Reading the Signs and the Times

Reading the Signs and the Times Matthew 15:32-16:3
Rev. Dr. David Wheeler 1-1-12

Some people are just not willing to believe. For Jesus, the Pharisees and Scribes were such a nemesis. They didn’t get it or they just weren’t willing to listen to what they heard. In our scripture today, it sounds as if Jesus was so exasperated by them that he said they couldn’t even tell when rain was in the forecast.

He hit a nerve, because people have always been anxious to understand the signs and the times. In an uncertain world, what the future may be like will be frightening. Responding to those fears, or capitalizing on them, people who say they can predict the future have been around for a long time. Prophets, shamans, astrologers, psychics of all kinds weigh in, especially at the new year. Not many of them are gospel truth. But some of them are surely interesting.

For example, there is a wide variety of predictions for 2012.
Of course, some say that the world will end on December 21, because according to an ancient Mayan calendar, time runs out before the end of 2012. Not so others say. The end of the Mayan calendar will not signal the world’s demise, but the beginning of a new age of contentment and peace. Still others predict that life will, simply go on as it has been.

In that vein,, TV Psychic Roxanne Usleman has made her annual predictions. You heard it first here that:

*Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie will separate
*Paris Hilton will get married
*Chelsea Clinton and Princess Kate Middleton will each have babies.
*Jeb Bush will become the Republican Presidential candidate.
*The great pyramids will be destroyed shifting the earth’s magnetic
balance.

Yet, on a less cosmic scale, perhaps as a left-over from simpler times, the Farmer’s Almanac’s prediction about this winter’s weather is good news! We’ll have mild weather with almost no snow through February.

But, can anyone really read the signs of the times? It’s fun to make light of the prognostications. Yet real life goes deeper. As people seek out themes for the new year they are really asking: What can we hope for? Will things be better or do we need to prepare for worse?

We want the faith that is the assurance of things hoped for. We pray for the capacity for trust in things not yet seen. Those are spiritual concerns. With the uncertainty and unpredictability that comes with the living of these days, are there any certainties worthy of trust? Is there a God-given promise on which you can have unconditional faith? What can we believe in that is greater than ourselves?

Comparatively, those were the issues that were dividing Jesus and the Scribes and Pharisees. “The Pharisees came, and to test Jesus, they asked him to show them a sign from heaven…” They were challenging him saying in essence, “Prove to us that your claims are worthy of our trust.

In fact, the more of Jesus they saw, the more they doubted his teaching. Faith, hope, and love? Joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, gentleness, self-cvontrol? The Pharisees said, “Bah! Humbug! Their forecast was that the future is not something to be optimistic about. Even hope is dangerous because events have a sinister way of breaking dreams apart on the rocks of reality.

The best thing for Israel to do was what tradition taught: build a defensive fence around themselves and follow the many restraining laws and ordinances from the Torah and Talmud. In a dangerous world, the way the truth and the life were law and order, social conservatism, and cultural-preservation.

Jesus, they opposed. He was a radical in hope and a revolutionary in love. The man was dangerous. So they came to him, calling him out: “Show us a sign that your predictions are more trustworthy than some psychic’s.”

“At least, show us some sign!” they said, tauntingly. And yet in Matthew’s account one had just occurred. The feeding of the 4000 took place just before the Pharisees confronted Jesus. What a powerful sign that was! When people trusted God then they could share freely and lovingly with one another – no one went hungry, not even 4000 - and there were baskets of bread left over.

Yet, then Jesus crossed to the other side of lake Galilee those who had not seen the miracle of the loaves and fish were still at square one. On the other shore of lake Galilee, that ‘sign’ was just a rumor; maybe even a tall tale or propaganda. Among the doubters were the Pharisees who had little faith.

Thus the polarity the scripture leaves us with. It is left up to us to discern whether we can believe. Some of us have eyes with which to see, but some are still across the lake, still at square one.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we who live now on the opposite shore from Jesus could still have such a compelling sign to inspire and nourish our lives?
In that spirit, I have a bold prediction to make today. If we would follow through with just three spiritual resolutions in this new year, the spirit of Christ will shine for us, and faith, hope and love will abide. These three:
First, we cannot follow a Lord we do not know much about. We need to resolve to strengthen our faith. And in order to do so we need to commit anew, again, to be students of the word. If we don’t know what the Lord teaches, Christ will not in our consciousness nor be our guide.
We need to wrestle with God as we work our way through a thorny moral issues. Our knowledge of the Bible and the application of faith to real world issues needs to grow. We cannot be content, even as life-long Christians, with a rudimentary or superficial knowledge of what God requires.
Second, we cannot depend upon a Christ with whom we have no relationship. Foundational for our Christian belief is the resolve to do something with the promise that we can have a personal relationship with our Lord. The kingdom of God is within.
There is a deeper, more personal, and more fulfilling love in Christ waiting to give us peace and set us free from the burdens of life. Nurturing the spirit of Christ, we will receive the heart of our Savior. We cannot be content, even though we are believing and church going people, with only a casual or occasional relationship with Christ.
Thirdly, while the gospel calls us into ourselves to meet and be sustained by the spirit that dwells within; God in Christ also calls us to resolve to get beyond ourselves in merciful caring and compassion for others.
There is more to do to be disciples. The resolution we need to follow is the call to commitment. “This is my commandment,” Christ declares, “as I have loved you, so should you love one another.” With inclusive, affirming, merciful love for the neighbor, the stranger, the least, even enemies. We can’t be content, though we are decent people, with the status quo. Our faithfulness requires more.
At the beginning of this new year is your connection with God in Christ sufficient? What I predict is that it can be! Our confidence in the future can be based firmly on what God has done for us in Christ and because the Spirit of God in Christ is present to us we need never lose hope. What is required of us is, practice, practice, practice.

In that spirit, here is my forecast for 2012: “Thus says the Lord, ‘I alone know the plans I have for you, plans of peace not of disaster, plans to bring about the future you hope for. (Jeremiah 29:11)