11272021 – Luke 21. 25-36
Think of “a pan of water” with a lid covering it.
What’s under the lid “is hidden.”
It is “an unknown”…until such time as “the lid is removed.”
It could be liver and onions for all I know “under there.” EWWW – just saying…
Then, with the lid removed – we can “see into the pan.”
Now we can see “clearly.”
“It is water,” NOT liver and onions. YAY!
The word “apo” in Greek means lid…
The word “calypse” in Greek means “off, “away from,” “detached,” or “separate.”
The scary, 50 cent, big Greek word “apocalypse means” “off with the lid,” or “remove the lid” in order, so you can see what’s inside.
The future is like that. It is veiled. It is covered. We cannot see into it. But apocalyptic literature attempts to…
“Crystal balls” do not work…Tarot cards do the same. They do not help.
The future, the unknown, can be very scary, very frightening, “IF” we allow it to be.
Where will you be five years down the road? Where will life take you six months from now? Where will you be next year at this time? Where will you be ten years from today? Just how different will life be, then?
I KNOW THAT SOME OF YOU ARE STRUGGLING right now, AND ARE VERY WORRIED.
It is easy to get stressed out and to be apprehensive in this life.
The word apocalypse “has come to mean” – “a great disaster,” “a sudden, and very bad event,” “some kind of calamity, catastrophe, tragedy, or debacle.”
We think about the Book of Revelation and Armageddon…
“An apocalypse” is nothing more than a style of writing, a genre of literature, highly symbolic, filled with all kinds of imagery and expectation.
“Apocalyptic literature” attempts to remove the lid for us and attempts to show us what the future holds in store.
Apocalyptic literature is NOT meant to be “bad news,” but “good news.” In spite of every care, anxiety, worry, or trouble, of which there are a great many all the time. GOD IS IN CHARGE.
Sometimes apocalyptic literature is right…and sometimes it messes up BIG TIME and is simply “all wrong.”
There is no way of telling what the future holds. But when things get bad. When we wring our hands over and over again. When it looks like “the end” is surely coming, apocalyptic literature seems to bloom, blossom, and flourish. It draws us in.
Biblically, it had its heyday in the year’s from about 250 BCE to 150 in the Common Era.
People ate it up, at that time! They could not get enough of it! They lived in unsettling times. The literature that was being written spoke to their distress, troubles, and uneasiness.
We know that the future “WILL BE” WHAT IT WILL BE.
We have “no control.” We are not in charge, not in control. GOD IS…
But we CAN control HOW WE RESPOND, HOW WE REACT, WHAT WE SAY, AND WHAT WE DO. We CAN control HOW we live our lives…even in the worst of times.
We are an “ADVENT PEOPLE” and we are called to live “expectantly.”
We are to be different from and separate from the world around us. We are people of another kingdom. (Hint, hint, think back to last weekend and our celebration of Christ the King!)
We are to have our bearings about us at all times. We are to know WHO we belong to. We know this world is transient and fleeting.
Life does not play favorites.
The rain falls on the good and the bad alike.
Anything can and will happen.
Just think for a moment about the people of Waukesha and the surrounding area, happily watching and participating in a Christmas Parade.
Happy, joyous, engaged. And then, the unthinkable. Anything can happen.
The unexpected can happen…and sometimes does.
We are called on to be “alert” and be “aware,” be “awake” and “constantly watching.”
The scripture actually goes so far as to tell us “Raise our heads up.”
You know WHO is in charge.
You know WHO is in control.
Be confident. Be faithful. Be trusting. Be hopeful. Be assured. Blessed Assurance.
LOOK UP…you know you want to.
You know WHERE you are going. You know WHERE you ultimately want to be.
Tragedy MAY strike. But GOD is bigger than all of our tragedies…
LOOK UP – YOU KNOW WHO you can count on. Amen.