Twenty-fifth Sunday after Trinity (18 Nov. 2018)

Running On Borrowed Time...

When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, "Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him."  So Aaron said to them, "Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me."  So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.  And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!"  When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, "Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD."  And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.  And the LORD said to Moses, "Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.  They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, 'These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!'"  And the LORD said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people.  Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you."  But Moses implored the LORD his God and said, "O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?  Why should the Egyptians say, 'With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people.  Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, 'I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.'"  And the LORD relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.  Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets that were written on both sides; on the front and on the back they were written.  The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.  When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, "There is a noise of war in the camp."  But he said, "It is not the sound of shouting for victory, or the sound of the cry of defeat, but the sound of singing that I hear."  And as soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses' anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.  He took the calf that they had made and burned it with fire and ground it to powder and scattered it on the water and made the people of Israel drink it.  Exodus 32:1-20

"Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble.  He comes out like a flower and withers; he flees like a shadow and continues not.  And do you open your eyes on such a one and bring me into judgment with you?  Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is not one.  Since his days are determined, and the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass,  look away from him and leave him alone, that he may enjoy, like a hired hand, his day."  Job 14:1-6

To the choirmaster. Of David. The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none who does good.  The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God.  They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.  Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers who eat up my people as they eat bread and do not call upon the LORD?  There they are in great terror, for God is with the generation of the righteous.  You would shame the plans of the poor, but the LORD is his refuge.  Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion! When the LORD restores the fortunes of his people, let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.  Psalm 14

A Prayer of one afflicted, when he is faint and pours out his complaint before the LORD. Hear my prayer, O LORD; let my cry come to you!  Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress! Incline your ear to me; answer me speedily in the day when I call!  For my days pass away like smoke, and my bones burn like a furnace.  My heart is struck down like grass and has withered; I forget to eat my bread.  Because of my loud groaning my bones cling to my flesh.  I am like a desert owl of the wilderness, like an owl of the waste places; I lie awake; I am like a lonely sparrow on the housetop.  All the day my enemies taunt me; those who deride me use my name for a curse.  For I eat ashes like bread and mingle tears with my drink, because of your indignation and anger; for you have taken me up and thrown me down.  My days are like an evening shadow; I wither away like grass.  But you, O LORD, are enthroned forever; you are remembered throughout all generations.  You will arise and have pity on Zion; it is the time to favor her; the appointed time has come.  Psalm 102:1-13

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.  For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep.  For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.  For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.  Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.  Therefore encourage one another with these words.  1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

"So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.  Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house, and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak.  And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days!  Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath.  For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be.  And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.  Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There he is!' do not believe it.  For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.  See, I have told you beforehand.  So, if they say to you, 'Look, he is in the wilderness,' do not go out. If they say, 'Look, he is in the inner rooms,' do not believe it.  For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.  Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather."  Matthew 24:15-28

Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them, "The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed,  nor will they say, 'Look, here it is!' or 'There!' for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you."  And He said to the disciples, "The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.  And they will say to you, 'Look, there!' or 'Look, here!' Do not go out or follow them.  For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in His day.  But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.  Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man.  They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.  Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot– they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building,  but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all– so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed."  Luke 17:20-30

If there is one thing that people cannot escape, it is time.  Whether it be the simple, steady, march of life from birth to death, an approaching deadline, or when the show ends.  But what is to be done with that time?

The people of Israel foolishly, and intentionally, wasted their time chasing after false gods of their own creation.  They looked elsewhere, and were caught unprepared when the Son of God appeared.  What little they were looking for was the restoration of a kingdom long dead and a covenant long defunct.  And what's worse is that the covenant they wanted restored was not the covenant God promised to them.

The disciples asked Christ about this kingdom coming, but were not expecting to get the right answer.

St. Paul tells us that we are to wait for this kingdom of God, watchful for the arrival of the Lord.  Not that we would miss it, since His arrival will be such that no one will be surprised or think it is some kind of secret.  But we do not know when He will return.

Christ makes that clear when He answers the disciples.  It must have been frustrating for them to want to know and be told "no."  No big and epic take-over, no secret rapture, no thousand year earthly throne.  Just silence regarding the actual day, and hints of all the trouble we should watch for.

He does, however, make it clear that there are "hints" that the day is near.  Wars, famine, tribulation, these are birth pains for the end.  As things become more "terrible" we who believe should be working hard to bring the Gospel to the nations.  But, then, like in the time of Noah those who are condemned will be taken, leaving the faithful to inherit the restored Creation.

But we are running on borrowed time and the Gospel must be proclaimed.