Presented to The Swift Current Community Advent Lunch Series at St. Olaf’s Lutheran Church, 01 December 2011 and Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 04 December 2011.[1]
By Captain Michael Ramsay
By Captain Michael Ramsay
Mark 13:28,29: “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door.”
Now I grew up in Victoria, BC. There we would always have a green Christmas. Growing up there, we had snow maybe once every four years or so and when we did, it was gone in about a week. Every February, when much of our great country is still covered in snow, Victoria has its annual flower count. I recently found the statistics for 2002. In that year Victoria counted 8,521,514,876 flowers on that day in February.[2]
When I first moved to the Prairies some years ago now – we lived in Winnipeg – I noticed that Februaries in Winnipeg are a little bit different than in Victoria. Instead of + 8 billion flowers, in Winnipeg we had what felt like - 8 billion degree temperatures.
It is great here on the Prairies though. My girls really love sledding. They love skating and curling and whenever the snow is suitable you can see them building snow people. Our girls were 3 and 4 when we moved to Winnipeg and we lived a short walk from a really good sledding hill so we would go quite often and when we did it was a lot of fun. Inevitably, too, on our walk home there was a ‘Subway’ sandwich shop that we would walk past so we would always have to stop for a hot chocolate and a cookie after sledding. The girls and I came to really look forward to that. Winter is great… but you know what? We have been living on the Prairies for a few years now and when the end of May – or the beginning of June (!) – rolls around and there is still snow on the ground – I am ready for it to be over.
By the time the snow starts to melt, by the time the trees start to sprout and we can see for ourselves that summer is near, I am quite happy. As fun as sledding to the Subway for a cookie with the kids in the winter is, it is also good to ride our bikes to the Dairy Queen for an ice-cream cone on a hot summer day! And by the end of May I can tell you that I am much more looking forward an ice-cream cone in the heat than a cookie in the cold.
Mark 13:28,29: “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door.”
This is the same sort of idea that our text today is talking about.[3] We all know that in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve (Genesis 3; See also Romans 5:14) -instead of watching squirrels and counting blossoms- they decided to listen to a snake and eat forbidden fruit. This probably wouldn’t have been quite so bad except for the problem that their Father in Heaven had just finished telling them not to do this. So when God caught his children disobeying Him and then deliberately trying to deceive Him about it, God was disappointed and He gave them a time-out from Paradise, the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:23-24, Hosea 6:7, Romans 5:12-14). This is the ‘Fall’; we were separated from God because of this original sin – eating the fruit, disobeying God and then deliberately trying to deceive Him about it.
And this is just the beginning. We the people are not necessarily the best children of God that we should be. Genesis tells us that the people were so bad God felt that He needed to destroy the earth by a flood (Genesis 6-9; see also 2 Peter 2:5). Exodus saw the Hebrews dragged kicking and screaming into the Promised Land. The generation that left Egypt was so bad that God didn’t let any of them - save Joshua and Caleb – even enter the land promised them (Numbers 14:21-24; Deuteronomy 1:31-40; see Hebrews 4:1-13). More than once they voted not to follow God, but – Praise the Lord - God’s Kingdom isn’t a democracy so He saved their children in spite of themselves. Judges tells us that instead of following God the people at that time just did whatever was popular. They did what was right in their own eyes: they did evil in the sight of the Lord and they suffered the natural consequences of that (see Judges 21). Solomon, the wisest man ever to live, even made the serious mistake of turning his back on God and as a result half of his Kingdom was torn from his own children and grandchildren (1 Kings 11). This is all a part of the winter of our sin.
Throughout the times of the kings and the prophets, often Baal worship was more popular than worshipping the Lord (See Joshua 2:11-13; Judges 3:7, 6:25ff., 8:3, 10:10; 1 Samuel 7:4, 12:10, 1 Kings 16- 22; 2 Kings 1-10, 17:16, 21:3; 2 Chronicles 28:2, 33:3; Jeremiah 2, 7, 9, 11, 19, 23, 32; Hosea 2; 9:10, 11:12). If there was something like the TV Show ‘Canadian Idol’ back then - Israelite Idol - the people many times over would have voted for Baal over the Lord. Though there were some exceptions to this: Remember when the prophets of Baal and Elijah, atop Mt. Carmel, when they had a ‘So you think you can dance’ dance-off of sorts (1 Kings 18:16-45)? The prophets of Baal anyway had quite a long and elaborate dance routine but God blessed Elijah by raining down fire and He won the competition (1 Kings 18:38). This was more the exception than the rule though and this is all part of the long cold winter of our consequences of our original and subsequent sins. But we know – like Jesus tells us in our Scriptures today that spring is coming (see also Romans 13:11-12).
Through the Biblical record though this sin, like winter, continued of course. Leviticus tells us that we the people failed to look after the land (Leviticus 25:1-23) and Jeremiah tells us that it was taken away from the Israelites because of this (Jeremiah 15:11, 19:10; 2 Chronicles 36:20-21).[4] Isaiah, Amos and the other prophets tell us that the people cared more about wealth than about taking care of the poor, the widow and the immigrant (Cf. Isaiah 3:14, 15, 10:2, 11:4, 26:6, 32:7, 41:17, 58:7, 61:1; Amos 4:1, 5:11-12, 8:4-6). In Israel of the Old Testament some became rich and some became poor and even though, as Jesus would later tell us, that the whole Law and the prophets were summed up in the command to love God and love your neighbour (Matthew 22:34-40); we the people didn’t do this. We continued to put ourselves first. We continued to do what was right in our own eyes. We continued freezing outside in the winter of our sins when the blossoms of God’s love just wanted to envelope us instead. And now when Jesus is speaking, as recorded in our text today, he tells us to “…learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door” (Mark 13:28,29).
In our world today we still see a lot of problems. Crime in Canada is higher than it ever used to be. According to the CCVF, it is so bad now that many people are losing faith in the authorities abilities to stop it that in many cases charges aren’t even being filed anymore.[5] Even economic crime is on the rise in Canada with Reuters reporting that 56 percent of companies surveyed recently (more than half of them) reported falling prey to white-collar crime.[6] And – of course – in our winter of sin there is pornography, which horribly is North America’s most lucrative pastime. In the United States, pornography revenue is more than all money made from professional football, baseball and basketball combined. The money made by US pornography exceeds the combined revenues of all their major TV networks (6.2 billion) Child pornography alone generates more than $3 billion annually.[7]
We are still in the winter of our sin but summer is coming (See Romans 13:11-12); Jesus is coming back. The metaphorical snow of sin is still on the ground but as Jesus assures us, “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door” (Mark 13:28,29).
There is this good news if we look around. Jesus himself was the first blossom.[8] He is the branch of Jesse (Zechariah 6:11-13; Isaiah 11:1)[9] and he is the first blossom as well. He shows us and teaches us in parables about the Kingdom of God. He tells us again and again as recorded in this the Gospel of Luke that the Kingdom of God is at hand. It is here. It is in His presence. When we are in Jesus’ presence we see the buds coming through on the trees (see also John 14). It is like Matthew 25:31-40 says,
“‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'”
And when we share the Good News of God’s love we too are a part of those blossoms of the spring of Christ’s love. In The Salvation Army alone – and we are only one of many Christians denominations in this country - we are one of the world’s largest social services providers. In this country, we also have the blessing of being on the frontlines in the fight against sex slavery; we run food banks, shelters, serve over 2.5 million meals a year and help more than 10 000 people out of their addictions and –again- we are only one part of the Christian Church in Canada and as you and I, as we all share the love of Christ with our neighbours - through our actions and our words both corporate and individual – when we share the love of Christ with our neighbours as bad as the world may seem today in the winter of our sin, we can all be part of those first blossoms that have been sprouting through Jesus, the Branch of Jesse, ever since His first advent 2000 years ago. This past Sunday was the first Sunday of our Advent season. As the first bud of spring sprouted with Jesus coming to live among us all those many years ago and as we know too that Jesus is coming back and Jesus is coming back soon. When he does that will be when all the trees are in full bloom covered in the blossoms of spring and when he comes what a day of rejoicing that will be. This is something for us all to look forward to in the advent season ahead.
Let us pray.
[1] Based on Captain Michael Ramsay, Luke 21:29-31: the First Sprigs of Spring, presented to St. Stephen the Martyr Anglican Church, Swift Current, Saskatchewan, 29 November 2009. Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2009/11/luke-2129-31-first-sprigs-of-spring.html
[2] One of many sources for this: Human Flower Project: http://www.humanflowerproject.com/index.php/weblog/comments/whos_counting_we_and_victoria/
[3] Cf. Gerard S. Sloyan, John (Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching: Atlanta, Georgia: John Knox Press, 1988), 5 and Joel B Green, The Gospel of Luke (NICNT 3: Grand Rapids, Michigan / Cambridge, UK: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1997), 25.
[4] Cf. Michael Ramsay, Leviticus 25 1-23 in the Context of the Holiness Code: The Land Shall Observe a Sabbath. Presented to William and Catherine Booth College (Fall 2006). Available on-line: http://www.sheepspeak.com/OT_Michael_Ramsay.htm#Leviticus 25 1-23
[5] LORRIE GOLDSTEIN, Canadian Crime Victim Foundation (Toronto: Oct 25, 2009), cited November 22, 2009. Available on-line: http://www.ccvf.net/articles.cfm?pageID=articles&subpageID=news&viewID=75 : Every five years, Statistics Canada conducts the General Social Survey. It asks a representative sample of Canadians, among other things, whether they have been crime victims. From the last survey in 2004 (the next one is being conducted now, with the findings to be released next year) Statistics Canada reached the following conclusions. First, progressively fewer Canadians who are crime victims are reporting the crime to police -- only 34% in 2004, compared to 37% in 1999. Second, based on the GSS, an estimated 92% of sexual assaults were never reported to police, 46% of break-ins, 51% of motor vehicle/parts thefts, 61% of physical assaults and 54% of robberies.
[6] Economic crime rate rises in Canada, report says (Thu Nov 19, 2009 3:14pm EST) cited November 21, 2009. Available on-line: http://ca.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idCATRE5AI52E20091119 : "Some 56 percent of companies surveyed reported falling prey to white-collar crime during the period, the 2009 PricewaterhouseCoopers' Economic Crime Survey showed. That's a 10 percentage point increase over 2003 and a 4 point increase from two years ago."
[7] Christian Technology Solutions, Pornography Industry Statistics. Cited 21 November, 2009. Available on line: http://christiantechnologysolutions.com/content/view/18/24/
[8] Cf. E. Earle Ellis. The Gospel of Luke (The New Century Bible: Grand Rapids, MI, Eerdmans, 1981), p. 242.
[9] Cf. Mary L. Coloe, “Temple Imagery in the Gospel of John.” Interpretation: a Journal of Bible and Theology 63, no. 4 (October 2009): 368-381.
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