By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
November 30, 2025
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Matthew 24:36–44 (ESV)
36 “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. 37 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, 39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. 42 Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
Today as we work through the last remnants of our Thanksgiving feasts, as we mourn the Chief’s loss to the Cowboys. We enter in to the time of year where we wait with great anticipation. Today we begin that time where we look forward to that day every child in our society eagerly wishes for the gifts under the tree. But most of all we anticipate the moment God is not longer a vague abstraction in our minds, but Emanuel, God with us.
Early in the traditions of Friends, we did not celebrate Christmas, nor did most traditions that emerged from the Anglican branches of the Church. It was called the Christ mass. It is not that these traditions did not believe in Christ, they simply felt that it was a remnant of Catholic superstition that remained active within the Protestant expressions of faith. In much of American history Christmas was not a big deal, in colonial times it was actually forbidden to celebrate. Among Friends, we did not really care about the connection to Catholicism, we did not want to study world history and point out that in the Greek, Roman, and Nordic cultures they had holidays around the same time that celebrated their pagan deities. Just so you know there are several pagan holidays that are celebrated at Easter, Christmas, Halloween, and pretty much any other traditional Christian Holiday. This is because the calendar we use and pretty much every culture has ever used bases the months on the lunar cycle, seasons and years on the solar cycle so every culture will have traditions and holidays on certain days.
The point is not the day, but what it means. And for Friends this is a big deal. No, we did not celebrate many of the major holidays until recently in our history. And by recent I means in the past hundred years. We did not celebrate the holidays for much of the same reason we do not celebrate the traditional sacraments. It is not the day, it is not the ceremony, but what is most important is that we know what meaning lies behind those symbols. For Friends, every meal we eat should be shared and it should be eaten in remembrance of God. We eat to remind us who has given us life, who sustains our life, and who redeems our lives. This cannot be adequately celebrated in a ritualistic ceremony but should be shared each and every day, three times a day, and twice more on Thanksgiving because you have to let the food settle before you eat the pie. The shared meal is communion, it is shared life, it is the building of community and an act of peace.
Baptism is something we also celebrate a bit differently. It is often described that we do not believe in baptism, that is not accurate. We believe deeply in baptism, but our understanding is different than many traditions of faith. The idea of baptism comes from a couple of different places. The first is the ritual cleansing performed by worshipers of Yahweh, these rituals might be a simple washing of the face, feet, and hands before entering the place of worship, or it might be the elaborate cleanings that were done by the Essene sect on the eastern banks of the Jordan. But there is a second view. Baptism is used in the making of fabric as well. The threads or cloth is dipped into the dye and the fabric becomes saturated with this colorful stain. It is dipped and allowed to soak the liquid in until it cannot hold any more. After this saturation, the cloth or the thread has a new purpose, it’s life is changed. It is no longer common or generic, but it is renewed and fit for special service.
When Friends speak of baptism, that is what we mean. We are so saturated with the Spirit of God, we have been so stained by the life and lifestyle of Christ that we are no longer the same as we once were. We are a new creation and we have a new purpose and life that is visible for all to see.
We also have a similar take on holy days. There was a time where we did not celebrate Easter and Christmas. It might surprise some of us that we did not even celebrate Sundays. Instead we believe that every day is a day that God has made and we should use this day to bring glory and honor to him.
Somewhere along the line, in our three hundred or so year history, we began to realized in some of our factions, that we need days to remind us of things. We need to remember Easter, the day where Jesus rose again, and it is nice to celebrate that day in the spring as life emerges again. And as the days grow dark, and the air grows colder, we can be caught in the seasonal blues. We cannot go out and do what we do in the summer sun, instead we stay at home sitting next to the space heater. We begin to argue more with those within the house because they are not going out to work in the yard, and its dark and we are tired. We need something to urge us to get up and move. We need something to remind us that the darkness is only temporary and hope remains. We need to be reminded that God is with us.
But there is a darkness in the days leading up to Christmas. There is much to do, not enough time to do it. We just get finished celebrating all the blessings that God has provided on Thanksgiving and the very next day we are out shopping the Black Friday deals. We do this because Christmas is almost here. We have less than a month. Cookies need made, meats need purchased, presents need wrapped, and our cards need to be sent. We can get so worked up about the things that need to be done that we forget to celebrate, we forget to be merry and bright.
We often forget. God urged Israel to remember. And that is why they had the Holy days, they were special days to prompt and urge the people to remember. To remember how God had taken them out of bondage in Egypt. To remember the forty years in the wilderness. To remember the preservation during the exile. And to remember how God provided oil for the lamps when it was only enough for one day, and it would require seven days to bless new oil for the sacred space. Remember.
Today’s passage is one that we do not often think of when we anticipate Christmas. And when we do read it during this time our focus is often transferred to the second Advent the return of Christ in the last days. This has become more prominent in the past century as newer theologies emerged concerning the return of Christ. These newer theologies have become so widely accepted that it is difficult to read scripture without the ideas surrounding those teachings popping up. There is a problem though, often those teachings are taking the words of scripture out of context, twisting them to means something that most likely would have been complete nonsense in the era that they were written. The reason we have the scriptures is because they are the teachings of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and they were given to humanity to help direct them in those ancient times, and today. We often forget that there was a historic framework, historic images that the authors were using to convey a message, and often those things are less common today so we consider them to point to something more contemporary. At times this might work, at other times we get the idea that the prophets were seeing helicopters instead of the throne of God.
Jesus in today’s passage is speaking to the people that had gathered around the temple. They had gone in giving their praises and offerings, and as they are leaving the disciples are in awe of the magnificence. They are walking away from the temple going toward the Mount of Olives, and the disciples keep turning back praising that they live in a place and a time where such a structure is available for them to worship in. And Jesus says to them as they praise the monument built by human hands, “You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”
This got their attention. What was he saying? How could such a massive structure fall? We would not let it. At this point Jesus gives his apocalyptic teaching. Is it a prediction of the future? Yes. But what is he predicting? For any piece of spiritual literature to be saved for as long as this has, it had to be inspiring within that generation, but it would also need to inspire the generations to come.
Jesus was speaking of the destruction of Jerusalem. He was predicting the war that would decimate the people of Israel within the next forty years, and he was speaking of the time that many of them would face trials and tribulations. When it comes to prophecy like this there is the near, and there is the the far application. They will face struggle like they had never known before, but within that struggle they were told something else, “I will come back.”
The disciples were asking him, when will this happen, how will we know? And this is where the theologies diverge. “Concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.” No one knows. No one can know. I want us to think about that for a moment. Jesus said that even the angels of heaven do not know. The angels are the messengers of God. They are the spiritual beings that go throughout the unseen realm in service of God, they are there with God. If they do not know the day or the hour, when they are with God in his very presence, why do we think someone with a calculator and some charts knows the day?
This is the problem with the newer end times theologies. It gets a great deal of attention, many people get excited, some get scared, everyone is waiting in anticipation, and then nothing happens. The prediction fails, and people look at our faith and they begin to mock. In my years here at Willow Creek the rapture was predicted at least three times, it might have been four. I have lost track. In my lifetime, at least ten times in forty-six years. And we are still waiting.
A friend of mine had an observation about this. He said that there was such a focus on the end times during our lifetime that we as a church were only focused on making sure no one was left behind, and when the the year 2000 came around and the end did not come we were in trouble, we forgot to make disciples, and now it is difficult to find pastors. We see this still. My generation was taught only to love Christ, but we were not told what it means to be a member of the church. There were thirteen students my age at my home church. Only I remain in the Friends Church of those thirteen. And I did not become a member of the Church until after I became a pastor. I did not know what it meant I did not care. But it is important because to be a member is to say to the community, this is my church and it is through this Meeting I will server my savior.
We had a generation of people trained to not be left behind, yet they were not trained to serve.
“For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man”
We could go into mythology surrounding the era of Noah, it is very interesting, but unfortunately it is not based in scripture. Many across ancient Canaan have similar stories, which some believe discredits scripture. I personally feel that it intensifies scripture. If we read a news story from multiple perspectives, it will usually give us a broader understanding of the truth, but when we include the reporting from a news source outside of our society we gain an even greater perspective. This is why I will read news from multiple perspectives and will usually include BBC along with it. But those myths all speak of humanity seeking greater knowledge and power. They were looking for some way to give them some upper hand against their perceived enemies. Some even say that the gods came down and made children with humanity to bring up some hybrid creature to rule the nations. Scripture calls these creatures giants.
This activity, this urgent and reckless pursuit of power placed the world in danger. And God was saddened that he had created humanity, so he decided to call out to the one righteous family. He inspired them to build an ark and through this family all of creation would be saved. But what about everyone else? There were countless people just existing in the world, they did not have any political aspirations, all they wanted to do was survive.
This is what Jesus is speaking about. People were eating and drinking, marrying and giving into marriage. They were just getting by day by day. Yet they were not unaware. They knew what was going on in their nations. They knew the kings, and warlords were conspiring against each other. They knew that there were questionable activities going on within the circles of power. They also knew that there was a man building a boat. A man that was telling everyone that God was going to release the waters of the sky and flood the earth. That man urged the people to repent and the only ones that listened were his own children. And even they might have thought he had gone crazy in his old age.
They could not claim ignorance. They could not claim that they were good people. Everyone had an opportunity and they were to busy, to distracted, to consumed with their own affairs to recognize the dire situation they were in.
“Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left.” This passage is often used to justify the theological perspective of the rapture, it is not wrong to believe this, but I want us to be aware that these words can be taken in a couple of ways, and Jesus does not give any clear direction as to which is correct. The words for taken and left can be both positive and negative.
Taken can mean accepted or received. It can mean to be given authority or jurisdiction within the kingdom. Or it can mean can also mean to stand in judgment. As for left, it can mean to remain unaffected, left over, or not used. As you can see they can be positive and negative either way you look at it. Which actually supports most of the end times theological positions.
But I want us to look at this a different way. If taken is to be received, accepted and given authority we could seen as similar to the call of the disciples to follow Jesus. In fact this is often how it is used throughout ancient cultures, it is often used as a teacher accepting a student. Jesus is saying that the world you know might be falling apart. Everything you once built your life upon is swept away like the flood in the days of Noah. The worldly powers we once knew have fallen from their place of prominence and in their place various groups are emerging to become the new order.
One is taken and one is left. One is given authority, one is called, one has been given an opportunity to minister to the people, to participate in the Kingdom of God. These that have been taken in this manner are active in the world, they are ministering to those that are hungry, caring for those that are sick. They are providing shelter for those who are unhoused and orphaned. They are living the love of Jesus within the community. They are being light houses of hope in the midst of chaos. There is something else. One man is called and one is left behind. One woman is called and one is left behind. Jesus is telling us that both men and women have an opportunity, and a place within the kingdom. If God calls us, he will equip us and God will use anyone.
One is take, but the other is left. The other is unused. They remain within the chaotic framework of the fallen world. They are eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage. They are thoroughly consumed by just getting by. Like the people in the days of Noah, they have seen and heard. They have been given an opportunity and yet they are too busy to respond, to distracted to listen.
Jesus tells us to stay awake. Be alert, keep watch, because we do not know on what day your Lord is coming.
Stay awake. Be aware of what is going on, and respond. As people called and accepted by God, we have been given something important, we have been given his name to bear in the world. We have been commissioned to be his image bearers in the world. We are given a task to go into the world and bring all into submission to his authority. We cannot do this if we are unaware of what is going on. We cannot do this if we blindly accept one side of the political spectrum and condemn the other. We cannot bear his image if we do not actively advocate for all of creation as sacred and holy to our Lord.
This week as I considered this passage, I have been challenged. Are we eating and drinking, marrying and being given in marriage? Are we just getting by or are we awake? Are we sitting around waiting for the end to come, or are we actively participating and showing those around us that there is a different life and lifestyle that we could be living?
We look at this passage and so often we see it as a confirmation of our theological ideas. But I hope that we now see that there might have been something else in Jesus’s mind. There will be times where all is good, and there will be a time where nothing seems to be going right. Are we seeing where we are? There will be a time of plenty where we can share the bounty of the harvest with thanksgiving, and there will be a time where darkness seems to engulf the world, will we be beacons of light?
Will we in this moment become a people loving God, embracing the Holy Spirit, and living the love of Christ with others. Will we recognize that it is Christ through whom all things were created and sustained as we share a meal with one another. Will we encourage those around us to be saturated with the Spirit and the teaching of Christ, so that they leave our presence as something changed and something new? Will we celebrate this day as a day the lord has made. Holy and sacred not because it is Sunday, not because it is the first day of Advent, but because we are alive in Christ and have been taken, accepted, and commissioned to participate in his kingdom today and forever.
We do not know when Christ will return, but we can be awake and active in our lives. We can know his teaching, and explore how to express those teaching among the people we spend our days and nights. We can be ready, and we can help others as they too prepare.
As we go out today let us remember that we do not know, and we cannot know when the end will come for us individually or collectively. We do not know, but we can live with the hope and assurance that Jesus has come and will come again. He showed us how to live a life with God, and he provided a way through his life, death, and resurrection. And through Him we have the hope that the end is not the end it is only the beginning of something new.
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church May 10, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 3:13–22 (ESV) 13 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church May 03, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 2:2–10 (ESV) 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3 if indeed you have…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 26, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Query 4 (Faith and Practice of EFC-MAYM pg 61) Do you provide for the suitable Christian education and recreation of your children and those under your care, and…
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By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
November 16, 2025
Click here to join our Meeting for Worship
Luke 21:5–19 (ESV)
5 And while some were speaking of the temple, how it was adorned with noble stones and offerings, he said, 6 “As for these things that you see, the days will come when there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” 7 And they asked him, “Teacher, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when these things are about to take place?” 8 And he said, “See that you are not led astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is at hand!’ Do not go after them. 9 And when you hear of wars and tumults, do not be terrified, for these things must first take place, but the end will not be at once.” 10 Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. 11 There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. 12 But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake. 13 This will be your opportunity to bear witness. 14 Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, 15 for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. 16 You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. 17 You will be hated by all for my name’s sake. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 By your endurance you will gain your lives.
I am not one to speak a great deal about the end of the age. I heard enough about this when I was growing up since I was coming of age during the year 2000, which places me firmly in the Xennial generation, not quite Gen X or Millennial. I heard nearly every Sunday in the late 90’s messages to prepare me and everyone else in our community for the turmoil that would soon be upon us at the turn of the millennia. I do not want to cast shade on the leaders in those days, they were being diligent in their proclamations, they were honest in their concern, and I was right there with them. In hindsight though, it became clear that we took things a bit too far.
This is why I tend to shy away from proclamations on the end of the age. We do not know and we cannot know when that day will come. At best all we can do is what Jesus tells us to do, be ready for the return. Which he spoke about in the parable of the ten virgins, the ones that brought extra oil for their lamps were the ones that accompanied the bridegroom, those that were not prepared were left in the darkness.
Jesus does, however, speak in apocalyptic terms.
To be able to understand this portion of scripture it is important to consider the wider context of scripture. Christian leaders speak a lot about context. We encourage those that study scripture to refrain from taking one verse from within a passage and develop a theological stance on that one verse. We discourage this because that verse is part of a wider literary work. There are sentences and paragraphs that go with that one verse that will give us more information on what is being said. The more we get into study it becomes even more difficult. You begin to learn the original language and how certain words were used in other instances, and suddenly what seemed easy to understand becomes more layered. Even veteran pastors can misinterpret passages, I am not an exception to this.
We speak of context and usually we think of this in a literary sense. When we are learning to read our teachers tell us to use the words before or after the word we might not understand to derive the meaning from the context. Usually this is enough. But when we consider scripture we also need additional information.
Our world is different in comparison to first century Judea. There are some similarities, because most societies have similarities, but there are nuances within a time and place that can change what someone might mean with their verbiage.
I will admit that when I am reading anything, it does not matter if it is a contemporary novel, Greek mythology, or scripture, everything takes place in North Central Kansas in my mind. When they speak of a town or city, it is my hometown or maybe Hays. If it happens to be a large city, I might think of Kansas City or Wichita. I cannot imagine anything different because I have no reference to it unless I happen to have seen a picture of the scenery depicted in the story. For the most part this is not a problem, but it can be an issue.
Take for instance the parable of the good Samaritan. We are told that the priest and the Levite went across the road to avoid the man who had fallen victim to the robbers. In my mind, I imagine this to be like a skunk that was hit by a car and I would just move over on the wide roadway to avoid getting a filthily disease, because my grandmother taught me well. If we do not know what the terrain of the road going from Jerusalem to Jericho was like we would completely miss something important to the story. That road was a narrow mountain trail, wide enough for camels and donkey’s to carry goods through, but still treacherous. Those men by crossing to the other side of the road, were likely risking their lives to avoid the man.
The context of Jesus’ apocalyptic speaking is important. The temple of Yahweh was not a small church building, it was not even a grand cathedral that we might see in pictures on the internet. Our minds cannot even fathom the grandeur of this complex because there is not a building around today that comes close to it.
There is a restaurant in Independence, called Jerusalem Cafe. It is a very good place to eat if you like Mediterranean food. In this cafe they have a panoramic picture of Jerusalem. Nearly two thirds of that image is the Temple Mount on which the Dome of the Rock currently resides. Imagine a city where the vast majority of what could be seen from the distance was a single building? For those of you that have visited Israel you understand this better than most of us. The Dome of the Rock is impressive, but that building only occupies a fraction of what the original temple occupied.
The Temple of Yahweh was the single greatest religious structure in ancient history. It was so fascinating that many academics believe that the depictions were exaggerations. They do not believe that one building could be so awesome. But I want us to consider something. When you think of Rome what is the first image that pops into your mind? It is likely the Colosseum. That structure did not exist at this time. Nothing that we can think of as iconic to Rome existed during this time frame, and it can be argued that the wealth plundered from the Jewish Wars is what financed the construction of Rome as we know it.
The people were speaking of the temple. They were remarking on the awesome architecture and wealth represented by it. In their minds the God and the people represented by that amazing structure were great. And they were great. For the size of the nation Israel has influence beyond reason, even today. That a nation representing 0.12% of the world population is allied to some degree with every major nation, and their needs often dictate global policy is astounding. The size of that nations is less than Hungary, Greece, and Sweden. It is even less than Cuba. Yet everyone know of this one nation, yet few people know of a similarly sized nation Azerbaijan.
This was a powerful and influential nation. It has always sat between great empires. Egypt and Assyria, Babylon and Greece, Rome and Persia, as well as the United State and Russia. They have been conquered and ruled over, yet have always remained autonomous to some degree, even when they have not occupied their land.
The context surrounding this interaction is that. Israel with its grand temple is occupied by a great empire. Israel is unique in the empire. Most conquered nations were required to adapt to Roman rule, yet Israel maintained some degree of self rule. The people were not required to worship the Roman pantheon and they did not have to offer sacrifices to the Emperor as many others were required to do. They refused this, and they stood in opposition, even violent opposition when anyone tried. That had these unique rights that other people groups did not have, and yet they were still defiant. Rome tried to appease them, because they needed that land. They needed control over Israel because the silk road, the spice route the historic veins of trade all passed through this one nation. And Rome want, Rome needed these luxurious items. But Israel pushed back against their overlords. They did not like that they were subject to someone outside their culture. They did not think it was proper for them to live under any law other than the law given to them by God through Moses.
Each year they lived like this. Each year the tension grew between the Emperor and Israel. Riots would break out at times, and one side or the other would make concessions to restore order. And Israel remained defiant. And this magnificent building, this beacon of wealth and power stood as a testimony in the face of the empire.
This temple was more than a religious site. It was more than a cultural icon. It was a testimony of power. Every time the light of the sun glinted off the gilded structure it sent laser beams of defiance to the heart of the empire. It screamed that there is a power greater than Rome at play in the world. Israel knew this, Rome knew this, even today’s world knows this. Everyone knew that eventually there would be a clash. And this is what Jesus speaks of in today’s passage.
The sides are gathering, the tensions are rising. Each side has in their minds a divine mandate to proceed. Both sides are unwilling to compromise because in their mind to compromise is to defy their deeply held beliefs, beliefs they feel as justified and right. The tensions did continue to rise.
Jesus tells those that were in awe of the temple, that the days will come when there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” These words shocked those that heard him. They plead with him to tell them when these things would come to be. They asked him to tell them what signs would warn them.
Jesus answered them, “See that you are not led astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’, and, ‘The time is at hand!’ Do not go after them. And when you hear of wars and tumults, do not be terrified, for these things must first take place, but the end will not be at once.”
See, Jesus says. He commands us to watch carefully, to observe, and consider what is going on around us. He encourages us to listen carefully at the words being spoken by those in seats of power and to not be led astray. Observe so that you are not mislead.
This is something that is very important. The idea of being mislead would mean that somewhere along the line, those within hearing had been distracted from the main objective. At some point some lessor issue had replaced the one thing that is paramount. The main objective has been so skewed that those involved would be willing to take up arms against the people around them to force change.
See that you are not led astray.
What is the most important thing? What are we supposed to be focused on in this world? Your answer to these questions are important. Every decision, every vote, every time you make a purchase, or head to your job is colored by those answers. The answer that we give is how we interact with the people around us.
We often miss what Jesus is saying as we read this passage. He is telling them that their focus is on the temple. Their focus is on the people that built the temple, the greatness of the society that could pull off such a remarkable feat. They are in love with themselves, and the works of their hands. The same could be said about their opposition. Israel has a great temple. Rome has a great empire. Israel has an abundance of wealth and people dedicated to the preservation of this wonder of human construction. Rome has might, and an army that has conquered the known world. They have legions dedicated to the preservation of the empire.
We have the kingdoms of the world, a clash of cultures, and the serenade of societies. One is built on strength and the other is built on religious philosophy, but neither is focused on the things that are most important to God. They have been led astray.
The people look at Jesus in shock. And he continues by telling the that everything we have built our lives upon will come crashing down, everything we once thought was unmovable will be moved. Jerusalem fell within a generation of Jesus’s words. Rome also fell. There is nothing in this world immune from an end. But Jesus does not stop. He said, “This will be your opportunity to bear witness.”
“This will be your opportunity!”
At this point Luke gives us the second command from Jesus in today’s passage. The first was See. The second is Settle, or resolution. He says, “Settle it therefore in you minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.”
Do not resolve what you will say. This seems contrary to wisdom. How are we supposed to prepare ourselves to face the end of an age without formulating a plan? This is where the early Friends derived their understanding of worship. Our spiritual ancestors rejected the clergy, they opposed the idea that one person could speak for God, which makes it difficult to be a pastor within this tradition. Where do we gain our authority, how are we to lead those among us?
Jesus is not saying that we should not study. He does not advise us that we should not seek out wisdom and understanding. He is simply telling us that we are going to face the unexpected. And because we will face the unexpected we should not rely on our own understanding, our own wisdom, our own supposed greatness to carry us into the future.
We should instead recognize who we are. Each of us is a child of God, created in his image, and given a task to bring the world under his influence. We are image bearers. We are not God, only individuals that reflect that of God to those around us. We should not settle it in our minds to formate an answer because we do not know exactly what we will encounter. But we should settle and meditate on who we are to God, and who the people around us are as well.
See that we are not led astray. Settle it not to meditate on an answer beforehand, but be ready to respond in a moment to reflect the light of God.
This is at the heart of our mission statement here at Willow Creek. Our statement is that we are a people loving God, embracing the Holy Spirit and living the love of Christ with others. This statement of purpose, this mission we have dedicated our community to is one that reflects the life of our savior. Jesus loved God as he made it his custom to worship with the community. He withdrew often to isolated places to pray and embrace the Holy Spirit. And after he prayed, he would reengage the community through service and teaching.
The apostle Paul saw this life and lifestyle and encouraged the church to it on themselves. Put on the full armor, he says. Or follow me as I follow Christ. Or again, putting away the old and taking on the new life that is offered through Christ. As Paul taught these things he also told us to submit to the authorities and to do good for those around us because against such things there is no law.
See, Settle not to give an answer but live an answer, and finally the last command is to Gain your lives.
We are going to face struggle. Some will appreciate the good we do in the name of Christ. Some will like what they see, and may even respond and join us. But there will be others that will hate us. I have felt this many times in my life. In high school, I was called a freak for four years because I refused to go to the parties with everyone else in my class. This was so much a part of my life at the time, that I took the name on for myself, putting a license plate frame on my car proudly displaying it, and it was my email address until I started applying for jobs when I graduated from college. My classmates could not stand that I did not join them in their illegal activities. I went to a small school, and it got pretty lonely taking a stand, yet when I was in college many of my classmates told me how much they appreciated my stance, because it gave them the strength to say no themselves when they wanted to.
It was not always bad, I enjoyed most of my time in school, and to be honest I could care less what my classmates were doing, I had my reasons for my choices and I was not going to change. Mainly because I lived so far from town and I was not about to lose my drivers license and ride the bus again. I never retaliated and instead continued to treat them as I always would. But I would be lying if it was not hard.
What is the most important things in life? Is it the power of a worldly empire? Is it the size and grandeur of our meeting spaces? Or is it the people, the fellow image bearers of God?
God so loved the world that he gave his unique son not to condemn the world but to save it. God loved us so much that Jesus left heaven for a human lifespan, he experienced a complete human life with and for us. He showed us what life with God truly was in how he lived among us. And he said we are his friends if we join him in his mission and enact his teachings. We can face the end of our age, we can face abuse, rejection, war, and famine with joy because we know that Jesus is with us in it all. That God is with us in it all. And he did not shy away from any of it as he faced rejection, loss, torture and death for our sake. Not only did he face it, he counted as joy because he had the opportunity to redeem.
This will be your opportunity to bear witness. But what will people see and hear? Will they see the hope of Christ through you?
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 19, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 1:17–23 (ESV) 17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 12, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 1:3–9 (ESV) 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 05, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili John 20:1–18 (ESV) 1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the…
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By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
November 09, 2025
Click Here to Join our Meeting for Worship
Luke 20:27–39 (ESV)
27 There came to him some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, 28 and they asked him a question, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. 29 Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died without children. 30 And the second 31 and the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died. 32 Afterward the woman also died. 33 In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife.” 34 And Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, 35 but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, 36 for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. 37 But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. 38 Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him.” 39 Then some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you have spoken well.”
Our current age has a variety of opinions about just about everything. These opinions are usually fine, except there are times where we hold our opinions so ridged that we are unable to adjust the situations we face.
I have been on both sides of these discussions. I have been the one that was unable to see around my own ego, and I have been the one that could see the gaping flaws in an opinion held by someone else. I have found as I have become more mature in mind and in faith, that there is a great deal more I do not understand. The more I travel around our country and world, I have come to realize that there really are different ways to do things. I have noticed that certain areas have issues that other areas do not face. That is why we should be quick to listen and slow to speak.
I grew up in rural Kansas. I learned to drive a car at the age of five because someone needed to follow the tractor to help move from one field to another. We had to have firearms because when our livestock faced danger, we could not wait for animal control. We learned how to do basic first aid because any emergency needed to be handled by us, the closest EMT or police officer would not be at our location for at least thirty minutes and that was only if they were not going somewhere else at the time. When I talk about those things with people that grew up in Kansas City, they look at me like I am crazy, and when I hear what they experienced I often feel the same.
These different experiences give us different views. And as I have grown and seen various situations from different perspectives I have come to know that the more diverse our experiences allow us to have different tools as we approach the problems we face. I have considered this quite a bit over the past few years. I have listened to arguments and people pushing ideas at situations while many important factors were not taken into consideration because those giving the advice have never been exposed to it.
This is why as Friends we encourage the seeking of clearness. When facing large decisions we encourage a group to come together, we pray, ask questions, pray more, give answers, ask more questions, and again pray. Then miraculously somewhere along the way we all gain a sense where we know what direction we should go.
I bring this up because today’s passage could cause us to go into a theological tailspin if we are not careful. It can challenge us, and as we face these challenges I hope that we as individuals and as a corporate body can seek clearness.
“There came to him some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, and they asked him a question.”
We do not know much about the Sadducees. There were three main groups or sects within first century Israel: the Pharisees, the Essenes, and the Sadducees We know about the Pharisees because it is spoken of often within scripture. The Pharisees began during the exile in Babylon and it focused on how the people of Israel could maintain their faith even when there was not a temple. The Pharisees were active in spreading their faith and understanding. And all contemporary Jewish traditions, and if we are honest, Christian traditions emerged from the Pharisees.
The Essenes we know less about. They were mentioned by the Jewish historian Josephus but they are not found directly within scripture. It was only after the discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls that we have learned more about this sect of Jewish faith. Those that participated in this form of faith looked at the first century expressions of faith with disdain. They felt that no one was worthy of living within the Promised land so they had communities just outside and most of their spiritual practice surrounded ritualized bathing and other disciplines. It is interesting to note that this group had developed one of the most accurate calendars. And according to their calendar every holy day, landed on the same day every single year, and they believed that they could pin point the very day of creations with accuracy.
The Sadducees are mentioned a few times in scripture, as well as in the writings of Josephus. But unlike the Essenes they we have no writings to prove what they actually believed or from where they began. All we know about this group is found within the pages of scripture, and accounts written of them from people often opposed to their ideas. What do we know? They only accepted Torah, or the books of the Law. And that they do not believe in the resurrection.
The old testament we have today is derived from Hebrew Scriptures. In these books there are sections, the Torah or the books of the law, the books of wisdom, And the teachings of the prophets. Those that say things like the law and the prophets likely come from a Pharisee background, because they accepted the writings of the prophets as scripture. The Sadducees would not speak about the prophets because they only saw the books of Moses, the Torah as being scripture.
We would like to think that we do not have division like this, but we do. Every bible in our pews contain sixty-six books. But there are Christian traditions that have additional books. We often think they were added, and in the case of Mormons this is true, but in the case of the Catholics and Orthodox traditions it is not true. It was the Protestant traditions that removed books from the Catholic bible, and we have our reasons for doing so. But we should be mindful that we were the ones that made that change not the other way around. We were the ones that became more like the Sadducees, trusting only in certain books in exclusion of the others. Why did we do this? The rational is that the questionable books were only found in the Greek translations of the Old Testament, they were not in the known Hebrew scriptures. This is the same rational the Sadducees used in their positions, the writings of the prophets were not in the scriptures given to us by Moses so they are not acceptable. They have some good things to say but they do not have the same authority as those passed down to us by the Law giver.
The Sadducees, only see authority in the books of the law, where the Pharisees use both the law and the prophets, and the Essenes use the law and the prophets along with their own traditions. Everyone is bringing something to the table of understanding. We could not be where we are today in our system of faith without each of these groups. And the Sadducees come to Jesus and they ask a question based on a theological concept they do not agree with. I want us to look at this question like we would a question about our contemporary theologies about the end times. Some of us believe very strongly in a rapture, while other do not know if scripture supports this. Some of us believe that the end is nearly here, and other would argue that it cannot be near because of some other factors. My position is my own I do not have any real scripture to support it, but in my opinion the end is not near because we have only just begun exploring the vastness of God’s creation and our duty as humanity is to tame all of creation.
Back to their question. “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died without children. And the second and the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died. Afterward the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife.”
Before we can move forward it is important to have some basic understanding as to what some of the theories on resurrection were at the time. For those that did not believe in the resurrection, they rationalized the concept to mean that our essence lives on in our offspring. This was largely the theory that could be derived from the Torah. They came up with this theory because there is an importance on land, inheritance, family, and heirs within the books of Moses. Much of the old testament law surrounding interpersonal relationships are based on ensuring that there will be a generation to pass the land to and if there is not your name and the complete line of your ancestors dies with you.
I want us to think about that idea for a moment. One of the commandments is that you should not commit adultery. As Moses explained this law more deeply in the other books the understanding of the commandment was that this really only applied to women, because when it comes to inheritance we always know who the mother is, but the only way of ensuring the father is for monogamy to be upheld. This is not only something in scripture but much of the ancient world had this concept enshrined in their law. Women should be monogamous where men could do whatever they wanted. Sadly this ideology is still prominent in today’s society when it comes to reproductive rights. We have become more progressive in inheritance law, but often the burden of childbearing usually falls on women. Hormonal birth control is for women not men. A woman will never bear a child if a man has not been present.
The question in the mind of the Sadducees is by in large what happens to the family line if no one else is alive to carry that name into the future? They were extremely logical and natural in their thinking. Other groups had different views. The Pharisees believed that when Messiah came all those that died in God would be raised, but there was a small little problem many of them believed that this would only happen in limited cases, if your family line remained living, or if you body was properly buried. This is why archaeology in Israel is so difficult to conduct, it is not the war between Israel and Palestine causing the trouble. More often it is the various religious groups wanting to make sure the bodies are not disturbed. Because if they are disturbed you might be preventing that individual’s chances of resurrection.
As you can see there is a spectrum of belief and yet there is commonality. The common theme is that the family line needs to continue, and that we should respect the resting place or the land our ancestors were buried. The Holocaust of world war 2, the purges of Soviet Ukraine, and much of the anti-Semitic policies of history were detrimental to the Jewish people because of these beliefs. The ten lost tribes are problematic to their theologies because of these beliefs. Can Messiah even come if the tribes are missing, if the line of Israel is broken? Do the people of Israeli heritage need to be in physical possession of the land of Israel? Are you cursed by God if you do not bear children? And if you are not married or abstain from intercourse are you an abomination in the eyes of God? This of course is a vastly limited description of these complex theological concepts, but gives enough of an understanding. The focus of their traditions and their relational ethic was based on continuation of the family and the family’s inheritance into the future. Anything that prevented or restricted this was seen as apostasy.
These Sadducees were concerned that this family would no longer exist. That the land of their fathers would be lost to the Gentiles and God would lose power. They loved their culture, they cherished their traditions, they were fundamentalists that kept their oaths and based everything firmly on scripture. We would love these men.
Jesus said to them. “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him.”
This answer is something that we should contemplate deeply. What does Jesus mean when he says these words? I encourage you this week to read the various laws on human relationships this week, in the light of Jesus’ answer to these Sadducees. Often on facebook I will come across comments opposed to the traditional understanding of the Christian stance on human relationships. They will sight obscure verses like a biblical marriage requires a woman to marry someone who has assaulted her. This is true, scripture does say that. What they do not say is what happens if the man that assaulted the woman refuses to marry her, and also that he is also legally responsible to her until she dies, because in that instance divorce is never an option. It sounds extreme and harsh. It sound patriarchal and unloving.
We need to back away and look at the larger picture. What would happen to that woman? She would live under the care of her father, unable to be wed to a respectable member of society. Because they could not ensure who the father of the children would be. Remember this is a prescientific society. Jesus says, “sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage.” This world, this age, and the one to come, or the new heaven and earth at the end of the age, are different. In the age to come there is no need for marriage, because we will all be one. We will take care of one another, we will be in communion with God. We will have all that we will need. It will be a land without war, without poverty, without loss, pain, tears, or sickness. There will be no death. Women will not need husbands not because there will not be women, but because there will not be a need for anyone to prove familial linage, because everyone will have all that they need.
I want us to think about that. Why do we marry today? Why is it important? Why does the church spend so much energy trying to fight our culture and preserve traditional Christian values? I am not anti-marriage I love marriage because within that union we can experience without shame the full joy of human existence. Without marriage there is shame. There is shame because there is the potential that an image bearer of God can be exploited, neglected, and abused. God gave laws on marriage through Moses, to protect us from ourselves. It is too easy for a man to walk away leaving a widow and orphan behind. It is too easy to take advantage of a situation, to focus on our own selfish desires and neglect the responsibilities that result from our carnal desires. We have marriage because we are irresponsible with the bodies God gave us. We have marriage to sanctify and human relationships. We need marriage. But does God need marriage?
What this passage is telling us, is that God does not need marriage. God does not need marriage because each child born in this world no matter who they are, where they are from, what their heritage might be, is an image bearer of God. They are, even if they do not accept it, and individual created to bear that of God to the world. We are children of God, and God does not have grandchildren. Each of us have the opportunity to accept the gift of grace provided to us through Jesus to pass beyond the veil of this life into the resurrected life where death does not exist. Where we can be equal to angels and sons of God. This does not mean we become angels, it means we become equal to angels. And what are angels except servants and messengers of the Almighty. The sons of God are living beings acting within the various realms of creation spreading the kingdom of God wherever we are.
God does not need marriage, but we do. God does not need marriage because we are all his children. But we need marriage to remind us of our responsibilities to others. We are to cloth the naked, feed the hungry, visit the imprisoned. We do this gladly within the family, but we are not only called to minister to our families. This is what God wants us to do throughout all of creation, because all of creation belongs to God.
Jesus said these things to a group of people that did not believe. They did not believe in him, and they did not believe in the resurrection at the end of the age. Yet the message was received. They responded to his answer by saying, “Teacher, you have spoken well.” This tells us something about our mission and ministry in this world we live. We can get caught up in the endless debates surrounding theology, and political ideology. We can be drawn into discussions of who or what legal rights are for who. We can get entangled in the culture wars that have been raging for generations. But what does this accomplish? If we are right have we shown those that oppose our view the love God has for them? Have we shown them the grace God has shown us? Have we lived a life in full view that demonstrates the hope that we have? We are called to love God with all that we are and all that we have and to love our neighbor as ourselves. We claim to be a people loving God, embracing the Holy Spirit, and living the love of Christ with others. Are we bearing God’s image well? Are we equal to angels in our relationships? Or are we consumed with this age?
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church March 29, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Query 3: Do you attend regularly the services of your church and participate in them actively? Do you prayerfully endeavor to minister, under the guidance of the Holy…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church March 15, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Ephesians 5:8–14 (ESV) 8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church February 22, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Romans 5:12–19 (ESV) 12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all…
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