Sermon: November 17, 2024
Reading: Mark 13:1-8
In the Gospel passage, Jesus uses the phrase "Don’t be alarmed" in connection with events that can challenge our faith and inflame our sense of fear. By using the phrase “don’t be alarmed,” he is trying to encourage our human response and our need for trust and faith in God's sovereignty, which enables people to know God, obey His Word, and share His saving grace. Jesus emphasizes that God’s love and grace are present in the midst of all the turmoil that swirls around us.
There’s no denying that we live in a very fractured world. Opinions and attitudes are being enacted that can deeply and profoundly affect a lot of people, many of whom we love very deeply. But this isn’t a time to encourage more division, abandon our faith in God, or abandon each other. If anything, we should work even harder to strengthen our faith and connect with one another through the love of Christ.
As the reading from the letter to the Hebrews says, “it’s time to provoke one another to love.” We are to encourage one another to grow in God's love. The only way to do that is to hold tight to our belief in an all-loving God, demonstrating to others in the middle of tragedy that God’s love has not come to an end but is bursting forth through the darkness.
Our gospel passage today encourages us to stand strong in the face of tragedy and fear by incorporating the love of Jesus Christ into every aspect of our lives so that we may enact the kingdom of God in the world around us. It calls us to come together as a community and prioritize God’s love above all else.
The magnificent things of this world may crumble and fall, and tragedies will happen—they have throughout history and are happening now—but that doesn’t mean the end is near. What it does mean, is that while we are aware of those events, our focus should be on contributing to the Kingdom of God here on earth by continuing to follow Jesus’ teachings, encouraging one another in the love of Jesus Christ, and committing ourselves to surrender all to God.
May we so engrain the love of Jesus into every aspect of our lives that we shine God’s gracious light into the world, allowing all to live without worry or anxiety about what might happen or could happen and rest in the certainty of God’s love and grace, which are freely given to us and to all humanity.
