Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost
Malachi 4:1-6
Psalm 98
2 Thessalonians 3:(1-5)6-13
Luke 21:5-28(29-36)
By your endurance you will win your lives.
In today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus said, “Most certainly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things are accomplished.” It is easy for every generation to hear these words and believe they were said for us. The first Christians were certain that Jesus would come for them and the focus on the end times has continued for nearly two thousand years. I have to admit that my daily mantra is “Come, Lord Jesus.” I’m certainly not ready to die, but I am ready to dwell in God’s eternal Kingdom forever. We all want to know when it will happen. “When” is our battle cry.
The Gospel lesson is about the end of the age, and it seems as if more and more people are thinking of the end times. There are wars and rumors of wars. There are false prophets touting their goods in the public squares. There are reasons to be afraid. We can even read this warning as one for our own time and place. Will our walls tumble down? It is no wonder that we worry and that we look to those who seem to have the answers as possible saviors. Jesus reminds us that worrying about the end times will not make anything happen and it will not make anything better. We have a purpose: to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to be His witnesses in this world.
That doesn’t mean it will be easy. Over the years Harrison Ford has played Dr. Henry Walden Jones, Jr., also known as Indian Jones, a fictional character in a series of popular adventure movies. Indiana Jones was an archeologist who searched the world for some of the greatest treasures. He was a good guy, always seeking the treasures for the betterment of the world, always protecting the treasures from those who wanted to use them for selfish and self-centered reasons. Indiana Jones learned early in his life that there were many greedy, evil people and he made it his life’s purpose to protect the things that defined our lives. His adventures were exciting and in the end the treasures end up just where they are meant to be.
Real archeologists don’t actually have such exciting lives. They spend years digging through dirt and much, carefully extracting bits and pieces from ancient societies. Their excitement comes when they find a piece of pottery that can be dated, or the walls of building that shows us how that civilization lived. Josh Gates, from several television shows that search for truth, like Expedition Unknown, is the closest thing to an Indiana Jones, and even his excitement comes not from finding the thing for which he is searching, but in finding the next clue to the puzzle.
Indiana Jones is always getting into some sort of trouble. In “Raiders of the Lost Ark” he was trying to recover the Ark of the Covenant because the Nazi Germans were hoping to use its power to take over the world. He was chased all over the world, facing plane crashes, gunfight and many other difficulties. One of the most famous scenes from the Indiana Jones movies has to be from “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” when Indiana Jones is attempting to get through an ancient obstacle course to the hiding place of the Holy Grail. The obstacles did not just make the path difficult. They were dangerous. He had to solve riddles as he pushed forward step by step. If he got the riddle wrong, he risked being impaled by spears or falling through a hole into a bottomless cavern. Meanwhile, he was surrounded by bad guys and his father was dying by their hands. The pressure to succeed was intense.
The Holy Grail was believed to hold the power of eternal life. Indiana’s father had been injured by one of the bad guys and the only hope to save his life was to find the cup and give him a drink of water from it. Of course, the bad guys wanted the cup to abuse its power and control the world. As Indiana made it through each obstacle, they followed him to the chamber where the cup was stored. When they arrived, they discovered that there were a hundred different goblets. Which one was the right one? Choosing wrongly meant immediate death. One of the bad guys chose a precious goblet of gold with magnificent stones, thinking surely the Christ would have the best of the best. She drank some water and immediately died. Indiana knew better. He knew that Jesus Christ was a poor carpenter. The Holy Grail was not some fancy goblet, but a simple pottery cup. He took the cup, filled it with water and took it to his father.
During his quests, Indiana Jones was pushed forward by a sense of purpose. The purpose was never fame or wealth, but rather a search for the truth and the protection of the world’s precious treasures. He went forth in faith, not that he will accomplish the task but instead that what he is seeking is out there. In other words, his drive was not the benefits he would receive from finding the treasures but the treasures themselves. It didn’t matter what he would face, as long as he was able to reach his destination. Guns, rolling stones, ancient obstacle courses and bad guys would not stop him from finding the end of his quest.
For many of the people living in Jesus’ day, the Temple was the destination of their greatest quests. The Jews took pilgrimages to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices and to worship their God several times a year. They believed that the courts of the Temple were as close to God as they could get. It was a magnificent place, getting more beautiful with every new building project. It was dedicated to God and it honored Him well. When Jesus prophesied the destruction of the Temple, He was not just threatening a pretty building, but He was threatening the very foundation of their faith; this was where God dwelt. It was a terrifying possibility. What would they do? Where would they go? How would they do sacrifice to God?
They asked the question we all ask, “When?” We are not waiting for the destruction of the Temple, but we are waiting for the return of Christ. We have been waiting for the return of Christ for two thousand years. When? Jesus gives us the signs, but these are signs that have been visible for every generation. Perhaps we are the generation to see the return of Christ, but should it be the quest for our lives? Should we live as those in the past who have given up everything to sit and wait for the coming of Christ? Jesus promised that not a hair on our head will be harmed, but many faithful Christians have not only died since Jesus left, many have been harmed for their faith. There have been too many martyrs over the millennia.
We will not arrive unscathed. Imagine what is was like for the pilgrims walking hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of miles on their quest to visit the Temple in Jerusalem. They faced many challenges. Many must have been injured along the way. Criminals waited in hidden crevices to rob and even kill those who were traveling. They did their pilgrimage and risked their lives not because they would be rewarded in the end, but because they sought to honor the God who was their Creator and Redeemer. We are called to be witnesses for Christ while we journey in this world. Our goal is not to get something out of our lives, but to keep moving forward toward the prize which is eternal life. Our faith should not be in our ability to gain the treasure, but in the treasure itself, which is God. We might face many difficulties along the way, but step by step we are called to shine the light of Christ and to live according to His promises.
The Temple in Jerusalem told a story; it was an image of Christ. Each part of the Temple points to an aspect of the character and work of Jesus. John in particular shows us through the “I am” statements of Jesus that He is the fulfillment of God’s promises. “I am the Bread of life” points to the Bread of the Presence. “I am the Light of the world” refers to the candlesticks. “I am the Gate” points to the altar of incense. “I am the Good Shepherd” is the priest. “I am the Resurrection” points to the mercy seat, which is the cover of the Ark of the Covenant found in the Holy of Holies. “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life” takes us into the Ark of the Covenant, where God’s people protected the objects of their faith. Jesus is the true Vine, unlike the decorative golden vine on the outer walls.
For the pilgrims, nothing could have been worse than the destruction of the Temple about which Jesus spoke, but we know that He was really referring to His own body. The beautiful building they admired was nothing more than an image of the real. It was no longer necessary because He was the true Temple. He was everything that guided their faith inside, but He was living, flesh and blood, eternal. He was the Bread, the Light, and the Gate. He was the Vine. The old had to make way for the new.
The disciples believed everything that Jesus said. They didn’t reject the idea that the Temple would be destroyed. They may have wondered if the destruction would be Rome’s way of putting down a rebellion, or perhaps they thought that the destruction of the Temple was part of Jesus’ plan to save Israel. They didn’t ask why; instead they asked, “When?” They wanted to know, perhaps even control, the future of the nation.
Jesus didn’t answer the question, but instead gave them a warning, “Do not be fooled.” The scriptures for today are not pleasant. Malachi talks about the day of the Lord, when the arrogant and evildoers will be burned. Paul warns those who are idly waiting for Christ’s return, because they will starve. Jesus talks about the destruction of the Temple and the danger to the believers. Even the psalmist talks about vindication and judgment. When the world around us is confused and without hope, it is easy to be fooled. We listen to every voice that speaks good words and ignore the words that can make us afraid. Jesus knew that there would be those who would claim to be from God, offering promises they could not fulfill. He warned them not to believe every charismatic speaker who promised prosperity and wealth or every leader who said that they would take care of the people. He knew that desperate people can fall easily for the lies of people who seem to have the heart and the ability to do what they promise.
We are drawn to people who promise the easy solution to our problems, but life is not always easy. As a matter of fact, Jesus told the disciples about the life they would have as His follower. It isn’t a life any of us would pursue. He spoke of war, natural disasters, and unnatural signs in nature. The disciples would face judges and prisons and violence for speaking the name of Jesus. Jesus says, “You will be hated by all men for my name’s sake.” We don’t want to be hated. We want everything we do to last. We want the world to be a garden full of roses. And while we will be blessed by our faith in Christ, it won’t be a garden of roses. Our temples might fall.
But we live in a world that insists a pretty facade will prove everything is ok. It is a world that thinks that a little money thrown at a problem will make it go away. It is a world in which some white stones and gold covered grapes define a ruler. Not much different than what they had back in Jesus’ day. The reality is that every generation has to deal with charismatic leaders that put on a show and claimed to be the one to save the world. Every generation deals with wars and rumors of war. Christians from every century have been persecuted for their faith.
But, Jesus promised the disciples that despite this hatred, not a hair on their head will perish. This is where the text becomes very difficult for us, because we know that many Christians have been killed over the Gospel. Of the Twelve, only one died of old age. The stories of the Saints are filled with beheadings, burnings and other violence. In some places, cutting the hair is an insult. Our hair falls out due to the natural process of health and aging. What about the cancer patient that loses their hair? Is he or she any less faithful because their hair has perished?
We tend to look at the promises of God from a tangible, worldly point of view. We want the monuments we build to last forever. We want our bodies to live forever. And we’ll follow whoever makes the best promise to protect the things we love. Jesus said, “Beware of those who claim to be the source of your salvation.”
There was a commercial for a local lawyer that featured a woman who had become sick and could no longer work. Unfortunately, the government would not approve her disability payments. She was scared. She didn’t know how she’d pay her bills. But the lawyer understood her problem and worked to get her the justice she deserved. In the commercial she said, “He was my savior.”
We usually think of the antichrist and false messiahs in spiritual terms, but the television commercial broke my heart. It is understandable that the woman might turn to someone who could help her with her problems, but the fact that she would use that kind of language just speaks to the reality of our world today. We are looking for the easy answer; we are looking for a savior in all the wrong places. We rely on fallible, perishable humans and the promises they make, accepting their claims that they are “the one.” But in the end they are no more able to save us than we are able to save ourselves.
We hear Jesus’ words that none will be harmed and we ask “When,” but the real words to hear from Jesus in this passage is that it is by endurance that we will be saved. We want to be remembered so we put our time and our resources into things that we think we will last, but they will topple, just as that grand Temple built by Herod fell stone by stone to the ground. As part of the community of believers, we are building a different kind of Temple. The foundation, of course, is Jesus Christ, who is the true Temple. He was right when He said that the beloved Temple would one day fall, but in this text He was referring to the real thing: Himself. The Temple that was His flesh was destroyed on the cross, but He was raised and rebuilt into something even better. We are now part of His body, pieces of the Temple that will last forever.
As Christians we continue to build that Temple by sharing the Good News of forgiveness with the world. We do this through word and deed. Our work will never gain us salvation; our work is our response to the saving Grace that God has freely given. As part of the family of Christ, we are meant to do our part no matter what our circumstances. Some may be able to build grand buildings with white stone and golden grapevines, while others teach and guide the young into a living faith. Some will be able to give food and shelter to those without, and those without can give gifts that do not require money. It is up to us to help one another discover what we have to give and to find ways to use them in the building of Christ’s body, the Church, His Temple on earth.
The psalmist recognizes that our God is worthy of our worship and praise because He has done great things. “Sing to Yahweh a new song, for he has done marvelous things! His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.” His right hand is manifested in the life and death of our Lord Jesus Christ. His holy arm is the Holy Spirit that reaches out into our lives to give us faith and hope so that we might live in peace doing that which He calls us to do in this life.
More than two thousand years after this apocalyptic warning from Jesus, we are still seeing the signs of the end: wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes and false messiahs claiming to be able to save the people. Jesus’ words hold a measure of warning for us today as much as it did for His first disciples. We still have temples that will fall. Our temples are not just places of worship; other temples might include our jobs, our homes and our relationships. Sometimes God shakes the foundation of all that we hold dear so that we will look to Him and toward the vision of that which is imperishable. He calls us to chase after the treasure, not a reward for our quest.
Jesus is coming to judge the earth; He has come and will come again. Until that day, we will suffer during troubled times, experience persecution and we might even die. We don’t know when the day will come even though we can see that there are signs pointing to the end. It isn’t up to us to worry about the day, to even try to figure out when that day will happen. “When” is not the right question to ask when God reveals the coming of Judgment Day. What we should be asking is, “What should we do?” We are called to endure in faith, to wait patiently through the fire, and to do whatever needs to be done in the meantime. We are the branches of His vine, bearing fruit as His witnesses, sharing the love of God and building His Temple in the world through the work that is our response to all that He has done.
A WORD FOR TODAY
Back to Midweek Oasis Index Page