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“Extrapolation or Anticipation?”

Sermon by Dr. Greg Knox Jones
on Luke 21:5-19
given November 18, 2007

At his 70th birthday party, the great comedian Groucho Marx was asked, “Groucho, how would you like to be thought of a hundred years from now?” And without skipping a beat, he quipped, “As a man in remarkably good condition for someone that old.”

We chuckle at his comment because we know that none of us will be around at the age of one-hundred seventy, much less in good condition. Every human life is a fleeting breath, a flickering candle that goes out all too soon.1 And not only do human beings not live forever, nothing we create lasts forever. One of the gnawing anxieties of life is that every person and every thing is in a state of perpetual perishing. This is the point Jesus drives home to the disciples in the opening words of this morning’s passage.

For most of his ministry, Jesus traveled the Galilean countryside teaching and healing, comforting and inspiring. However, there came a day when Jesus had to leave the rural towns and villages behind and go to Jerusalem. He was compelled by God’s Spirit to march into the Holy City and confront the religious authorities who had corrupted the faith.

Today’s passage falls in the final week in the life of Jesus. He has been delivering his last teachings in the temple in Jerusalem, when he hears some of his followers raving over the impressive nature of the temple itself. You really can’t blame these country boys for being awestruck by the enormous edifice and its mammoth stones. In a world where everything passes away, the temple appeared so permanent. It towered over everything else and its solid structure created the feeling that it could resist the erosion of time.

However, Jesus burst their illusion, saying that the day was coming when this mighty building would end up as a heap of rubble. And it’s likely that some of those who heard the words of Jesus lived long enough to see his words come true. In the year 70, following a Jewish revolt, the Romans descended upon Jerusalem and destroyed the temple. Go there today and all you will find remaining is the Wailing Wall.

When Jesus predicted this coming catastrophe, his disciples assumed that he was talking about the apocalypse. By the time of the first century, 200 years of apocalyptic teachings had woven their way into Jewish thinking. Many anticipated a great cosmic battle between good and evil that would bring human history to its climax as God defeated evil once and for all.

During the lifetime of Jesus, apocalyptic teaching was widespread because living conditions for the Hebrew people had become so despicable under the Roman occupiers. The disciples may have believed that their generation would be the very last one, and so they asked Jesus to describe the signs that would announce the end was near.

Jesus responded by warning them to beware of doomsday deceivers2 who will claim that the end is at hand. He said there will be cosmic chaos in the form of wars, earthquakes, famines and plagues. Then, he told them they would be arrested and persecuted for believing in him, and some would even be put to death for their faith.

The first readers of Luke’s gospel, sometime between the years 80 and 85, had witnessed nearly all of these things. Both Romans and Jews were persecuting Christians, the temple was destroyed in 70 and Mount Vesuvius had its monumental eruption in 79. Many people believed that their world was surely coming apart and they wanted Jesus to verify that the end was near.

However, Jesus sought to shift their thinking away from apocalyptic thought to how they could deal with the trials and suffering of life whether or not it was the end. He confirmed that they would not escape suffering, but he called on them to be resolute and to be strong regardless of what they faced, because it was by their endurance that they would gain their souls.

Since we live in a world where freedom exists, and God does not control everything that happens, there is pain; there is suffering; there is injustice. But Christ encourages us to remain faithful despite setbacks, to endure despite hardships and to lean into the future, confident that God is not only with us, but continuously working to transform the present into a new day.

In our time, centuries after apocalyptic thought has slipped out of the mainstream, Christ’s words advise us how to live when darkness casts a pall over our lives. Whether we experience the death of a loved one or receive a dreadful diagnosis or become a victim of a crime; whether nations are at war or an AIDs epidemic wipes out millions or threats of environmental disaster loom over us, we are to live as people of hope, believing that good will ultimately triumph over evil.

German theologian Jurgen Moltmann was speaking at a conference in Pennsylvania and he was addressing how our view of the future makes such a powerful impact on our present. He wrote the word “extrapolation” on a chalkboard, and explained how extrapolation is one way of looking at the future. Social scientists, demographers, city planners and many others carefully study the present situation. They pour over statistics about population, aging, birthrates, economic growth and a mountain of other factors, and then they make a forecast of what is to come. That is extrapolation; looking at what is in order to predict what will be. This is one way of forecasting at the future and it is an important way because we need to plan wisely for tomorrow. However, extrapolation is not the only way of looking at the world.

Moltmann then wrote a second word on the chalkboard. He wrote the word “anticipation.” Anticipation is a different way of viewing the future, and it is a word that comes closer to the Christian understanding of hope. Anticipation is not limited to what we see and experience today. And it cannot be measured by statistical analysis because anticipation sees possibilities that do not now exist. The Christian faith says that the future is not only shaped by the way things are, but also by God’s vision of what it can become.3 Life can be unpredictable and painful, but we do not surrender to despair, because come what may, we know that our future includes grace and healing and transformation.

One morning a few years ago, a woman called to tell me that her father had undergone surgery and was in the hospital. She said it had all happened so quickly. On Monday the physician discovered his cancer and on Wednesday they operated on him. The surgeon removed a large, malignant tumor from his stomach and then informed the family that Mert would need to begin chemotherapy within two weeks. Nothing was withheld from Mert. The physician and his family spoke very frankly to him about his gloomy prognosis.

When I visited Mert, I thought he looked exceptionally well for a 72 year-old who had a tube running down his nose and an IV in his arm, less than 36 hours after surgery. Prior to walking into his room, I had prepared myself for a gloomy scene. Usually such dismal news creates a somber atmosphere that permeates the room.

However, as I entered Mert’s room, I was surprised to discover nothing of the kind. Every light in the room was on, and the blinds were open so that sunlight could stream into the room. He was reading a book, which he set aside, when I walked in. We exchanged greetings, he told me about his surgery and then he began to speak matter-of-factly about his cancer and the treatments that lay ahead. He was realistic about what he was facing, but there was an undeniably positive tone to his words.

In a few minutes he changed the conversation from his health to a couple of projects he was working on, and what he planned to do once he returned home from the hospital. At some point in the conversation, I asked him what he was reading when I arrived. He held up the book and said, “Oh, I’ve just started into the first couple of chapters of this.” The book he held up was Basic Conversational French.

Here was a 72 year-old who had just had a tumor removed and was facing a rough road ahead, and rather than pouring through stacks of material about his type of cancer and upcoming treatments, he thought he would see if he could learn to speak French. Despite the fact that his world seemed to be coming apart, he was determined not give into despair, but to remain positive and forward looking and hopeful.

How you view the future, your own personal destiny as well as the world’s, strongly influences your attitude toward life today. If you believe that this world is all there is, and we are simply left to our own devices, then there is little reason to expect a better tomorrow. But, if you believe that God is a God of transformation and new life, then you will discover the joy-filled, meaning-filled, hope-filled existence that God intends for you to live.

NOTES

1. 1. Thomas G. Long, “Making Friends,” at Columbia Theological Seminary, May 19, 2006.
   
2. Eugene Peterson’s translation of verse eight, in The Message (NavPress, 2002).
   
3. Barbara Lundblad, “Where Are the Midwives?” on Day One radio broadcast and website.

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Prayer Given by Anne Ledbetter:

God of goodness and grace, we turn in this season of Thanksgiving to the One from whom all blessings flow.
This autumn time we delight
in the rich palette of colors on the trees,
in football festivities,
and in warm apple cider on dark chilly nights.
And yes, we also grumble
over endless leaves to rake,
our team’s loss in 5 overtimes,
and rising heating bills.
At harvest time may we take stock of the abundance of blessings we enjoy each day.
We thank you, god, for friends and family, for art and music, for work and leisure, for homes and churches, schools and libraries, and for the intricacies and abilities and mysteries of our bodies which you have so beautifully designed.

In these November days, we hear reports of devastating fires in California, famine in Africa, of a killer cold or a new environmental disaster, of gun violence on our streets, of a war in Iraq gone awry, and with almost 12 months to go we hear all kinds of promises from presidential candidates.
Give us hearts attuned to your presence that we may also hear the everyday mercies of your grace: the call of the geese overhead, the laughter of children, a loved one’s profession of affection, your people’s anthems of praise echoing within these walls, your still small voice that whispers to us each day, “follow me.”

Living, Loving God, in a world often shadowed by darkness, give us your light and salvation.
When we falter and lose our way, guide us by your grace.
As we encounter tragedy and sink into despair, come to us, abide with us, and deliver us.
When we grow tired of striving for justice and we become cynical about this world, grant us a fresh vision of your realm of shalom and make us harbingers of hope.

Breathe your spirit in to your sometimes weak and weary children, that we may abide in your Word, live out your love for all people, and walk in the way of your Son, the Prince of Peace, who has taught us when we pray to say…