Prop 28 C + Re-gaining our Souls + 11.13.22 (ACL+)
Malachi 4, 2
Thessalonians 3, Luke 21
St Paul’s, Ventura/ All Saints Oxnard
The Rev. Alene Campbell-Langdell
Jesus’
disciples asked him, “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign
that this [destruction] is about to take place?” (Luke 21:7). Yes, Jesus, please tell us! I’d like to get it on my calendar. Because if I just knew when the next disaster
was going to happen, I’d make sure to get my vacation in first! Ray Brown in his Introduction to the New
Testament proposes that this is what is happening with those idle believers
in 2nd Thessalonians. After
all, if there’s only a short time left before the end of the world, work seems
a bit useless.[1] Yet, instead of praising these Thessalonian
believers for their practicality, the letter writer recommends discipline. For his part, Jesus responds to the
disciples’ question with advice about how to live through bad times rather than
how to avoid them or even how to prepare for them.
The first
bit of advice Jesus gives for difficult times is not to follow those who claim
to have secret knowledge. Anyone
claiming to be the messiah or have end-time knowledge is to be ignored. I remember my first real experience of
this. I was probably 11 and a pamphlet
began circulating in my small town (this was pre wide-spread internet days for
any kids out there wondering why we were reading pamphlets!). This pamphlet claimed that the date of the
Jewish New Year coincided that year with some other happenings in the world or
the stars or the calendar; and therefore, Jesus was certainly going to come at
some point during those three days. My
parents, knowing this passage well, looked at each other calmly when I showed
them this evidence and stated, “Well, at least we know which days Jesus probably
won’t come.”
Do not get distracted by those
claiming to know the future. The second
bit of advice Jesus gives goes right alongside that, “Do not be terrified”
(Luke 21:9). In other words, don’t let
yourself become so overwhelmed by fear that you can’t think straight. Or that the fear itself causes you to do or
say things you may regret later. Bad
things will happen throughout history, but responding out of fear will not make
them better.
So, don’t follow those claiming to
have secret knowledge. Don’t allow
yourself to respond to situations out of fear.
And then Jesus adds one more “don’t” that may be the hardest of them
all. “Make up your minds not to prepare
your defense in advance” (Luke 21:14).
Don’t spend your precious time and energy planning what you might do if
this or that happens. Specifically,
Jesus says that his disciples are likely to get called into court, betrayed by
family and “hated by all,” but preparing an elaborate defense ahead of time is
not a good strategy. Instead, Jesus
promises that we will be given wisdom.
I used to read this passage and think
that Jesus was referring to a supernatural word of wisdom and perhaps that is
true in some cases, but the older I get, the more I think Jesus is talking
about something quite different.
Malachi spends a good portion of this
short book talking about “the day of the Lord.”
It is a day that will be felt as a refining fire burning away all the
impurities (Malachi 3:2-3). Today’s
passage comes as a specific response to a people who are tired of waiting. Malachi quotes them in chapter 3 as saying
that serving God is vain, it’s worthless, because they see that rebellious,
arrogant people are happy, evildoers prosper, and those who put God to the test
get off without any negative effects. In
response to this, Malachi proclaims, “Once more you shall see the difference
between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who
does not serve him” (3:18). It is here
that our passage today begins—with a heat that burns up arrogance (with
connotations of rebellion in Hebrew) and evil, but with an interesting
twist. For this same heat is also pictured
as a winged sun providing healing and protection.
Jesus tells us that the result of
being persecuted will be an opportunity to testify. Again, it is easy to think of that testifying
as boldly proclaiming about Jesus. But
the Greek word here is the same as that translated in Acts 7:44 as “Our
ancestors had the tent of testimony in the wilderness…” This tent was the place where God’s presence
was seen and recognized. What if Jesus
is saying that disasters and crises are the very places in our lives where we
have the opportunity to be a sign of God’s presence in the world? These are the moments where the fire can both
purify and heal, but we have to be willing to stay put.
And here’s where Jesus’ message is
too often taken in some really unhelpful ways.
At the end of today’s passage, we hear Jesus saying, “By your endurance
you will gain your souls” (Luke 21:19).
Too often this is heard as a glorification of the suffering itself or
simply a promise of eternal life. But
what if this is Jesus’ instruction about how to turn the burning into healing? What if Jesus is saying that it is literally
the “patient endurance” as this is sometimes translated that will turn the
burning into healing? It is not Jesus’
crucifixion that is holy and a sign of God’s presence. It is Jesus’ willingness to go through that
experience into the resurrection that brings healing. And for us, it is much the same. The Greek word for ‘souls’ here is psuche,
which can also mean life or breath.
By your patient endurance you will gain your breath. If you stop running around so worried about
what might happen, you might literally find that you can breathe again. And in that deep, cleansing breath, you might
catch a glimpse of beauty, a glimpse of God’s ongoing creative presence
sustaining the world. By your patient
endurance, you will gain your life. You
will actually live your life. In another
famous passage from Mark, Jesus asks his listeners what it will profit them “to
gain the whole world and forfeit their life” (8:36). In that space of waiting and endurance, we
may discover what it is that we truly value and what is really important. In that breath, in that re-evaluation, you
will find what it means to truly live.
You will discover God’s presence and become a sign of that presence in
the world. And rather than being
destroyed, you will find that the heat has brought healing, within and
without.
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