Proper 28, Year C (November 13, 2022) The Rev. Karen C. Barfield
Proper 28, Yr C (2022)
Isaiah 65:17-25
Canticle 9 (Isaiah 12:2-6)
Luke 21:5-19
In the name of the one, holy, and living God:
in whom we live, and move, and have our being. Amen.
“Surely it is God who saves me;
I will trust in God and not be afraid.”
I find that extremely difficult:
to trust in God…and not be afraid!
Do any of you find that difficult?
The disciples did.
Jesus got it though.
I think that may be one reason why we love Jesus’ stories so much!
While oftentimes his stories unsettle us,
they also ground us in the assurance that it is God who saves us
and that we need not be afraid.
Today’s gospel story is no different:
Jesus begins by saying something unsettling:
“When some were speaking about the temple,
how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, Jesus said,
‘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.’”(Lk 21:5-6)
All will be thrown down!
Now to the folks listening to Jesus that day,
this would have been both ridiculous and horrifying news.
They could not lose their Temple again!
After all, it was still under reconstruction after having been destroyed centuries before.
Yet, by the time this gospel was written down,
nearly 40 years later,
Jesus’ disciples understood that he had indeed predicted the destruction of the Temple,
which occurred in 70 CE.
Jesus had said, “Not one stone will be left upon another.”
And indeed, the Temple was destroyed.
The unimaginable had happened – again.
For a little background:
King Herod had begun reconstructing the temple in 19 BCE,
more than doubling the size of the original temple mount.
The temple itself was completed in 18 months;
however, work on the outer courts and all their magnificent decorations
weren’t completed until around 63 CE…that’s roughly 82 years!
82 years of money, time, and countless lives expended on making the temple courts beautiful…every exquisite detail chiseled out of stone.
And all of that was destroyed only seven or so years after its completion.
Jesus had uttered those chilling words:
Not one stone will be left upon another…
The Temple was pillaged, burned, and left in a rubble.
Can you imagine how devastating this was for a people whose lives of faith were built around the Temple?!
Luke, of course, is writing these words after the temple had been destroyed.
Perhaps he was trying to reinforce that since what Jesus said had come to pass,
then other things that Jesus said could also be trusted as true.
Other things that Jesus said that provided hope in God’s promises.
Jesus had more things to say that day, such as:
There will be wars and insurrections,
false prophets, earthquakes,
plagues and famines,
and the persecution of believers.
Sounds kind of familiar, doesn’t it?!
And then Jesus tells them that because they are followers of Jesus
they will be arrested and persecuted,
even betrayed by family members.
But, Jesus says,
Do not worry…do not be afraid…
not a hair of your head will perish.
“By your endurance you will gain your souls.”
Stay the course.
Trust in God who saves.
Do not be afraid.
Jesus then tells them that when they are brought before the authorities,
Jesus will give them the words to speak…
the words to testify to the power of God at work in the world.
Do not prepare your defense in advance…
Trust in God.
Do not be afraid.
So, given that this conversation between Jesus and those standing about the temple took place almost 40 years before the destruction of the Temple and was spoken about what would happen in those intervening 40 years, what does it have to do with us?
Like I said earlier, since Luke actually recorded this story some 20 years after the destruction of the temple, he must have thought this story critical for the ongoing faith of the disciples and for believers in generations to come.
This morning we are sitting here worshipping in a beautiful stone church.
What if one of these days hurricane-force winds or a tornado come and reduce these buildings to a pile of rubble?
Would we still be a church?
What is the Church anyway?
What is our calling?
Why are we here?
If we were called before the authorities:
the aldermen and alderwomen of the Town of Canton…
the State legislature of North Carolina…
If we were called before our neighboring businesses,
to what or to whom would we testify?
And how is it that we could testify without preparing what we say in advance?
Well, it seems to me that we testify through our very lives:
through every interaction we have at the grocery store,
the bank,
our workplaces or places of civic engagement…
even downstairs at fellowship time or over lunch during the week.
The Church is the Body of Christ,
and we are individually members of it,
but we are who we are because we live in relationship with God,
and through God with one another.
Each of us is created in the very image of God.
Imagine that!
It does not matter if the physical structure of a church – a place of worship – should crumble…
we are still the Body of Christ at work in the world…
proclaiming God’s love, forgiveness, healing, and reconciliation.
Our building is important because it is the place where we gather together to remind ourselves that our lives have been claimed by God.
It is a place where we are fed by Christ’s Body and Blood
and are strengthened in our faith by God and our community
to continue Christ’s reconciling work in the world.
It is a place where we give praise and glory to God for God’s gifts to us.
It is a place where we are able to engage in acts of mercy with those in need.
The way in which we are able to testify through our lives to the mercy and Grace of God
is to allow our hearts and minds to be transformed by the love of Christ
so that as the apostle Paul says, we, too, may have the mind of Christ.
We do this through prayer, meditating on God’s Word, and sharing the Sacraments.
If we have the mind of Christ,
then we need not prepare what we say in advance…
the Spirit of God will guide us in our words and in our actions.
Our focus, then, is not on our own abilities or accomplishments
but on God’s ability to work through us.
Surely it is God who saves us;
we can trust in God and not be afraid.
Today’s reading from Isaiah comes from a different period in time…
and yet another time in which God’s people have returned from exile in Babylon
and face a temple and a city in ruin.
Isaiah’s announcement that everything will pass is a word of judgment – an unsettling -
yet it is also a word of promise.
God says through Isaiah:
“I am about to create new heavens
and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered
or come to mind.” (Isaiah 65:17)
A new thing is being created out of the old…
it is not a creation out of nothing
but a creation out of the chaos of our own messes.
There is nothing in all of creation
that is beyond the capacity of God to heal and redeem!
This is the good news of Isaiah and the good news of the Gospel:
God is doing a new thing.
Even when, by all outward appearances, our world seems a crumbled mess!
Surely it is God who saves us;
let us trust in God and not be afraid.
We are called to step out in faith and hope
that the God who created us will also heal, renew, and sustain us.
It is out of God’s abiding love within us
that we are able to share God’s redeeming love with the world around us.
My friends, let us love one another…let us love the world,
within these walls and especially beyond them.
God is doing a new thing.
May we trust God to shine forth through our very lives:
up on this hill
and out into the world.
God will save us…all of us.
We need not be afraid.
Amen.
