Twenty fourth Sunday after Pentecost
Mark 13:1-8; Hebrews 10:11-25; Daniel 12:1-3
As he came out of the temple, one of this disciples said to him,
"Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!"
For more than 3,500 years the Great Pyramid of Giza, Egypt held the title, then for 250 years it belonged to the Lincoln Cathedral in England. In the later half of the 19 th century the title was passed from the Cologne Cathedral in Germany to the Washington Monument in the United States and then to the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. In the 20 th century the title was then passed to the Chrysler Building in New York City followed by the Empire State Building and then the Sears Tower in Chicago. As we prepared to enter the 21 st century the title was passed to the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Two years ago the title passed to Taipei 101 and sometime next year or shortly there after, it will pass to Burj Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. The title, of course, is the title of World's Tallest Building.
We can almost hear the disciples once more, "Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!" Human beings are so easily tempted by that which impresses us. The tallest, heaviest, largest, best of most things fill our lives. Living in a city like the greater Chicago metropolis we are constantly tempted to contemplate the greatness of our buildings, our expressways and parks. There is a tendency to identify that which marks us as special in some way even if it is something that we have little if any control over. We are pleased with ourselves for our discoveries of good, better and best. Often we are drawn into comparative discussions of rather curious qualities. About a week or so ago, for example, I attended a play at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier which was presented in their "black box" theater on the 6 th floor. At intermission I visited the men's restroom and happened to mention to Chris afterwards that that restroom, with a wall of glass looking across the harbor at the Chicago skyline has to have the best view of any restroom in the city. A woman standing nearby smiled and said, "That may be true for men's restrooms but there was no question that the best view from a women's restroom was that from the women's bathroom at the Signature Lounge on the 96 th floor of the Hancock Building." She said she and about 20 other women once watched the 4 th of July fireworks from there. The men's bathroom on the 96 th floor has no view.
The tallest, heaviest, largest and greatest are all ways we find to mark and define our world. Yet we also know that such distinctions are, fleeting at best. Most of us would have a hard time naming the number one or greatest of anything from ten years ago. When Jesus responds to his disciple's awed reaction to the great temple structure, we instantly grasp that he is speaking of that which we know too well. "Do you see these great buildings?" Jesus said. " Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down." The world is constantly changing, the great today is forgotten tomorrow. We who have grown up in the disposable society of modern America expect that there will always be a next greatest, tallest, heaviest and best. Our economy and society almost demands it. And yet there is a part of each of us that yearns for something that can be sure and certain. There is a part of us that is a bit unnerved if not down right scared of what might happen next. Some of the greatest and biggest are not encounters we want to have. The biggest tsunami of recent time, the greatest natural disaster, the worst famine, the longest military engagement. We share something else with the disciples. We want to know the signs that will save us from the pain and suffering. We want to know that there is a reason or meaning to the events we are enduring. That is what led the disciples to turn to Jesus after they had left the temple and ask for more details. The concern was not just about the fate of the temple but the fate of the people of faith.
By the time the gospel writer of Mark was writing the words we are reading today, the great temple of Jerusalem had been destroyed. The great stones that so impressed the disciples had been pulled down and the occupants of the city killed or scattered across the country side. It all began some 35 years after Jesus was crucified, when the rebellion against the occupying Roman army reached a critical point. It was the time after Paul had written his letters to the first Christian churches yet in the period of history when the young Christian church was still struggling to find its identity and more important, its calling. Most of the world saw this gathering of early believers as another religious sect, centered for the most part still in Palestine. The times were turbulent, the faith persecuted and very small. In June of the year 66 the Jewish religious leaders rebelled against the occupying Roman authorities when they stopped making symbolic sacrifices in the Temple at Jerusalem to the Roman emperor. The rebellion quickly spread north to the region of Galilee which led to a Roman legion commanded by Cestus Gallus marching south from Syria to destroy the rebels in Jerusalem. But the Jewish guerrillas and the defenses of Jerusalem repelled the Roman legion. The stunned Romans retreated in disarray and Judea rejoiced at being liberated from the occupying army. For the next three years a provisional revolutionary government presided in Jerusalem though constantly caught up in the swirl of internal power struggles. Then, in 68 AD, Vespasian, the greatest general of the time and soon to be Roman Emperor, began his campaign to pacify Palestine. He marched his heavily armed legions down from Galilee toward Jerusalem leaving behind him a scorched-earth trail of mercilessly plundered villages and hillsides littered with crucified insurrectionists. By June the Romans were again set to lay siege to Jerusalem when the unexpected occurred. The commander Vespasian was summoned back to Rome to put down a fierce civil war and there were some who believed that God had once more delivered the holy city from the enemy. But in the spring of 70, the Roman General Titus turned his legions loose on Jerusalem, sacking the city and burning the temple to the ground.
It was in this year of 70 that Mark is believed to have written his gospel. (The writer Ched Myers notes in a Sojourner article of April 1991 that) It does not take much historical imagination to appreciate the severe pressures this moment put on Mark's community in reoccupied Galilee. On the one hand, Roman security forces were demanding proof of loyalty, rooting out those sympathetic to the subversives and rebells. Many "reasonable" Jews were persuaded to abandon the revolt as a lost cause, most notably a Jewish rebel officer named Josephus, whose later writings left us a detailed, if biased, account of the war. On the other hand, nationalist recruiters roamed the countryside, invoking the memories of leaders like King David and later Messiah traditionsto draft faithful Jews for the irresistible holy war in defense of Zion.
As is always the case in the eye of the hurricane of wartime, there was no neutrality, and the stakes were high. In many communities people were told they were either for the Romans or for the rebellion. Mark and the early Christian community looked for a better way than violence and war. Mark knew that only one voice could compete with the compelling but conflicting demands of collaborator and patriot--the living Word of Jesus of Nazareth. Faced with wars and rumors of wars, persecutions and violence, the early Christian community wondered what it all meant and when it would end. So it is to Jesus that Mark has the disciples in his story turn in a desperate plea for guidance: "Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?"
Mark knew that something very important was happening. Jesus had begun his ministry with the simple proclamation that the Kingdom of God was at hand. Mark had come to realize that this was not just a matter of wars and empires, great buildings and monuments. Something far more significant was breaking into the world. The old ways of ordering the world were passing away. The greatness of the temple, the glory of Rome, the might of marching armies were actually of little significance. They were, as Jesus pointed out, but the beginning of the birth pangs. Something more was coming.
And the warnings are clear. Beware that no one leads you astray, Jesus said. Many will come in my name and say, 'I am he!' and they will lead many astray. It was a timeless warning. Through out the centuries the false prophets would rise again and again. This is not such an ancient warning. There are many among us who still remember the news we heard 28 years ago yesterday coming from Jonestown, Guyana where the Christian cult leader Jim Jones had led those seeking a perfect utopian in a mass ritual suicide that killed over 900 Americans. Beware, Jesus said, of those who would deceive. Listen for the truth, follow the truth. There are voices of truth often best heard because they do not presume to speak for God but rather strive to stand with God humbly submitting to what they believe to be God's intentions. Voices like that spoken on this date some 143 years ago echoing across the battle bloodied fields around Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, dedicating to God a vision of liberty and freedom that still speaks to us today. Few people of that day could have realized how important the vision of the Gettysburg Address would be for a people and nation in future generations. There are moments when the old passes into the promise of something new, that is what Jesus was assuring his disciples in the final moments of his life. In four short days his very ministry would appear to have ended in a terrible death. But in the midst of the fear and destruction of such times, Jesus said know that the birthing of something new was about to begin. God's word does not die. The armies and disasters of this world do not triumph, they are but signs of something greater about to begin.
Birth pangs. We are on the brink of something new. We now call them the holidays--so named for the holy days that they once were. Holy days, days set aside or apart from the ordinary. The old passing away. The promise of new beginning. For all the planning and building we would do to make the coming days special, the fact is that we have little if any control over them. There will continue to be wars and rumors of wars, the famines and disasters of the world will continue, but for those who know the truth, for those who follow the true word, for the ones who recognize Jesus as God's true son, the greatest gifts are yet to come. The greatest gifts of grace and life without the limit.
Mark wrote his gospel in the midst of what some thought to be the end of the world. In truth, it was the beginning of the end of the world as it had been known. A new vision had been revealed. Mark's gospel offered the best view of a new way of knowing God's grace, the greatness of God's mercy and the unlimited power of love. The greatest story ever told was being proclaimed for the first time for those who had ears to hear.
So we live today, in the last times. We have the greatest potential to destroy our planet and ourselves of any people who have ever lived on this planet. We also have the greatest potential to end poverty and hunger; the greatest resources to end diseases that have plagued our planet for eons. We have the greatest technologies, the most wonderful collections of art, music, dance and poetry that the world has ever known. With the touch of button we have the ability to listen to voices from around the world and the opportunity to speak God's word in places and languages where it has never been heard or known. We live today in the last times. The moment of great hope and promise, the true beginning of the birth pangs that will reveal to us all the kingdom of God. And Jesus said, Beware...
Amen