THE WORD 4 ev 1

Today's reading is Luke 13 (click for link to the text)

There is a story that is told about a little Georgia country church about a certain Sunday night in October 1938. Evening prayer services were in full swing when a man named Sam, a member of the congregation who lived down the road from the church, charged into the prayer meeting trembling with fear and excitement. Finally gaining the breath to speak, he shouted, "Martians are attacking the earth in spaceships! Some of ‘em have already landed in New Jersey!" The preacher halted in mid-sentence; the congregation stared at Sam blankly. "I s-s-swear," he stammered, now a little unsure of his footing. "I h-h-heard it on the radio."

What Sam had heard, of course, was Orson Welles’s now infamous Mercury Theater radio production of War of the Worlds, but no one in the congregation was aware of that at the moment. For all they knew, the world outside was coming to a flaming end. The little flock looked apprehensively at the preacher, but he was mute and indecisive, never having had a sermon disrupted by interplanetary invasion. Finally one of the oldest members of the congregation, a red-clay farmer of modest education, stood up, gripped the pew in front of him with his large, callused hands, and said, "I expeck what Sam says ain’t completely true, but if it is true, we’re in the right place here in church. Let’s go on with the meetin’." And so they did.

Spaceships landing in New Jersey? Signs of the end of the world? The old farmer sized it all up, measured it against his rough-hewn view of God and God’s will and decided it was probably a better idea to be in church praising God than gathering guns and ammunition and preparing for war with intergalactic intruders.

According to Jesus, most of us are not nearly as astute as this farmer at reading the signs of the times, at distinguishing what matters and what doesn’t, at discerning what is truly happening in God’s world. Indeed, Jesus says that most of us are far better at meteorology than theology. "You hypocrites!" Jesus thunders. "You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?"

Jesus is talking, of course, about “God’s time,” the breaking-in of God’s reign like a thief in the night, plundering and destroying the old order. "Watch for it" Jesus says. "Be on the alert. Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit."

It will never be what we expect. In fact, the more we think we can foresee it, the farther we are from the truth. I remember many people during the last presidential elections making the claim that Obama’s win meant that God must be giving us some sign as a nation, punishing us for our immorality. Others claimed that he was the anti-Christ and that this was sign of the times. But how would Jesus have responded to such wild claims?

"You haven’t a clue," Jesus said, "about how to interpret the present time." No sooner had Jesus issued this challenge than some in the crowd stepped forward. "Don’t say we cannot read the times. How about that terrible incident in the temple, the one where Pilate’s police slaughtered some innocent worshipers from Galilee?"

"No," Jesus responded, "it isn’t a sign. And don’t bother bringing up the tragic case where the tower of Siloam collapsed, killing 18 people," he added. "That is not the kind of sign I mean either."

What is the sign of God’s will being done on earth as it is in heaven? Well, we are told that we must watch closely and faithfully, or we will miss it. To give us a hint, Jesus tells a parable about an orchard owner who was frustrated by a barren fig tree and ordered the gardener to cut the tree down. "Sir," pleads the gardener, "let’s nurture it, care for it and give it one more year."

That’s it! That is the sign of the times, the clue to the breaking in of God’s reign; the gracious and patient hand that reaches out to halt the ax, the merciful gesture woven into the fabric of life that attempts to stop all that would give up on the barren and the broken, the merciful voice that says, "Let’s give this hopeless case one more year.” “Let’s reach out to our changing community even if it is racially or ethnically different than us.” “Let’s forgive our brother or neighbor or employer for the wrongs they have committed against us rather than holding a grudge against them for life.” “Let’s not give up on the power of God’s love and mercy.”

"Even now," cried John the Baptist, "the ax is lying at the root of the trees." But Jesus said, "The Spirit of the Lord has sent me to bring good news to the poor and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. Let’s give this one more year. Yes evil will come and will go, and will come again and will go… but our Lord calls us to look beyond, over the horizon and see that God is very much in control, and in light of that certainty, to know that we are called to be light in the darkness, to point the world to that which lies just beyond the vale—and that vale is about to be lifted, any moment now.

Peace to you today as you bring that certainty to an uncertain world,
Pastor Aaron