The Sermon on 2012 – 9-12-12
The economy at a major low, a government that seems borderline socialist, natural disasters happening at an alarming rate…its easy question whether or not we are about to see the apocalypse. All over the mainstream media we hear about the Mayan calendar ending in December of this year. In the Catholic faith we know Saint Malachy, who predicted every pope accurately by description and is said to only have picked one pope after the current before St. Peter comes back with Jesus. Many people discuss the increase in certain kinds of bugs…the moths and lady bugs… the increase in locusts a few years ago. In Indiana we had birds dropping out of the sky and fish floating dead in our rivers and lakes for no explainable reason. With so much happening it can be hard to understand and almost terrifying to think about. Could life as we know it be over in a few short months?
Rest easy dear friends, for you have nothing to fear…. Or at least nothing that anyone on this earth can see coming. Jesus said, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.” (Matt. 24:36). We will be able to tell the season, but it is not our place to know the day or hour in which our great Lord will make his return. Many get wrapped up in the stories found in the book of Revelation… the common belief being that it refers to the devil or demons or pain and terror. In all reality the book of Revelation refers to Jesus Christ. Revelation comes from the Greek word for apocalypse, or the uncovering of a truth…the truth of Jesus. The book starts out with “The revelation of Jesus Christ”; this tells you that you have nothing to fear. When Christ has his second coming it will not be a coming of the anti-Christ or a beast…but our savior alone. The book of revelation, like most of the bible, is not meant to be taken absolutely literally. Many of the passages found in the good book are parables, or stories, helping us to better understand the idea that Christ was trying to convey. “And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, 2 who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw.” Signified = gave signs. Judgment day is coming and I am sure it is fast approaching, but our focus should not be on the terrorizing misconceptions we get from Revelation. Our focal point should be and should have always been Jesus.
I’m sorry Mayans, but you were no more enlightened than any one of us. Rest easy dear friends there is nothing to fret over. Make your peace with Jesus, ask forgiveness for your sins, and try to live every day like Christ. Live a faithful life and treat others as if they were Jesus himself, then you should have nothing to fear anyway whether the second coming is tomorrow or 200 years from now. As Jesus encouraged John, “do not be afraid.”
I challenge you to read through the entire book of revelation this month and see if you can pick apart some of this symbolism. Try to find the deeper meaning that God has put in there for us. Don’t fear, Rejoice, for the Kingdom of God is near.
“Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thess. 5:23).
-Rev. Chris
