The Twenty-Third Sunday After Pentecost - November 16, 2025

Summary

Mother Suzanne teaches that when faced with apocalyptic passages describing wars, earthquakes, and persecutions, we shouldn't focus on doomsday preparation but rather see them as invitations to live with faith and hope in the present. She emphasizes that endurance is a hallmark of following Jesus, reminding us that while difficult times are simply part of human life, God's faithfulness sustains us through every storm.

THE GOSPEL                                                                                                                                              Luke 21:5-19

 When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, Jesus said, "As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down."

 They asked him, "Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?" And he said, "Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, `I am he!' and, `The time is near!' Do not go after them.

"When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately." Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.

"But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. This will give you an opportunity to testify. So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls." 

Artwork:  The Wailing Wall, Jerusalem by Gustav Bauerfeind (German,1848-1904) . 1887

Transcript

Mother Suzanne:

My people sing to the Lord a new song. Why? Because he has done marvelolous things in the name of the one God, Father Son and Holy Spirit. Amen. Please be seated. Well, good morning everybody. And again, I just want to preface before I begin to share what I've written, that this too is a passage. And this is my best rendering. This is what I feel God would like for me to share this morning. But first I would like to say there is a lot to take in in this passage. It truly can feel a bit overwhelming on where do you land? Because a lot is listed about what might happen. And if you notice, it's kind of hard not to. Most of what Jesus speaks about really isn't good. It really isn't fun. It isn't something most of us would welcome if we had the choice.

In fact, most of us would probably run as far away or do our best to avoid. For instance, wars, insurrections, earthquakes, famines, plagues, just to name a few. Nationations against nations. Lord, have mercy and let's not stop there. Arrest and persecutions and being brought before authorities all because of the name of Jesus.

Upon hearing all of this, it can be dizzying to say the least. So my question is, how do I make meaning of this in my own life? And I can imagine perhaps you're thinking the same. I hope you are. Well, what I have found to be helpful in my own life when encountering difficult texts, and especially texts like this, which are what is known as apocalyptic in nature, we can take them as a big warning and start prepping for the end, and some people do. Or we can hear these words as an invitation to live now by faith and hope, inviting the prospect of future tribulation and trial, only to sharpen our deep appreciation for the present God has created and given to us as gift.

So either doomsday prep, which I'm not recommending anybody do, if you do, that's fine, but that's not really what this passage is talking about. Or perhaps see this passage for what I think it is, which is an invitation, an invitation for hope, knowing that hard times are all around and we are not immune from them. It is part of what it means to be human. And said, another way, following Jesus means testifying to our trust in God in the midst of circumstances that test our confidence and our hope. So maybe we can ask now, well, what does that mean? What does that look like? And I suppose the answers are endless, but for me, the simplest way I know how to think about it is this. And this is something that I do every day in my own life. And it may sound overly simplistic, but at the heart of the gospel this morning, I think there's a huge level of truth to it.

And it is this. Just keep moving forward with endurance as a hallmark of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

In today's gospel, Luke remembers the horrors of Jerusalem's destruction and reminds those the early Christian listeners to whom he writes that wars and insurrections just are. It's a given. They are life. It may not be the kind of life we would all hope for, but it just is. Along with earthquakes, along with typhoons, along with eclipses and famines, they're not a special sign of the end. Life has always been like this. Even in Jesus' day, these things were happening. And even with the world like that in 21st century, Luke's Jesus says, God's faithful people need to lift our heads, expect resurrection even in the midst of what might seem like chaos, destruction, disorder, and whether or not that is in the world or in your own life.

And this is kind of where the gospel hits home for me anyway. It doesn't seem too far off from our current world. And it is our reminder that we cannot orient our lives to those things temporary, meaning only looking with and through those things that are right in front of us, such as hard times, uncomfortable situations, things you thought would last, and then sometimes, sometimes just don't. Being human means knowing these times and circumstances will come, but also when these times do come, you're not alone. God will be with you. God is with you. So sometimes, even when we don't know what the future will bring or how to even enter into it, our gospel reminds us with endurance, keep at it.

Keep inserting yourself into the space and world in which you uniquely inhabit. Make it better. Chair the love of Jesus. Be the light that this dark world needs because when we do, we have the eyes of Jesus and we see things as he does with empathy and compassion and remind others who might be swept up in the mess that this world seems full of these days. And as one of our beloved church mothers reminds us, Mother Julian Norwitch, all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well. And the last thing that I want to do is to seem as though I'm dismissing bad things or being a bit too Pollyanna, a little bit too holy about difficult situations by saying, "All will be well." That's certainly not my intent, but what I think is good is to be mindful. But Jesus plainly says, "Hard times are just a part of life.

And if you're human, there's nothing that can be done about this. You will eventually come to, or perhaps you are in the middle of one of these difficulties because we aren't promised an easy life, a life of ease. But you know what we are promised? Faithfulness. God's faithfulness to be with us as we navigate the storms of life or those things that come our way that we wished wouldn't." But what I want to say to you all this morning is how we react and how we choose to respond to these situations is what Jesus is speaking to and what this passage shows us is that we're to keep moving forward with endurance, persistence, patience, and strength, for these are all solid hallmarks of what it means to be a Jesus follower, not in denial of what is, but believing that it all means something and God is faithful in and through all of these things.

This is our hope. The hope to which Jesus testifies in this passage is no trivial denial of the struggles, the pain and the agony of human life, or the catastrophic forces of nature. He's not denying that. Instead, what he is trying to do is offer words of comfort and courage and invitation for us, one that we can respond faithfully, not by predicting the end of what might happen, but instead choosing to seize the present moment in which to share our faith and confidence in Christ. Amen.