When
Jesus walked the Earth, early in the period of time we call the first century,
the Romans and the people of Israel had a very tenuous relationship. Zealots raised up armies and tried to fight
off the Romans. The Temple officials had a perilous relationship with the Roman
leaders. The Roman’s had trouble keeping the people of Israel in line – in 70
AD, these tensions came to a head – the people of Jerusalem had a standoff with
the Romans….Jerusalem was laid siege by the Romans and fell…The Romans
destroyed Jerusalem and the Jewish Temple and forced the Jewish people into
exile. The only part of the Temple of Jerusalem that remains is the Western
Wall, where today people visit and pray and leave prayers stuck in the stones
that remain.
When
Jesus lived and ministered on earth, he knew what was coming in the future. In
today’s passage we read from Luke, Jesus’ consoles his friends and tells them
that even though cities and buildings will fall, natural disasters will come,
and followers of God will be persecuted, but God’s steadfast love endures
forever.
Hear
our reading as it is found in Luke, chapter 21, verses five through nineteen:
Proclamation of the Scripture Luke 21:5-19
Some of Jesus’
disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones
and with gifts dedicated to God. But Jesus said,
“As for what
you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on
another; every one of them will be thrown down.”
“Teacher,”
they asked, “when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they
are about to take place?”
He
replied: “Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my
name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them.
When you hear
of wars and uprisings, do not be frightened. These things must happen first,
but the end will not come right away.”
Then he said
to them: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against
kingdom.
There will be
great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful
events and great signs from heaven.
“But before
all this, they will seize you and persecute you. They will hand you over to
synagogues and put you in prison, and you will be brought before kings and
governors, and all on account of my name.
And so you
will bear testimony to me.
But make up
your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves.
For I will
give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to
resist or contradict.
You will be
betrayed even by parents, brothers and sisters, relatives and friends, and
they will put some of you to death.
Everyone will
hate you because of me.
But not a hair
of your head will perish.
Stand firm,
and you will win life.
Here ends this reading of the word of God for the people
of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Let us pray: Lord, open our hearts and minds by the power of your Holy Spirit, that as the Scriptures are read and your Word is proclaimed, we may hear with joy what you say to us today. Amen.
When I was a kid, a few blocks away from my parent’s house was a
closed Catholic church. My school bus passed by it in the mornings. When the
church was first closed, the windows were boarded up. Then, a fire happened
that damaged the structure of the building. Parts of the building started to collapse.
Another fire happened. The roof fell in. Soon, there were just exterior walls.
Eventually, all that was left was a lone bell tower.
But, just because
the building fell apart doesn’t mean God disappeared. Just because a church
closed doesn’t mean God is closed. Buildings aren’t permanent. Even churches can
be flooded, or hit by tornados, or catch on fire, or consolidate into another space.
As beautiful as our church home is, as much as we love worshipping God in this
building, Trinity’s building will not be on this strip of Church Road in
Skippack PA forever. There is a time for everything, and a season for
every activity under the heavens:
When Jesus walked
the earth, he knew things would change for the Jewish people and the followers
of God. Jesus knew the beautiful stones that adorned the walls of the Temple in
Jerusalem would be torn down in just a few decades. Jesus knew the world was
not going to shift on its axis after his visit on earth. Bad things would still
happen. Natural disasters would befall the earth. People would be jerks to each
other. Powerful men and women would start wars with each other and send loyal
soldiers to fight on their behalf. Christians would be persecuted. Yet, no
matter what terrible things occur, God’s steadfast love endures forever.
At the end of Psalm
136, these words echo to us from the centuries:
It is God who remembered us in our low estate,
for God’s steadfast love endures forever;
and rescued us from our foes,
for God’s steadfast love endures forever;
God who gives food to all flesh,
for God’s steadfast love endures forever.
Give thanks to the God of heaven,
for God’s steadfast love endures forever.
Sometimes, in our lives, things go off the rails. We lose objects. We
lose jobs. We fall out of love. Our children are hurt. We become ill. People we
love die. Everything in our lives doesn’t stay “picture perfect” all of the time.
Despite our brokenness,
God is with us. God’s steadfast love endures forever. God understands when we
mess up. God loves us despite our flaws. God is with us in the midst of our
pain and our struggles. God doesn’t abandon us, ever.
Jesus didn’t want
his followers to be disappointed when the world became scary. Jesus didn’t want
them to feel that the promises Jesus made to them would break when the world
broke a little bit. He wanted them to know that he knew things oftentimes
become worse before they get better. But, Jesus wanted his friends and us to know
that in the midst of things dying, new life comes forth. He wanted his friend
and us to stand firm in our faith and to rely on God when this world is strange
and confusing. Jesus wanted us to know that no matter what happens, God is with
us. And, part of our work is to accompany each other when bad things happen to
the people we love and the people we worship with. Things are much easier to
handle when we are not alone. So, in addition to God, we are here to comfort
and support each other.
This is what it
means to be church. We are more than a building. We are more than a social
club. We are more than a few random people thrown together for an hour on Sunday
mornings. We are called to be part of the Body of Christ – to be connected to God
and to be connected to each other. To support each other when we know that
people can’t do it alone. We called to be here for each other and to remember that
God’s steadfast love endures forever.
Amen.
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