– Rev. Dena White, Fairway District Superintendent
Luke 21:5-19 Some of his 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
The word of God, for us the people of God, thanks be to God?
Those are hard words to give thanks for.
Jesus is essentially telling everyone within hearing, including us…
Everything you see and find comfort in, all that makes you feel secure and hopeful,
it will soon be rubble.
The entire world will erupt in chaos and war and great need and great sickness and…
you will be arrested and suffer for your faith…
but…don’t be afraid, because all of the upheaval will give you
an opportunity to talk about Me.
Ummm…great?
There is this horrible interesting love song by Andy Grammer
called I Wish You Pain.
“I hope people break their promises
Leave you in the cold
I hope they beat your heart to pieces
Worse than you’ve ever known
I hope you finally arrive, only to find you’re nowhere close
I hope you cry and tears come streaming down your face
I hope this life traps you in more than you thought you could ever take
I hope the help you want never comes and you do it on your own
‘Cause I love you more than you could know
And your heart, it grows every time it breaks
I know that it might sound strange
But I wish you pain…”
Truly, that has got to be the WORST love song EVER!
The other bad thing about it is that the melody is pretty,
so before you know it you’re singing along with it!
Still, there is a modicum of truth in the song.
There are lessons, important necessary lessons,
that we can only learn through the challenge and the struggle of difficulty,
through the weathering of storms, through pain and loss.
You may have heard it this way
“You gotta have a TEST to have a TESTIMONY”
Jesus is talking this way because people are following Him and hoping that their struggles and difficulties are about to come to an end.
They are hoping that the time of Roman rule and oppression
is about to be over and that Jesus is the one who will lead them
to revolution and victory.
The people were looking at the temple, admiring its beauty.
The beauty of the structure and what the temple represented.
For the Israelite, the temple was the dwelling place of God,
where Almighty God was found on earth.
The temple was built on Mount Moriah where God revealed Godself to Abraham.
It was sacred space.
HOLY. (All CAPS.)
It was glorious, vast.
It was also a reminder of God’s promises to God’s chosen people.
God would be their God, and they would be God’s people, forever. The temple also meant power—political, economic, and military. The Israelites didn’t have power in that moment, but they felt they were close.
Closer than they had ever been before in their lifetime.
After all, they were God’s chosen people,
following a miracle working Rabbi, who maybe, just maybe, was God’s anointed.
In that moment, following Jesus, walking in the temple,
they were feeling like the Chicago Cubs in overtime in 2016
about to break the “curse” and win the World Series.
But God’s way of breaking the curse of sin and death,
well…it wouldn’t look much like a win.
Right after this conversation, in chapter 22, Jesus has the last supper
with His disciples, is betrayed, arrested, and dies like a criminal on a cross.
Not exactly the win the disciples and the followers of Jesus were hoping for.
But to prove that Jesus could conquer the power of death…
He had to die.
To prove that the power of God’s love and grace were greater
than the destructive power of sin,
Jesus had to face full on that power as He suffered
the hate, the lies, the betrayal, the violence—the worst that the world could do.
Jesus’ followers were looking at the temple and finding hope and comfort.
When Luke wrote his gospel,the temple was rubble.
Rome had destroyed it 40 years after Jesus’ death.
That beautiful, ornate, marble and gold covered massive structure that could accommodate over 400,000 people…
it was thrown down, torn down.
Jesus wanted His followers, wants us to know that
every place we put our faith that isn’t Jesus…will not last.
This building Jesus is saying, is not permanent.
His physical body, Jesus knew was not permanent.
Buildings are destroyed. Bodies die.
But we can choose to put our faith in the One Who cannot be destroyed,
the One Who secures for us the victory of life over death!
In John 16:33 Jesus says,
“In this world you will have trouble, but take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Because Jesus has overcome, we can learn and grow through our struggles, through our losses, and through our pain, knowing that God will supply what we need in the growing through.
Because Jesus has overcome, we can stand firm and live out of the life won for us in Christ Jesus our Savior, no matter what is thrown down, no matter what changes may come.
Trusting and standing with you and always thankful for you,
Dena