Reflection on Luke 21:5-19

“The stones are massive!” 

“How did they even get them stacked one on top of the other?” 

That is what I would have wondered had I been there with the disciples staring at the enormous stones of the Jewish temple. 

“What beautiful craftsmanship!” the disciples declare as they stare up in amazement at the temple’s grandeur.  The temple was a lasting symbol of God’s greatness.  It was an earthly home, fit for the presence of the one who created the heavens and the earth.  It was the hope of those who stared at its presence in the center of Jerusalem as they approached the city; hoping to come into the presence of the living God.  And, this great symbol of all that was good and holy and honorable was about to be destroyed, stone by stone, by the Romans.

To the ancient person, the destruction of the temple would be akin to literally going into the national archives, ripping up the United States’ constitution, and then completely disregarding all for which it stands. 

The temple was more than a building.  It was a way of life.  It was a reminder of who God is and it participated in the forgiveness and the righteousness that defines God.  The temple’s destruction was the destruction of all that was good and stable in a world of chaos and political division. 

Even with his high regard for the temple, a temple in which Jesus learned at the age of twelve, a temple in which Jesus taught many times throughout his own ministry, and a temple which Jesus sought to purify though the turning of the money changer’s tables; even this highly regarded and holy place within Jesus’ very heart was about to crumble. 

Nothing lasts forever.

I could feel this reality plainly when a local, small country church had to be torn down, beam by beam, because one of its walls had leaned a degree too far to be deemed safe.  The members of that little church grieved as a horrible truth of the world settled into their hearts: nothing lasts forever.

I could feel this reality plainly as I talked to a doctor from Syria who was forced to escape the country a few years back because of war and the threat of terrorism.  Just a handful of years before, Syria was a country where Muslims and Christians lived next to each other in peace.  They drank their strong morning coffees together in the cobble street cafes, politely discussed politics and religion, and traded stories of children and their schooling. 

That wonderful culture fell apart in a matter of days.  Now, he fears, the youngest children of his family who still live in Syria know nothing of that peaceful Syria.  They only know a Syria that is at war.  They only know a Syria that lives with violent religious and political division.  Those children only know violence in the face of disagreement.  They do not know that you can disagree and still have coffee together.  The culture has fallen apart. 

Nothing lasts forever.

"Beware that you are not led astray,” Jesus warns.  

It is so easy to be led astray.  We naturally trust in the best of our institutions.  The ancient Israelites trusted in the temple and all for which it stood.  The place was even heavenly ordained.  It was the home of the living God.  It was the salvation of God right here on earth.  How could you go wrong by trusting in the temple?

The same is true for constitutions and cultures and small family churches.  They are the things that hold us together as a people.  They are the things to which we turn when the chaos of the world threatens.  Yet, even the best things in life will crumble.  As foundational as these things have been to us in the past, trusting in even the best things in life is, in the end, trusting in the wrong things.  Particularly, trusting in the most treasured of things is the definition of being led astray. 

Do not be led astray.  They are not Christ.  They do not provide salvation.  They are not “He.” 

To put a heart-stabbing piece of punctuation at the end of the sentence, Jesus mentions that even the most trusted of all worldly institutions cannot be trusted to last: the family.  The very place you return to for turkey, fruit salad, pumpkin pie, and Aunt Janice’s famed green bean casserole (your family) can fall apart like everything else. 

Some of us are more keenly aware of this than others.  But, whether your family has betrayed you or not; of family, Jesus warns, “You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death.”

I am not giving you information that you do not already know.  Anyone who has lived any amount of time knows that even the most trusted of individuals can disappoint.  Even the most firm of institutions and life-long pensions can crumble away.  Even the most beloved of buildings can burn to the ground.  Even the most secure of cultures can devolve into war.  And, even the most beloved of homes can be overcome by flood waters.

But, it is not the end.  None of this crumbling and destruction is the end.  None of these hardships are the end.  And, that alone is good news. 

That alone is good news to the man who lost his beloved country to division.  That alone is good news to the young man who was abandoned by his family.  That alone is good news to a little congregation that lost its beloved chapel with its beautiful hardwood altar and hand painted depiction of Jesus on the wall behind. 

None of these hardships are the end.  There is always resurrection after the cross.  There is always morning shining on the third day.  There is always the presence of Jesus Christ who was and is and is to come.

Christ is the source of our endurance.  Christ is the one who lasts all the way to the end. Family will disappoint and temples of great stone will be toppled by the power of empires, but only Christ overcomes it all.  He will provide new life when death seems to rule the day.  He will provide words when persecutions overcome. 

It is Christ who is our temple.  It is Christ who is our worship.  It is Jesus Christ, God with us, in whom we put our trust.

You know what else will not perish?  Not a hair of your head.  Unfortunately, even the grey ones will last.  Thanks Jesus!  Even the mullets will be protected.  Thanks Jesus!  But, they will not perish because Jesus has promised to love us to the end.  And, it is that promise that we cling to when the world appears to be all war and floods.  We do not cling to our buildings and our cultures.  It is Jesus’ promise of holding us to the end that will endure forever.