The Next Eclipse
Mark 13:24-37
How many of you remember the Big Solar Eclipse of 2017? For months leading up to August 21, we were told about what would happen when “the sun would be darkened.” Depending on whether or not you stood to profit from the event, the predictions were a little bit scary.
We were told that if we looked directly at the sun we were risking permanent damage to our retinas. So, we all bought special commemorative eclipse glasses. Every person had a pair, because the actual total eclipse was only about 2 minutes long, and you didn't want to miss any of it by passing around a single pair. And since we were in the line for the total eclipse, we got to actually see the sun be darkened.
We were told that we would be overrun by tourists. These tourists would need more rooms, more food, more bathrooms than our town could provide. Some prepared for this onslaught by stocking up on food. Others made plans to make a profit by setting up food stands, and printing up commemorative t-shirts, and having other branded items to sell. Some set up official viewing areas which included the necessary amenities of port-a-potties so that the tourists would receive hospitable care.
We were even told that there might be so many people in town leading up to the eclipse that we wouldn’t be able to get to the church on Sunday morning, a full day and half before the event. It was enough of a concern that, when I got to the church that morning, I sent out a mass email and posted on Facebook that there wasn’t any problem with traffic or parking. I usually only need to do something like that when there has been a snow storm which might have made the roads treacherous to travel!
When the solar eclipse was over for us locally, I watched some of the live coverage on one of the national news networks. As the eclipse moved across the country, the reaction was the same. People were so excited, ecstatic, and even euphoric over having experienced the momentary darkness of an eclipse.
I don't know about you, but I confess I was not all that impressed with the eclipse. Oh, I found the math and science that predicted the timing and path of the eclipse impressive, but the event itself felt like a big build-up with very little pay-off. And yet, because it was predictable, I found it all rather comforting.
It kind of reminded me of an interview that was done before the Super Bowl several years ago. A player was asked what it would be like to play in the ultimate game. The player replied, “If this is the ultimate game, then why are they going to play it again next year?” The player's response didn't mean he thought the game wasn't a big deal. It just meant that he was able to keep it in the right perspective.
Having the right perspective is important. The eclipse, the sun being darkened, has happened regularly and predictably many times before. I am old enough to have experienced previous partial eclipses and reports of total eclipses in other places. So, while an eclipse is a rare event, it is something which happens again and again and again. There are written records of eclipses dating back more than 4000 years ago, and the timeline always fits the math and science. We need to keep our perspective on it.
We need a reminder of this perspective as we enter into the Season of Advent. Advent is the season in the church year which expresses the hope and expectation for the comings of Christ, with the message that as Christ is in our beginning so is Christ in our end. During Advent, we give thanks for the gift of Jesus and look with anticipation for the completion that comes only through Christ.
Listen to the word of God again: “But in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory. Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.”
If all we had were these words, we might find them kind of scary. The expression, “the Son of Man coming in clouds,” is from the Old Testament Book of Daniel. It comes from a passage about the coming terrible judgment of God on those who are unfaithful. And if you are already afraid of God, which can happen when you don’t have a relationship with God, then these words can be downright terrifying.
For almost as long as our congregation has been in Boonville, many have heard these words with fear and trembling. The fear comes because,almost 200 years ago, some Biblical scholars studied this passage and identified what they called“the four dooms.” They are: one, the sun will be darkened; two, the moon will not give its light; three, the stars will fall; and four, the powers of heaven will be shaken. The four dooms come after there is a time of suffering. The four dooms are signs of a coming terrible judgment upon the earth.
These same Biblical scholars then pointed out that there are two promises: one, the Son of Man will come in the clouds with great power and glory; and two, the elect will be gathered in – and rest will be left behind. The emphatic message in these words was that in the current time of suffering we need to get right with God. We look at all the sins of the world, which is the causeof our suffering, and we know that we must repent for the end of the world is near.
This powerful interpretation led to a revival across our country. This interpretation, however, requires correctly identifying the current time of struggle as the doomed time of struggle. This is partly why there have been several dooms day cults arise over the last two centuries, with their predictions of the world coming to an end on specific dates.
This interpretation also requires forgetting the message of the angel who proclaimed the first coming of Christ in Bethlehem. We read at Luke 2, beginning at verse 10, “But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.”
This interpretation also requires forgetting the words of Jesus at his second coming, on Easter morning and following, when he tells Mary and the disciples to not be afraid for he is risen from the dead. I suspect that calling Easter “the second coming of Jesus” may sound odd to some of you, so let me explain.
When I was still a child, a retired Methodist preacher filling in one Sunday at my home church said he thought we were wrong about the Second Coming of Christ. In his estimation, a Christian should think of Christmas as the first coming of Christ, Easter as the second coming, and when we accepted Jesus as our Savior as the third coming. If we want to talk about the completion of God’s will in history, at the end of time, we can call that the fourth coming. Without the second and third comings, without the crucifixion, death, and resurrection, and our receiving Jesus as our Lord and savior, then the last coming of Christ would be a very scary thing indeed.
When Jesus said these words in our reading, there hadn’t been a second coming yet. In fact, this was what he was preparing his disciples for. He was telling them that there will be suffering when he is arrested, tried, and crucified. After his crucifixion, the sun will be darkened. And on Easter morning, the Son of Man will come again with great power and glory.
This is how this passage was interpreted in the church for the first 1800 years. In these words, instead of doom, Jesus tells us that there are consequences for our sins, which will lead to his death, which will be the atonement for our sins. And after the atonement, Christ comes again with the victory – the glory and power – of Easter.
Jesus then told his disciples that this suffering, darkness, and light, is notthe end of the story. He does this by the sign of the fig tree. This would have been a common sign for that time and region, even if it doesn’t mean that much to us today. The main idea is that we know how to look for some things, which point to other things which will follow. Jesus has told us that when there is suffering, and the dark times come, that these are the signs which point to our need to look for Jesus.
Interestingly, the sign Jesus used as an example is a sign that comes around again and again. We don’t get eternal spring just because the fig leaf has sprouted. We have our season of spring, but the other seasons still follow. We can look for Jesus, and not just that first time we ask him into our hearts. We can look for Jesus whenever we experience suffering and darkness. We can look for his coming with hope because he has promised to come to us in power and glory.
In the same way, we don’t get unending darkness when things start to go bad for us, because Jesus has promised that he will come. In the same way, we don’t get unending happiness when things start to go good for us, because Jesus has not yet come for the final time at the completion of history. As that retired minister claimed all those years ago, Christ doesn’t come just once. Christ comes in Christmas, and in Easter, and in our hearts, and in our world. And Jesus keeps coming to us, even when there is suffering and darkness. Jesus keeps coming to usbecause God’s love for us is gracious, steadfast, and sure.
As I was praying with this passage this week, it was on my heart that while this is good news, it is not all the good news that Jesus intends for us in this passage. There is more here than Christ is returning at the completion of God’s will and history. There is more here than we are to look for Christ when there is suffering and darkness. There is more here than Jesus preparing his disciples for his coming crucifixion and resurrection.
To hear this “something more,” we have to put ourselves into the mind and world of those original disciples. They didn’t understand time and cosmology the way we do. And when we remember this, a familiar promise of God is revealed again.
When we read Genesis 1, we find their understanding of time and creation. It is out of the darkness that there comes light. In the time-keeping of the Jews, a new day begins at sunset – when the darkness comes. There is no new day until the darkness comes.
In Genesis 9, God promises that, with the new creation which comes through the Great Flood, God will not destroy the world again. God is still working to bring God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven, but it won’t come through destruction. That new day will come like the light coming out of the darkness.
And in Genesis 32, the Chosen People of God are named “Israel,” which means, “those who struggle with God.” That name carries a dual understanding of struggling. They struggle with God as how to live as God intended from the beginning. And when they struggle in life, God is with them.
When we hold these things together, Jesus says that after the struggling – after the struggling with God, with each other, and even with ourselves – there will be darkness. And this darkness goes beyond the normal rhythm of the next day, and the next day, and the next day. This darkness marks the end of the previous day, and the beginning of a new day with God.
After the struggling, it is God who darkens the sun. It is God who keeps the moon from shining. It is God who takes hold of the creation, grabbing it by the welkins or the dome of the sky. And it is God who shakes it until even the stars falls away. There must be total darkness because God is making a totally new day without destroying the world. And this day comes when Jesus has won the victory over sin and death.
With this victory, Jesus comes into our world, and into our hearts, as the Light of the World. His light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it. A new day has begun, the Day of the Lord is declared, and Jesus is the light that shines in the darkness of sin and death.
Like the sign of the fig leaf, there will still be changing seasons. We will still, predictably, experience the occasional eclipse in our lives. But like an eclipse, the darkness has its moment, and then it passes, because God’s love revealed in Jesus Christ is gracious, steadfast, and sure.
When you experience suffering and darkness, look for Jesus to come to you again. This is the promise and hope of Advent, that Jesus still comes to us so that we may walk in the light.
UMH 206 “I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light”