Not Details But Faithfulness
Malachi 4:1-2a; 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13; Luke 21:5-19
Did you ever have a teacher who gave "pop" quizzes? I have. What that practice did for me and the other students in the class was to keep us on our toes. We had to study all the time, because we never knew when the quiz would be. Sometimes I actually looked forward to those tests -- when I was well prepared. And sometimes I dreaded them -- if I had been too busy to study. But when the big test came in that class, it sure made things easier. We didn't have to "cram," because we had been studying all along.
We meet Jesus today making a general prediction about the end of an age -- the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. It might be like Franklin Roosevelt, let's say, in 1934, making a general prediction about the 2001 destruction of the World Trade Centers. And no details are provided about how or when this would happen. And so of course the people who hear this want to know when this is going to happen, and what the warning signs will be, so presumably, they can prepare themselves. In Scripture, these kinds of predictions are part of that type of literature we call "apocalyptic." In apocalyptic literature, predictions of destruction like this were associated with end times, or at least the end of an age. And I'm sure you've heard or read, as I have, about people claiming the same thing about the challenging days of the beginning of this century. The horror, three years ago, of September 11 and the ongoing threat of terrorism, the anguish in the Middle East, the War in Iraq, the nuclear threat, hurricanes, famines, and more suggest to many that the end of the world is near. Today our lessons offer us some direction about how to respond to those claims.
Jesus responds by cautioning the people not to get bogged down by the details. These times will not be without struggle. What is necessary is to live out your faith. Don't be idle, St. Paul cautions in our second lesson. If Jesus were using this way of thinking to offer advice to students about how to take tests or pop quizzes, he might say, "Don't worry about when the quiz is going to be, or about who is going to give it, or about what color paper it will be printed on, or what size font it will be printed with. Don't waste your time on those kinds of details. Just study, like you're supposed to. Every day. And you'll be ready when the time comes." What's most important is not the details, as Jesus tells us today. What's important is that we be faithful.
So what does that faithfulness look like? If you pick up your Lutheran Book of Worship and turn to the top of p. 201 you'll get an idea of what it looks like. This is part of the rite of Affirmation of Baptism. We use this rite when we receive new members, when we restore others to membership, and when we confirm. Our eighth grade confirmation class was looking at this last Tuesday to get an idea of what it is they will be committing themselves to should they decide to affirm their baptism next May. What we have here is almost a checklist by which we can take a spiritual inventory, both of ourselves and our congregation. It's a list we can use as a "study guide" to see if we're covering all the points so we'll be ready for the "pop quiz" when it comes. As you see, it includes these commitments:
How did you do? How did we do? Your church should support, encourage, and energize you to live out this faith. In effect, this is yet another way to describe, on this Commitment Sunday, what stewardship is. Stewardship is much the same as these commitments that come out of the covenant God makes with us in Holy Baptism. Stewardship is our response to God. You've heard that expression, I'm sure: "What you are is God's gift to you; what you make of yourself is your gift to God." Stewardship is about giving the first fruits of our labor back to God. Our stewardship is what we do with what God has first given us. Our stewardship is the fruit of our faithfulness. And of course that is about so much more than our time, our talent, and our treasure. Stewardship is about our whole being -- our attitude -- our posture toward life and toward the world. And how we use our time, our talent, and our treasure are signs of our faithfulness. So our commitment cards and what they represent, and the praywer shawls and what they represent, are signs today of our faithfulness.
Committing ourselves to these things we list in the rite of Affirmation of Baptism is how we "study" for the big test -- or the judgment -- that comes at the end of life. It's how we prepare for the pop quizzes that can come at any time. Doing these things is how we structure our lives to receive God's grace and mercy. It's how we organize ourselves to proclaim and extend that grace and mercy to others.
I stopped in a bakery in downtown Plymouth yesterday morning. I overheard a conversation about a radio station that is playing Christmas carols all the time. I'll be the first to say it's way too early for Christmas carols but part of our first lesson happens to be the basis for one stanza of a very familiar Christmas carol. If I read the words I wonder if you can figure out which carol it is. "For you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings." Do you recognize those turns of phrase? Charles Wesley used them as the basis of the third stanza for his carol, "Hark the Herald Angels Sing." In the carol, the phrase goes "Hail the heav'n born prince of peace, hail the sun of righteousness. Light and life to all he brings, ris'n with healing in his wings." What Malachi tells us with these words is that whatever judgment occurs on the Day of the Lord -- whenever and how ever it happens -- those who revere God will experience that day not as something to fear, but as a day of rejoicing in their salvation and renewal. The point is that for those who study every day, judgment -- the tests or the quizzes that come our way -- may actually be healing. Sometimes we get some help studying for that final test. In fact, we get to take a pre-test. Whenever we gather around the Lord's Table for Holy Communion we experience a foretaste of that feast to come. We get to taste the salvation and healing that is ours as we revere God, and as we practice being faithful together. Today, especially on this Commitment Sunday, we concern ourselves not with the details of signs of the end times. Rather, we concern ourselves with being a sign -- a fruitful, committed sign of the life of faith.
Pastor Dana Runestad
Twenty-fourth Sunday After Pentecost [Pr. 28]
14 November, 2004
Holy Cross Lutheran Church
Livonia, Michigan
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