Knowing the End
Text: Luke 21:5-36
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
For several years, whenever I would fly I would bring a very thin book with me. It was a book of philosophy; and not just any philosophy, but Stoic philosophy. I brought it because if we’ve learned anything collectively as a mobile society, it’s that air travel can be frustrating. Flight delays, cancelations, inconsiderate people, and a massive industry that’s simply too large to give attention to individual travelers all mix together to make a less-than-pleasant experience on a bad day. But Stoic philosophy, I discovered, helped make the worst of it seem bearable. The ancient Stoics taught that while there are countless things that you can’t control, a very important thing you can control is your reaction to something. You suffer because of your reaction to things. If you simply take a step back, think dispassionately about the situation, and guard your reactions—not getting swept away by the moment or give in to an immediate rush of panic or anger or sudden emotion, you’ll be more settled and happier. And, for the most part, it worked for me.
But this type of approach is difficult to embrace regularly. There are several reasons why this is so, but a big part of it is that we live in a world that encourages exactly the opposite. Everyone is pushed—by social media that thrives on instant reactions, by a news industry that has to keep the dopamine hits coming, notifications that demand attention now, cultural “conversation” that’s little more than screaming at each other about the latest perceived grievance—everyone is driven to embrace outrage, panic, fear and fear mongering, and sensationalism at such new heights that it feels like a new word is needed to describe it. In short, we’re told that we should be swept away by each and every passing wave of emotion and reaction.
This has been, and always will be, the way of the world though. The world will always make its demand for now. It will always rush, always push and pull, always go for the quickest, least thought out, and most dramatic reaction. Why? Because now is all that the world knows. It’s all that the world has. It has no guarantee for the future, so it must try its utmost to lock in the future by straightjacketing the now. It tries to control fate by controlling the moment at hand. This is why history is littered with false messiahs and movements that promised heaven on earth—because for the world, heaven is never a guarantee, so it must be grasped here and now, on earth. But each and every one of those has failed. Jesus warned His faithful: “See that you are not led astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and ‘The time is at hand!’ Do not go after them.” It makes sense to our fallen minds to panic, to desperately grasp for something, someone, anyone to save us, especially when we’re faced with a cosmos that’s being unraveled by chaos and evil. “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake.”
But instead of gripping the momentary flashes that the world says we must, rather, pay close attention to how our Lord tells us to react. For we are not of the world, which has no future guarantees. Even its most powerful have to act and think as if they could lose everything the very next day, because the reality is that they could and then they would have nothing at all. But we—those who have been granted faith by the Holy Spirit, who have heard the truth of past, present, and future contained in God’s Word, we know that the end of the story has already been written, and that Jesus has secured our place in it. Jesus tells us that in the midst of upheaval and worldly panic, “This will be your opportunity to bear witness. Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict…And when you hear of wars and tumults, do not be terrified, for these things must first take place, but the end will not be at once.”
As we approach the end of the Church year, we’re forced to face the fact that we’re continually moving closer to the end of time itself. And if there’s one thing we know from Scripture, it’s that things will get worse in this old creation before they’re suddenly and eternally made better with Christ’s return and re-creation of all things. So it should be no surprise to us that throughout history, when people have watched the worst tragedies, disasters, and calamitous eras, they’ve declared that the end is near. And in one sense, they are right, because every day does bring us closer to it. But Jesus tells us, His Church, that the way we react to this reality is key. It’s key because our reactions to these things tell others what we believe about the end.
If we panic and rage and hiss and wring our hands over everything that happens as a result of this corrupted world unwinding, how are we any different from those who believe that this is all there is, that there’s nothing good waiting at the end of the story? If we lash out at every electronic outrage and digital red cape waved in front of the social media bulls, how is that any different from those who are afraid that their side could lose? But if we do as our Lord has said—and as He Himself has done—then we make the most of the moment. We seize our opportunity to bear witness to Him and all that He’s done. We look up from the mess that’s happening and do exactly what Jesus says, “Straighten up and raise your heads, because your salvation is drawing near.”
For this is exactly what Jesus did. In His passion and crucifixion, there was a great earthquake, ripping the curtain of the temple in two and tearing open the graves of many holy people. The sun was darkened in a great sign from heaven. But before all of that He was dragged before a king and a governor, He was delivered up to the Sanhedrin. At His death there was the distress of the nations—Jews from all around the world there for the Passover, along with Romans and other Gentiles—all in perplexity at what was happening because of this man’s death on the cross. And what was our Lord’s reaction to all of this? Not anger or fear or seeking anything to be grasped. Instead it was, “You would have no authority over me unless it had been given to you from above.” “Father, forgive them.” “It is finished.”
When we follow in our Lord’s footsteps in this calm, collected, and even confident way, it shows that we know what the end of the story is. We know that in His calm, collected, and confident sacrificial death, Jesus already faced these things—the unraveling of creation, the corrosion of sin, the pains of living in a fallen corrupted world—He faced these things and defeated them. It’s already a done deal, set in stone. We know that He won and that through Baptism, through faith, He’s brought us into His victory. We know what waits on the other side of all of it—on the other side of suffering, the other side of death, the other side of the end of all things: it’s resurrection and never-ending life. It’s a new, perfected heaven and earth.
That’s the reaction of faith—peace that passes all understanding. Notice that it’s not mere inaction or detachment, though. No, Jesus does tell us, “Watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap…But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and stand before the Son of Man.” Watch, pray, serve those that the Lord has placed around you in love, forgive, be forgiven, go to the places where He strengthens your faith so that you can stand in confidence of His victory. But above all things, trust in your Lord’s victory, to be revealed at the end. In the name of Jesus, who is coming again. Amen.
