Daniel 12: 1 - 3 / Psalm 16 / Hebrews 10: 11 – 14, 19 - 25 / Mark 13: 1 – 8
This is the homily given at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA), in McKnightstown, Pennsylvania on Sunday, November 17, 2024 by The Rev. Gene R. Tucker.
“THE MYSTERY OF
FAITH”
(Homily
text: Mark 13: 1 – 8)
We
must be getting close to the season of Advent, which features a double focus:
Preparation for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ as a babe in Bethlehem, and
also preparation for the end of all things, when God’s purposes and plan have
come to their full fruition.
This
morning’s Gospel text can be discomforting, for our Lord points forward to a
troubled time when the grandeur of the Temple in Jerusalem will cease to be.
The Lord seems to be telling His disciples to look beyond the immediate size
and scope of the Temple buildings, forward and beyond their seeming permanence,
to a time when it will be necessary to be faithful, and to “endure to the end”,
as we read in Mark 13:13 (not part of our appointed text for this morning).
To
be faithful is to choose the very best for ourselves.
Hold
that thought for a moment, as we look at the history of the building of the
Temple, and to the events that caused its destruction.
King
Herod the Great, who was a puppet king installed by the occupying Romans, ruled
from 37 to 4 BC. The Jewish people had a love-hate relationship with him, for
he was only part Jewish, and so – like the hated Samaritans – was not racially
and ethnically “pure”. Moreover, Herod had the morals of an alley cat….he
murdered some of his own immediate family (so as to maintain his hold on his
kingship). But – on the other hand - the Jewish people in that day admired his
building of the Temple in Jerusalem.
Construction
on this new Temple began in about the year 20 BC. So, by the time of Herod’s
death in 4 BC, the Temple was far from complete. In fact, its construction took
a total of about 64 years, we hear from historians in that time. By the time of
Jesus’ earthly ministry, much of the Temple’s construction was complete,
enough, at least, for the disciples to marvel at the size and scope of it.
The
Temple’s design was meant to impress: The Temple buildings itself were
constructed on top of a large (33 acres) platform, whose walls were made up of
large stones, some of which weighed an estimation 20 tons. That platform still
exists today, for it was the Temple buildings themselves that were destroyed
during the siege of Jerusalem in the year 70 AD. (The holiest site for Jews
today is the Wailing Wall, which is at the base of the western wall of the
Temple Mount.)
Now,
let’s return to Jesus’ foretelling of the destruction of the Temple.
His
prediction is of a type of literature and discourse called an “apocalypse”[1].
Oftentimes, when we hear this word, we don’t think of it as an “unveiling”, a
pulling back of the curtain which lies over the future, as much as we think of
wars and battles. But the basic meaning of “apocalypse” is that it is an
unveiling, a peek into God’s plans, purposes and role in the future.
An
apocalypse is just that: A glimpse into God’s plans and purposes.
Apocalyptic
literature often arises during times when God’s people are in distress. So,
another way to see this is to see that apocalyptic writing is meant to
encourage God’s people, to enable them to lift their eyes beyond their
immediate trouble and distress to see that God is still present, that God is
still in control (although it might not look that way at the moment), and to
see that God’s purposes will work out for God’s people. In the end, then,
apocalyptic literature is meant to reassure God’s people that God will not
abandon them, and that nothing can separate them from God and from God’s love,
as St. Paul writes in Romans, chapter eight.
The
time of Jesus’ earthly ministry was a deeply troubled time. The Jews chafed
under the yoke of Roman rule. More than once, they pushed back against it, and
then, they began a war to expel the Romans, a war that lasted from 66 – 70 AD,
at which time Jerusalem was destroyed, and the Temple along with it.
After
Jesus’ death and resurrection, as the young Church went out into the Gentile
world, carrying the Good News of God in Christ, it, too, experienced difficult
times and troubles. Consider, for example, that every one of the band of Jesus’
original disciples – except for one – suffered a martyr’s death.
Jesus
exhorts His early followers, as He exhorts us today, to be faithful. To be
faithful is to choose the best path, the best way to relate to God through
Christ. To choose to make God the center of our being and our life, is to
choose the very best, that very thing that will never go away.
In
the age in which we live, many wonder and worry about what the future will
hold. Notice, for example, how many pundits there are who offer their scenarios
for future events. (Consider, also, the many down through time who’ve tried to
predict when Jesus will return….they’ve all been wrong!)
Ours
is a troubled age.
But,
no matter what comes, we would do well to remember that nothing can separate us
from God’s love, God’s strength, and God’s presence. St. Paul’s words, as we
read them in chapter eight of his letter to the early Christians in Rome, ring
true.
To
choose God as first and as the foundation for our lives is to choose the very
best. If we do that, then when problems and troubles come along (as they most
certainly will from time-to-time), God will be able to strengthen us, God will
be able to enlighten us so that we can meet those problems head on. We are
assured that the Church will exist until the end of all things. The Church is
that place where we meet God, and where God meets us. The Church is that place
where we strengthen one another to be faithful until the end.
AMEN.
[1] This section of Mark’s Gospel account is often known as the “Little Apocalypse”. There are parallel passages in Matthew (24:1 – 51) and in Luke (21:5 – 38).
