Listen

S. Pentecost 23.25 Luke 21:5-28

‘They will lay their hands on you and persecute you… but I will give you a mouth and wisdom which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.’

And the most wonderful time of the year continues, the 2nd to Last Sunday of the church year, when we hear Jesus give us the low-down on the Last Days and what we can look forward to, previewing it for us so we will look forward to it!—as eagerly as we do the Zombie Apocalypse (which will probably be part of the whole thing and which Jesus wants us to be excited about 😉

The last verses of our Gospel are favorites of mine. When the sky is falling—sun, moon, and stars blowing up, the earth is distressed, perplexed everyone fainting with fear and foreboding for what’s coming on the earth, the End of the World, Jesus says, with a wry grin I’m sure: “When these things begin to take place, look up and lift up your heads, because hey: we’re gonna have fun with this thing!”

When Jesus draws near like this, and we finally see him in all his power and glory, it’ll be like the hobbits in Lord of the Rings finding out their friend—the beat-up and beat-down Ranger Strider—is also Aragorn, Elfstone, Renewer, the High King of Gondor, the Last Great King of Numenor.

Like that, but far better! Because this is no made up myth! Jesus is the true King of Heaven, Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier of Heaven and Earth, the LORD of Lords, the King of Kings the One True Triune God!!!

And though our sins have alienated and estranged us from Jesus and his Kingdom, and, truth be told, made the sight of his unveiled glory terrifying and destructive, even—his blood shed in weakness on the cross has washed all our sins away and made us new, made us little copies of himself, his friends with whom he shares all his power, glory, might, love and mercy.

All earthly life is a test, a sorting hat, like in Harry Potter. Whose side are you on? The devil’s or Jesus’? These, BTW, are the only two options. As Luther says: man is a mule caught between two riders, God and the devil. If God rides, our sins and sorrows are wiped away by faith in his blood shed for us once for all on the cross. But if we reject that—if we won’t let go of our sinful selves and our place in a sinful world—then the devil rides us right on down to hell itself.

And most choose hell! They don’t want to be holy and pure. They didn’t like Jesus at all when he came pointing out our sins and our misery. They didn’t see themselves that way—as sinful and rotten and miserable. They saw themselves as strong, independent and free. Sure, there are some troubles with the progressive AI utopia we’re building, but we’ll iron those out! And like the devil says, even if we don’t, “Better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven.”

Such were the Pharisees and Sadducees that we’ve seen harassing the Lord all his 3 year public ministry, who finally arrest, torture, and kill him. And just when they think they’re rid of him, he rises from the dead, but shows himself incognito, only to his friends who love his appearing. But word spreads that he’s risen—never to die again—and rumors of the Return of the King begin to circulate in 30 AD and still circulate today.

And those rumors are true, BTW!—news that is joy to his friends, and terror to his foes!

And the foes were and always will be far more numerous than the friends of God. This is an important point made throughout all the scriptures, Old and New Testaments, but that few today seem entirely persuaded of. The idea that Constantine the Great had in the 4th century AD: that Christianity is destined to reign and to win the allegiance of all people and hold together a wonderful earthly empire of power and might and wealth is… WRONG!

The seed of Abraham, the people of Israel, the friends of God, were always the minority report. And even they had their wrestlings and tussles with God—as we saw a few weeks ago with Jacob at the Jabbok! But being deeply defeated by that Angel, profoundly vanquished by ever greater things—that’s finally Jacob’s gain!

Elijah found out that—out of a million or so Israelites—there were only 7,000 that weren’t really worshipers of Baal. King David, Jesus’ great grandfather and forerunner, was hated and hounded by most of Israel, and even as King was not widely loved. Two of his own sons tried to kill him and take his crown.

And Jesus tells the 12 apostles bluntly that: “they will lay hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and emperors for my name’s sake, to bear witness [martyrdom in Greek!]. But don’t meditate beforehand on how to answer. For I will give you a mouth and wisdom which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.”

Luther frequently quoted this verse to dispel the theology of glory that reigned in his day, too: the idea that his church must always be mighty, strong, numerous, powerful and popular; so that if you aren’t reigning over the world as popular prelates and Popes, you must be getting it wrong, as if Christ’s word will always be winsome and win over our adversaries…

Luther points out that the gift of a smart mouth is a mixed blessing (I wouldn’t know anything about that! 😉 They can’t withstand or contradict your word (because it’s GOD’S Word!) But THEY STILL REMAIN YOUR ADVERSARIES! They don’t love your being right the way you do!

We’ll be delivered up—by parents, “brothers”, and “friends”—and some of us they will put to death. We will be hated by all for Christ’s sake! But not a hair of our heads will perish. By our perseverance we possess our souls, forever!

Modern Christendom’s hankering for bigness, that Sally Fields-like desire for everyone to like us! makes us miss the point and the plot of the Story. The true church—always 1 percenters really—will get even smaller at the End, and more… embattled.

The mark of faith is never worldly power, popularity or success such as Popes and popular preachers enjoy. Nah; it is ever the lot of the smart mouthed to land in detention, dungeons, and to be ostracized by the “good people”. So, if the church isn’t like the original 12— smart-mouthed, beat-up, beat-down for it, hated and hounded, it isn’t really The Church of Jesus Christ.

Now you get the joy of the King’s Return! When the Crucified One—Pantocrator, All-Ruling, reverses all worldly expectations by his Parousia, the joy of Victory snatched from Defeat’s strong jaws is beyond amazing! Just so, Jesus strengthens us now, with his word and body and blood, that smart-mouthed, heads always up, the Peace, surpassing all understanding, will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.