  Amen. (Herzlich tut mich er freuen elkg 799,13 2021 Johann Walter (1545) 1552). 

2. »From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out 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 say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away. But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard, keep awake. 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 servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows or in the morning—lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.« 

3. Papias, Bishop of Hierapolis (ad 60-130), tells us „John the Presbyter (Elder) also said this, Mark being the interpreter of Peter whatsoever he recorded he wrote with great accuracy but not however, in the order in which it was spoken or done by our Lord“ (Eusebius Ecclesiastical History 3.39.15-16; Cruse 105). Mark heard the Apostle Peter preach in Rome, and from those sermons wrote his gospel. 

4. We catch glimpses of this in wording and phrases. Peter wrote in his epistle: »The word of the Lord remains forever [Isaiah 40,6.8]« (1. Peter 1,25) is similar to Jesus’ statement as Mark records it: »My words will not pass away« (Mark 13,31). These statements are in contrast to time that is fleeting and nations rise and fall, for one of the themes in Mark 13 is judgment upon Israel and the world. The final Sunday in the Church Year focuses our attention on the return of Jesus when the nations are judged and the Church is vindicated. 

5. No one on earth knows the day and hour of Jesus’ second advent. For Christians to attempt to discern the month, day and year of Jesus’ return is sheer folly and simply false doctrine. A rabbi in Jerusalem, Yosef Berger, says the Messiah might return in 2022. He bases his prediction on a collision of 2 stars in the Northern Cross star system KIC 9832227 that will happen this year. He states the 12. century Rabbi Moses ben Maimon who said a bright light event at this location aligns with the arrival of the Messiah (cf. Numbers 24,17). Jerry Toney, among others, predicted Christ’s return on 26./27. September 2022 (Rosh Hashanah/Feast of Trumpets). 

6. No one knows when Christ will return. This is why Jesus taught us to watch and be ready. Jesus may return today, next week or 50 years from now. Live with the expectation that Jesus can return at any moment. We know He is returning, and so we are daily ready for His second advent. Don’t fall prey to false teachers who predict the exact tie of His return. Heed the blessed words of Jesus: »See that no one leads you astray. Be on your guard. If anyone says to you: „Look, here is the Christ!“ or „Behold, there He is!“ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders, to lead astray. But be on guard; I have told you all things beforehand« (Mark 13,5.9.21-23). 

7. How are Christians on guard and ready? 

1. Repent and confess your sins.

2. Pray for the Holy Spirit to strengthen your faith and trust in Christ. 

3. Read, hear and study the Holy Scriptures. 

4. Be faithful in weekly Sunday worship with your fellow Christians.

All of this focuses on Christ Jesus. 

8. „Christ alone can say that His words will not pass away, because He alone is Divine, holy, just and good, because He was justified by the Father before all the world in the resurrection, because He has eternal life in Himself. He became man because He desires to bring this eternal life to where it was lost“ (Wenz ¶11). „Therefore He, Christ, as the eternal Word of God, is not only eternal life Himself, but He distributes it to all who hear His words and who receive Him in His bodily presence. He who hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life. This is what he says in John 5,24. And in the 6. Chapter He says the same: The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. (verse 54)“ (Wenz ¶ 12). 

 9. In Mark 13,27 Jesus says: »But in those days, after that tribulation, 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. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And then He will send out the angels and gather His elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven« (Mark 13,24-27). That last sentence is the key: Jesus saves His people. He sends His angels to gather us up to Him. This is the culmination of His return, and His advent is one that brings grace and mercy to His Christians who have been patient and long-suffering in their awaiting His return. 

10. The Apostle Peter speaks of this  in his epistle: »The day of the Lord will arrive like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the advent of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to His promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells« (2. Peter 3,10-13).  

11. Until that time arrives, „For the sake of the gathering of His Church, God therefore also wants to preserve the world until the end of days. The passing on of life from generation to generation also takes place on a Divine commission and according to Divine order by which the world is to be preserved and cared for, as guaranteed by its Creator  (Wenz ¶ 17). 

12. Our hope and expectation,

O Jesus, now appear; 

Arise, O Sun so long for,

O’er this benighted sphere.

With hearts and hands uplifted,

We plead, O Lord, to see

The day of earth’s redemption

That sets Your people free! (Rejoice, Rejoice, Believers lsb 515,1 Laurentius Laurenti 1660-1722). 

This is most certainly true. 

10. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4,7).  Amen. 

11. Let us pray. O Jesus, our Master, do Thou meet us while we walk in the way and long to reach the heavenly country, so that, following Thy light, we may keep the way of righteousness and never wander away into the darkness of this world’s night while Thou, who art the Way, the Truth and the Light art shining within us; for Thy mercy’s sake.  Amen. (The Week of Trinity 27, Vespers Collect 2. The Daily Office. Copyright © 1965 Concordia Publishing House.)

To God alone be the Glory 

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

 

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, Septuaginta, Vol. I and II 2. Revised Edition © 2006 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 

Evangelisch-Lutherisches Kirchengesangbuch. Copyright © 2021 Selbständige Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche, Hannover. 

Cruse, C. F. Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History. Copyright © 2004 Hendrickson Publishers. 

Wenz, Armin. A sermon preached on 24. November 2013 in Oberursel, Germany on Mark 13,31-38. Copyright © 2013 The Rev. Dr. Armin Wenz. The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind, Tr. © 2022.