SERMON, PROPER 28B, MARK 13:14-23

We are coming to the end of the Pentecost season. This means the end of the green altar hangings, the end of Mark as our primary gospel, and the end of Jesus' ministry around Jerusalem.

As we move to the end of the season and the end of this liturgical cycle, we begin to hear stories about the end times. We hear predictions about the last days. The gospel is becoming apocalyptic in nature. We hear about fleeing to the mountains, running and not looking back and of great sufferings.

People are fascinated with the end times, they always have been. Both Egyptians and Mayans thought about it (the Mayan calendar ends in December of 2012), the disciples thought about it and so did the early church, all the way up through today.

There is a big market for end time literature. Hal Lindsey's book The Late Great Planet Earth and the Left Behind series (poorly written as they are) are just two examples. People want to know what is coming and what to expect, so they turn to so-called prophecy experts who have figured out, supposedly, when all this will take place. And not only when it will take place, but how it will take place and who exactly will be saved.

"A time, two times and a half time," and the 1290 days mentioned in Daniel are calculated out by some formula created by some prophecy expert. This expert takes what has been written, the mathematical and symbolic results of the formula, and then interprets when the end times will occur based on those results. And the person of the Antichrist is named based on either his actions around the events of the desolating sacrilege we heard about in Mark's gospel, or based on some meaning of the number 666. That's pretty impressive for people who normally talk about the literal, plain sense of scripture.

So let's take a look at this. Just what is the desolating sacrilege mentioned by Daniel and Jesus? For starters, it could refer to the time of Daniel around 168 b.c.e. when the Syrian king Antiochus Epiphanes attacked the Temple, defiled it, and set up pagan cults. This event, by the way, directly led to the Maccabean revolt, which you can read about in the Apocrypha. And depending on when Mark was written, it could either refer to the time around 40 c.e. when Caligula placed a statue of himself in the Temple, or it could refer to about 70 c.e. when Roman flags were flown over the Temple.

Here's a thought . . . if the desolating sacrilege refers to Roman flags that flew over the Temple, how might we interpret that today when many churches decorate their sanctuaries with the flag of the United States? There are appropriate times and places to fly and honor our flag; I just happen to think that draping sanctuaries and altars with it isn't one of them. Could it be that equating our flag with the holiness of a sanctuary is the desolating sacrilege of our own day?

My point is that you can't assign one thing as THE desolating sacrilege. There are many things that can potentially desecrate holy spaces.

This brings me to the Antichrist. Jesus talks about false messiahs and false prophets coming and attempting to lead people astray. Note that he uses the plural here; this is important.

Origen pointed out that, although there is generally one falsehood, there are many varieties and differences of false doctrines. Those false doctrines are, as he said, exceedingly plausible and can move even the wise. His point is that every word that is not truth is, in a sense, antichrist.

What is truth? What are the words of Christ that we are to follow? How about being merciful, doing good, blessing others, making disciples, loving your neighbors as yourself and loving God with everything you have.

How do we reconcile those words of Christ against those spoken by preachers who claim that the current Iraq war is a fulfillment of the Great Commission? Or against people who proclaim, "If you aren't with us, you're against us?" Or against people who push for Israel to destroy her surrounding neighbors? Are not those words antichrist?

You see, antichrist is not one particular person. It isn't Nero, Hitler, Pol Pot, Sadaam, the Pope or Nicolae Carpathia. Antichrist is simply words and actions that are contrary, or anti, to the words of Christ. A quote given to me by a friend goes like this: We are each of us the antichrist, whenever we hear the word of God and do not do it.

We all have the ability to be antichrist.

There is a major problem with looking at these readings and trying to determine just when those last days are supposed to occur. The problem is this: these are the last days.

On the day of Pentecost, God poured out the Holy Spirit on the apostles and they prophesied and spoke in other languages. Then Peter quoted Joel: In the last days it will be, declares God, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh . . .

We are the heirs of that event. God's Spirit has been poured out upon us, in these, the last days. We may face trials and tribulations, but in these last days of desolating sacrilege and words of antichrist, remember this:

We are not among those who shrink back and so are lost, but among those who have faith and so are saved.