Considering the Apocalypse

Scripture Luke 21:5-19

When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, [Jesus] said, “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.”

 

They asked him, “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?” And he said, “Beware that you are not led astray, for many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is near!’ Do not go after them.“When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified, for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.” Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes and in various places famines and plagues, and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.

 

“But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. This will give you an opportunity to testify. So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance, for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents and siblings, by relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls.

Mediation

I’ll start today with a little bit of UPC history for you. Union Presbyterian Church has had a total of four churches, four different church buildings. Founded in the year 1819, when our original name was the First Presbyterian Society in the Town of Union, our ancestors in faith first worshiped together in a small log church in the middle of what is now our Riverside Cemetery. Just three years later, a new structure was built on that same site, larger and grander, our Colonial Church. It served the congregation well for nearly five decades, when it was decided to the building move to Main Street, because that was where the action was. A new church—the Victorian Church—was built onto the Colonial church, at this site and dedicated in 1872. It grew and flourished for more than thirty years, until its steeple was struck by lightning on May 17, 1906, at 7:30 in the evening. The Victorian Church burned to the ground. A committee to rebuild was quickly formed, ground was broken in July, and the new church—this church—was dedicated on March 16, 1907, just ten months after the fire.

 

I wonder. What would the members who worshiped in that Victorian building have thought if a local street preacher had told them in 1905 that their beautiful church would burn to the ground, and soon? What a shocking thing to say. What an awful prediction to make about their future—even if it was true.

 

I bring this up, of course, because Jesus makes just such a prediction about the Temple in Jerusalem. Unlike UPC, which is one of hundreds of churches in our area, the Temple was singular. It was the only place where God’s covenant people could worship and offer sacrifices.

 

In addition to its status as the only Temple, the structure had just undergone a massive face lift. Now, from scholar Debra J Mumford, a little Temple history:

 

The temple was beautiful. It had recently been refurbished by Herod the Great. And apparently, the work had been done very well. The rebuilding project had taken eighty years to complete and included new foundation walls through which Herod had significantly enlarged the temple. Sparing no expense, he had employed the most talented artisans to use the best materials for the project such as white marble that was up to sixty-seven feet long, twelve feet high and twelve feet wide. Blue, scarlet, and purple Babylonian tapestries made of fine linen formed a veil at the entrance. He had installed gold and silver-plated gates and gold-plated doors throughout.

 

People who were interacting with Jesus in the temple were admiring its stones and the gifts that had been dedicated to God when Jesus delivered horrible news: the temple would soon be completely destroyed. How could that be? [i] 

 

We are moving ever closer to the end of Luke’s gospel, and the closer Jesus comes to the cross, the more urgent his message. Contemplating the end of his own life, he’s talking about the end of all things. What he has to say is not just unsettling. It’s horrifying. Their holy place will be no more.

 

But notice how Jesus’ disciples react. They don’t ask, “How do you know this?” or “Who told you this, and why should we believe you?” They trust Jesus completely. They believe in him, and that word—believe—takes me back to one of our early Confirmation classes. Believe. The root of the word “believe” is a word that means love. To “believe” in someone is, in a very real way, to love them. The disciples love Jesus, which means they believe in him, and trust him. So, they simply ask, “When? What signs should we be on the lookout for?” They want to be ready.

 

Jesus doesn’t really answer the first question… I read recently that Jesus is asked something like 183 questions in the gospels, and only directly answers three of them. Jesus is more focused on the signs. But the first thing he warns them about is this: Don’t be fooled. Don’t be fooled by people who claim to be me, or to be speaking in my name. Don’t be led astray.

 

How do we know if and when people are speaking for Jesus? I think a good test is to check what Jesus says in the gospels. I’ll give you an example: If someone is coming with a message of hate, is that Jesus? Of course not. Jesus tells us to love one another, to do good to those who hate us, to pray for those who persecute us.

 

I’ll give you another one: If someone tells us it’s better to let people fend for themselves than to help them, is that Jesus? Of course not. Jesus tells us to feed the hungry, to give fresh water to the thirsty; to care for the sick and welcome the stranger or refugee; to clothe the naked and to visit those in prison. In fact, he says, when we do those things for others, we are doing them for him. In further fact, this is the basis on which our lives will be reckoned on judgement day.

 

I know. It sounds overwhelming, doesn’t it? Who can live up these commands? But that’s why Jesus gave us the church. None of us can do all these things ourselves… even the loving and praying for those who hurt us part. But when we’re together, in community, we can do them. Faith was never intended to be a solo project. It’s something we are absolutely meant to do together, as one body.

 

We know what it feels to be worried about our Holy Place. The pandemic was a body blow to congregations everywhere, and everywhere churches are seeing diminished attendance and worrying about it. And—for those of you at home—we would so love to see your smiling faces again… or your masked faces, or your sad faces, if that’s what you’re feeling like these days. Church vitalization gurus have said that the pandemic has accelerated a downward trend in attendance by about 10 years. That’s sobering. But it’s not the whole story.

 

Think of the Temple. The Temple was destroyed, just as Jesus said it would be. It was the year 70, four years into the first Jewish-Roman War, and Roman legions breached the city and demolished the Temple. This was an unspeakable disaster for Jews, heartbreaking, history-altering. Who were the Jews without their one and only Holy Place to worship? As it happens, they would find out.

 

Judaism survived. The religion evolved, turning its focus to their holy scriptures and commentary, and eventually becoming the movement we know today, in all its richness and variety. Christianity survived too—after all, those first Christians were Jews, as devastated by anyone by the loss of the Temple. The Temple was no more, but both branches of God’s covenant people found their way and adapted and grew. Thrived.

 

God’s people are strong. God’s people are resilient. Whether Christians or Jews or people following another path that God has shown them, we all find ways to learn from the disasters that tear us down. And we find, there in God’s good earth, the roots of something that is ready to grow again. And grow it does.

 

Union Presbyterian is filled with people who are strong. People who are resilient. We have learned and are still learning the lessons of these past two-and-a-half years. We are rooted and grounded in the love of God that does not vary, though disasters come and disasters go. We are of the same line that built this beautiful church in ten months, and we build and re-build and continue to lead where God calls us to go. God will give us the wisdom we need. God’s Holy Spirit will guide us. The God of the past, present, and the unknown future is ever with us.

 

Thanks be to God. Amen.


[i] Debra J. Mumford, “Twenty-third Sunday After Pentecost, Commentary on Luke 21:5-19: Not everyone is who they claim to be,” Working Preacher, November 13, 2022. https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-33-3/commentary-on-luke-215-19-5.