November 27, 2011

Weather Report:

Why Is This Good News?

Mark 13:24-37

 

The Indians asked their Chief in autumn if the winter was gong to be cold or not. Not really knowing the answer, the Chief replied that the winter was going to be cold and that the members of the village were to collect wood to be prepared. Being a good leader, he then called the National Weather Service and asked, “Is this winter going to be cold?” The man on the phone responded, “This winter is going to be quite cold indeed.” So the Chief went back to speed up his people to collect even more wood to be prepared. A week later he called the National Weather Service again, “Is it going to be a VERY cold winter?” “Yes,” the man replied, “it’s going to be a very cold winter.” So the Chief goes back to his people and orders them to go and find every scrap of wood they can find. Two weeks later he calls the National Weather Service again: “Are you absolutely sure that the winter is going to be very cold?” “Absolutely,” the man replied, “the Indians are collecting wood like crazy!”

Let’s talk about the weather. The weather is always a good, safe topic to discuss, safer than say, politics or religion. So it’s not a bad idea to sneak a peak at the Weather Channel before you leave your house in the morning perchance you run into someone with whom you don’t have a lot in common. And if you find yourself in a conversation that is going absolutely nowhere, you can repeat the line that I have heard every place I have ever lived (and people say it as if they are the only ones who say it): “If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes (and it will change).” I learned that people have been saying that since at least 1915, although Mark Twain, who died in 1910, is falsely credited with its origination.

Imagine, however, that you live in a world without the Weather Channel, Doppler radar, or Tornado sirens. In some ways, even though we are much more aware of what the weather is doing or will be doing in the next few days, we have been lulled to sleep by these technological advances. We no longer need to be as alert or awake to the possibility that some powerful weather system is about to overwhelm us. There is still an element of surprise in weather behavior from time to time, but generally speaking we don’t worry about it as much as people did in the days before modern sophisticated weather information technology.

Such was the case when Mark 13 was written. The weather was a big concern in that place and time. They didn’t have any warning systems, so there was always a little concern about what Mother Nature was up to. The weather, in other words, could become downright apocalyptic. What does that mean? Mark 13 is often referred to as the Little Apocalypse, in contrast to the book of Revelation, which is also called the Apocalypse of John. Apocalyptic writings were common before and during the time of Jesus. The word “apocalyptic” derives from a Greek word meaning “to uncover, to reveal.” In a pre-technological world, cataclysmic events, including the fury of Mother Nature, was not “revealed” through Doppler radar but through writers who believed they could predict the future. And they generally had a pessimistic view of the future. They assumed things were going to get nasty.

Actually, things were already pretty nasty, especially in first century Palestine, the time and place in which Jesus lived and in which the Gospel of Mark was written. There was every reason to be fearful of the present and the future. But what exactly did they fear? Surely not just the weather! The biggest fear a Jew of the first century had was that the occupying Romans would destroy the Temple in Jerusalem as well as the city itself. This was the center of their political, religious, and cultural life. If they destroy the Temple, they destroy their lives.

At the beginning of Mark 13 we find Jesus walking out of the Temple with his disciples. The disciples were as enamored with the large buildings of the Temple complex in Jerusalem as a country bumpkin driving through downtown Louisville for the first time. But Jesus seems to have known the handwriting on the wall. He says to them, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.” The disciples asked Jesus how he knew this. What were the signs that this would happen?

Jesus was very astute about the social and political climate of this day. He knew something big was coming down the pike. He suspected that Jewish unrest would eventually lead to revolution against the Romans, and this would in turn lead to the destruction of the Temple. This happened, by the way, less than four decades after his death, about the time the Gospel of Mark was written. But it’s almost as if he pulls out a crystal ball and lays out his “evidence.” Some of the things he talks about are clearly evidence that there is trouble brewing: false prophets and messiahs, wars and rumors of wars, famine, persecution, family betrayals, and general suffering. These things imply that things are not going well and so there will be social upheaval. He didn’t need a crystal ball for this. Jesus even mentions a “desolating sacrilege,” which refers to the Roman emperor placing his statue in the Jewish Temple, which is an abomination. That sort of thing would tick off a lot of people! So some of the “signs” Jesus points to as evidence that the Temple would one day be destroyed, are no-brainers.

But Jesus was also a product of his times. He was a first century man. Some of his other “evidence” seems to be a little superstitious (if you don’t mind me saying that about Jesus). I’m talking specifically about his, or Mark’s, view that weather or nature can also provide signs of future events. Jesus mentions earthquakes, eclipses (both solar and lunar), falling stars, and a vague reference to “powers in the heavens” that “will be shaken.” In the ancient world the weather was so unpredictable and frightening and uncontrollable that it led them to believe that God, or the gods, must be telling them something. Even the milder forms of nature could be a sign (to them) that something significant was about to happen: “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near.”

Ancient people were much more in tune with the weather and nature that we are. And because acts of nature were so mysterious and inexplicable they had to be the voice of God. Psalm 29 is a great example of this: “The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders … The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars … The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire … The voice of the Lord causes the oaks to whirl.” God speaks through the weather and nature, people believed.

So Jesus believed, as we would expect from a man of his place and time, that we can read the “tea leaves” of nature and the weather and predict that something ominous or threatening is about to happen. This is why apocalyptic literature contains references to weather or nature. So, here’s what’s happening in Mark 13. Jesus is “predicting” that the social and political situation will worsen and Mother Nature will unleash her fury. No one knows, he says, when these things will happen, so “beware,” “keep alert,” and “keep awake.” It all sounds rather scary and hopeless, does it not?

Now, my assignment today is to find the “good news” in this. Finding “good news” in apocalyptic writings is almost like finding good news in a horror movie. I still remember watching the old black and white movie Night of the Living Dead at the drive-in theater when I was about twelve years old. The only good news in that movie was that most of the zombies got shot in the head (along with the innocent people who were holed up in that house). At first glance, finding good news in apocalyptic literature seems impossible, but if you look at what inspires these writings you will discover the underlying good news. And the underlying good news of apocalyptic literature is hope. What drives or fuels apocalyptic literature is hope in the midst of utter hopelessness.

Hope in the midst of utter hopelessness. But what exactly were they hoping for? Here’s where it gets tricky. Even though this is Jesus speaking in Mark 13, Mark was written several decades after Jesus’ death. It is very likely that Mark 13 reflects the hope that Jesus would come back. Here is how Mark puts it (through the voice of Jesus): “Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory. Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.”

In other words, in the midst of social and political oppression, in the midst of wars and earthquakes and famines, in the midst of persecution and injustices and suffering, while false prophets are giving false hope, the Son of Man will come and make everything better. That has never happened in a literal way, and, quite frankly, it may never happen. One blogger I read asked how long we preachers should keep preaching Christ’s return. After a while it’s like the boy who cried wolf, right? But what we are preaching is not necessarily a literal return of Christ as much as a reconsideration of the world he envisioned. And in that world he envisioned, human beings have a way of finding hope in the midst of utter hopelessness.

Just a few days ago we celebrated a holiday of hope: Thanksgiving. Did you know that the pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts? No Americans have been impoverished more than those who set aside a day of thanksgiving. Hope in the midst of utter hopelessness. Today, our world continues to despair of hope, and many times for the very same reasons people felt hopeless in Jesus’ day: social and political upheaval, oppression and injustices, economic depression and environmental degradation, wars and other conflicts, natural disasters and epidemics, untold suffering on ever continent.

Clearly the bad news dominates our newspapers and news channels. But the good news continues to be the human spirit that always finds hope in the midst of utter hopelessness. As we approach the bleak days of winter, we are reminded that we are a people of hope, a people whose light shines in the darkness. The “forecast” may call for a cold winter, but we are a people who are pretty good about collecting wood …