When our kids were younger and we had to leave them alone for the evening we would sit down with them before we went out and go through a routine. “This is where we’re going to be. Here’s the phone number. Here’s the neighbour’s phone number. If someone comes to the door, don’t answer it. If you hear any load noises, just stay inside. Remember, you can only stay up till 9.30. Tomorrow’s a school day. We’ll be back around 10 and we’ll check in to make sure you’re sleeping.”
The point of the exercise was simple. For the kids to be alone in the house at night could be a little scary. We wanted to let them know that we understood that, that they shouldn’t be too worried, that here were some ways to respond to a few predictable situations, and that we were only a phone call away.
That’s not too different from what Jesus is doing here in chapter 13 of Mark. You might think it a bit strange that I took four weeks to preach through Mark 12 and I’m doing all of Mark 13 in one Sunday. That’s because, while Mark 12 is four separate little episodes, Mark 13, on the other hand, is all one big unit. In fact, it is the largest single chunk of Jesus talking in all of Mark’s gospel.
Although the content is different from chapters 14-17 of John’s gospel, Mark 13 functions in the same kind of way. It is Jesus’ farewell to his disciples. He’s going to be leaving them and he knows that’s going to shake them up badly, especially since he is going to die such a violent death. So, just like a parent with children, he takes the opportunity to explain something about what lies in store for them (and us) and to give them (and us) some pointers for how to handle it.
Jesus and his disciples have just left the
City of
Later, sitting on the Mount of Olives, across the valley from the temple, Peter, James, John and Andrew ask Jesus to tell them when all this is going to happen. They want to know the details of the future. (Don’t we all?) But that isn’t what’s on Jesus’ mind as he responds to them. He’s more interested in making sure they (and we) don’t get sidetracked or discouraged by everything that lies ahead.
If you were going to leave your kids at home for the evening and you were worried that they might answer the door to someone, what would you do? I don’t know about you, but I would probably start off with, “Now, don’t answer the door to anyone, OK?” and then, once I had gone through everything else, I’d check to make sure that they hadn’t forgotten the first thing I said. “And remember, don’t answer the door.”
Jesus’ first words to his disciples in verse 5 are, “Watch out that no one deceives you.” And then, after talking about some other, more physical dangers, he comes back and repeats the warning in verses 21-23, kind of bracketing this whole section. His biggest concern is that, after he has gone, his disciples not be taken in by people who would try to deceive them.
Why should that be a risk? Because all hell is about to break loose.
When Jesus talks
about “wars and rumours of wars,” and “nation rising against nation,” he’s not
talking hypothetically. Within 40 years a war would flare up in
Then there were
the earthquakes at
But Jesus says, “Do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.”
Do not be alarmed? Do not be alarmed? Even today? When western nations go around happily ignoring the rules everybody agreed to after WWII about not invading other countries, and end up in wars they can’t win? When we have a volcanic eruption, a cyclone and an earthquake all in one week? When tens, maybe hundreds of thousands are dying? Do not be alarmed?
Jesus is not saying, “Don’t care.” Of course we should care about these things, and the people affected by them, and do what we can to help. He isn’t saying, “Don’t care.” He’s saying, “Don’t let these tragic events push you towards panic.”
[Do you remember the Y2K crisis? The whole world was going to come to a crashing stop on Jan 1, 2000 because all the computers would just die.
It was sad to see
how many Christians, even Christian leaders, were swept along by the panic. My
visa for
If they had understood this passage they would have realised that Jesus’ words into that situation were “Do not be alarmed.” And those are his words to us today as well. As we see crises around the world, whether they’re political, or military, or natural, or man-made disasters, Jesus says, “Do not be alarmed.”
There will always be crises. Jesus says, “Such things must happen.” But don’t let them alarm you, because alarmed people are easily deceived.
[In
This is exactly what Jesus is talking about when he returns to this topic in verse 21. 21 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. 22 For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and miracles to deceive the elect—if possible. 23 So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time.
Over the next few
decades, various people would arise in
And it’s a real risk. People do get deceived. Jesus certainly seems to think it’s a real risk. He’s really emphasising it here. Which is why I’m a little ticked at the translators of the New International version of the Bible. (The one that we’re using and that’s in the pews.) The NIV translates verse 22 as, “For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and miracles to deceive the elect—if that were possible.” That implies that these false Christs will try to deceive believers but they won’t succeed because it’s impossible. Which leads me to ask, “If that’s the case, why in the world is Jesus making such a big deal about it?”
Because the Greek doesn’t say “if that were possible,” it just says “if possible.”
If I say, “Ray and Christine Cantwell will work hard to get the aid shipment to the cyclone survivors if possible.” It means they will do everything they can to deliver the aid, but we don’t know if they will succeed or not.
If I say, “Ray and Christine Cantwell will work hard to get the aid shipment to the cyclone survivors, if that were possible.” It means that it’s a foregone conclusion that they will fail.
The translators have imported their own theology into this passage and, in the process, robbed it of the very thing that Jesus was at pains to teach his disciples. That when things start falling apart around us, it is easy to be deceived, and being a Christian does not insulate us from that risk. That’s why Jesus tells us to keep our eyes open, to “Watch!” So that we are not led astray by people who would deceive us.
Jesus’ main focus here is to warn the disciples (and us) to watch out for deception, especially at times when things seem to be falling apart around us. But he also warns them to watch out for much more visible dangers, dangers that might alarm us and make us vulnerable to deception. He says. “You must be on your guard” (the same word as “watch” in Greek) for threats; that come from the authorities, from your own families, and from the chaos of social disintegration.
These aren’t major issues for us. But they
are for many Christians around the world. Here is an email I received this week
from a friend and former colleague in
“This
is an Urgent request....one of the main leaders of the church here, who is
quite enthusiastic and has brought in many seekers, was beaten by the police
and had money extorted from him last year. Now the local government, which also
includes religious leaders, has posted an official letter in the bazaar stating
that he has left Islam and faces the death sentence. His parents are not believers
but they are supportive, and his brother is a believer.
Please - pray that he would clearly hear God's direction - pray God would be glorified and the local fellowships would be strengthened by what happens and not discouraged - pray we could find a safe place for him to go for a period of time - pray for the protection of his family and those that were in the meeting that he led.”
It gets worse. This man in
Can you imagine living that way? This is
what it is like to be a Christian in any society that claims the kind of
loyalty that belongs only to God. It doesn’t matter if that society is ancient
Then Jesus gets cryptic and says, when you see “‘the abomination that causes desolation’ standing where it does not belong” then take off running for the hills because life is going to get a lot worse. It’s not really clear what this means, but Mark gives us a hint when he says, “let the reader understand.” He’s probably referring us to the end of the book of Daniel in the Old Testament, which talks about the end of sacrifices in the temple.
Whatever the event is, it ushers in a time
that is so terrible that people in
But, once again, in the midst of all this doom and gloom, Jesus has words of encouragement. In verse 11 he says “Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.”
This is true. I can testify to it, and so
can many of my Afghan and Pakistani Christian friends. When push comes to
shove, and you stand before a court, or a judge, or an angry mob on account of
your faith, God will give you the words to say. And it doesn’t have to be in
some far off land. A young woman in
On the other hand, there are those who use this text as an excuse not to prepare beforehand when they are called to preach or teach in the church. Now, maybe some pastors feel like they are on trial every time they stand in the pulpit, but unless the church has arrested you and put you on trial, I don’t think that this promise is for you. The promise is that, even in the midst of danger, the Holy Spirit is with you.
Then, once he has dealt with what the
disciples are going to experience in the next few decades, and what at
least some part of the church will experience for the next few thousand years,
Jesus gives some insight into what the end of the world will look like.
It will look like the reversal of creation. In Genesis 1 God brought light out
of darkness. At the end of the world, darkness will return and creation will be
unmade. 24 But in those days, following
that distress, ‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light;
25 the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’
But the good news is that the believers who are alive at that time will be pulled out of that mess. They will be delivered. 26 “At that time men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 27 And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.
So what Jesus tells us to do is, “Watch!” Be aware of what is going on around you. He isn’t concerned with giving us a detailed timeline of when the end of the world will come. His primary concern for his disciples, and I believe for us too, is that we live with our eyes open.
If we live with our eyes open, we won’t be panicked by all the disasters that we hear about in the news, and we will be less likely to be deceived by people promising to solve all our problems.
If we live with our eyes open, we won’t be worried when we end up in dangerous situations, because we’ll know that even in the most dangerous situation, the Holy Spirit is there with us, to give us wisdom to know how to respond.
And if we live with our eyes open, we won’t be drawn into the endless debates that so many Christians have about when Jesus is coming back. Because we’ll be doing as he said, living with our eyes open, being faithful to him alone, and trusting him no matter what the circumstances. So, even if he were to come back tomorrow, he would find us each fulfilling our calling, and doing what he has asked us to do.