Twenty-Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

Sunday, 17 November 2024

NOTES ON THE READINGS

1 Samuel 1:4-20

In our Old Testament passage we hear the story of Hannah, a godly woman who was married to Elkanah. Peninnah, the other wife of Elkanah, has many children, but Hannah is barren. Desperate, she goes to pray at the house of the Lord, and meets Eli, the priest, there. Hannah prayed in her heart and moved her lips, but no sound came out. She prayed that if she had a son she would give him to the Lord. At first Eli thought she was drunk, but when she explained her situation, he blessed her and asked God to grant her request. Hannah returned home. She made love with Elkanah, and became pregnant. She gave birth to a son, who she named Samuel, and he went on to be a great leader and prophet.

Psalm 16

Psalm 16 is attributed to David, and it is one of six denoted as a Miktam, most probably Psalms of atonement. The first part of the Psalm is an affirmation of faith in God. But it is clear that those who worship other Gods will not be blessed and will suffer. In the second section we see that those who are in communion with God have a “delightful inheritance”. The last part sees the psalmist rejoicing and hopeful.

Hebrews 10:11-14, (15-18),19-25

This passage contrasts the priests in the Temple in Jerusalem, who made continual sacrifices, with Jesus. The sacrifices made by the priests could never take away sins. But Jesus was both a priest and a sacrifice. His sacrifice of himself, made once and for all, took away the sins of those who turned to him. The writer of Hebrews quotes Jeremiah 31:33 in describing a new covenant where laws will be put on hearts and written in minds. Sacrifices will no longer be needed. Previously, only the high priests could enter the Most Holy Place, and then only on the Day of Atonement. After Jesus’ perfect sacrifice of himself all would be able to enter.

The later section of the passage encourages people to hold to their faith, and to love and care for each other. The believers are encouraged to keep meeting together, and not to stop as some had. Finally, right at the end of our passage we see a clear mention of the Second Coming, “the Day approaching”.

Mark 13:1-8

In Mark 13 Jesus is with the disciples in Herod the Great’s restored Second Temple in Jerusalem. It was one of the wonders of the ancient world, and it is hardly surprising that the disciples were amazed by what they saw. Jesus came from a particularly devout family, and had probably visited very often in his childhood. He shocked the disciples when he prophesied that the Temple would be destroyed. This came true about 40 years later, in 70 AD, when the Romans put down a Jewish uprising. Not unnaturally, the disciples wanted to know when this would happen, and how they would know it was about to happen. Now we come to the key problem of the passage. It seems that Jesus then goes off at a tangent. He appears not to answer the disciples question at all, says nothing about the destruction of the Temple, and commences a discourse about the Second Coming. So we have warnings about false prophets, wars, earthquakes, and famines leading on to Mark 13:26 when the Son of Man comes on clouds. See Wright (References below) for a detailed possible explanation of why it can look like Jesus did not answer the disciples’ question, but possibly he did!

DRAFT SERMON/SERMON OUTLINE

This sermon will be preached in the middle weekend of COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, as the delegates are heavily engaged in their discussions. 

It might be good to start the sermon by summarising COP29 so far- just the headlines! Whether COP29 is seen as good, bad or in between, there will still be a future, and two of our readings have some references to the future.

As Christians in more liturgical traditions, we will often say the Apostles’ Creed, including the phrase, “he will come again to judge the living and the dead.” But possibly because of the extreme theologies that are often associated with it, eschatology has a bad name. Rightly understood, however, eschatology is a key part of our faith, and is important in environmental theology.

At COP29 there will be leaders of nations and organisations present who seek to prevent meaningful cuts in carbon emissions, to further their own ends. There will also be those who  have worked so hard to do something to reverse climate change that they are now totally exhausted. To be frank, it will be something of a miracle if much positive progress on emissions cuts are made. But then the story of Hannah in our Old Testament passage indicates that miracles can happen.

Mark 13 contains within it a passage often known as the “little apocalypse”, where many people see Jesus returning at the end of the age, coming on a cloud. When He returns, Heaven and Earth will be renewed and restored. This is ultimate or eschatological hope, and it has sustained Christians for 2000 years. At COP29 most of the hope will not be like that. Mostly the hope will be proximate, the hope that we can fix climate change. But what if we can’t fix it, and we still don’t know when Jesus will return? Fifteen years ago, after the disastrous COP15 meeting in Copenhagen, I was involved in a project to look at hope in those circumstances (see References below). We discovered a robust or resilient hope, a hope to see us through tough times. Whatever the result of COP29 in Baku things are likely to be pretty difficult this century, and looking again at hope might be a fruitful way forward.

Near the end of the sermon I would suggest some resources for people as they reflect on COP29 (see below).

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL

References

Hodson, M.J. (2021) Three types of hope. Bible Reading Fellowship blog (4 July 2021) https://www.brf.org.uk/three-types-of-hope/ This is written at a more popular level and is the story of our “Environment and Hope” project brought up to date.

Hodson M.R. & Hodson, M.J. (2013) Environment and Hope. Anvil 29, Issue 1, pp.1-129. https://jri.org.uk/environment-and-hope/ From this link you can download all of the seven articles for free.

Wright, N.T. (1996) Jesus and the Victory of God. (SPCK, London) See pages 339-368 for a detailed discussion of Mark 13 and the parallel passages in Matthew and Luke.