Dr. Jon Burnham preached this sermon from Mark 13:24-37 for Advent 1B
at St. John's Presbyterian Church on November 30, 2008
at St. John's Presbyterian Church on November 30, 2008
Mark 13:24-37
"But in those days, after that suffering,
the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light,
and the stars will be falling from heaven,
and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.
Then they will see 'the Son of Man coming in clouds' with great power and glory. Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.
"From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
"But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake."
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There are some people called singularitarians who anticipate the arrival of a golden age of technology within the next few decades. For instance, they envision a solution to our oil dependence through new solar panels manufactured by nanotechnology. They say these highly advanced solar panels will be able to harness just 3 tenths of one percent of the sun's light every day and that will be more than enough to provide all the energy needs of all humans on this planet. Each of us will have our own solar power plant installed at home. This is just one example of some rather radical changes that lie just ahead as described by Ray Kurzweil in his new book The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology. Kurzweil is a world-class inventor who is called a genius by Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
To appreciate the nature and significance of the coming "singularity," Kurzweil invites us to ponder the nature of exponential growth. He tells the tale of the inventor of chess and his patron, the emperor of China. In response to the emperor's offer of a reward for his new beloved game, the inventor asked for a single grain of rice on the first square, 2 on the second square, 4 on the third, 8 on the fourth, 16 on the fifth and so on with each consecutive square getting double what the previous square got. The Emperor quickly granted this seemingly benign and humble request. One version of the story has the emperor going bankrupt as the 63 doublings ultimately totaled 18 million trillion grains of rice. At ten grains of rice per square inch, this requires rice fields covering twice the surface area of the Earth, oceans included. Another version of the story has the inventor losing his head.
It should be pointed out that as the emperor and the inventor went through the first half of the chess board, things were fairly uneventful. The inventor was given spoonfuls of rice, then bowls of rice, then barrels. By the end of the first half of the chess board, the inventor had accumulated one large field's worth (4 billion grains), and the emperor started to take notice. It was as they progressed through the second half of the chessboard that the situation quickly deteriorated. Incidentally, with regard to the doublings of computation, that's about where we stand now—according to Kurzweil—there have been slightly more than 32 doublings of performance since the first programmable computers were invented during World War II.
Kurzweil's observation of the history of technology demonstrates that technological change is exponential, contrary to the common-sense "intuitive linear" view. So we won't experience 100 years of progress in the 21st century — it will be more like 20,000 years of progress (at today's rate). Within a few decades, machine intelligence will surpass human intelligence, leading to The Singularity — technological change so rapid and profound it represents a rupture in the fabric of human history. The implications include the merger of biological and nonbiological intelligence, immortal software-based humans, and ultra-high levels of intelligence that expand outward in the universe at the speed of light. Now that, my friends, is a vision!
According to the New Testament, Jesus had a similarly radical vision for the future. Jesus' vision was not based on technological progress. His vision was based on the idea of the coming of God's kingdom. A kingdom based on justice. Jesus' vision of the future requires the end of the world as we know it in order to bring in the world as God envisions it. A new heaven and a new earth. How will the heaven and earth be born?
Jesus suggests this imagery:
"The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken." (Mark 13:24-25) Then they will see "the Son of Man coming in clouds" with great power and glory. Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven. (Mark 13:26-27)
Presbyterians have always allowed for a broad range of interpretations of how God's new heaven and new earth will be birthed. But we are in agreement about about the result of the new heaven and the new earth. We agree that it will be characterized by justice.
Justice is a word we do not use much in our daily lives. On the personal level, justice is the fine line between selfishness and selflessness. Justice is being fair in our dealings with people. Justice means we try to do what is "right." The new heaven and new earth is an image of a place and a time when everyone will be taken care of and loved in a way that is appropriate. All loose ends will be tied together. No more tears. No more sorrow. No more pain. No more death. Everything wrong will be made right. This is the new heaven and the new earth.
How can we envision it? Jesus uses the image of a fig tree. The fig tree appears early in the Bible, in the book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible. The leaves of the fig tree were used to cover the nakedness of the first humans, Adam and Eve, after they rebelled against God. The fig tree reminds us of how good humanity once had it in the garden of Eden and how we lost our innocence. I have been told that when you plant a fig tree it takes 3 years for the tree to bear fruit. And you have to pay attention to a fig tree. When the time comes and it finally bears fruit you better be ready to pick the figs before the birds get them. Patience is required. Anticipation is required. And so it with God's kingdom. We anticipate Christ's return which will usher in the new heaven and new earth. We anticipate God's justice which will come in full measure at that time.
We engage in an active waiting by engaging in acts of social justice. We move toward the coming of God's Kingdom when we contribute money or time to Braes Interfaith Ministries to feed the hungry. Or roll bandages to send to hospitals overseas. Or spend time in centering prayer. Such acts proclaim our commitment to Jesus' vision of a new heaven and a new earth where everyone has enough food to eat, the sick are treated with dignity and care, and all people have a meaningful personal relationship with God.
We work toward God's new heaven and earth but we don't get caught up in calendar gazing and predictions about when it will materialize. We don't get caught up in such thinking because Jesus plainly tells us:
'But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come ... or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly.
And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.' (Mark 13:32-35)
Anticipation. Advent is about anticipation. So, what are waiting for? We are waiting for the return of our Lord, Jesus Christ. We anticipate a new heaven and a new earth. We anticpate God's justice rolling down like mountain streams. We look for these things during Advent.
I cannot say whether Ray Kurzweil's singularlity will occur in the year 2045 as he predicts. But I can say that I believe in the end everything that is wrong will be made right by God. In the end, divine justice will prevail. This optimistic future vision compels me and other Christians to work for God's justice now. Anticipation does not mean we sit around in the rocking chair waiting for God to get busy and get it done. Anticipation means we are actively engaged in bringing God's justice to the world in our own time even as we await the final culmination of God's justice at a future date that no one knows.
