ABOUT THAT DAY (1 OF 49)
Scripture: Mark 13:24-37
This content is part of a series.
About That Day (1 of 49)
Series: Lectionary, Year B
Christopher B. Harbin
Mark 13:24-37
A year ago, we began hearing of a novel corona-virus and its associated disease, Covid19. We did not know what to make of it, but we knew it was harming people in some far off region in China. We heard jokes about licking doorknobs in Wuhan with little sense of our lives being impacted by a pandemic not seen since the influenza strain of 1918-1919. Then the virus became a reality we needed to address locally. I fielded questions about when the pandemic would end, when we would have effective treatments, when we would have a vaccine, about when life would go back to normal. We looked forward to a coming day when the threat would disappear and we could set aside its uncertainties. We are closer to that long-awaited day, but we are not there yet. How do we keep on, not knowing how and when things will turn or what they will look like?
Today's passage from Mark's gospel is not my favorite. I'd as soon ignore it as preach on it, yet it needs our attention simply because there is so much noise out there about this passage over so much fear and uncertainty. It seems to be the say of the world that those things on which the Bible is less clear get much more attention than those things on which the Bible is very clear. We like to think that we have special, hidden knowledge. We like to think that our preacher or teacher has been able to uncover the hidden meaning to unlock the secrets that Jesus claimed were beyond our reach.
If that is what you are expecting, I have news for you. Mark was not sure what he was writing about. Trying to unravel what someone is saying when they are confused on a few key points, is kind of like making sense of a stranger's two year-old-child or a patient with dementia. We need context these words alone can't provide. Mark is reporting second-hand Jesus' words filtered through Peter's preaching prior to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. If ...
Series: Lectionary, Year B
Christopher B. Harbin
Mark 13:24-37
A year ago, we began hearing of a novel corona-virus and its associated disease, Covid19. We did not know what to make of it, but we knew it was harming people in some far off region in China. We heard jokes about licking doorknobs in Wuhan with little sense of our lives being impacted by a pandemic not seen since the influenza strain of 1918-1919. Then the virus became a reality we needed to address locally. I fielded questions about when the pandemic would end, when we would have effective treatments, when we would have a vaccine, about when life would go back to normal. We looked forward to a coming day when the threat would disappear and we could set aside its uncertainties. We are closer to that long-awaited day, but we are not there yet. How do we keep on, not knowing how and when things will turn or what they will look like?
Today's passage from Mark's gospel is not my favorite. I'd as soon ignore it as preach on it, yet it needs our attention simply because there is so much noise out there about this passage over so much fear and uncertainty. It seems to be the say of the world that those things on which the Bible is less clear get much more attention than those things on which the Bible is very clear. We like to think that we have special, hidden knowledge. We like to think that our preacher or teacher has been able to uncover the hidden meaning to unlock the secrets that Jesus claimed were beyond our reach.
If that is what you are expecting, I have news for you. Mark was not sure what he was writing about. Trying to unravel what someone is saying when they are confused on a few key points, is kind of like making sense of a stranger's two year-old-child or a patient with dementia. We need context these words alone can't provide. Mark is reporting second-hand Jesus' words filtered through Peter's preaching prior to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. If ...
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