Our reading this morning is
apocalyptic. Apocalyptic literature is a
genre of religious writings that deal primarily with the “end times”. It is prophetic writing and was quite common
within the post-Exilic Jewish culture—meaning after the Babylonian Exile, and
among the early Christians. It is a
substantial period, from 200BCE to 350AD. The word “apocalypse” is a Greek word meaning
“revelation”, thus these writings were assumed to make revelations of the
ultimate divine purpose. Typically, it
would be a prophetic revelation, especially concerning a cataclysm in which the
forces of good permanently triumph over the forces of evil. Often these writings are filled with
universal or extensive destruction and disaster.
Sounds like our reading this morning.
The knee-jerk response to this reading
is to panic because “the end is coming!”
We can take these words as a “warning” and as such, we better get
prepared and get out acts together before the end. It is a knee-jerk reaction because we listen
to the words that are being read and our minds are sounding the sirens . . .
they are speaking to us directly . . . those things are happening, and they are
happening now! Nations fighting nations.
Natural disasters—earthquakes and famines.
Persecution. Rampant hatred and
injustices. The writer sounds as if he
is quoting the evening news. He’s
talking about us . . . and, our first reaction is to embrace it and run with
the end times.
Now, remember, I said this was the
knee-jerk reaction. Before we all panic
and jump the boat for safety, let us consider a few things. First, this was not written for us or our
place in history. This was written for a
group of people at a certain point in history.
It was written for the early Christians in the time period between 80
and 110 AD . . . well after Jesus’ earthly ministry and way before our
time. In that situation the writer is
addressing a certain time and situation . . . a time of persecution of the
early Church by both the synagogue and the Roman government. These words are to address that predicament
and to provide words of encouragement using the words of Jesus in their hour of
doubt and need.
We all know that when it comes to the
“end times”, Jesus himself spoke out against his followers taking his words as
a timetable. He is even quoted as
saying, “no one knows the day or the hour.”
Thus, it is in our reading he alerts his disciples that there are going
to be a lot of people running around peddling warnings about the end. He tells them, “Watch out that you are not
deceived. For many will come in my name,
claiming ‘I am he,’ and ‘The time is near.’
Do not follow them.”
Jesus counsels his believers to not be
alarmed and not to waste time planning for those days. As Jesus alludes to and Alcoholic Anonymous
is famous for saying, “Poop happens!”
Instead Jesus invites his followers to a living and active trust so that
they may believe that the various trials that come are opportunities to
witness, and that he himself will equip them to speak and respond when such
occasions arise. Jesus tells them: “This
will result in your being witnesses to them.
But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend
yourselves. For I will give you words
and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict.”
In realizing that this is the writer of
the Gospel of Luke responding to the
crises of early Christian communities, we learn that this is not a timetable—it
is a letter of comfort and courage and invitation. It is an invitation to live now by faith and
hope . . . of looking towards the future . . . and, helping us to appreciate
for the present what God has created and given to us as a gift. This is an invitation in which we respond by
seizing the present moment to share our faith and confidence in the Holy. It is not a time to panic in get wrapped up
in doomsday thinking. Instead we are
called upon to live as the children of God as the receivers of divine love and
grace striving to establish God’s Kingdom in our time and place.
Now you are probably thinking . . .
yeah, but . . . didn’t you hear what you were reading, Preacher? Are you trying to tell us that this is not
what we think it is . . . that the end is near?
Aren’t you listening?
I want to tell you a story. It is the story of Gabriele Grunewald . . .
lovingly referred to by all as “Gabe”. I
doubt if any of you know about Gabe, unless you keep up with the world of track
and field. Gabe was a middle-distance
runner and a pretty darn good one—one of the best in the nation and a rising
competitor on the international scene.
Shortly before she was about to graduate from the University of
Minnesota and start her professional running career, she noticed a bump below
her left ear several days before a big track meet. She went to the doctor, had it drained to be
tested, and continue her preparations for the big meet.
The day before the meet the doctor
called with the results of the tests . . . adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC). She had cancer and they wanted to remove it
as soon as possible. Shocked, but
feeling okay, she decided to run the race . . . it would be six days before she
had the surgery. During that time, she
learned about the cancer . . . that it was incurable. She would be lucky to live five years. The cancer was going to kill her . . . all
her dreams and plans came crashing down—this was the end . . . but, she hung
onto that five-year survival rate. She
stated: “I kind of took that as something to go off of, something to hang onto,
at least early on, like a life preserver.
I knew I had to make the most of it.”
After the surgery Gabe endured radiation
therapy and kept on training. The NCAA
granted her a waiver to run another track season in hope of qualifying to run
professionally. She ran with it . . .
she beat the school record and placed second in the NCAA championships. Things were looking up, then a few months
later a check-up revealed papillary thyroid cancer. Again, she had surgery . . . again, she went
through radiation therapy . . . and, again, she went back to running. Over the next five years, between regular
check-ups, she continued to run personal bests and beat records, and ended up
one spot short of making the team for the London Olympics in 2012.
Gabe viewed those five years as some of
the best of her life—she continued to run and compete . . . she married her
college sweetheart; but they were not without fear. Fear that the cancer would return and take
away the prospect of ever having a normal life.
Then one day in August of 2016, her husband—a doctor—gave Gabe a hug and
noticed something firm in her abdomen. A
CT scan showed a massive tumor on her liver, a metastatic recurrence of the ACC
she thought she had conquered seven years earlier. ACC as a cancer is an unforgivable beast and
it only worsens the chance of remission with each cancer-free year that goes
by.
Again, she had surgery to remove the
tumor and half of her liver . . . leaving her a 13-inch scar across her
abdomen. When she walked out of the
hospital, she believed she was cancer-free.
By March of the next year she would learn that her check-up would reveal
twelve small cancerous tumors all over her remaining liver. ACC was back.
Despite four bouts of cancer, Gabe
continued to show up to do what she loved best—running. Running was an extension of who Gabe was, and
now it had become her lifeline. She was
not going to give up without a fight.
She said, “I think sometimes we’re too quick to give up on the things
that we love and the things that make us feel alive when something is going
wrong in our lives. But I just really
feel strongly that we have to hold onto them.”
And, she did.
One year after major surgery, with
chemotherapy running through her veins, she qualified to run in the USA Track
and Field Championships. In that race
she came in last in her heat, but she crossed the finish line to receive a
standing ovation. She said, “I never got
a standing ovation for getting last before.”
That was in 2017 . . . earlier this
year, her health declined. She was
weakening . . . running became difficult . . . and, there were lots of trips to
the emergency room and by June 1st her liver was failing. She was dying.
Starting on June 1st,
Justin—her husband, began posting updates on Gabe on Instagram . . . the first was to tell everyone that the doctors did
not think that she would make it through the night. But, she did.
The next day, he made the decision to place her in hospice and told her
that she was dying.
Justin writes: “Shortly after I told her
she was dying, she took a deep breath and yelled, ‘NOT TODAY.’”
Over the next few days, Gabe began to
stabilize. She got to go home, and there
on her comfortable couch, she was surrounded by family and friends. For nine days, thousands watched and
waited—each second marked by her determination to approach life like she always
had—to its fullest. At 7:72PM on June
11, 2019, Gabe passed away.
Gabriele Grunewald never panicked . . .
instead she resolved to live life to its fullest as a gift from God. She had the resolve to never give up on that
gift. With grace and grit, Gabe
demonstrated and bestowed a parting gift—she showed that amid even the heaviest
of life’s tasks and the most uncertain circumstances, there is never a
situation so dark that light cannot shine through, never a scenario so bleak
that hope has no place.
Not today.
Not today, says Jesus to his
followers. Instead he tells them to live
by faith and hope . . . to live in the moment of the gift of God’s presence . .
. and, to make the best of it. Don’t
worry about what the future will bring, receive the gift of the present moment
as an opportunity to be faithful. Not
today, says Jesus . . . there is still much work to be done. Amen.
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