Nov. 24th, 2024 Only the Abba Knows Mark 13:32-37
I originally thought of titling this sermon “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Apocalyptic Eschatology,” but discarded that idea, for fear that there might be one or two who might not know what I was talking about. Actually, that is exactly what this sermon is about: “Apocalyptic Eschatology.” “Eschatology”-the study of the “last things,” and “Apocalyptic” - a revelation, unveiling, uncovering. The last book of the Bible, which we call “Revelation” is also titled “Apocalypse,” because that is its first word in Greek: “Apocalypse.”
YOU DON’T HEAR MUCH ABOUT THESE THINGS IN MAINLINE CHURCHES THESE DAYS. The reason, of course, is that the Book of Revelation has been the happy-hunting ground for all sorts of lunatic fringe movements from the first century until today. Decades into the atomic age it isn’t difficult to make a case for the imminence of doomsday. “We’re on the eve of destruction,” headlines a national Roman Catholic weekly in an issue devoted to that theme. Former Interior Secretary James Watt said that he wasn’t too much worried about saving the environment for future generations because he wasn’t at all sure how many future generations there would be “before the Lord comes.”
Mainline churches rarely speak about “last things.” Still, it seems odd to me that evangelists can write best-selling books about the imminent end of the world, and stash away their royalties in long-term securities!
I remember one of Charles Schulz’ cartoon strips in the “Peanuts” series. Peppermint Patty goes away to a summer camp, which happens to be operated by a fundamentalist religious group. There she hears that Jesus is coming soon...perhaps even tomorrow, or next week for sure. This old world is coming to an end, and you’d better get ready. Realizing that her father is probably not ready, she goes to the office to telephone him with the ominous news. But the phone is busy and she stands in line for her turn to place a call. While standing there, she notices a display on the wall, with architect’s drawings of the camp’s five-year plan for new buildings. So she gets out of line, walks away muttering, “The world may be coming to an end tomorrow, but I wasn’t born yesterday!”
Paul had problems with apocalyptic people in New Testament times, too. Some of the Christians in Thessalonica, for example, believed that Christ was going to come and wrap up everything any day now, and so they quit their jobs and sat around waiting for the day. So Paul had to write to them:
“We hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work.” (II Thess. 3:11) He also said: “If anyone will not work, let him not eat.” (II Thess. 3:10) Setting dates for the return of Christ has proven embarrassing over the centuries. Many have predicted, but no one
Today’s text clearly states “But of that day or that hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” (Mark 13:32) The fact that even Jesus did not know when the end would occur countered everything that first-century Jews would have expected of the Messiah.
As I said, in light of the fact that Jesus said that even He did not know, it has always seemed presumptuous to me for any of us to say that we do. Yet there are many apocalyptic preachers today who are all but selling tickets to the great Apocalyptic SuperBowl. It sells books! Evangelists seem to have grabbed onto the pessimistic predictions of scientists and others who proclaim that we are moving the minute hand ever closer to midnight on the Doomsday Clock.
Perhaps I wouldn’t mind these prophets of gloom and doom telling me that the world is going to hell in a handbasket quite so much, if they didn’t seem so doggone happy about it!
Jesus spoke Aramaic, the language of the common people, and Jesus’ favorite word for God was “Abba.” Abba was the term infants employed in addressing their male parent. Its more proper modern equivalent would be: “Daddy.” It was originally a babbling sound, far too immature and childlike to be used in prayer or theology. But Jesus so used it! To speak of God as Abba conveys the sense that God is no longer stern and distant, but close and loving. What is the “Abba” like?
Well, Jesus said: take a picture of the most perfect and loving parent you can possibly imagine, magnify it a million trillion times, project that out upon the universe and you will just begin to catch a glimpse of the hem of God’s garment. Jesus said that the Abba acts mercifully, even to those who hate Him (Luke 6:35-36). He listens to the prayers of all of His children, even if they lack eloquence or completely accurate theology. (Matthew 6-8) He cares for all of His creation, crowning even the lilies of the field with beauty. (Matt. 6:28-29) He notes even the sparrow’s fall. (Matt. 10:29) He surpasses any earthly parent in knowing the needs of His children and supplying them with good things whether they deserve them or not. (Luke 11:11-13) He is the Prodigal Parent, not only accepting home a child who has wasted his live in riotous living, but not even giving Him time to confess his sins before He is welcomed into a great banquet laid on especially for him! (Luke 11:11-32) That is what the “Abba” is like...what God is like. And that is what we must never forget. The Christ who comes is the same Christ who came. And His nature is Love. That will not change.
What, then, are we to do? We are to live in faith, and hope, and, above all, love. The earliest Christians thought that they were living in the last days. You know what? They were right! Only the last days lasted a lot longer than anyone ever expected! It is understandable that some Christians have grown impatient over the centuries, and have tried to speed things up a bit. I love what someone once said about the return of the Lord. “God did not put me on the Time & Place Committee; He put me on the Preparation Committee.”
Our job is not to speculate about times and seasons, but to make sure that we are living as God wants us to live - sisters and brothers to one another - here and now. Some folks are “so heavenly minded they are no earthly good.” But again and again, when somebody tried to focus Jesus’ attention away from earthly to heavenly things, He quickly recalled them back to earth: to the neighbor in need, the sick, the hungry, the poor, the imprisoned, the outcasts.
Martin Luther was once asked what he would do if he knew that the world was coming to an end tomorrow, and he said: “I would plant an apple tree.” In other words, Luther, trusting in God’s gracious, unmerited mercy would live life just as he had been living it. When John Wesley was asked the same thing, being an obsessive-compulsive type, he said that he would arise at 4:00 AM, preach at 5:00 visit the sick at 7:00, go to communion at 8:00...etc., until the questioner realized that that was exactly what Wesley had planned to do tomorrow anyway!
Because we believe that God is like Christ, we can dare to live in faith and hope and love now; trusting God for whatever the future holds, because we believe that God holds the future, and that God’s Name and God’s Nature are love.