Bible Text: Isaiah 65:17-25, Psalm 98, Luke 21:5-19
Of the seven wonders of the ancient world only one still exists. The seven ancient wonders were originally placed on a list in various guidebooks to Hellenic tourists in the 1st and 2nd centuries BCE. It’s rather fascinating to think that there were these Greek tourists travelling the world just to tick off sites on their bucket list, around the same time that the church was getting off the ground. These tourists existed due to Greek conquest, and access to places like Egypt, Persia and Babylon. Among the seven wonders was the Colossus of Rhodes, which was destroyed by earthquake despite it being about 108 feet tall, the Lighthouse of Alexandria, which fell apart after three earthquakes, the Mausoleum at Halicarnasses, which, while being the 2nd last wonder to exist, was eventually destroyed by earthquake in the 15th century, the Temple of Artemis, which was destroyed in a fire, and the Statue of Zeus, which somehow went missing. On the list was also the Hanging Gardens, but their location has not been known for some time and many even speculated that they only existed in myth. The one remaining wonder is also the oldest, the Great Pyramid of Giza. And to this day we don’t quite know how it was made, but it has stood for over 4500 years. It seems impenetrable, and yet, most of those other seven wonders would have seemed indestructible to those Hellenic tourists. The truth is, that any human made product can be destroyed, or razed, or ruined, and the seven ancient wonders teach me that, as well as, the importance of seismically upgrading. The temple in Jerusalem must have seemed that way too at one time, with its gorgeous columns, its massive stone work, its beautiful design and of course its divine plan. But, few things in this world are permanent, except perhaps the damage we can cause to the earth, to one another, to society when we spend our efforts on building wonders of the world rather than building up people.
We are entering the final days of the church year- and so appropriately we approach discussions about THE final days. Scholars often call this eschatology, meaning the end of time as we understand it, “escha” meaning “last” and “logy” meaning “study”. It is the study of the end times. Unfortunately, this passage in Luke has been used to justify all kinds of atrocities both natural and human made, making them sound like part of God’s greater plan or that they happened because we deserved it. That is often the spin that is put on eschatology. But I see it differently and that this passage is more about the context than it is about eschatology. Yes, this is a very important warning about Christ’s second coming but it is also written in hindsight and a warning about the here and now, the first readers of the Gospel according to Luke, not the future. It is about the fall of all things indestructible- for buildings are not permanent but building people is.
Let’s remember that Luke is the first half of a two part series. The author is writing this Gospel and the Book of Acts to a man name Theophilus who is clearly interested in understanding everything there is to know about Jesus and the early church. It is likely that Theophilus, a wealthy Greek, has charged Luke, an educated Jew, with being researcher and recorder of all things Jesus Christ. Luke is not a first person account of Jesus but rather, more like a reporter, collecting data from all kinds of sources, possibly even from people who were there, and putting it together into two long letters, Luke is hearing this from first and second sources. But Luke himself was not there. This is important in understanding all of Luke but in particular this morning’s passage, because Luke’s Gospel is dated around 85 CE. Meaning, it was written roughly 50 years after Jesus death and 15 years after the destruction of the temple Jerusalem. Which means that Luke’s readers, including Theophilus, would hear what Jesus says about the temple as a reflection rather than a prediction. Hindsight, is a handy tool when writing something about the past. The destruction of the temple, by the Romans, would have been devastating and to this day it has never been rebuilt.
The focus of Jesus’ message is often lost within the apocalyptic language that follows. Jesus is saying that our focus should not be on things, for they are not permanent. Just before our passage, right at the beginning of chapter 21, Jesus shares one of his last parables, about a widow who puts two coins into the treasury- stating that no matter how small her funds- they are worth more than all the rich people putting in their gifts. I want to believe that Jesus is linking that story with the understanding that our attention should be drawn to help the poor, the oppressed, the marginalized before it is on a building. I know not all of you will be happy with that statement, especially because we clearly need a building to help us build up people but it is all about priorities. Jesus is telling the disciples to rearrange their focus.
Jesus then moves to very specific catastrophic events. Let’s remember this is written as a reflection and we know that in the 50 years since Jesus’ death, nations have risen against each other. Earthquakes have destroyed great and beautiful buildings and famines and plagues have dealt a heavy blow to the fertile crescent. All of this is going on while the church is in its infancy. But also, the words Jesus uses are reflective of many themes found within the Hebrew apocalyptic tradition, in books such as Daniel, Ezra and even Revelation. Theology scholar Gilberto Ruiz reminds us, “Apocalyptic literature uses unsettling language and imagery as a means to assure the faithful that they should keep their trust in God even when facing the most challenging of circumstances. Sure enough, while describing the terrible events. Jesus tells his listeners not be afraid…We should trust that God remains present in our lives.” We are brought back to this concept that anything human made is impermanent but all things God created are everlasting.
Luke is also setting up the book of Acts for he not only researches the matriarchs and patriarchs of the early church but eventually he joins them in their mission. There is a moment in the book of Acts in which it switches from third person to first person- all because Luke ceases to be a recorder and becomes a follower. Luke has seen the persecution and opposition that the early church has experienced. The early leaders faced exactly the kind of trouble that Jesus describes near the end of our passage. What often happens among some Christian organizations or leaders is that they blame reckless behaviour or certain changes to our moral ethic or even tolerance, as the reason for natural disasters or persecution. But Jesus is clear that laying blame on a particular segment of society is not what should happen. Instead Jesus says that these challenging times are a opportunity to testify.
The early church was facing all kinds of challenges, their numbers were low, the predominant culture was increasingly secular and hedonistic, there were all kinds of atrocities that called into question the very existence of a God who is love, it was difficult to convince people the value of coming to faith in community when most of the community could careless whether the church existed or not. Huh, it sounds familiar. In many ways the modern church is similar to that of the early church, struggling to survive. And yet, imbedded in these words of warning is a deep sense of hope. There will come a day when the world as we know it, or time as we understand it, will look vastly different than it is today- in part because what we build on this earth is temporary but what we do or don’t do is permanent. There’s a good chance that 20 years from now the church will look nothing like it does today and that’s frightening but the hopeful message is this, that God remains present and permanent. Amen