System Failure Is Not the End
A sermon delivered by Rev. Peter T. Atkinson
November 25, 2018
At Bethany Presbyterian Church, Zuni, Virginia
Luke 21: 5-19
Ezekiel 33: 23-29
Let us pray,
Help us to see despite
our eyes
Help us to think
outside of our minds
Help us to be more
than our lives
For your eyes show the
way
Your
mind knows the truth
Your
being is the life.
Amen.
Christ the King
Sunday. . . the end of the church calendar. . .
does it paint the
proper picture? Is
Christ the King future—ie
at the end, or is Christ the King now. . .
5 When
some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones
and gifts dedicated to God, he 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.”
7 They
asked him, “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is
about to take place?” 8 And 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.” 10 Then
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. 13 This will give you an
opportunity to testify. 14 So make up your minds not to
prepare your defense in advance; 15 for I will give you
words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will
be able to withstand or contradict. 16 You will be
betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will
put some of you to death. 17 You will be hated by all
because of my name. 18 But not a hair of your head will
perish. 19 By your endurance you will gain your
souls. [1]
Luke 21 seems to be completely about what we
call Armageddon, the end times, at least it seems to be. Apocalypic writing is
what it is, and you see it throughout the gospels, in the letters of Paul, in
Revelation of course, but also in the Old Testament, especially Daniel,
Ezekiel, Isaiah, and Jeremiah. It sounds
scary. The language is scarty. It has a ton of difficult imagery. It's harsh.
It's intense.
“Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom
against kingdom; 11 there will be great earthquakes, and
in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and
great signs from heaven. [2]
When we hear texts like this we think, Revelation and
Armageddon, and it scares us, and here it's out of the mouth of Jesus, so it
all seems so much more real, being in the Red Words and all, and whether we
like to think it or not, whether we like to admit it or not, these things seem
to surround us daily. Maybe it's not as bad as all this, or maybe it is, maybe
things are spiraling out of control, and that it's harder now to be a follower
of Jesus than it ever was before, but truth be told, it isn't easy to be a
follower of Jesus any time, and truthfully it never has been easy. Throughout
the 2000 years of Christianity every generation has felt that they were on the
brink of "The End," With people pointing to passages like this as
proof, looking at our world, and many times they use that trumped up fear to
extend their control through fear. It happens again and again, and there is
great danger in this type of thinking.
Now let’s talk about context, and the reality
of the Gospel of Luke, the picture it paints of what following Jesus is like,
certainly has not been an easy walk through the park. Take a look at the Gospel
of Luke and read it anew, you can see that it makes some significant demands on
the life of discipleship, and comes at quite a cost. It describes
an inside and out complete conversion of
action and intention,
a complete give away all your stuff,
and your heart,
total submission of will, following towards a
complete sacrifice of self for others,
and not just friends but even enemies.
So with that story as preface to this passage,
and the betrayal and crucifixion following fast after, the images of this
passage are gain some perspective, and though the images are similar to an
Armageddon type scene, or an Old Testament prophetic destruction type
scene, at the beginning I said seems, seems to be like Armageddon,
seems, so before we jump to conclusions, and its been a big college football kind
of weekend, so let me quote Lee Corso, from College Game Day, and say,
"Not So Fast My Friend." The world of this passage does seem to be on
the brink, but of what? Is it the end? Before we jump to scary conclusions,
that tend to enslave us to and through fear, instead let us take a look at the
details to get to the bottom of what is going on here, and what it really
means, and what it is saying to us in our context, we may find that it is not
pointing towards the end of the world at all. . . we may just find that it's
much more intense than that.
First off, lest we get blinded by the imagery,
let's look at the question that Jesus is responding to. They are speaking about
the temple, how beautiful it is, how large the stones are that it's built of,
and how it has beautiful gifts on it "dedicated to God," so the
people say, and Jesus says, "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.” This temple and these gifts, "dedicated to
God," though they claim to be, will fall apart. Then the people ask him,
ok well when will all this happen? So Jesus is responding to a question about
the temple and within the context of it being taken down and destroyed. Now is
the temple in destruction the same thing as Armageddon? If so, then it all happened
already, the temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. and was only rebuilt, and not as a
temple but as a mosque over 600 years later in 691. So yeah, if we are to take
this literally, the temple did come down, but it was not the end, you know at
least not in a final sense, of the end, you know THE END, thanks for coming.
Again, though as is typically the case in the Bible, there is danger in
strictly literal interpretations.
Ok, so let's dig deeper into context. . . a
figurative understanding of the temple could be more applicable. If you look at
what directly precedes this passage, you see Jesus in conflict with officials
of the temple, Sadducees and the Scribes. You see in earlier scenes in Lukes
Gospel, Sadducees, seeking to catch Jesus in a trick question, and then also in
chapter 20, Jesus speaks directly and harshly about the scribes saying:
46 “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk
around in long robes, and love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces,
and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at
banquets. 47 They devour widows’ houses and for the sake
of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater
condemnation.” [3]
So Sadducees and Scribes, both temple officials, both proud,
both using their positions for themselves, both giving Jesus a hard time, both
included then in the coming destruction of the temple. Does Jesus simply mean
that these guys will soon get what is coming to them, that the tradition that
they represent is coming to an end, and being replaced by what Jesus brings.
Wouldn't that type of understanding fit, where Jesus claims that he will
destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, which is typically understood
as the Resurrection on the Third Day. The temple would be rebuilt, but in the
hearts of Jesus' followers, the hearts of all people, broken down outside the
walls of the temple, broken down walls that divide people, bringing people
together, isn't this the heart of Jesus' message. It is similar to what Jesus
tells the Sadducees in the last chapter when they are questioning him about who
will be married to whom in the Resurrection, Jesus says, “Now he is God not of the dead, but of the
living; for to him all of them are alive.”, in other words, God is bigger than what you
have built, and bigger than your traditions, and bigger than those
stone walls, and so God will bring them down because he can't be contained in
them, no, God will be running loose in the world, not shut up in a temple and
not a part of your control any more. Yes this interpretation makes sense.
And certainly attacking tradition like that
would cause the divisions talked about, nations and kingdoms, and persecutions
to follow. No one likes to be challenged, especially those in power, those of
privilege, those who have been all but happy to rest on the traditions and
exploit people based on those traditions. Once the rug starts to be pulled from
under them they do typically fight back, and who to their opponents. But it
appears that the system is broken and is in need of repair. The temple,
supposed to be a house of prayer, but has been turned into a den of thieves.
The religious leaders, who you would think would be excited about the coming of
the Messiah, are not. The poor are being exploited by a system that is supposed
to be building them up. Yes the system is broken and needs to be fixed. Yes the
system is broken, but Jesus when will it be fixed? Isn't this the question
here?
Then come the bewares. Beware of imposters
saying, I am he, the time is near. Here is the real danger of this passage, and
those like it, and how often is it forgotten? How many times does a person come
along, saying the system is broken, and I am the key, I offer solutions to fix
it, to save people from the broken system, only to renew the broken system in
some other way, the unintended consequences always leave a system still broken,
and many times broken worse. Jesus says beware. . . of these quick fixes, these
imposters with false solutions, saying the end is near. We call this
demagoguery, and the demagogues are always in fashion. Stirring up fear,
stirring up worry, promising that they have the only fix to the broken system.
In this type of panic about the end, stirred up fears about the end, the
demagogues, these false saviors, promise an end that is in their control, and
that they are then authorized to bring about that end by any means necessary,
all means are justified. People turn over their lives to them, their hopes
their dreams, their freedom, and the broken system is simply sustained, or
renewed even more harshly, not destroyed and rebuilt as Jesus promises.
He says that wars and insurrections may also
take place, but to not worry. Because the end will not follow immediately,
nation against nation, what war was ever waged that was not supposed
to end all wars, but they don't, they never do. But then Jesus says there will
be earthquakes, and then famines and plagues, also great fertile ground for a demagogue
to rise, all of these are often thought to be dreadful portents and signs from
heaven, but remember from Elijah, that God was not in the earthquake, but
rather a still small voice, not always the loudest voice, interesting. The
right way is not always illuminated by the loudest voice. So all this will
happen. . . and then the end will come. . . right, that is what you'd expect,
but it doesn't say it. I kept looking forward for the end, but it isn't
anywhere.
Instead he says, before this happens, you
yourself will be persecuted, and arrested, turned over to the Synagogues,
(that's an interesting one) and prisons, brought before kings and governors for
my name. You'll get to testify, you'll get to stand up, I'll let you know what
to say, but you'll be betrayed by your parents, relatives, even friends, and
they may even put some of you to death. . . You'll be hated, but not
one hair upon your head will perish. . . whoa really, "by endurance you
will gain your souls. Did you hear the end? Me neither, rather
endurance, strength, on-going trials. The end doesn't come. How interesting. .
. Don't you see it. . . It's way too easy to write this passage off as an
Armageddon, end times passage, way off in the future type deal, and it still
may be that, but it doesn't talk about an easy and quick end, but rather a long
arduous journey, where the ends are the false parts, the imposters, where the
easy escapes are just aspects of the brokenness of the system trying to remain,
like those threatened Sadducees and Scribes who lash out at Jesus and have him
Crucified. But look at where Jesus goes in the passage following this one, here
this:
20 “When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its
desolation has come near. 21 Then those in Judea
must flee to the mountains, and those inside the city must leave it, and those
out in the country must not enter it;22 for these are days of
vengeance, as a fulfillment of all that is written. 23 Woe
to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing infants in those days!
For there will be great distress on the earth and wrath against this
people; 24 they will fall by the edge of the sword and be
taken away as captives among all nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled on by
the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
25 “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on
the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the
waves. 26People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is
coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27 Then
they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in a cloud’ with power and great
glory. 28 Now when these things begin to take place, stand
up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”[4]
Not the end, after all that, but your redemption.
The word can also be translated, deliverance, payment of ransom given. Some
things end, but the things that end are the broken systems, Jerusalem is what
is destroyed. Those inside the city, that system, must leave it. It's over. We
talk about the end as if it is something to be feared, something to be avoided,
but the end doesn't come the way we think, it's simply a new beginning. When
Jesus says that he is the beginning and the end, he means it. That's what it
means to be infinite, what it means to be God. Infinite, literally means, no
end. We sing it every week.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son :
and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever
shall be :
world without end. Amen
I was thinking about this idea lately, especially as I was
preparing for this sermon, reading this difficult text, but also, all over the
place these days is the idea that the "Ends justify the means."
When
we think the ends justify the means,
We
mean the ends we think are imminent,
And
in our control, but when do ends occur?
Rarely,
if not never, especially when forever
Is the ever of beginning and the end
By any means necessary right, do this thing,
cheat, steal, silence your opposition, whatever it takes. . . Do you ever think
about cheating and whether it pays? Lance Armstrong is a casestudy in this idea
in honor, or really lack thereof, and how cheating produced for him, money and
glory, and fame, and riches, and is also money for cancer research, and all
kinds of other things we would consider good, and we posed the question was it
worth it to cheat. Most of us my say no it wasn't worth it because it all fell
apart, you might make the case for in the moment that it was good, but yeah it
all fell apart. That's an ends justify the means situation. . . and if time
stood still after he won his tour de frances, we would see it different, but
time didn't stop, rather it went on, the end was merely an illusion, time went
on and his actions came back to haunt him. Steroids was a similar issue in
baseball, records being broken, heroes created, money pouring in, the
popularity of the sport at a high, but then time marched on. . . There are
other stories similarly problematic all over the news. . . questionable
means they may be positive things, they may be sellable as ends
justifying the means, but as we see again and again, the ends don't come
because they aren't in our control for one, and that there is just no such thing
as an end, other than Jesus and he instead offers redemption and deliverance,
just like God has done since the beginning. Instead the pendulum of power just
swings back and forth. . .
This isn't the first time that Jerusalem and
the temple were destroyed. Check out Jeremiah and Lamentations, Jerusalem's
destruction is well documented, but then read Ezekiel, let’s look there, since
I chose it as t Old Testament lesson, you’ll see systems failing and you'll see
who is still in control if there was any doubt.
23 Then the
word of the Lord came to me: 24 “Son of man, the people living in those ruins in
the land of Israel are saying, ‘Abraham was only one man, yet he possessed the
land. But we are many; surely the land has been given to us as our
possession.’ 25 Therefore say to them, ‘This is what the
Sovereign Lord says: Since you eat meat with the blood still in it
and look to your idols and shed blood, should you then possess the land? 26 You rely
on your sword, you do detestable things, and each of you defiles his
neighbor’s wife. Should you then possess the land?’
27 “Say this to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: As surely as I live, those who
are left in the ruins will fall by the sword, those out in the country I will
give to the wild animals to be devoured, and those in strongholds and caves
will die of a plague. 28 I will
make the land a desolate waste, and her proud strength will come to an end, and
the mountains of Israel will become desolate so that no one will cross
them.29 Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I have made the land a desolate waste because of all the
detestable things they have done.’
History didn't end then, nor did it in A.D. 70
when the Second Temple was destroyed, nor will it when we stand to trial and
are persecuted, or we suffer loss, or get we discouraged, or even when we die,
instead through enduring all those things do we come not to the end, but to a
beginning beyond our broken systems that we build trying again and again to
stave off the end, but the only things that end are those broken systems, and
they all do eventually, for they are only the illusion of reality, just as
Jerusalem is the illusion of God. When it has all come to pass, and systems
fail, God remains, and offers redemption.
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