THE END? WHAT ABOUT ME?
Luke 21:25-36
First Sunday in Advent, Year C
Analysis by Timothy Hoyer
25“There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. 26People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in a cloud’ with power and great glory. 28Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
29Then he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees; 30as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. 31So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. 32Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. 33Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
34“Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, 35like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. 36Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
“In Jesus we do not end, but we are given life forever.”
DIAGNOSIS: We See Signs
Step 1: Initial Diagnosis (External Problem): No! It Can’t Be Over!
Grounding: Jesus has entered Jerusalem and had been welcomed by the crowd (19:29-40). He taught in the temple every day and “was telling the good news” (20:1). People around Jesus began admiring the temple, but Jesus told them that “not one stone will be left upon another, all will be thrown down” (Matt. 24:2; cf. Lk. 19:44). To his hearers, that sounded like their world was going to come to an end.
Tracking: When there are new health problems in someone’s life and they are having a hard time coping with the changes and complain about it, they may end with the words, “Things could be worse.” They are trying to comfort themselves. They are trying to say that their world is not yet coming to an end.
Step 2: Advanced Diagnosis (Internal Problem: I Can’t Face It Being Over
Grounding: Talk about how the world would end filled Jesus’ hearers’ hearts with a dread, a fear, and a need to be prepared. Hearts get weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life (v. 34). “When will this happen?” (21:7) Knowing when the end will comes means it is not happening right now. They hung on to that delay, as if taking it “one day at a time” is how they would be kept safe. That reprieve was the gospel they trusted, forgetting about trust in Jesus.
Tracking: People have morbid curiosity about how the world ends. When the end is personal, not about the world, there is always fear. There will come a need to know how the body will fail and what the cause of death will be. This event is overwhelming. The heart, that is, one’s faith in many things, is shaken – faith in the sureness of one’s health is shaken, faith in the sureness that life will keep going is shaken, and faith in God’s care for us is shaken. Drunkenness is a way to drown the fears. Dissipation is to give up and say one does not care anymore. It is hopelessness.
Step 3: Final Diagnosis (Ultimate Problem): By God, It’s Over
Grounding: Forgetting about faith in Jesus, or believing Jesus is no match for the world, is the ultimate problem. The people in the temple keeping company with Jesus felt distress and confusion (v. 25), signs of their fear of the God of the End. As the world was soon to end, it was God causing the world and them to come to an end. What help can there be if God is causing the end? Our legs shake so badly we cannot stand before God.
Tracking: God is blamed when the powers of our lives are shaken. God is supposed to protect us and care for us and help us live. If God is not doing that, what is God good for?
PROGNOSIS: We See Jesus Risen
Step 4: Initial Prognosis (Ultimate Solution): By God, He’s Risen
Grounding: In all that happens to us and around us, Jesus promises that our redemption is drawing near. That’s because he is near, so near that the end happens to him by his death on a cross. But the end is no longer the end. Jesus rises from the dead! God is good for resurrection. Through Jesus God is good for grace and mercy in a world of retribution. God is good for new beginnings.
Crossing: We thought God was useless. But God has raised Jesus from the dead. Our end is no longer THE end. Now we have resurrection.
Step 5: Advanced Prognosis (Internal Solution): Trusting the One Lord of all, for all
Grounding: Dread and fear of the end are replace with trust in Jesus and his promise of new life. There will be distress on the earth, people fainting from bear and foreboding. But in the midst of what happens, the signs in the sun and stars are not the final word controlling his hearers’ hearts. Jesus is their word and he controls their hearts with his peace.
Crossing: Our legs may still be shaking, but we can now stand before the Son of Man. We are given faith in Jesus so that who we are and our whole being are safe in Jesus. In him we do not end, but we are given life forever. We do matter. God does notice and care. We look to Jesus for life, not at stones or temples or health.
Step 6: Final Prognosis (External Solution): It’s Not Over
Grounding: The “end” Jesus talked about has already happened, as he said, “This generation will not pass away until all things have taken place” (v. 32). Jesus was crucified. The temple was destroyed. The new place for God being with us is in Jesus. He is to be admired more than beautiful stones (21:5).
Crossing: A pregnant woman’s fetus dies in her uterus after five months of pregnancy. The end has happened. Dreams and hopes have ended. Do we respond with fear and drunkenness, blaming God for what happened, as if all God is good for is to make good things happen in our lives? Is that what God is for? The end is terrible. In the midst of the grief, Jesus is risen to keep mercy and peace with God in our lives. This death will end in life. Our lives with God have not ended. Jesus is still risen. God is good for comfort, for mercy, for forgiveness, for eternal life, for peace, for hope. God has not promised those who trust Jesus that their life will be wonderful and free of pain or grief. We do expect that of God. Our faith is shaken when the good things we want and plan for and hope for and work for get interrupted and come to an end. They can become our religion. They can become all we hope for, all we wanted. When they end, we feel that everything good about life has ended. What good is our life without what we hoped for? Our lives are in Christ. We end in him. We live in him when we grieve. We live in him amid all the hard times. He is our strength to escape despair and hopelessness. In Jesus, he is our world and he who is risen does not come to an end.
