Grace and peace to you from God the Father, his son Jesus Christ our Lord and the Holy Spirit. 

In our gospel reading today, Mark takes us on an apocalyptic journey. 

As the disciples marvel, “Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!” 

Objects that appear indestructible, beyond belief, yet will be thrown down, their future is limited. 

Apocalyptic literature, theologically known as eschatology, predicts and ponders,“The Last Things”, and the end of time. 

A great example of this is the book of Revelation, what bible commentator’s call our gospel reading today, Mark’s “Little Apocalypse”. 

I think you’ll agree that a good story deserves a good ending. 

The life of Jesus is a wonderful story, but it is so much more how we as Christians follow Jesus in our own lives. 

Where does your story with Jesus begin and where does it end? The disciples' questions to discover the end of time are similar to our own. What will be the signs? 

How will we know? 

Jesus warns us, “ Beware that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he! And they will lead many astray.” 

What large stones, what large buildings, what large ears you have, What!

I’m going to share a familiar story, called, “Little Red Riding Hood”, have you heard it before? 

Once upon a time, there was a little girl who lived in a village near a forest, much like here in Finland. 

Whenever she went out, the little girl wore a red riding cloak, so everyone in the village called her Little Red Riding Hood. 

One morning, Little Red Riding Hood asked her mother if she could go visit her grandmother as it had been a while since they had seen each other. 

“That’s a good idea,” her mother said. So they packed a nice basket for Little Red Riding Hood to take to her grandmother. 

When the basket was ready, the little girl put on her red cloak and kissed her mother goodbye. 

“Remember, go straight to Grandma’s house,” her mother cautioned. “Don’t dawdle along the way and please don’t talk to strangers! The woods are dangerous.” 

“Don’t worry, mommy,” said Little Red Riding Hood, “I’ll be careful.” 

But when little Red Riding Hood noticed some lovely flowers in the woods, she forgot her promise to her mother. She picked a few, watched butterflies flit about for a while, listened to the frogs croaking and then picked a few more. 

Little Red Riding Hood was enjoying the warm summer day so much that she didn’t notice a dark shadow approaching out of the forest behind her.

“What are you doing out here little girl?” the wolf asked in a voice as friendly as he could muster. 

“I’m on my way to see my Grandma who lives through the forest, near the brook,” Little Red Riding Hood replied. 

Then she realized how late she was and quickly excused herself, rushing down the path to her Grandma’s house. 

The wolf, in the meantime, took a shortcut… 

The wolf, a little out of breath from running, arrived at Grandma’s and knocked lightly on the door. 

“Oh thank goodness dear! Come in, come in! I was worried sick that something had happened to you in the forest,“ said Grandma thinking that the knock was her granddaughter. 

The wolf let himself in. Poor Granny did not have time to say another word, before the wolf gobbled her up! 

The wolf let out a satisfied burp, and then poked through Granny’s wardrobe to find a nightgown that he liked. He added a frilly sleeping cap, and for good measure, dabbed some of granny’s perfume behind his pointy ears. 

A few minutes later, Red Riding Hood knocked on the door. The wolf jumped into bed and pulled the covers over his nose. “Who is it?” he called in a cackly voice. 

“It’s me, Little Red Riding Hood.” 

“Oh how lovely! Do come in, my dear,” croaked the wolf.

When Little Red Riding Hood entered the little cottage, she could scarcely recognize her Grandmother. 

“Grandmother! Your voice sounds so odd. Is something the matter?” she asked. 

“Oh, I just have a touch of a cold,” squeaked the wolf adding a cough at the end to prove the point. 

“But Grandmother! What big ears you have,” said Little Red Riding Hood as she edged closer to the bed. 

“The better to hear you with, my dear,” replied the wolf. 

“But Grandmother! What big eyes you have,” said Little Red Riding Hood. “The better to see you with, my dear,” replied the wolf. 

“But Grandmother! What big teeth you have,” said Little Red Riding Hood, her voice quivering slightly. 

“The better to eat you with, my dear,” roared the wolf and he leapt out of the bed and began to chase the little girl. 

Almost too late, Little Red Riding Hood realized that the person in bed was not her Grandmother, but a hungry wolf. 

She ran across the room and through the door, shouting, “Help! Wolf!” as loudly as she could. 

A woodsman who was chopping logs nearby heard her cry and ran towards the cottage as fast as he could. 

He grabbed the wolf and made him spit out the poor Grandmother who was a bit frazzled by the whole experience, but still in one piece. “Oh Grandma,

I was so scared!” sobbed Little Red Riding Hood, “I’ll never speak to strangers or dawdle in the forest again.” 

“There, there, child. You’ve learned an important lesson. Thank goodness you shouted loud enough for this kind woodsman to hear you!” 

The woodsman knocked out the wolf and carried him deep into the forest where he wouldn’t bother people any longer. 

Little Red Riding Hood and her Grandmother had a nice lunch and a long chat. 

Mark writes that Jesus is having a long chat with Peter, James, John and Andrew, sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple. 

The disciples are desperate to understand how this temple could be destroyed, thrown down in ruins. 

Jesus gives them a glimpse into the future, a revelation of the end times; not only the temple, but false leaders, wars, natural disasters, nation against nation, famines, yet this is but the beginning. 

Not a very agreeable ending at all, unless you believe that what we see as the end is actually the birth pangs of a new beginning. 

The new beginning starts with Jesus. 

Jesus is our hope, yet how do we stay on the path and follow Jesus? 

Along that path there are countless distractions and wonders that pull us away from safety from a new beginning. 

While Little Red Riding Hood appears to end on a happy note, as most fables do, they are based in reality, experiences we all have.

Through life we learn many important lessons, some the hard way. 

Like Little Red Riding Hood we often fail to see the wolf behind the disguise. 

Jesus tells us what to look for, what we’ll experience, yet sometimes we miss the clues; when Grandma couldn’t possibly have such large ears, when the temple stones couldn’t possibly fall. 

Jesus alerts us to beware, no different than Little Red Riding Hood's mother cautioning her to go straight to Grandmother’s house. 

Am I, are you, walking along a path with Jesus? 

Psalm 16:11 “You show me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy, and in your right hand are pleasures for evermore.” 

I encourage you to think about and pray where you are in God’s world. 

A joyful opportunity to be, to love others like there is only today, no to do list to measure up to be freedom to truly love. 

Think of the circle of life, creation that always comes back to God. 

Perhaps it’s not a timeline at all, more like a circle that brings us back to the places where we experience the birth pangs of life. 

I am blessed with three children and a beautiful wife who brought these children into the world through the tremendous, indescribable pains of childbirth. 

The temple was destroyed by the Romans around 70 CE/AD, the disciples may still have been around to witness this pain.

Imagine the shock and reality you may have felt on 9/11, or when our church burned to the ground. 

Jesus is there with us, this is not the end. 

I am the alpha and the omega, both the beginning and the end. God reveals God’s love through Jesus Christ. 

A love that doesn’t come from buildings, fancy robes, or long speeches. 

Jesus leads us to righteousness with an awareness that we have the gift of faith that embraces us and guides us to eternal life together with Christ. 

Together with those we love, we share the love of Jesus in a meal, and offer praise and thanks. 

What a big heart you have! 

All the better to love you with. 

AMEN