“Keep Your Eyes Fixed on Jesus” Luke 21.5-28, Pentecost 23C, Nov. ‘19

1.                Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  The message from God’s Word on this 23^rd Sunday after Pentecost comes from Luke 21:5-28. It’s entitled, “Keep Your Eyes Fixed on Jesus,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.                Here in Luke 21 Jesus offer us this vision of violence not so we might be drawn into it but so we might be drawn through it to come closer to Him.  In his book Confessions, Augustine meditates on how powerful visions of violence are. They captivate people. He tells of his friend, Alypius, going to the Gladiator Games in Ancient Rome. There, spectators watched as gladiators engaged in mortal combat, often with wild animals. People delighted in killing as entertainment. 

3.                That day, Alypius tried to keep his eyes shut. But when he heard a cry from the spectators, he looked and saw the scene. One of the warriors was wounded. As blood poured out, the crowd roared. Alypius was drawn-in by this vision. He was not able to turn away. When he left the games, he was healthy in body but wounded in soul. The visions of violence had won him and wounded him.

4.                I thought of that scene from Augustine as I read this text from Luke. Well, actually, first I thought of something else. People looking at accidents on the highway. Then, high school shootings. Then, people streaming live killings on the internet. I know, it is disturbing. This is why I went to Augustine and the scene from the Confessions to put a little bit of distance between us and our interaction with violence. But the fact that I could come up with so many examples so quickly tells me how powerful visions of violence still are. They captivate us, even today.

5.                Which is why I struggle with this text. Jesus offers us visions of violence and I am concerned about how we hear them. This is not violence as entertainment as Hollywood loves to sell. No, it is worse. It is violence as part of religion. We are not driving by an accident when this happens. We are coming to church. And, as we worship, Jesus fills our minds with terror.

6.                We watch as the sacred places on earth are destroyed. The temple is torn down. Jerusalem is destroyed. The family is shattered. Nations are in upheaval. No one is safe. Then, as the sacred places of this world crumble, nature itself begins to convulse.  Earthquakes.  Hurricanes.  Mudslides.  Tornadoes.  Wildfires and the like. All things move toward a violent end.

7.                The problem with these visions of violence is people end up being captivated by them. It is hard to turn your eyes away. People look at these predictions and start to interpret them like Tarot cards and Ouija boards, figuring out the divine timetable of the last things. As if this was the point of the text, some use it to try and predict the end of the world and the return of Christ. 

8.                Knowing when it will all happen is not what is important here. Knowing that it will all happen is. Jesus offer us this vision of violence not so we might be drawn into it but so we might be drawn through it to come closer to Him. 

9.                Instead of looking away from the violence and instead of looking at the violence, Jesus calls us to look through it. When you look through these visions of violence, you see Jesus. You view the King. You witness the One who rules and reigns over all things.  Hebrews 12:1-4 says, “1Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.  3Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.” 

10.             And, in our Epistle lesson St. Paul exhorts us as Christians to not become idle and lazy as we wait for our Lord’s return as some in his day were busy doing.  Nor, do we become Doomsday Preppers stocking up from Costco and Walmart for the Apocalypse.  St. Paul says here in 2 Thessalonians 3:6–13 “⁶Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. ⁷For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, ⁸nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. ⁹It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate. ¹⁰For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. ¹¹For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. ¹²Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.  ¹³As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good.” 

11.             Consider how, amid this violence, lies the comfort of Christ. Jesus reveals God’s presence in suffering. During this upheaval, God sustains His people. When they are persecuted, Jesus will be with them. He will inspire them to speak words of wisdom no one can withstand. When they are martyred, their lives will give witness. Though they are destroyed, not a hair of their head will perish. Why? Because Jesus Christ is Lord and He will come to renew all things. He knows those who trust in Him and, though they be wounded, they have also been won. They are won by His wounds on the cross, claimed by His resurrection victory.  Jesus calls us to look through the violence and see that He will return. He will bring all evil to an end and then we will see Him, our Redeemer, in all His glory, reigning over a new creation.

12.             So, remember our Lord Jesus who says to us here in Luke 21, do not look away from the violence and do not to look at the violence. Instead, Jesus invite us to look through it. Christ directs our vision to see how He is present with us His people in suffering and, seeing that, to lift our heads and see how He promises to be with us in the glory of the new creation. Lift up your heads. Live in hope, because the final redemption of all things is drawing near.  Amen.  Now the peace of God that passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus until life everlasting.  Amen.