Year C, Pentecost 23
Luke 21: 5-19
We
have a prayer that comes right after we sing the Gloria. It changes every week and often echoes themes
found in the readings. Today’s is a
favorite of clergy and seminary professors:
Blessed
Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us
so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may
embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life…
It’s a great opening prayer, but it seems an odd choice for the readings
for the day, especially the first one that starts with: “See, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the
arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them
up, says the Lord o hosts…” We are
supposed to read, mark and inwardly digest that? That would give most people indigestion. And that’s just the first reading.
This Gospel reading for today is
typically referred to as apocalyptic literature. Most of you are probably familiar with the
word “apocalypse.” It’s thrown about
quite a lot in popular movies and books.
It’s typically refers to the end of the world. It fascinates a lot of people. It always has.
The Jews of Jesus’ time were no different. They too wanted as much information as they
could gain about the end of the world.
But that is not how this conversation started. It started in a fairly benign way. Jesus and his disciples were in the temple,
as they often were. Jesus had just
remarked on the widow who gave everything she had—often referred to as the
widow’s mite. (That is the reading right
before this one.)
Then after that profound teaching
about the importance of sacrificial giving, some person starts talking about
how pretty the temple is. They were
probably trying to change the subject.
Apparently people didn’t like talking about stewardship anymore then
than we do now. But it’s true, the
temple was stunning. The temple that
existed during Jesus’ day was one of the finest temples that had ever been
built. It was built under the reign of
King Herod in about 20 BC. This temple
was twice the size of the old one and the outer walls were covered with gold
plating. Pilgrims poured into the city
and were overwhelmed by its magnificence.
That is why Jesus’ declaration that
the temple would fall was so unbelievable.
It would be like telling Americans that the capital would soon be
rubble. When the Jews heard Jesus say
this, they assumed that he was talking about the end of the world. How else would such a formidable
structure—one that was blessed by God—fall?
What we know, and the people who were first hearing this Gospel knew,
was that the temple would be destroyed less than 40 years after Jesus said
this. The world didn’t end, but it seemed
like it would. It was a horrible war
that decimated the Jewish population and destroyed much of Jerusalem.
The disciples didn’t know any of
this, so they immediately started asking questions. When will this be? How will we know it is
coming? First Jesus warned them about false
prophets who would try to tell them that the end is near. We’ve had a few of
those, haven’t we? Then Jesus went on to say that when you hear about wars and
insurrections, do not assume this means the world is ending. That is
comforting. Then he said what a lot of
people perceive as apocalyptic, “Nations will rise against nation, and kingdom
against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines
and plagues.” Sounds terrifying. Sounds a lot like what is going on now, what
has been going on for awhile. Then he
tells them that before this happens, “they will arrest and persecute you…you
will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends.” Also
sound pretty scary, and it was. Every
one of the disciples was persecuted. Days after Jesus shared this “apocalyptic”
statement, he was betrayed by his friend Judas.
All the things that Jesus predicted, happened and many of these things
are still happening. These things might
not be happening to us right now, but I can guarantee you that somewhere in
this world right now, is famine, war, insurrection, plagues, persecution. Every single one of those things is happening
now and has been happening for millennia.
It doesn’t mean that the world is
ending. It means that life is happening.
There is a lot of bad news in the world right now. There have been two cases of the bubonic plague
in China…this week. Children are being
shot down in their own schools. Parts of
our country are on fire. I don’t need to elaborate. You all have read or watched the news. Jesus
wasn’t preparing his disciples for the end of the world, he was preparing them
for life. He’s preparing us now as well. What does he tell us to do? Testify.
Talk about Jesus. Talk about
love. Testify that there is light in
darkness. Despite the horror of our world…no because of the horror in our
world, it is our job to testify.
Now you might think, Episcopalians
don’t do that. We don’t know what to say
unless it’s in our prayer book. Well
Jesus has an answer for that as well, “So make up your minds not to prepare a
defense in advance; for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents
will be able to withstand or contradict,” Don’t tell me that Episcopalians
can’t testify to the love of Jesus, because Jesus gives us the words. That brings up back to the opening
collect. “Grant us to hear the
scriptures, mark, learn and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever
hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life…” The scriptures don’t always
tell us what we want to hear. They tell us what we need to hear, what we need
to know to be followers of Jesus Christ.
A
lot of Christians use readings like this to scare people into submission. These words of Jesus were not meant to scare
people. They were meant to prepare people
and even bring comfort. He’s telling us
that through the hardest times in our world and our individual lives, he will
equip us with the tools and the support that will help us endure. He won’t remove us from the hardship, nor
will he remove the hardship. He will
support us, love us and be the light for us when all we can see is darkness. We
are surrounded by darkness, but also by points of light. These points of light are each of you here,
each of you who think you don’t have the words you need to testify, or don’t
have the faith or credibility to do so. You don’t have to have faith in yourself. You don’t have to even believe in yourself
because God sent his son to this earth to prove----that he believes in you. The temple in Jerusalem was breathtaking, but
it was not evidence of God’s love or power.
We are the evidence of God’s love and power. We are the temple that cannot be destroyed.
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