St. Athanasius Lutheran Church: Sermon for the Twenty-sixth Sunday after Pentecost

Jesu Juva

“Endure to the End? Me?”

Text: Mark 13:1-13; Daniel 12:1-3; Hebrews 10:11-25

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

It was probably like a punch in the gut. Their hearts started beating faster, and all the blood drained from their now ashy faces. Their breathing was shallow, their knees weak. Tell us, they said. Tell us when these things will be. Namely, the Temple destroyed. And not just destroyed, but to this extent - not one stone upon another. Really Jesus? Is it true?

They should have known this was true. Remember Peter? Your confession of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God is the stone on which Jesus was going to build His Church (Matthew 16:18). Not these stones. Lifeless stones. And remember what Jesus said just a few days before this, that the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone (Mark 12:10)? Which was a prophecy of Him? Or when He said destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up (John 2:19), talking about Himself as the new Temple, a living Temple, one not made with hands or out of stones?

But they didn’t remember. Just as we often don’t remember. When bad news overwhelms us. When world events shock us. When personal tragedy or hardship or life sends us reeling. We become frightened disciples.

So they want to know more. We want to know more. Tell us more, they ask Jesus. And Jesus does. But I think it fair to say: it’s not what they want to hear! It will be as we heard from Daniel today: a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time.

First, Jesus says, there will be trouble in the church - false teaching and false messiahs. Which is troubling. Troubling to think that some people will be led astray from the church by those within the church, but who have really left the true church. We see this happening. False teaching, unscriptural teaching, because the Scriptures are no longer considered the Word of God - unseated by culture, so-called science, or just our own truth. And those who claim they can save the church with their methods and schemes, while pointing us away from the words and sacraments of Jesus. There will be trouble in the church.

There will be trouble - not peace - in the world - wars, violence, nation rising against nation and kingdom against kingdom. We see this, too, of course. Devastation, blood, havoc. Son and daughters sent into harms way. Hostages and innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire. Sometimes the cause is good and just. Sometimes it’s just from greed and hate. And the aftermath - long lives of suffering, sadness, and pain. Trouble in the world.

And then there is also trouble in creation - earthquakes and famines, just to name two. We could add to that list: hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, floods. Birth pains, Jesus calls them. The travail, as God told Eve in the beginning, caused by sin.

And as if that all weren’t enough, this too: trouble in the family. And this maybe the most heartbreaking of all. Brother against brother, fathers not being fathers, children rebelling and rising against parents. The very ones we should be able to rely on in the midst of all this other trouble and danger . . . This, too, you’ve seen. Maybe even had it happen to you. And maybe you’ve heard it encouraged lately - not to celebrate the holidays with your family if they voted the wrong way. Trouble in our own homes.

These are the signs, Jesus says. Which may not be good news, but good to know. That we not just see them and what is happening in the world and in our lives physically and outwardly, but see and know them in their proper spiritual perspective. To see and know, that when you add all this up and it seems like all hell is breaking loose, that’s exactly what is happening. For with Jesus’ death and resurrection comes His heel upon the serpent’s head, and with that the thrashing around, the convulsing, the violent twisting and turning of the serpent’s body. Satan’s death throes. Satan raging again God’s three estates: church, world, and home, to take them down with him. To destroy them all. To curl his tail around them and take them down into the abyss with him. Them, and with them, you.

But, Jesus says, the one who endures to the end will be saved.

Which . . . I guess is good news. Some will be saved . . . But what about me? Is this all you got for me this morning, Jesus? After all that talk of trouble, the message is just hunker down, duck and cover, stick it out, become a prepper, and if you can make it through, endure, you’ll be saved? That’s not much encouragement, really, especially when you consider who He was talking to . . . who couldn’t do it. Peter, who would shortly deny Him. James and Andrew, who ran for it. John, who just stood by and watched it all. And all four who hid behind locked doors, trembling in their sandals. The one who endures to the end . . . ? So, to repeat a question we heard these same disciples ask just a few weeks ago, and maybe that was arising in your own minds: Then who can be saved?

Well, let’s think about that . . . Not Adam and Eve. They couldn’t endure. They fell. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob couldn’t do it. Moses couldn’t do it. David and Solomon couldn’t do it. Those twelve couldn’t do it. Can we . . . endure to the end?

But there is one who did. The only who could. Jesus, of course. He was the one who endured the full rage and fury of the evil one. The religious authorities against Him, the civil authorities against Him, His own family not believing in Him, and yet faithful and steadfast to the end. Even to death. Even when faced with the cross. And He was saved, resurrected, and is now seated at the right hand of God.

And as the one who did what we could never do, as we heard in the reading from Hebrews, He opened for us a new and living way to God. That offering Himself as that single sacrifice for the sin of the world, we now have hope. Only one could endure to the end, but He endured for us all. That in Him, we endure to the end as well. It’s the only way we can.

That’s why Baptism, where in that water purified by Jesus’ blood we are baptized into Christ, the one who endured. That’s why Absolution, where repenting of how we’ve not remained faithful and steadfast we cannonball back into the waters of Baptism, back into Jesus and the forgiveness of the one who endured. That’s why the Gospel, where we hear of the One who endured to the end for us and He scoops us back into His arms of forgiveness and love, to endure. And that why the Supper, where we confess our hope, that here is our hope, our only hope, as the fruits of the cross are fed to us, the Body and Blood of Jesus given to us, that we live in the One who endured to the end for us, and the One who endured to the end live in us. That with all these we make it to the end. Not because of my strength, my ability, my faithfulness, or anything in me - cuz I got nothing! But all because of Jesus. For He who promised is faithful. Even when it meant going to the cross.

But there’s another reason for all this, all these troubles, as well. All the troubles - in church, in the world, in our homes - aren’t just the death throes of an agonized and hate-filled satanic foe. In that case, why not just slay him and get it over with? But God is able to all these things for His good, so that we rely on Him and not on ourselves, but also for the proclamation of the Gospel.

We talked about this Wednesday night in our Bible Study. After the martyrdom of Stephen, Saul began to ravage and rage against the church. But the more he did so, the more it grew! His persecution caused the people to leave Jerusalem and scatter, and when they did, they took the Gospel with them. They told others the reason why they were fleeing, they told them about Jesus and they hope we have in Him, and the living and active Word of God worked in the hearts of those who heard. You would think persecution would shrink the church, but it did just the opposite.

That’s why in the midst of these words of Jesus about all this trouble, He also talks about the Gospel being proclaimed to all nations, and the Holy Spirit giving them what to say when they stand before governors and kings. You see, the troubles in the church, the world, and our homes give us the opportunity to confess our faith, in words and deeds. To repent - not just to God, but to one another - and to forgive those who sin against us. To stir one another up to love and good works, to encourage one another, and to not neglect meeting together here in the Divine Service, where Jesus comes to be with us and serve us. For if we are to endure this world and its troubles, it is only in Jesus.

So be on your guard, Jesus says. Because there is no escape. In this world you will have trouble. If you don’t think so or don’t now, you are either deceiving yourself or . . . just wait! You will. And when you do, what will you do? Some medicate - legally or illegally. Some plunge deeper into their sin. Some commit suicide or helps others to do so. Some think they can save themselves living their own truth, or looking to the government to save them.

But every stone in this world will topple, except one. Every Temple in this world will be destroyed, except one. And if you rely on yourself and what you can do, you too will be toppled. There is only one way - not to escape - but to endure to the end. You’ve heard the signs, you’ve seen the signs, and you’ve heard the truth. So walk out that door and rely on yourself, or come to the Table that is set before you in the presence of your enemies (Psalm 23:5). Jesus’ Table. Come with your sins and failures, your denying, running away, and your doing nothing. Come with your doubts and fears, your weakness and brokenness, your rebellion and stubbornness. Come reeling from being thrashed by the evil one. And come for Jesus’ forgiveness, His strength, and His life. For there’s only one who endured to the end. So come to Him, for that’s how we will endure to the end - in Him - who did it all for you.