The church calendar marks the events in the life of Christ, starting with Advent, which is the expectation of God with us – the expectation of God seeking a way to reconcile the world and bring them home. It then moves into the birth of Jesus – Christ in the flesh at Christmas. We celebrate the revelation of the messiah to the Gentiles on the Day of Epiphany. And then we follow the ministry and life of Jesus through the Season of Epiphany as he tells people about the Good News, and offers a way to be reconciled to God.
Then, in Lent, we experience the change in attitude of the people and leadership toward him, as we watch his movement toward the completion of his mission on earth. And we attempt to take on even just a portion of his suffering during this penitential . Then we hear of his torture, his humiliation, and, ultimately, his death upon the cross during Holy Week. A death at which some people rejoiced that this meddlesome rabbi had finally been removed from their lives. And yet, a death where others mourned the loss of the one who promised to set them free and show them the face of God.
And then? Then we celebrate the mystery of Christ’s resurrection. His triumph over death and sin, and the joy of new life in the feast of Easter. For seven weeks we celebrate this new life, the joy of our salvation, until we get to the day of Pentecost. This day – Pentecost – is often called the birthday of the Church, because it is the day that the Holy Spirit descended upon everyone so that we could become God’s hands in this world, and continue Jesus’ work of reconciling the world to God.
These are the events in the life of the Church – the community of believers that was formed and built on the events in the life of Christ. And then, during the season after Pentecost, we move into a time of asking ourselves how it is that we are to respond to Christ’s teachings so that we can live our lives accordingly. It is the Holy Spirit that gives us each the ability to do this work of ministry in the world – each according to their gifts – which is why we call it the season after Pentecost. The Season after Pentecost is the life of the church that extends outside of the activity of Christ on the earth – in the flesh – and instead shows us the activity of Christ that happens through each of us.
But that doesn’t mean that Christ’s activity has come to an end. Instead, toward the tail end of the Season after Pentecost, we begin to hear these passages that speak about the end of days, and what needs to happen before the return of the King. These passages of scripture teach us about how we are to live our lives even during the tumult and torture at the end of the world as we know it.
And this is where we are in the cycle of the church right now. We are still in that moment where those things necessary for Christ’s return have not yet happened. It’s that moment in the church calendar where those things that we read about have not yet happened. We are in the exact same place as the people who are hearing the words for the very first time. Usually, we have the ability to look back on scripture through the lens of history or the collective interpretations of centuries on a passage. But in these cases, we don’t. Because none of it has happened yet.
And since we are still in the Season after Pentecost, we ask ourselves the age-old question: “If we know Christ, and believe in Christ, and if we believe in Christ’s return in glory, then how should we live right now?” Knowing that all of what we read today is still up in the air, so to speak.
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus tells us of all the things that need to happen before his return. But it isn’t just vague references to nations going to war, earthquakes, famines, and plagues. Instead, Jesus makes it personal. He says that people will be arrested. People will be persecuted. People will be brought before the rulers of the day in order to be tried and judged. People will be betrayed, not just by people they know, but also by their friends, relatives, and even their parents and their siblings.
“And some of you will die,” Jesus says.
Now, I can tell you that if you go looking for signs of all of these things to show yourself that these things are happening, you will most definitely find them. We’ve got wars going on in the world right now, and I know you can name at least a couple of those wars – because they are in the news. But you may be surprised to know that there are over 130 armed conflicts going on in the world right now, today.
If you look on the CDC website, you can see that they are tracking current outbreaks in foreign countries of things like Ebola, Dengue Fever, and Chikungunya. Or, closer to home, they are tracking measles outbreaks in various states, and salmonella, listeria, or botulinum poisoning here in the United States. In a certain sense, plagues, every one of them. If you’re more worried about the natural disasters that Jesus speaks about, then you can pull up an earthquake tracker and realize that there were over a 100 earthquakes in the last 24 hours, and over 46,000 earthquakes in the last year.
The point is, if you want to find the signs of the end, all you have to do is get on the internet, and you can find signs and portents. And you can become frightened, because in all of these things you might be tempted to see the end of the world – and then question what all of it means for you.
As I mentioned last week, this is exactly what was going on with the Thessalonians. They believed they saw the signs. They themselves were being persecuted, and some of them, because they interpreted these signs to be the beginning of the end, began to be idle, just waiting for the end of the world. They did not work, but instead just waited for Jesus to come back.
And this sort of thinking is not new. This happened here, in Thessalonica as we read in our scripture. It happened again in the year 202 under Emperor Septimius Severus, the one who had St. Alban beheaded, and who claimed to be a living God. And again in 250 under Emperor Commodianus. Even people like St. Augustine and St. Hippolytus believed that Jesus would return in 500AD. In 1000AD, thousands of people sold everything they owned and went to Rome to await Jesus’ second coming. I could go on and on and on about the people who have believed that they could figure out when Jesus is coming back – and when they get to begin the long awaited trip to heaven. Sure, if we look hard enough, we can find signs and ascribe meaning to all of them.
There were plenty of people who believed that Jesus was going to come back very soon during World War II, because of the evil that Hitler and his followers were wreaking on the earth. They saw Hitler as the anti-Christ, and the death of over 6 million Jews in concentration camps as the sign of the end of times.
But it wasn’t. The Holocaust was not the end. And if that horrible era in the history of the world was not the end of times, then we can realize that we are likely focusing on the wrong things. And yet, people love to look for the signs that they believe will get them ready for the expectation of the worst.
You see, this sort of thinking provides a container for fear, it provides a distraction from the problems we face in this lifetime. It allows us to direct our fears into something that we think we can decipher, so that we can feel the comfort of being prepared. And who doesn’t like being prepared? The problem with this sort of thinking is that it makes the promise of Heaven more important than the closeness with God. It allows people to neglect the here and now, and allows them to focus on the hope of the future. A future where they will get to spend eternity with God – and away from the troubles that they face in this life. The irony, of course, is that the vast majority of us will never experience anything near as troubling as the current wars, the current plagues, or the current earthquakes – it’s just us, attempting to give meaning to the meaningless. Trying to decipher the end of the world is just about as good as those believers in Thessalonica sitting on their thumbs, waiting for Jesus to come back – all while ignoring the traditions they learned about caring for the poor, the widows, the orphans, and loving their neighbors as themselves.
So why then, did Jesus tell the disciples about what needs to happen, if not to prepare them for the end?
The point that Jesus was trying to make is that they were already prepared. They were already prepared because the Holy Spirit had come upon each of them at their baptism, and they were prepared because the Holy Spirit would give each of them what they needed to know whenever they were confronted with persecution. But moreover, they were already prepared because they believed in Jesus.
“Yes, terrible things may happen to you,” Jesus says, “People will betray you, and some of you will even be put to death. You will be hated because of my name.”
But then he says, “But not a hair on your head will perish.”
Why can Jesus say that? After all, some people do die in these tragedies of human evil. Like I said before, over 6 million Jews died in concentration camps in the Holocaust. And many millions more died as well – those that didn’t fit in with or support the Nazi ideology – including many Christians.
It’s because Jesus also said, “By your endurance you will gain your souls.” And what he meant by that was, “By your endurance you will gain a real and authentic life.”
Christ came to this world, in the flesh, to reconcile the world to God, and through his preaching, his working of miracles, he shared with people the way to God. And some of those who heard the words were offended, troubled by his teaching, and put him to death. And yet, Jesus conquered sin, and triumphed over death, and rose again from the grave. Rose again to eternal life.
And all those that believe have inherited that same eternal life.
“That’s all the preparation that is required,” Jesus is saying. “The Holy Spirit will do the rest. And you don’t need to be worried about your soul at all. I’ve got that covered. Just keep on doing what I taught you, and all will be well.”
In the Church year, in the Season after Pentecost, we try to answer the question of how we should live with all that Jesus taught us. And in these last few weeks before the cycle of the Church year starts all over again with Advent, we are in those moments where we hear about things that have not happened yet, and we get ready to celebrate the return of the King, and the reign of Christ.
Just like those believers in Thessalonica, or the disciples in today’s Gospel reading, we can look for signs of the end of the world, or we can keep on keeping on, according to the traditions we have been taught.
Because if we have a hope and a belief in the resurrection, we have to realize that even though we might really die, the only thing that will really change for us is where we live.
And that is beautiful news when we think about it.
So, hold fast to the traditions.
Keep on keeping on.
Because you are already prepared.
And not a hair on your head will be harmed.
[This sermon was delivered at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Wickenburg, AZ on November 16, 2025.]
