Do not be terrified
The Rev. Canon Frank Logue preached this sermon
at Christ Church Savannah on November 17, 2019
Do not be terrified
Luke 21:5-19
“Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.”
Jesus is in the Temple in Jerusalem with his disciples when he warns them of what will follow in the many years after his death and resurrection.
When asked to name signs of the end, Jesus said that we should not be led astray by the many bad things that can and will happen. Jesus, in fact, promised wars, insurrections, earthquakes, famine, plague, dreadful portents and great signs from heaven. Yet, Jesus’ main message to us in today’s Gospel reading is not a message of war, famine, and death. What Jesus tells us most clearly is “Do not be terrified, for these things must take place, but the end will not follow immediately.”
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Never were truer words spoken, “The end will not come immediately.” Jesus told his disciples these things while walking in the Temple in Jerusalem. That great Temple dedicated to the one true God was destroyed in the year 70 AD at the end of the Jewish War. This occurred a few decades after Jesus’ resurrection and not many years before Luke wrote his Gospel. The center of Jewish worship was destroyed and to this day has yet to be rebuilt after nearly 2000 years, but this was not the end. The Roman Empire was conquered first by Christianity and later by the Huns and the Vandals, but this was not the end. And so on through history, with wars and insurrections, nation rising against nation and kingdom against kingdom and the end has not followed immediately. But through every day of these last 2,000 years, Jesus’ words have held true, “Do not be terrified, for these things must take place first.”
Jesus assures his followers that an end is coming to all the chaos and problems of this age, but in the meantime, he will be present in all that happens. Jesus will redeem the chaos as none of it is beyond the power of God’s love as shown through the cross.
Jesus warns his disciples that they will face persecution and death, but paradoxically, not a hair on their heads will perish. How is that possible? How can one be both put to death and not have a hair on their head perish? This is because Jesus promised eternal life that will more than likely come through death rather than his return in glory. He promised to be with his followers in whatever they may face.
Some years ago, my wife, Victoria, and I attended a 6 p.m. Celtic Eucharist in which darkness and storm led a dramatic touch to our worship. Though it was in the summer, a storm blackened the sky as we drove to church. We made it inside before the rain started. The church was dark and the many candles on the altar and in the windows burned brightly.
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