To Tomorrow with Endurance: Luke 21:5-19 - 26th Sunday after Pentecost
5When 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.” 7They asked him, “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?” 8And 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.” 10Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; 11there 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. 13This will give you an opportunity to testify. 14So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; 15for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. 16You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. 17You will be hated by all because of my name. 18But not a hair of your head will perish. 19By your endurance you will gain your souls.” (NRSV)
Sunrise by CipherN. Creative Commons image on flickr. |
It begins when an acorn falls from a tree and strikes
Chicken Little on the head. He immediately
panics, believing that the sky is falling.
He then proceeds to warn everyone he sees of the dreadful news. He gains a significant following who believe
it, based largely on the conviction of his testimony.
Foxy Loxy also hears Chicken Little, and offers his
underground lair as a refuge for the frightened fowl and his friends. Once he has the animals cornered, he eats
them all. End of story.
The moral of the story is that fear and paranoia make one
vulnerable for being led astray.
But I can’t help but wonder if Jesus’ warnings in today’s
Gospel are every bit as outrageous as Chicken Little’s…
Jesus is with his disciples, teaching inside the magnificent
Jerusalem temple. The size and beauty of
this building made it a marvel of the ancient world—and why not? This is the Temple of the one true God. It was built to last forever.
And here, you have Jesus—prophesying that the Temple’s days
are numbered. Not one stone shall be
left on the other.
He goes on to warn of false prophets and teachers who will
be making false claims about themselves and about the future. All the while, there will be wars and
insurrections, famines, plagues, and earthquakes, the likes of which have never
before been seen.
Yet before that happens, Christians will be arrested and put
on trial. Their closest family and
friends will betray them into the hands of the authorities who will put them to
death.
About forty years after Jesus’ death and resurrection, the
unthinkable comes to pass—the Roman general Titus and his armies sack Jerusalem
and raze the temple to the ground.
Christians will have been—and will continue to be—hated, reviled, and
persecuted on account of their faith.
But Jesus’ warnings come with two powerful promises:
1.
Don’t worry about what you will say or what you
do. Your suffering and persecution will
provide opportunities for you to testify to God’s faithfulness.
2.
God will enable you to endure—and in your
endurance you will gain your souls…
So what are we to say about these things?
With everything happening in our world today, it’s hard to
believe that we’re not living in the
end times. In many parts of the world,
our sisters and brothers are being brutally persecuted and killed for their
faith. Natural disasters are striking at
an unprecedented scale. Wars and
insurrections are happening everywhere—even here in America. And you have terrorist groups like ISIS
spreading death and destruction wherever they go.
These are frightening times we’re living in—making us the perfect prey for Foxy Loxy and all kinds of false prophets
and Messiahs in this world. We’ve just endured months of political with
candidates promising you the American dream in exchange for your vote. TV preachers and bestselling Christian
authors promise you much the same if you believe God enough to send them money
and buy their merchandise. Religious cults
and entrepreneurial pyramid promise you everything, when in fact everything is
what they take. Then there are all the
personalities on television and the internet who deliver to you their interpretation of current events. They have the charisma and the pizzazz to make
a true believer out of anyone.
The way you see reality is unquestionably influenced by the
ones you listen to and whose words you trust.
Never before has it been more important for you to be listening to Jesus—lest
you, too, be led astray.
Even though Jesus makes no promises for a prosperous,
care-free life, he does promise his utmost faithfulness. If the unimaginable happens, and you’re
facing people who hate you because of Jesus, he will give you the words to
speak. If the unthinkable happens, and
the world is coming to an end, Jesus will give you endurance. The sky itself may crumble and fall, but not
one hair of your head will parish. Jesus
will be stronger than every crisis, every persecution, and every loss.
Your challenge is to open your ears to Jesus and lift your
heads to see him as he comes to be your deliverer. But that’s not all.
You will quickly lose hope in resurrection if you are not doing resurrection. In other words, if you believe the sky is
falling, you’re probably going to jump into a fox hole, trying desperately to
escape your doom.
If you believe in Jesus, you’re boldly defying chaos and
evil by being out in the open, in the world, testifying to God’s love and faithfulness. We’re not Polyanna, trying to make the best
of a bad situation—or shouting “all is well” amid chaos. We’re doing what Jesus would have us
do—sharing our faith. Feeding the hungry. Befriending the forgotten.
So you may as well live like the world is going to end
tomorrow—because God is not waiting eagerly to destroy the world and everyone
in it. God is in the world to redeem
everyone in it. So do good today. Be kind.
Give generously. Forgive
graciously. Pray fervently. Trust Jesus. To tomorrow with endurance.
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