Dearest e-votees-
In what do you do place your hope and your trust? Where do your ground your existence? Your happiness? Your future? What if those things turn out to be less lasting and trustworthy than you had hoped? What then?
Our appointed gospel text for this Sunday talks about a world that is not so secure and what it looks like to be a person of faith and hope in uncertain times and places.
Perhaps there is something in those words for us in this world that doesn’t always seem so secure.
Peace,
Karl
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5 When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, [Jesus] said, 6 "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." 7 They asked him, "Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?" 8 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. 9 "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." 10 Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; 11 there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven. 12 "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. 13 This will give you an opportunity to testify. 14 So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; 15 for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. 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.
What are the temples in your life? What are the lavish buildings or organizations or institutions that captivate them when you draw near? If you could spend time luxuriating in an environment and a history and a worldview where would you go? What is your place of hope and trust? Is it in representational government? Is it in the strength and ideals of our military? Is in the confines and supportive environment of married life? Is it in the power and strength of the gathered church? Is it in the deep and abiding relationships of dear friends and cherished mentors? Is it in your hope that rightly motivated and socially aware people can change the world (as Margaret Mead said “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”) Is your temple more along the lines of your own health and vitality? Where you bring your offerings of hope and faith and trust? Which temple draws you and draws your breath away? Where do you bring your offerings?
Jesus throws some cold water into the faces of those with dreamy expressions luxuriating in the glory of the temple. Surely the adoration was for more than the building but also the history and the covenant and the experiences that were represented by this beautiful and storied structure. But these things don’t always last. For the temple it was in 70 AD when the Romans came and destroyed and desecrated this holy place. To this day you can go and see the rubble that used to be this glorious building. Some gather to pray at the western wall. Some, undoubtedly, wait until it will again be rebuilt and God will get things back under control.
The hard truth is that the temples in our lives are also passing away. They may not be leveled in a short time. They might be eroded through an accumulation of neglected moments and opportunities and other corrosive forces. They may be weakened and traumatized by reckless moments of all too palpable humanity. The sanctity of marriage and our hopes that reverently spoken vows bore may be desecrated. We might learn all too quickly how truly fantastic a fairy tale Mr. Smith Goes to Washington really is. The pains and lasting scars and brutal realities of wars and rumors of wars do take their toll. The gathered church has much corporate sin on her hands. The approach in Blue Like Jazz to begin by confessing the broken nature of the church seems right. Friends and mentors and other guardian angels lose their haloes sometimes. Our bodies eventually return back to the dust from which they were formed—sometimes more gracefully than others but often not. All of our temples are subject to destruction from without and from within.
Beyond that, persecution comes. Sometimes it is only in body. Sometimes so much more. As people try to raise the hope and power of the gospel others lash out. As we struggle to give testimony and to live faithfully even as life as we know it shifts out from under us we can come under attack. We may think that we have no words to speak or that our words are drowned out by the hypocritical actions that come as our saint-sinner package deal.
Jesus tells his hearers that he will give them words when they are called to give testimony. I believe that this scripture couldn’t have been far from Luther’s mind when he was called upon to recant all his writings before the temple dwellers of his day. I take deep comfort in these words when sermons don’t come easily. Perhaps Jesus’ words offer you some assurance as well—that is my prayer.
The point of what Jesus says is this—don’t put your trust and hope in the wrong places. Salvation comes through him. When we get it wrong—which we often do—our choices and misplaced trusts can be harmful and destructive to us and to those around us. When we get it right—which we sometimes do—the attacks on us will grow more fiercely hot. Thanks be to God that it really isn’t about us getting it right or wrong. It is about Jesus getting it—and us—right and trusting in that. That is our trust and our hope. That confession is not subject to destruction and decay and atrophy as are all the idol temples that come into our lives. Thanks be to God that Jesus will not forsake us.
God, help us learn to trust and confess in you. We thank you for all the many supports and structures that we find in this world from your gracious hand. Help us never put them in your place. Help us love and serve you boldly. And we thank you this day, particularly, for veterans who love and serve country and fellow citizens boldly. Help us reverence our blessed dead and help us pray—as Jesus taught us—for our enemies. We long for the day when the modern equivalent of swords are beaten into the modern equivalent of plowshares. Amen.
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