Sunday message · Good News (2020) series
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Message Summary
In the first message of Good News, a Christmas series begun in the midst of COVID, Pastor Phillip Santillan turns to Mark 13, not a Christmas passage, he admits, but perfect for talking about hope. He opens with a counselor’s observation that people are stretched so thin their emotions sit close to the surface, and says he has never pastored through anything like this. What believers and skeptics alike need most, he believes, is the gospel, which literally means good news.
But unless we look for good news, we do not find it. A vulture searches for dead things and finds them, while a hummingbird searches for sweet nectar and finds that. “If you want to have good news,” Phil says, “you have to set your sights on good news.” Paul urges believers to let God transform them by changing the way they think, so that they come to know his good, pleasing and perfect will (Romans 12:2). And the one thing that changes everything is the gospel.
This week’s focus is hope, which we could all use more of, for ourselves and for fearful neighbors and loved ones. So Phil asks where our hopes are placed: in a candidate, a party or a movement, in an ideal of how we want to live, or in another person we believe would finally satisfy our hearts.
In Mark 13, set between Palm Sunday and the Last Supper, the disciples hope Jesus will restore their land and temple, as crowds have just shouted Hosanna, which means save us. But when one of them marvels at the temple’s massive stones, Jesus replies that not one stone will be left on another (verses 1–2). On the Mount of Olives, Peter, James, John and Andrew privately ask when this will happen, and Jesus does not sugarcoat it: deceivers, wars, earthquakes and famines, and followers handed over to courts and flogged (verses 5–9). Yet he adds that the gospel must be preached to all nations (verse 10). Even amid COVID, Phil stresses, the mission remains the same.
Jesus also says that heaven and earth will pass away but his words never will (verse 31), and he urges everyone to stay alert, like servants awaiting the master of the house. Phil explains that in these last moments before the cross, Jesus taught that hope is not found in our circumstances but in what he has accomplished, is accomplishing and promises to accomplish. He admits he rarely thinks about his own life in light of Jesus’ return, and wonders whether the church has become too fixated on the present.
He closes with Romans 8, where Paul says present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory to be revealed, and that nothing, not even COVID, Phil adds, can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. He asks where we are placing our hope. Many already dread Christmas 2020, and if that is what we look for, we will find it. Or we can place our hope in God’s love and find real hope.
Questions about Mark 13
The Olivet Discourse is Jesus’ teaching on the Mount of Olives about the coming destruction of the temple and the end, recorded in Mark 13 (also Matthew 24 and Luke 21). After Jesus said not one stone of the temple would be left on another, Peter, James, John and Andrew asked him privately when it would happen. He warned of deceivers, wars, earthquakes, famines and persecution, and told everyone to stay alert.
Jesus was predicting that the temple would be completely destroyed. When a disciple marveled at its magnificent stones, he replied, “Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down” (Mark 13:2). Pastor Phil notes that the disciples hoped Jesus would restore their land and temple. Instead, Jesus told them plainly what was coming, and that “the gospel must first be proclaimed to all the nations” (13:10).
It means Jesus’ words will outlast the universe itself: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away” (Mark 13:31). He said it after warning his disciples about wars, earthquakes and persecution, then urged them to stay alert like servants awaiting their master. Pastor Phil explains that Jesus taught hope is not found in our circumstances but in what he has accomplished, is accomplishing and promises to accomplish.
Because no one knows when he will return. Jesus said, “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (Mark 13:32), and compared his followers to servants awaiting the master of the house. Pastor Phil admits he rarely thinks about his own life in light of Jesus’ return and wonders whether the church has become too fixated on the present.