Sermon Pentecost 26 - Luke 21:5-19

Sermon:

Text: Luke 21:5-19

Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ who gives us strength in chaos.

            Our story today seems like a common end of the world, apocalyptic writing. It’s one that people have tried to use for years as a reference of what will come at the end of days, or worse, trying to predict when the end of days will occur. I say worse, because I don’t think that’s why Jesus tells it, and especially don’t think that’s why Luke tells it.

            During Jesus’ life the temple in Jerusalem is complete, or the latest remodeling is done. This is the second temple, the first temple was the one built by Solomon in 957 BC which lasted until 587 BC 370 years when the Babylonians besiege Jerusalem, kill most of the inhabitants, remove the rest into exile and completely destroy the temple, down to nothing.

            About 50 years pass and finally the Persians overthrow the Babylonians and the Jews who survive the exile are allowed to return home. And the very first thing they start to do is rebuild the temple, before they even they start the walls. Over the next 500 years until Jesus it has remodeling projects and additions to the grounds, the largest of which is completed by Herod the Great, the same Herod that Joseph flees from with Mary and Jesus.

            It’s the temple the Jesus teaches in throughout his ministry, where he attends the festivals, and near to where his trial takes place.

            When Jesus is in Jerusalem his routine seems to be to spend the day in the temple grounds teaching and preaching. In our text we find him overhearing some of the others talking about the temple itself. They exclaim how beautiful it is. Look at all the exquisite stone work, the carvings, the stones and jewels how they shine, the gold, burnished like the sun.

            And Jesus says, “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.”

            It’s not exactly the most comforting of Jesus’ teachings. And to the disciples listening right at that time, completely terrifying. It seems to them that the end of the world would have to accompany that scenario of the temple being thrown down and destroyed.

            We move forward, Jesus is arrested, tried, and killed. Three days later he rises. The disciples see him in Jerusalem, and near Galilee, they begin to teach and preach for the next 30 years. At this same time the Romans start enact a few new laws and because of that the Jews revolt, and not some little uprising, but full scale rebellion. The Romans react and in 70 AD they besiege Jerusalem, and again completely destroy the temple. All that’s left are a few base stones from the temple grounds. As this is occurring Luke begins to work on his Gospel and finishes sometime in the next 25 years. Luke does not mention the Temples destruction, but by his content, what stories he chooses to tell, it’s clear that it impacts him. This story of Jesus telling his disciples about the future destruction of the temple rings differently to Luke than it did to them.

The temple’s destruction has a vast impact on Judaism and Christianity. They have been gathering at the first temple for nearly 400 years, the second for nearly 600. That’s around 1000 years of having the temple be the focus of every part of life. Religion, Laws, Life itself in the time around the flow of the festivals and seasons. Everything revolves around the temple, and now it is gone.

            Jesus’ words may seem like a horrific foreshadowing to the disciples as they hear him on the temple grounds that day, saying that it will all be torn down, but to those who have experienced that destruction, who watched as what gave them purpose was torn to rubble, they don’t hear that future fright, they hear Jesus’ words at the end.

16 You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. 17 You will be hated by all because of my name. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 By your endurance you will gain your souls.

Jesus’ words on that day in the temple grounds are not really to the disciples gathered there to hear him, they are to those who hear them in the midst of destruction and terror.

            They are not words to those who try to predict the end of the world, who for some reason look forward to that chaos.

            They are words to those who already live in it; to the people of Haiti; to those of the tsunamis in Indonesia or Japan; to the People of New Orleans; to those who lost cattle west river; to those just this week in the Philippians.

They are words to us in our moments of pain as life crashes down because of loss of job, financial hurt from disease and health concerns, grief as we move forward trying to see where life will lead without a dear loved one next to us.

             To us Jesus says, Not a hair of your head will perish, you will gain your souls.

In the midst of life and all that threatens, Jesus promises his presence, that in Christ we live, that our foundation is not a building, or a church, or a country, but is Christ. And that the love of God found in the Son who dies for us and is raised for us cannot be destroyed, cannot be torn down, cannot be removed from us.

           

Let us pray,

God of all mercy and grace,

Be with us as we cry, console us as we mourn, laugh with us as we celebrate, jump with joy with us as we triumph. Be with us, watch over us, in all of our moments, those that gives us great joy, and those that gives us great pain. Help us to call to you in them all, knowing that you care for us, watching out even for the smallest hair.

Amen.