Being ready for Christ s return Mark 12:28-34 Ari Savuoja Sermon at St. Luke s Chapel, 19 November 2017 Translation into English by Bastian Fähnrich Mark 13:33-37 Jesus says: 34 Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. 34 It s like a man going away: he leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with their assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch. 35 Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the cock crows, or at dawn. 36 If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. 37 What I say to you, I say to everyone: Watch! Our gospel text is a topic that has given rise to much controversy in Christianity that it has also led to divisions of the Church. There are a number of sects and denominations that have tried to count the date of the end-time and of Jesus' return. I myself remember expecting Jesus return in 1988. Jesus said, Matthew 24:32-34: Now learn this lesson from the fig-tree: as soon as its twigs become tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Someone had told me that according to the Old Testament one generation is 40 years. The state of Israel was founded in 1948. If the fig-tree represents the state of Israel, Jesus should have come in 1988. He did not come. I had interpreted the Bible incorrectly. Many others have also miscounted the time of Jesus' return.
But as I said, counting the days or estimating the time of Christ s return is not what our Lord calls us today! We are urged to be ready or prepared for Christ s return. But what does this really mean? In the Finnish language, being ready or prepared is the same word as being awake, but here the word does not mean to be awake as opposed to being asleep. It means being ready, or being prepared. But what kind of person is ready then? Am I, are you ready? If the gatekeeper knew at what time the thief would come and steal in the middle of the night, he could sleep until then and put the alarm clock to ring 10 minutes before the thief s coming. It is not about this kind of being ready. Over the last 2 centuries there have been many times when Jesus was expected to come back. However, Jesus warns us about this very mistake warns in Matthew 24:36, "But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. It is therefore not appropriate to count the days of Christ s return. It is furthermore not appropriate for a Christian to scare or threaten others with the end-times. The one-sided scare tactics of threatening unbelievers with hell is not part of love-based evangelism. It is also loveless, however, not to tell at all about hell, of course. No one can be turned into a Christian by threatening; at least not as a true Christian. According to the Bible, the kindness of God leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4). We are thus not lead to repentance due to God s righteousness, that is, God's hatred of sin and sin. Thinking that scare tactics draws people to God is wrong, and one of the extreme thoughts among people.
Then there is another extreme thought: Some people think that Jesus will not return at all, as he has not yet come. (According to a survey conducted in 2011, about 40% of Finns believe strongly or hold very likely that Heaven exists or that there is life after death. About 50% of them do not believe in Heaven or life after death. The survey sheds light also on the Finns believe in God: 45 % believe in God, 11 % sometimes, 16 % believe in a higher Power, 14% do not know, 11 % do not believe, and 3% can not say anything.) Some even think and say that Jesus was mistaken: He said he would return, but he did not come. What should this be thought of? I say: Jesus was not mistaken because he did not really refer to an exact date of his return. He specifically said that he does not know the exact day. Only the Father God alone knows the time of Christ s return. But still the Bible urges us to be ready and to wait for Jesus coming. There is no permission for being lazy or unprepared. Being ready or prepared is therefore something different than the two extremes mentioned before. In Matthew s gospel (24:40-41) Jesus tells the story of four people. Two men and two women. Two men are doing their ordinary work in the field as every day. At Jesus coming, one is taken and the other left. At the same time, there are two women in their typical daily work grinding with a hand mill. No-one notices any difference between these two women, no outward distinction in their appearance, but only one of the women believes in Jesus, and only one gets into Heaven at Christ s return. Here we can see what it means to be a person being ready or prepared, or not, for Jesus coming. The men and women do not appear different from the outside. The other man or woman was not in any way different or did something special, for example, being in the temple all the time waiting for Jesus to come. And none of the
men and women was despaired and sighed: "When does the Lord come, am I ready?" Likewise, none of them counted the days or tried to estimate the day or month of Jesus coming. No. Both believers in Jesus lived a normal life, trusting that everything is at peace in God's hand. Therefore, no evil can happen in their lives. Jesus would not come without taking them. Jesus would never leave them, not even at the time of his second coming. The difference between these two men and two women was in their heart, in their relationship with Jesus. From the outside, they appeared the same. But inwardly only one of the men and of the women believed in Jesus, confessed the sin and trusted that God forgives. People cannot be always be trusted, but God can be fully trusted all the time. Being ready and prepared is therefore to believe in God and Jesus. It means to live in faith. We easily think that living in faith is something like a spiritual effort or exercise. But in the life of believers, spiritual exercises are not the most important thing, even though we must make efforts to avoid lovelessness and selfishness, or sin. The most important thing in our Christian life is to rest and have peace in God. The rest and the peace of knowing that God has forgiven all our sins and that we are always subject to God's kindness and good care. Then we can read from the Bible with joy that God is there for us and how God has led other Christians in their lives. Then it feels great to pray to God daily, to tell him all the things about our own lives, what has happened each day, our joys and sorrows, our worries and troubles. Then it is also nice to go to meet other believers,
where they meet. This is the right kind of being ready and prepared, living in faith, joy and peace in Jesus. Let s pray: Thank you, dear Jesus, that you are with us every day until the end of the world. Thank you that therefore we may live the lives you have given us, safely resting in you in every moment. Thank you for the freedom you have acquired for us, the freedom of the guilt of our sins, the freedom of fear of death, the freedom of fear of eternal death. "Teach us to count our days right so that we may have a wise heart." Amen.