Mark 13:32-37 - Because No One Knows - November 21, 2021

The Bible contains many passages that describe the end of the world. Some of them are troubling – even to Christians. One of the more troubling is before us this morning. Jesus says no one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. That’s pretty troubling, isn’t it? How can God the Son not know the time of his own return? Is he, therefore, not really equal to God the Father in regard to his knowledge of all things? (Is he not really God?) Most of all, how is Jesus’ apparent ignorance of the most important Day in human history supposed to be comforting? Didn’t he come to give comfort and peace; not fear and uncertainty? How are we to handle the known unknown of Judgment Day?

It’s called xenophobia – that is, the fear of the unknown. While you may not have known the psychological term for it, I’m sure we’ve all experienced this fear in our lives. When we’re facing a new job, a new home, a different teacher, a different schedule, a new or different anything, we justify our jitters by calling it “the fear of the unknown.” Just five words can send the heart of a person of almost any age racing. “The test results are in.” If you’re young and in school, you may think of a test you took. If you’re a bit older, you may think of a medical test and what it will reveal about the status of your health. As we get older, we gain experience, we know more things – but there will always be things that we don’t know – and what we don’t know can be scary.

In fact, there is one thing that no one, no doctor, no teacher, not even your president knows – it’s called the future. No matter how hard we try, we cannot see or know anything for certain beyond this moment in which we are living. We all live with this unknown every day of our lives. What will school be like? What college and what major will I choose? What will I wind up doing for a living? Who will I marry? What’s happening to our country? What will happen to my kids or grandkids? What will retirement be like? What will I do when my spouse dies? Will I end up living in a nursing home? Questions like these can drive people to the point of insanity. Even worse, it can drive them to the point of idolatry – sending them to psychics or horoscopes or false teachers to find insight. People will run to these idols because they imagine that if they know what the future holds, even if it’s bad, at least they can prepare for it.

The truth is that the future isn’t ours to know. This is offensive to “sophisticated” people like us who think we know so much (and that if we don’t know something, we can just Google it). We can send rockets into space and develop vaccines. We have smart calendars on our phones that we think can tell us what we are going to do tomorrow, next week, and even next summer. And yet, the reality is that we don’t really know if we will have a tomorrow at all. James issued a strong warning against anyone who thinks that they know what the future holds: come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into this or that city, spend a year there, do business, and make a profit.” You do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? Indeed, it is a mist that appears for a little while and then disappears (James 4:13-14). We don’t and we cannot know what the future holds. All we know for sure is that our time on this earth is short, that our time here is running out (Psalm 90). A short life and certain death are known knowns.

Knowing that, at some point we all wind up asking: “How much time do I have?” That’s the question everyone asks sooner or later, isn’t it? Especially when sickness or disease strike. When your doctor calls to give you the test results, you might find some peace in knowing in the specific type of disease, the prognosis, the suggested treatment – but, let’s be honest, in the end only one question matters: “am I going to live or die?” The problem is that no one; not your doctor, not your pastor, not even Anthony Fauci himself can tell you how much time you have on this earth. They might be able to prescribe a certain treatment or medication that may delay death, but they can’t promise that you won’t be killed in a car accident today or that Jesus won’t return tomorrow. These are the known unknowns: I know that I will die and face judgment – but I don’t know when, where or how.

And what does my Savior say to comfort me as I face these known unknowns? He throws up his hands and says, “I don’t know either!” It’s kind of like a sad game of “Follow the Leader,” where the leader has no idea where is going. Wouldn’t it have been better for us if Jesus just kept quiet about it? If he had just continued teaching and said nothing about the end of our lives or the end of time rather than say, “Even I, the Son of God, don’t know when that will occur.”

Maybe from our perspective – but, as we know, ours is often not the best perspective…Jesus’ is. Jesus did say this and what Jesus says is always for our benefit. Let’s take one big theological step backwards. From all eternity, God the Son most certainly knows everything that the Father and Holy Spirit do. There are no secrets within the Holy Trinity. As true man, however, Jesus didn’t always make full use of his divine knowledge. These are the known knowns that God has revealed in his Word about Jesus: He gave up the full and constant use of his divine power and glory so that he could live on this earth in our place under the Law – obeying it perfectly as our substitute (2 Corinthians 5:21). He did this so that he could die for our sins (Philippians 2:5-11). When Jesus says that he doesn’t know the day or hour he will return, it’s an example of the depths to which he humbled himself for us. His life was just like ours. He had known knowns and known unknowns right in front of him – just like we do. He knows what it’s like to live with fear of the future. We need look no further than the Garden of Gethsemane for proof (Luke 22:39-46).

So where’s the comfort here? While Jesus in his humility didn’t know the date of his return, he knows who does: the Father. In John 12, Jesus tells us just what type of things the Father was interested in telling him – and in telling him, telling us: I have not spoken on my own, but the Father himself who sent me has given me a command regarding what I am to say and what I am to speak. And I know that his command is eternal life (John 12:49-50). Jesus knows that even in the face of an unknowable future, everything he does tell us has one certain, known goal: eternal life.

Therefore, if Jesus doesn’t tell us something – like the day or hour of his return in judgment – what must we conclude? That it isn’t important for our salvation! That’s good news, isn’t it? While Jesus says that he is like a man going away on a journey, and that we are to keep watch for his return, he doesn’t tell us to know the day or time when he will return. In fact, he tells us just the opposite: that you do not know when the owner of the house is coming: whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or early in the morning. This means that you don’t have to nail down the “when” of your salvation! That’s unknown. Here’s what we do know: 1) We are saved by God’s grace alone (Ephesians 2:8-9); 2) Jesus purchased our salvation by his death on Calvary’s cross 2000 years ago (John 19:30); 3) this salvation is delivered to us personally through the means of Baptism, Absolution and Holy Communion here and now (Romans 10:17). This means that knowing exactly when Jesus will return has nothing to do with our salvation.

I know it’s a strange idea, but isn’t Jesus’ ignorance comforting? During his humiliation on this earth Jesus didn’t know the timing of the Last Day – but now, even in his exaltation, he doesn’t have a clue about your sins of yesterday, last week, or last year. The Bible says that he has thrown those behind his back (Isaiah 38:17) and into the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19), and he doesn’t know where they landed. Jesus doesn’t even know what you were like before you were baptized, absolved and communed. When he – who, incidentally, happens to be the Judge – sees you, all he sees is a new creation, created like he is in true righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:24). Therefore, don’t mistake what you know for what Jesus says he doesn’t know: you may never forget the sins you’ve committed or that have been committed against you – but Jesus has; when he said it is finished (John 19:30), he forgot those sins – and so should you. Cherish Jesus’ ignorance – because what Jesus doesn’t know will save you!

So here’s what we know: the future isn’t ours to know and Jesus’ ignorance is comforting. But what about the elephant in the room: what can or should we do about the fact that we don’t know when our Lord will return to take us home – either through death or through his coming on the Last Day? Make no mistake, no one on earth knows when this will happen. You might be here next year to celebrate the Last Sunday in the Church year – or you might not. Same with me. What can we do about this final great known unknown? Well, you can do one of two things: you can either worry or watch.

It’s understandable that unbelievers would worry about the “when” of the Last Day. They should be worried. They have no “knowns” to place against this last, greatest “unknown.” By definition, unbelievers refuse to acknowledge who they are, where they came from, where they are going – more importantly, they are blind to God – who God is, what he’s done for them, and what he’s preparing to do. And because of this unbelieving blindness they haven’t a clue as to what they should be doing or believing during their brief lives on earth. And isn’t that ignorance glaringly obvious today? The only thing unbelievers appear to know today is that they are against anything and everything God has instituted. They have taken their stand against creation, against marriage, against the church, against law and order, against the family and even against gender itself. And yet, in their battle against God, in their search for comfort from their worry, what have they actually achieved? They’ve only succeeded in replacing God’s “known” institutions with their own “unknown,” undefined, and aimless lives here on earth. Don’t let the media fool you: LGBTQ individuals are not happy; divorce is always tragic; and trying your best to be “environmentally responsible” does absolutely nothing to alleviate the fear of knowing that a Day of Judgment is coming. Unbelievers can only and always worry about the Last Day because they know nothing about the One who is coming.

But that’s not you. You don’t have to be worried. You know who is coming and you know why he’s coming – to take you to heaven. That’s why instead of worrying you do something far more productive and beneficial: you watch. During his humiliation Jesus didn’t know when the Last Day would come, but he did know what his servants should be doing: it is like a man going away on a journey. When he left his home, he put his servants in charge and assigned what each one was to do. He also commanded the doorkeeper to keep watch. Therefore, keep watch.

Don’t worry; keep watch. How? Many have severely misinterpreted (or maybe overinterpreted) what Jesus means when he tells us to keep watch. But Jesus is simply using this parable to illustrate that as we await his return we are simply to be doing what he has told us to do – thereby placing what the Lord has given us as “known” against the “unknown” of the timing of his return. What do we know? We know where God has placed us: are you a father or mother, a husband or wife, a son or daughter, an employer or employee? Then you know what God has given you to do here and now. Most importantly, you know that God has given you his Baptism, Absolution and Communion as tangible signs of his eternal love for you. So even if we don’t know the “when,” we do know the “who” and the “why.” We know that the same Jesus who was born in a manger for us, who lived a perfect life for us, who died on the cross for our sins and who rose again is coming to take us to live with him in heaven forever. And when you know the “who” and the “why” – the “when” doesn’t really matter, does it?

So what should we do in the meantime as we wait for the unknown day of Jesus’ return? Stick to what you know! Watch. Work. Live. Love God and the people around you. And trust that through the means of grace Jesus is preparing you to receive him whenever he returns. In the end, that’s all we really need to know. Amen.