Mark 13:5-8, CEB - Jesus said, “Watch out that no one deceives you. Many people will come in my name, saying, ‘I’m the one!’ They will deceive many people. When you hear of wars and reports of wars, don’t be alarmed. These things must happen, but this isn’t the end yet. Nations and kingdoms will fight against each other, and there will be earthquakes and famines in all sorts of places. These things are just the beginning of the sufferings associated with the end.
As we
make our way through Mark’s “Little Apocalypse” (Mark 13), we hear Jesus, speaking
a couple of days before His crucifixion, trying to prepare His disciples for
the things that are to come. By the time
Mark writes his gospel and people begin to read it, many of the events Jesus
warned them about have already happened.
More than a couple of “self-proclaimed saviors” after Jesus have come
and gone, creating disillusionment in their wake. Earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, fires, and
other natural disasters have occurred. Revolts
have been mounted against the Roman Empire and crushed. The Temple has been destroyed with “not even
one stone . . . left upon another.” Jesus warns there will be even more
calamity.
Two
centuries later, the calamities just keep coming. Depending on how you count, there have been at
least 250 wars since Jesus’s crucifixion with countless more “rumors of war.” Hundreds of would-be saviors have taken
leadership with boundless hope with varying degrees of success, but none have
been “the one.” The natural disasters
seem to overlap each other in our day.
The word of Jesus still remains.
More suffering will come before the end.
The first piece of instruction Jesus gives for such times is to keep watch.
Jesus elaborates
on what He means by this later in Mark 13, but for now we know it involves at
least two things. First, don’t be deceived
by those who claim to have all the answers or solutions to the challenges we
face. We already a Savior and His name
is Jesus. The more we invest in our
relationship with Jesus, the more likely we are to recognize Him in the Second
Coming. Many missed the opportunity to
embrace and submit to Jesus’s lordship while he walked the earth. Many more will miss His re-emergence because
they do not know who for whom they are looking.
Second,
suffering will never have the last word.
If you see or are experiencing suffering, know that redemption and
deliverance will come. Keep watching for it. Keep expecting it. This is counterintuitive because, when we
suffer, we tend to focus on the fact that we are suffering. But suffering is but the preamble to deliverance
and redemption. The worst thing is never
the last thing because the last thing is redemption. Watching for that is our job in the midst of
calamity.
This is
not a new instruction. Psalm 121 is the
ancient recitation of this focus on redemption when redemption seems far
away. We will end today’s reflection
with Eugene Peterson’s translation of this Hebrew wisdom:
I look up to the mountains;
does my strength
come from mountains?
No, my strength comes from God,
who made heaven,
and earth, and mountains.
He won’t let you stumble,
your Guardian God
won’t fall asleep.
Not on your life! Israel’s
Guardian will
never doze or sleep.
God’s your Guardian,
right at your side
to protect you—
Shielding you from sunstroke,
sheltering you
from moonstroke.
God guards you from every evil,
he guards your
very life.
He guards you when you leave and when you return,
he guards you now,
he guards you always.
Question: What are
your typical thought patterns when going through a tough time?
Prayer: Pray through
the Psalm above, inserting your own thoughts and cries to God as the scripture
prompts you.
Prayer Focus: Pray
for people who are waiting for news or developments about a big issue (health,
job, family member, etc).
Song: Psalm 121 – Kristyn
Getty, Jordan Kauflin, Matt Merker
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