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Location: Hattiesburg, Mississippi, United States

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost

Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost


11/15/09

Mark 13:1-13

Everything will be all right.



How often have you said to your son or daughter when they were hurt by someone or skinned a knee or cut themselves, “Everything will be all right"? How many times have you heard someone tell a loved one in the hospital critical care, “Everything will be all right?” Many times those who are hurting are told “That everything will be all right” even when things will not be all right.



Just because we proclaim that everything will be all right, that doesn't mean that we do nothing. When children have fallen down and blood is freely flowing from that cut or scrape parents don't just say, "Everything will be all right." They spring into action and if necessary put their loved one in the car and make a fast trip to the emergency room. If an emergency room visit is not necessary they reach into the medicine cabinet and get out the first aid kit. Loving parents do all that's in their power to make sure everything will be all right for their suffering children and God through Jesus is not any different.



Our Gospel reading for this morning is usually seen as being about end times. There is good reason for that, for it contains signs and timetables. It talks about the destruction of the temple. It talks about not being fooled by people that claim to be the Messiah. It talks about wars, earthquakes, famines, and being tried for believing in Jesus. It tells about families being split because of one’s faith in Jesus. It certainly does appear to about end times, but is it?



But let’s take a closer look to see if that is the message Jesus is giving his followers. A key verse in understanding what Jesus is talking about is found in the last half of verse 7 where we read, “but the end is not yet.” That statement tells us that this particular Gospel reading is not about end times, for the “end is not yet”, but is about “Everything will be all right.”



That statement of Jesus tells us that he is not talking about some future event, but events that take place in every generation; events that are occurring right now. We don’t have to look to far to see all the things Jesus is talking about. They surround us, wars, pestilence, famine, Christians being brought before the courts, even in the United States, and yes, even families being split about because of one’s faith in Christ.



While talking about discernment this text is about hope, the sure hope of knowing and trusting in God’s promises. It is about believing God’s imperatives to us, “Beware. Do not be alarmed. Do not worry. Be alert. Keep awake!" For, “Everything will be all right.”



And that is where we struggle, for we ask, "Will there be life on this planet in another hundred or thousand years?" and the God who created the planet answers in His Holy Word, "Everything will be all right."



We ask, as we struggle financially, "How can I make ends meet, when more bills are coming in than income?" And God says, “Everything will be all right."



We ask God as we face the surgeon’s knife, “I am scared. What is going to happen to me?" And God answers, “Everything will be all right."



We are deep troubled when the tests for cancer came back positive." And God answers, “Everything will be all right."



We say to God, “My loved one is going to Iraq or Afghanistan or some other war torn place far away and I am afraid for them.” And God says, “Everything will be all right."



We cry to God, "My loved one just died." And God says, “Everything will be all right."



I could go on and on listing all the times that we are fearful, those times where we need to listen to God say in his Holy word, “Everything will be all right.” We can trust in those words, for God has to keep his word. He has to, for to do anything less would mean that he is not God. We hear his say, “Everything will turn out all right” and then instead of trusting in those words we do everything we can to try to make things turn out all right. And there is the number two problem in our lives. The first being unrepentant sin.



I'm certain that some of the people who heard Jesus say, "Endure to the end and you will be saved," were persecuted and put to death. It certainly did not appear that “everything was all right” as they died terrible deaths.



When I stand beside the bedside of a dying person, particularly one in pain I sometimes struggle with what to say. I ask myself, “How can I be of comfort to them and their families in their time of need.” But even in that struggle I can always say, "Everything will be all right", for everything will be all right, for God promised that it would be and because he promises it, it will be all right. That is our hope, for our lives are in God’s hands



These are tough times for many people. If you are one of the people who is hurting today, I want to reassure you that God has not abandoned you. I can't promise you an easy road, but I can tell you that that God loves you and that God will help you through the tough times, for God tells us, “Everything will be all right.” It is simply a matter of faith.

I want to share with you a story that I think illustrates what I am saying. There was a man named Charles Rice who tells of his story about his quest of a particular apple called Northern Spies. Northern Spy apples keep their texture while baking, so they make great apple pies and that was his goal. However, there are a couple of drawbacks to Northern Spies. Apparently it isn't easy to find Northern Spy trees. Rice had a hard time finding a supplier. Besides that, it can take years for a tree to mature sufficiently to produce apples.

Rice finally found someone who sold Northern Spies trees, and bought a couple. He was busily planting them when his neighbor wandered over and asked what he was doing. He said, "Planting apple trees –– Northern Spies." The neighbor asked how long it would take for the little sprigs to grow large enough to produce apples. Rice guessed, "About five to seven years." His neighbor said, "Well, you sure do have more faith in the future than most folks."

Rice wrote, "My neighbor was right, of course. The gypsy moths may come back next year, or the soil may not be right. There are more bugs and worms to prey on apple trees than there are varieties of apples. The trees are there in the ground now as I write this, drifted with snow, showing no signs of life. But, as I told my neighbor, it's going to be a great day when we pick our own Northern Spies and sit down around the first apple pie."

I suspect that Charles has sat down and enjoyed many an apple pie since then, for those pies were the product of something more than horticulture. They were the product of faith.

So, if there is ever a time in your life when all that you depend on is tumbling down and God’s promises look like nothing but little sticks stuck in the ground know that those sticks, those promises, as weak as they might appear are God’s promises. And because they are God’s promises, “everything will turn out all right.” Amen.