Twenty-fourth Pentecost, November 14, 2004
Luke 21:5-19
I watched my niece at the family gathering. She was getting bored, the cousins her age hadn't showed so after putting up with the aunt's gossip she pulled a library book from her back pack and moved to the couch to read. Apparently the story was a slow start for every once in a while her eyes would wander looking longingly for something more interesting. After a while though it was clear the book was getting interesting. After a half hour or so she had snuggled into an afghan and was biting her nails. Once I could see she was getting a little misty. In an hour she had moved to another room where she wouldn't be disturbed. Clearly the story was totally engrossing. But then just as quickly she was back out wondering the house looking for something of interest to do.
You couldn't have finished your book so quickly" I queried. "You looked like you were totally absorbed. "Oh no she said, it was getting a little intense so I just skipped to the last chapter. Now that I know what's going to happen I'll just go fill in the middle part later." "Whatever works" That's not the way I like to read, it seems sort of a cheaters way to read, but hey if it works for you okay."
To know how it all comes out would I imagine take the tension out of the middle. It would I suppose take the pressure off trying to get through the pages too quickly.
Our lesson today is an example of a very particular kind of Biblical writing called apocalyptic. We see it in the book of Daniel in the Old Testament and in the Revelation to St. John in the New and we get glimpses of it in the gospels. Apocalyptic. Apocalyptic is talk about the end--the end of the world, the end of things as we know them. These readings are full of chilling predications, dire warnings and a grim and dangerous present. These writings are birthed after all in times of persecution and turmoil, danger and fear. Lutherans don't spend a whole lot of time thinking about apocalyptic. We leave most of that to the imaginations of more emotive faith groups. But here it is and we can't ignore it all together so perhaps we need to see what we can learn from it.
In our lesson today the disciples, most of whom are fishermen from rural Galilee are marveling at the beauty of the temple. "Jesus look at these stones!" This marble just shines in the sunlight and the gold just shimmers.
And Jesus says to them" As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down."
This past Thursday the Southeast Lake County Clergy met here at Holy Spirit. Our program was Rabbi Einar Weiner Kaplow from synagogue . Before he became a rabbi, he earned his degree in archeology. His presentation to us was about the excavations in the old city of Jerusalem. The Wailing Wall is all that is left of Herod's temple in Jerusalem. In 68 a.d. a Jewish revolt occurred that was put down by the Roman generals Vespacian and Titus and not one stone of the temple was left upon another. But what was interesting about the presentation was the remnants of the temple that was built and destroyed before that and the temple that Solomon built and was destroyed before that. If a temple, built to last for the millennia, with stones two tons thick won't last forever what will? Our human creations, if not buildings then we desire to live on in other ways, leaving our legacy by endowing a chair at our favorite university, or writing a constitution. But if history is any testimony, human creations will come and go. Empires will rise and fall. Institutions will be here and gone. Philosophies, theories and knowledge will be superseded by greater knowledge and wisdom. Our creations, our pride, our strivings, they're all part of the middle of the story.
Apocalyptic paints a very grave picture. Jesus says "Nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom, there will be earthquakes and famines and plagues and you will be persecuted and thrown into jail. You will be betrayed by parents and relatives and friends but do not be terrified. Not a hair of your head will perish."
Jesus is giving his disciples the heads up that life will not be a bed of roses. Jesus never promised the disciples an easy go of it and he hasn't promised us that either. We have to wonder what's going on--four hurricanes hitting land this year, an AIDES pandemic that will kill thousands, war in Afghanistan and Iraq, the conclusion that yes indeed global warming is real and the ice cap is melting at an alarming rate and as we read in our bulletin this morning, a refugee situation and rampant hunger.
What does Jesus have to say, "By your endurance you will gain your souls."
Christians are those who believe that we have already seen "the end", that the world has come to a decisive crisis in the life and death of Jesus of Nazareth. In his death, we believe that the whole history of the universe reached a turning point. At that moment, when they nailed him to a cross, the conflict between life and death, good and evil, God and Caesar was resolved in favor of God's lordship over existence.
We have seen the end in his end. We got a glimpse of the last chapter. A new kingdom was established. This is a kingdom dependent not on what we do but on what God has done and is doing for us and the world.
Jesus says when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be terrified. How can he say "don't' be afraid?" It is possible only for those who are convinced that something decisive happened for the world in the life and death of Christ, that God has entered our world and -despite what we do with the world--God will not desert us. I believe there is no way to think about the future realistically without thinking with faith in the fact of God's loving grasp upon the future.
We have already seen the end. We do not need to construct a world out of our fears. Christians work as those who know something about the end. Though we do not know what the future holds we do know who holds the future.
What can we do? As Jesus says such frightening times are for us a "time to bear testimony."
There can be no better work for us than, each in our own way, each in our own place, to testify that God, not us, not nations,not terrorists, not parties or warlords or wall street or Madison Avenue or rules the world. That history already has come out right when the Lordship of Christ was established. Cling to that. Live with that assurance and share that hope with the people of a scared and struggling world.
Only one thing survives in this world. Only one name lasts. Only one truth is sure.
Amen