Scripture/Sermon of the Day

25 “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. 26 People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27 Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in a cloud’ with power and great glory. 28 Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

29 Then he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees; 30 as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. 31 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. 32 Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. 33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

34 “Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, 35 like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. 36 Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place and to stand before the Son of Man.”

I. Jesus described people as feeling DISTRESSED, CONFUSED, and AFRAID. When people are feeling all these — they’re probably angry too. When things aren’t going well, sometimes people cope by becoming frustrated and angry. Jesus says we will be tempted to take drugs to find some kind of relief from all the bad feelings. When we don’t feel good, we try to find ways to relieve ourselves of the stress and anxiety — like alcohol, or weed, or nicotine, or — shooting a gun.

II. There are signs of distress and anger all around us. I still have a powerful image a man who tried to cope with his anger because he was so distressed about something he saw on social media —

Do you remember the controversy about the product Bud Light — when a transgender woman — the TikTok influencer DYLAN MULVANEY — promoted the beer with a short video on social media to attract a younger audience to the product.

It triggered an ANGRY backlash from American conservatives, including the singer Kid Rock — who helped instigate a boycott against Bud Light and all Anheuser-Busch products.

So Kid Rock made a video of his own where he took cases of Bud Light and made a target out of them and shot all these cases of Bud Light to pieces with his assault rifle.

Because many Americans who feel that homosexuality and lesbianism and being transgender and really anything that is not clearly male and female is evil and bad and unAmerican — and the only Godly way to respond to such “evil” genderfluidity — is with manly power and no better symbol for this hypermasculinity than an assault rifle that can tear anything in it’s way to pieces. So hyper-man Kid Rock took his rock-hard—deadly-phallic-symbol assault rifle and blew those Bud Light beer cases to pieces — frothy beer exploding all over the place as Kid Rock released his unbearable load of anger, at least for the moment.

Another way people deal with their terrible feelings is by RELEASING SOME OF THAT TOXIC EMOTION ON THE ROADS. SPEEDING CAN RELEASE THE RAGE, or cutting in front of people — or not letting people merge onto the road in front of you. Or blaring your horn at someone when they do merge, or if their car doesn’t start immediately after the light changes. WE CAN COPE WITH OUR ANGER BY BEING OBNOXIOUS JERKS ON THE ROAD. UNLOAD OUR RAGE ON THE ROAD!

IV. A man wrote an article in the Washington Post about his experiences as an anger management counselor— he sees people who are court-ordered to take his class. Many cite anger as a cause of their speeding. A young man said:

“I mean — we all get angry, right? You blame other people. You blame other things. You blame other people on the road for how they’re not driving or whatever it is. BUT YOU PLAY A PART IN EVERYTHING, DUDE — TRUST ME.”

V. One young woman who was ticketed for driving 107 in a 65 mile an hour zone said she spends more and more time on social media and she was feeling hopeless. The war in Gaza made her feel “a dark hole of hopelessness.” And then there are the videos of influencers sitting on the beach, traveling to places she had never been — “in a competition of who’s doing better, who has this, who has that, who’s making more money, who’s right, who’s wrong” — so feeling all the distress, confusion, fear and envy — and hopelessness — she felt she had to go out and drive her car a hundred seven miles an hour.

VI. Two thousand years ago, Jesus warned us about this. He said there would be times when we felt bad — we’d feel distress, anger — we’d feel hopeless —

And we’d be tempted to find release for our suffering — through drugs or violence. We’d find comfort in things that made us feel more powerful — we’d vote in elections for people who seemed powerful — and we’d buy guns — big guns — assault rifles — and just obliterate things — like symbols for diversity and inclusion, like Bud Light — we could take our object of power and just blow them up — take our anger and power and destroy, demolish, obliterate stuff we don’t like — and for a moment feel less hopeless, less frightened, less weak and small. FEEL THE POWER!

VII. But resist that temptation, Jesus said — “AND OPEN YOUR EYES BECAUSE YOU WILL SEE I AM THERE WITH YOU IN THE CHAOS AND PAIN. YOUR REDEMPTION IS NEAR — I AM WITH YOU WITH GREAT POWER AND GLOROY — LOOK — BE ALERT — I AM WITH YOU!”

Don’t give in to the worry, Jesus says. He is with us. So instead of driving like a lunatic, or destroying a case of beer — or getting drunk or high — Look and see — Jesus is with us. Feel his peace, and strength and presence — and love one another. Only love will save us, even as the world and everything else falls apart.