The soldier fired a shot from the riffle and then dropped back down into the trench. Bullets soared overhead, embedding into the ruins of buildings behind. He looked to the church behind the trenches, which too was being battered by its share of ammunition. The church and its shattered stained glass windows served as a sort of grounding for the man during the bloodshed, which literally soaked the soil upon which he walked. When the danger increased, and the fear intensified, he would take a glance at the church and a sense of peace would fall upon the man.
This time when he glanced at the battered, but holy structure, he saw a man, rolling rubble and stacking stones in the form of steps so that the faithful might access the grand entrance of the church. The man must have been insane. This was not the time for rebuilding, this was the time for civilians to stay far, far away.
The soldier had seen this before, a form of shock that renders a person temporarily unable to grasp the danger of their situation. The man obviously was not acting rationally as bullets whizzed by. But, in this crumbling world of war, was anyone really acting rationally?
It was as if this man who was stacking stones, who was making sure the people had access to God, lived in another world. It was as if he stood on a different ground from the blood soaked soil upon which the soldier stood. It was as if the man had a deep trust in something or someone beyond the natural need for self-preservation. The world was crumbling apart, but this man’s world was not. This man was obviously standing on the solid ground of his Lord, Jesus Christ.
If there is anything that we have learned in the past couple of years it is that even the strongest, most rock solid institutions that we build, can crack and crumble. Democracy is not a given. Peace is not assured. The preservation of peace and order is something that needs to be defended because it can all crumble and fall. Everything that humans make and create, no matter how wonderful, can crumble and fall, even the most sacred and holy of our institutions.
As Jesus and his disciples gazed upon the massiveness and magnificence of the holy temple in Jerusalem, some speaking about the beautiful stones and gifts all dedicated to creating a home for God here on this earth, 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.” Everything that humans make and create eventually crumble and fall.
His sharp words, echoed against the stone walls of the holy temple, cutting in a very deep, deep way. I do not think that we quite appreciate how traumatic the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem was to the people of Gold. The temple was everything. It was their focus. It was the place where God chose to touch earth and meet the people. The temple was the garden of Eden in the middle of a barren land. It was where God could walk with humans and humans with God. Without the temple, where would you find wisdom? Without the temple, where would you find forgiveness? Without the temple, how would you touch the divine and how would the divine touch the people?
“When will this be?” they asked Jesus, anxiety dripping off of their lips. “How will we know?” “What will be the sign?”
These questions which cause our breath to quicken and our blood pressure to rise are always the questions on our lips when our world starts to fall apart. When the cancer diagnosis first drops from the doctor’s lips and our minds wander away from the doctor’s words, our hearts racing, we ask, “When will this be?” “How will we know?”
When the words first drop from the lips of the spouse that they think that maybe it is time to spend some time apart, the heart races and the questions arise, “When will this be?” “How will I know?”
When the notice comes that the job will soon be over, or the money is about to run dry, our hearts race and we ask, “When will this be?” “How will we know?”
Things fall apart. Jesus is very clear that things fall apart. “Not one stone will be left upon another,” Jesus predicts. “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom” the Lord reminds, as if we needed the reminder. Earthquakes, famines, and plaques are all ways that people’s words fall apart and threaten to prove to us that death always gets the last word. Betrayal by “parents and brothers, by relatives and friends,” the people who are supposed to stay by our side, is a reality in this crumbling world. And, in the middle of all of this destruction and death, the words that are literally written right in the middle of this story, bookended by a list of all the ways that the world crumbles apart, are the divine words of Jesus, “Do not be terrified.”
“Do not be terrified.”
You stand on the solid ground of a different kingdom. Bullets may be flying all around, but your job is to rebuild the steps of the kingdom of God. Your trust is not in the institutions and temples built by humans. Your trust is not in the governments we construct. Your feet are not planted on the blood stained soil of this world. Your feet walk upon the firm ground of the kingdom of God. Your trust is in Jesus Christ.
When your world falls apart, and they come and arrest you and persecute you, and hand you over before those in authority, you put your trust in Jesus Christ. He is your foundation. Jesus promises, “I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict.” When threats are all around, we trust that Jesus Christ will provide. We rest in his love. We seek his provision. We walk on his sacred ground, no matter how great the threats that loom.
Just before his talk of the temple’s destruction, Jesus directs our eyes toward an old woman. Among the clatters and clashes of great amounts of money being poured into the metal collection horns in the temple, Jesus directs our ears to listen to the two small clinks of the last money that the woman has. Jesus tells us that she gave all she had. The scene is as crazy as the man stacking stones for the entrance of the church in the middle of bullets flying. How will she survive? But, she lives in a different kingdom. She lives in a kingdom where she puts her trust in God, not in her money.
Like that woman in the temple, and like the man rebuilding the steps, Jesus has drawn you into his kingdom. It is a kingdom of love and forgiveness in a crumbling and hate filled world. It is a kingdom with rock solid walkways through the bloody soils of this world. It is a kingdom where not a hair of your head will perish.
To be clear, your hair may fall out. The bullet may find you. Your body may suffer, and you may face the reality of hate. But, you will not perish.
Death cannot win. Sin cannot have the final word. When you live in the kingdom of the one who rises from the dead, Jesus Christ, death will not ever have the final word. God will ensure that God’s people endure forever. And, the followers of Jesus Christ will continue to live on this earth as if their souls are eternal. The people of Jesus will live as if love and forgiveness cannot be destroyed. The people of Jesus will live as if God has come down to be with them, not in a house made of stone or curtain, but in the body of the one who walks with them and loves them to the end: Jesus Christ our Lord.
“Do not be terrified.” You are people who walk through this world on the pathways of eternal grace paved by Jesus Christ our Lord.
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