伯明翰華人循道會資訊網

At this time of year here in the UK we have just ended the season of remembering. We had the 5^th November when   we remembered the gunpowder plot to blow up Parliament in the 1600s. We have this last week remembered those killed in armed conflicts.  

So as the nation has been remembering, we in the church have readings in our lectionaries that are about remembering the promises of God. We remember God’s covenant with the community of faith and how the rainbow is an eternal reminder of that covenant.  

But today we think about the reminder Jesus gave to his followers to watch and wait, faithfully living by God’s teaching, whilst at the same time read the signs of the times and discern the pointers that show God’s activity in the life of the world. 

By the time that Mark is writing his gospel, wars, earthquakes and famines had become symbols of the coming of divine judgement. They were seen as signs of the end time, when God’s will and ways would finally truly be embodied in all creation and an end would come to all that denied God. 

Mark’s gospel was written during interesting times in the development of the early church. It was written about 40 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus. This was the time of the ending of the wars between Romans and Jews which the Jews lost and which ended in AD 70 with the sacking of Jerusalem. �
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The Roman soldiers burned the temple and dismantled it stone by stone. The temple had been for the Jews a symbol of God’s presence among them and with its destruction   they saw that as a sign that God had deserted them and that this was punishment for a disobedient nation. 

So in our gospel reading from Mark, we have a story of Jesus standing amongst these large stones that had once been the temple and speaking to a despondent people.  

There were many preachers who had given messages about a Messiah coming who would take the people back to God. There were those who claimed to be the Messiah and who were shown to be pretenders. There had been some strong inspiring leaders who performed signs of healing and magic and said that they could guide people back into the true teaching and true way. 

Mark tells us how Jesus takes his band of disciples to a special holy place. A place that the followers of Jesus knew as somewhere Jesus had felt close to God. They go to the Mount of Olives, that place of prayer, and where believers had reflected and discerned the will and way of God.  

And there Jesus gives them special teaching. “Beware”

he tells them, “don’t be led astray, be faithful.”  Why? 

All the events that have happened and disturbed them and made them feel distanced from God, well these are the birth-pangs of a new age coming, the gospel age, the age of the Messiah – the messianic age, when the divine way of God will dwell throughout creation.  

Faithful people will be able to see this opportunity and will appropriately prepare themselves. However it seems that many are being led astray and will not be ready. 

The reading that we heard from Hebrews has a similar theme, calling the followers of the gospel to appropriate actions and faithfulness in their faith. 

The passage urges believers to PROVOKE one another. Usually when we use the word “provoke” in English we mean anger, infuriate or act to incite or stimulate someone in a not good way. But it does have a meaning that is no longer used in our English understandings. PROVOKE can mean summon or encourage. 

In Hebrews the believers are to PROVOKE one another to love and good deeds. They are to PROVOKE one another to meet faithfully together and they are to PROVOKE one another to be appropriately prepared.   Why?  

Because the day approaches, the day is dawning when the gospel age will come, when the Messianic age will arrive. The age of the new community of love will come. 

But the signs are that believers are neglecting gospel living, they are failing to be faithful and they are being diverted by other attractions. 

Both our readings call the reader to look at the signs and understand them. Both ask believers to look to the gospel of Christ. Both call believers to live faithfully because the way of God’s love is being announced by these signs.�
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So how do we make sense of this message for us today.

What are the signs? 

Yes, there are natural disasters and tragedies but these are not indicators of God’s judgement, they are signs that we have exploited, mistreated and failed to be good stewards of our planet. 

But there are plenty of disturbing signs of the breakdown of community, integrity and respect. We have signs of divisions between nations, communities, cultures and individuals.

We see selfishness, self-interest, greed, acquisitiveness and individualism that is all contrary to the gospel of love that Jesus taught. 

World societies demonstrate signs of corruption, inappropriate use of power.  They create societies where people become disaffected and alienated and as a consequence adopt fanatical and fundamentalist attitudes.  

Individuals are swept up by media manipulation and the cult of celebrity. Cultures place value on self indulgence, egotism and accept unethical and immoral behaviour and codes of practice.  

Today where are the public signs of gospel ethics and eternal values? Where do we look and see sharing forgiving, including, supporting and caring community? Where do we find good relationships where there is mutuality and a caring for all whatever their needs? 

Today the call is for those who follow Jesus to make sure that they are the community that is living out these values and being faithful in discipleship. 

Whilst looking at the world today we may sometimes think that it looks godless because of how we humans are behaving.  Remember this was what the Christian community of the early church were feeling at the time of our scripture readings.  

The teaching there was given to reassure believers.            It called them to be faithful to the divine ways of the gospel, understanding that this gives a witness to the world that     can challenge and change life here on earth. That message is true for us today. 

We are to PROVOKE one another to live by gospel teaching and divine values. We are to embody the gospel in our lives today so that others may see and believe in the God of love who we worship and serve.  

We are to display the new age, the Messianic age, in our life together as God’s people.  And we are to show God to the world through being the gospel community in the world today.  

So beware, be faithful and be PROVOCATIVE in love and good deeds. And may God bless us as we respond to this call today. Amen.