Luke 21:5-19
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| The Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans Under the Command of Titus, A.D. 70 David Roberts, c. 1850 Public Domain |
One nice thing about having a friend and a colleague to share in ministry with, is that you can support one another when preparing a difficult text, especially during a difficult week.
This past week, as the election was unfolding, Pastor Stephen and I looked ahead at the text for this Sunday
And with all his years of experience in ministry, he looked to me and offered his consolation as I was facing the challenge of proclaiming God’s Word this week.
He said to me in the way he always does;
“Oh wow, good luck with that.”
I can’t say I would have been able to offer anything better, in fact I probably would have looked at him and simply said;
“Ha, ha, HAHAHA.”
But I digress, because it is not funny.
God’s Word is not funny.
The state of our nation is not funny.
And for both Jesus’ audience, and especially Luke’s audience, the situation they are facing is not funny either.
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Luke tells the story of Jesus’ final public discourse, a story that is nearly identical in Mark and Matthew.
It falls into a nearly identical timeline for Jesus’ ministry and uses nearly identical language.
This makes the story unique, but it makes the differences in Luke’s gospel far less subtle.
In Matthew and Mark, Jesus warns of the Temple’s destruction from a location OUTSIDE of the Temple, after Jesus has left the Temple.
Luke describes a scene where Jesus is standing INSIDE the Temple, gazing on it’s magnificence from within.
A Temple that stands as more than just a religious symbol, but a symbol of Israel as a nation.
A people who long to be an autonomous independent nationstate, that is a moral and religious beacon.
A lighthouse for all the world to see; to look toward as a model.
And the Temple is a building that is meant to house, not a national leader, but God, THE God, of not only Israel, but the world.
Both Israel and especially the Temple are meant to call ALL peoples and nations to God.
This is stated time and again throughout scripture in
Genesis 22, Deuteronomy 29, Deuteronomy 31, Jeremiah 7, Zechariah 7, Hosea 2, and Isaiah 42, 49, and 60 just to name but a few.
Arise, shine; for your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.
For darkness shall cover the earth,
and thick darkness over the people;
but the Lord will arise upon you,
and his glory will appear over you.
Nations shall come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
Lift up your eyes and look around;
they all gather together, they come to you;
your sons shall come from far away,
and your daughters shall be carried on their nurses’ arms.
Then you shall see and be radiant;
your heart shall thrill and rejoice,
because the abundance of the sea shall be brought to you,
the wealth of the nations shall come to you.
This passage from Isaiah 60 describes the outlying nations as Israel’s children, to be cared for and invited into the Kingdom of Zion, welcomed into the Temple.
But regardless of its grand appearance, Herod’s renovations, and the call to Israel to be a light to the nations, very few nations were drawn to God through Israel at all.
But who would feel drawn to such a beacon when the very people who called it Holy spilled one another’s blood within its walls.
In 66 CE, a mere 3 years after Herod's completion of the Temple’s renovation, a war broke out between the Jewish population of Palestine and the Romans.
During the Roman siege of Jerusalem, three separate factions of Jewish resistance began to fight with one another, entrenched behind the Temples great walls.
One faction was wiped out by the other two, and when the Romans began to build ramparts, it distracted the other two from killing one another just long enough for them to witness the complete annihilation of themselves and the Temple.
A way of life, a way of worship, and a nation, destroyed… obliterated.
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| Destruction of the Temple Of Jerusalem Francesco Hayez, c. 1867 Public Domain |
And perhaps its destruction was at the hands of its own people as much -if not more- than the hands of those who surrounded the city.
And from within those same walls at the Temple, Jesus predicts this event, responding to the “oohs” and “aahs" of those around him by serving the role of Debbie downer,
“You see all this? You like it? Well, it will all be torn to the ground.”
If Jesus were serving as a tour guide, this moment would have guaranteed one thing;
NO tip.
But the Temple had failed to serve as the epicenter for its own people -much less a beacon to the nations- because it could not even unite the very people it was meant to serve.
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So…
Where does that leave us today?
A nation divided.
A country split into three distinct, equally sized parts.
One group felt a tremendous sense of betrayal, fear, and ridicule four years ago, who has now seized the opportunity to gain a sense of vindication and confidence while perhaps feeling justified in a little bit of gloating, after the scorn and shaming they’ve received over these past 8 years.
One group felt vindicated and confident for eight years during the past two election cycles, and can we blame them for feeling a bit justified in their own sense of ethical superiority after two terms in the White House? Well… YES! Because now it’s their turn to feel betrayed, scared, and ridiculed; RIGHT?
But what about the third group?
The ones who were terrified for the future of their nation, no matter who would be elected? Those who went into this election dreading the morning of November 9th, no matter whose name appeared?
Do we just further divide these three groups?
Or do we all gather together behind the walls of the temple and tear one another apart, like the three factions of Jewish resistance who were defeated by the empire that would serve as the very means by which the gospel of Christ would spread far and wide.
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In 1863, as scattered battles and skirmishes raged between two divided segments of our nation, a quiet Seminary community in southeastern Pennsylvania awoke one morning to find their nation’s civil war at their own door step.
A war that the seminary’s pacifist president, Samuel Simon Schmucker had condemned.
Schmucker, upon receiving reports that he would be arrested by the confederate soldiers -who would soon be using his home as a field hospital- fled from the campus and sought a safe place to ride out the battle, leaving his students behind.
According to one young seminarian’s account of his own experience, he returned to his dormitory to find his quarters, likewise, being used as a field hospital.
Swiftly, the aspiring pastor grabbed his clean white sheets from his bed before they could be shredded into bandages, and then also fled from the campus.
As the battle raged on, the classrooms and dormitories that had served to house and educate the leaders of the Lutheran Church, became rooms of horror and despair for both confederate and union soldiers alike.
And while some seminarians stayed to help, most fled from the campus either refusing to provide care for confederates or fearful of their own persecution and safety.
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| Battle of Gettysburg Thure de Thulstrup c. 1887 Public Domain |
Regardless of their reasons, upon discovering this story one fall afternoon while touring a museum at the seminary, I wondered aloud,
“If this is how we envision the ministry of the institutional church, the sooner we close our doors, the better.”
Because what good is a church that cannot welcome in those who have been betrayed, wounded, and scorned?
Do we check their ID cards at the door?
Do we certify who they voted for or where they stand on the issues?
And do we really need to ask the question, "Is someone else really important enough to put myself at risk?"
That one is the very question that those surrounding Jesus are asking in the Gospel for today.
They want Jesus to give them a specific timeline so that they can flee from their own persecution and arrest.
Perhaps even grabbing their bedsheets before they can be cut into bandages?
But Jesus’ response is another example of Luke’s distinct take on this final discourse.
Because only in Luke does Jesus proclaim that their persecution is meant to serve as their opportunity to testify. It is the very reason for these events.
The word apocalypse comes from the greek word apocalypsis “to be unveiled” or “revealed”.
And if everyone is running away from what is to be revealed, then who will be left to see what it is that is being revealed in the first place?
But most importantly, in the gospel we hear today, Jesus is demanding that we be the ones who are doing the unveiling.
And just who is going to reveal God to the world, if we are too busy checking to make certain that people agree with us at the Temple door?
Who is going to reveal God to the world, if we are too busy trying to save our white sheets and running to the hills?
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I’m not a politician and I do not care to be.
I try to keep my politics to myself because I do not have the luxury of a public opinion.
But from the very first ballot I cast as an eligible voter, and every ballot I cast after that day, if I was audacious enough to keep my political views to myself, I was condemned publicly and privately by not only those whose candidate I did not vote for, but those who candidate I DID vote for.
Because everyone assumed I was from outside the little temple they made out of their own politics.
And I’ve accepted that this is the world that I live in, but I’m not so sure I can accept it is the world my children live in.
On Wednesday, my child came home from school scared.
Scared because my child's classmates wanted to know who my child voted for!
A CHILD, who won't even be eligible to vote for many more years!
Fearful of these classmates, fearful of losing friends, because of a vote that MY CHILD ISN”T EVEN ELIGIBLE TO CAST!
Sisters and brothers, if that is the world OUT THERE then let me remind you that we are called to not be led astray.
In fact, that is the third major difference in Luke’s account that we hear today.
DO NOT GO AFTER THEM!
We are called to be odd, different.
Because here in this place, if we have dedicated this place to God, we are called to welcome those who think like us AND those who do not.
We are called to welcome those who feel condemned for the vote they did cast and the one they did not.
We are called to welcome those who feel vindicated as well as those who feel fear at the results of this past Tuesday.
And this is not just a call to open the door, but a call to sit at the Table and share in the Body and Blood of the One who unites us ALL in a way that no candidate EVER has and no candidate EVER will.
So, sisters and brothers.
Look around you, look at this place.
Now let us ask ourselves, is this a place that will be a beacon to all people,
Or should we just tear it to the ground?
Amen
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| Last Supper Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1495-1498 Public Domain |
Sources
Cornfeld, Gaalya, Flavius Josephus, and Paul Maier L. Cornfeld. Josephus, the Jewish War. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Pub. House, 1982.
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