ISAIAH 64:1-9a

PSALM 80:1-7

1 CORINTHIANS 1:1-9

MARK 13:24-37

Sermon – 12/1/02

A famous professor of astronomy had just finished giving a lecture on “The future of the Solar System” in a small town many miles from his eminent university, when one of his listeners came up to him in a highly agitated state. “Excuse me, Professor,” the anxious listener implored the scholar, “How long did you say it would be before the sun burned itself out?”

“Oh, about four billion years, as near as we can calculate at this time,” the astronomer replied.

His questioner relaxed completely and uttered a deep sigh of relief. “Oh, thank you for clarifying that. I thought you said four million years from now.”

Most educated people do understand that scientists believe there will, at some point, be an end to life on this planet, just as scientists believe that there once was a beginning to life on this planet, and before that, a beginning to the planet itself, and before that, to the Universe itself.

What many people do not know is that this represents a revolution in scientific thought. A hundred years ago, most scientists thought that the creation was static, unchanging as (say) the continents were then thought to be – that evolution was a process of development within a context which had no beginning and no end.

Now, most scientists embrace the “Big Bang” theory of creation, that the known universe somehow started at a definite point in time in the remote past, and that it is dynamic – expanding, in fact. There are different scientific theories about The End of the Universe based on whether the universe will eventually stop expanding and will contract until there’s a “Big Crunch”, or whether it will keep expanding perhaps until all the stars burn out.

In any case, the scientific consensus now is that history is linear: it started at a definite point in time, it is changing, and it will end somehow, somewhen.

Well, welcome aboard, professors; science has finally caught up with some of what Christians have believed for 2,000 years, and the Jews before that: history is linear: it began, it changes and develops, and it will have a conclusion.

(The two other theories of history are that it is static (unchanging) and that it is cyclical. Hindus – and the ancient pagans who lived next door to Jews and then Christians – generally believe history is cyclical.)

Now, this may seem like abstract,“so what” stuff, unless (like the man in the story) you might stay up nights worrying because you thought the sun would burn out in four million years instead of four billion.

But suppose you considered the possibility that life on earth – at least as we know it – might end not in four billion years or four million years, but in four years. Or four months. Or four days. Or, four hours.

Not by some direct hit by asteroid, or by some colossal nuclear war or cataclysmic environmental disaster, but because God decided to end history, just as one of us might decide to flick a light switch.

Scary? To realize that life as you’ve always known it is about to be totally and irrevocably changed? You bet. That is what the Bible consistently tells us; history is linear (it had a beginning, has a middle and will have an end), history has a purpose and has a meaning both of which are under the control of the one who is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End: Almighty God.

The Bible also tells us – notably Jesus himself in today’s passage from the Gospel of Mark – that no one knows when the End of the World will come – not even him. (As you may have noticed, the world did not end at the stroke of midnight – in any time zone – when 1999 turned into 2000. And the world has not ended when lots of self-appointed “mystical experts” thought it would.)

The world will End when God the Father Almighty chooses to end it.

Which could be four billion years from now – or which could be this afternoon. God only knows.

Is this Good News?

Well, that depends on who you are and what – or who – you put your faith in.

If we derive all the meaning and purpose in our lives from your possessions, it’s not good news. When Christ “comes again in glory to judge the living and the dead” (in the words of the Creed), the Dow Jones Industrial Average will not hit 100,000. We won’t be able to sell our houses for five times what we paid for them. We won’t be assured that all our children or grandchildren will get into Harvard. All that will pass away. So if those are the kinds of things a person worships, if those are at the center of a person’s life, that person will truly be in despair.

But if we have been yearning for the day when all evil will be exterminated, all sin will cease, all suffering (except by those who are sent to eternal punishment) shall end, then what St. Paul in today’s Epistle calls “the day of Our Lord Jesus Christ” will be the day our hearts will burst with boundless joy and then, like the rest of our bodies, be made new.

If we yearn for the end of all war forever, for the end of all cruelty, for the abolition of disease and disability, for the elimination of all forms of oppression, then let us say, “Come, Lord Jesus.” Anybody here looking forward to that? Say with me, “Come, Lord Jesus.”

If we ache for the ultimate end of all bigotry, then let us say together, “Come, Lord Jesus.” If we look forward to the day when no one anywhere will go hungry, then let us say together, “Come, Lord Jesus.” If we pray for the coming of the day when there shall never again be any terrorism, then let us say together, “Come, Lord Jesus.”

Is it Good News that Jesus Christ will be the ultimate judge of every human being? Or would you rather have everyone’s salvation or damnation be settled by a vote of the United Nations General Assembly? Is it Good News that God has the whole world in his hands – or would you rather believe there is no one to pick up the pieces after sinners do their worst? Is it Good News that God has promised to create a new heaven and a new earth – or would your wildest dreams be fulfilled by the full implementation of the Democratic (or Republican) party platform?

Dream BIG, brothers and sisters in Christ. No, BIGGER THAN THAT. Dream bigger than it is humanly possible to dream.

Dream that all nations “shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” It will happen when Jesus comes again: “Come, Lord Jesus!”

Dream that “the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.” Dream that “they will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”

It will happen when Jesus comes again. Come, Lord Jesus.

Dream that “the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.”

It will happen when Jesus comes again. Come, Lord Jesus.

Dream the dream of Isaiah and the greatest prophets. And know that our greatest dreams are inadequate to describe the glory which is coming – coming after much suffering, and after the end of history as we know it.

In anticipation of the climax and conclusion to History which will happen by the hand of God, how then must we live? Ah, stayed tuned for the exciting sequel to this sermon next Sunday: same time, same place, same station.

Until then, let us live aware that everything we know is perishable – except God. And that God will ultimately eliminate all wickedness and raise the saved to greater and fuller life. Thank God. Come, Lord Jesus.

(The Rev.) Francis A. Hubbard

St. Barnabas Episcopal Church