November 17, 2013
Pentecost 26
Isaiah 65:17-25
Luke 21:5-11
(prayer)
In the years following
their release by an Egyptian pharaoh, the people of Israel, led by Moses,
walked a path of freedom ... literally walked
for forty years throughout the Sinai peninsula.
One of their nomadic stops was at Mount Horeb, where (years earlier)
Moses had encountered God in the form of a non-consuming burning bush. The message from God then was to tell Pharaoh
to “let my people go”. Now that desire
had come full circle as Moses went up the mountain again - this time with a
multitude of liberated Israelites waiting in the valley below.
When Moses came down, he
brought with him stone tablets... with words that would form the basis of the
law that would govern these people as they went from being a multitude of
refugees to becoming a nation.
Sharing this list of ten
relatively simple do-s and don’t-s from God was not without its frustrations
for Moses, but eventually, the stone tablets themselves became important sacred
relics for the Israelites.
A special ornate container
was constructed to hold these commandments; it was called an ark: because it
was designed to be portable - carried from place to place that the people
went. (not to be confused with Noah’s
ark, which was a boat built to transport animals; this ‘ark’ was the box used
to carry the remnants of the original ten commandment tablets - think Indiana
Jones, not Evan Almighty)
Eventually, the people
constructed a special tent to house this “Ark of the Covenant” at the various
places they camped at over the years.
This tent was known as the Tabernacle (from the Hebrew word for
‘residence’ or ‘dwelling place’).
The portable tent
tabernacle which was the dwelling place for the portable ark-box became the
central site for worship for the wandering Israelites.
Even when the people eventually
settled in the land of Canaan, the Tabernacle and the Ark remained central to
the life of the people. They were set up
at different places at different times.
Many years after that when
David was King over all Israel, he decided to build a new grand capital city
for the nation. He built Jerusalem on
the outskirts of his own home town, Bethlehem.
David moved the Tabernacle and the Ark to Jerusalem: these portable
items found what David imagined was their permanent home.
In a moment of guilt for
his own selfishness, after David had built himself a new dwelling place, he
proposed building God a new home, too: “See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but
the ark of God stays in a tent.” (2 Samuel 7:2).
David prayed about it and discerned that God did not want a new home for
the Ark... at that time.
It was David’s son and
successor, King Solomon who built the grand temple of stone to replace the old
tabernacle tent.
Solomon’s temple stood for
more than 300 hundred years until it was ransacked and ruined as part of the
Babylonian invasion of 587BCE. At that
point the Ark of the Covenant was lost to history. Presumable stripped of its gold and jewels –
likely the dusty remains of the ten-commandment-tablets were just tossed away.
//
About 70 years later,
returning Hebrew exiles constructed the second Temple as a new centre for
ritual and worship, even though it was no longer a dwelling place for the Ark.
The reconstructed (or
Second) Temple stood for almost 600 years before it too was destroyed: this
time as part of a response by the Roman Empire to a Jewish uprising in and
around the year 70AD. Before its
destruction, the second temple had undergone a major expansion and renovation
that took decades. This took place as a
project of the Judean King, Herod the Great.
(You may remember him from the story of Jesus and the Wisemen; Herod the
Great was the grandfather of King Herod of Galilee who was involved in Jesus
trial and crucifixion according to some of the gospel accounts).
It is said that Herod The
Great’s Temple was thought to have rivaled the one built by Solomon, ten
centuries earlier. It was this renovated
second Temple that Jesus knew. It was
that temple that the disciples marvelled at in our reading from Luke this
morning.
//
Over the course of about
1000 years, the people of Judah/Judea had two temples, and they were both
destroyed. The most significant section
that remains today is just part of the outer western wall of Herod’s Temple
(known as the Wailing Wall in modern
Jerusalem).
//
Can we reliably say that
anything lasts forever?
//
//
It seems to be a common
human trait to not want to rest on our laurels for too long. We seem to quickly lose sight of what we have
and wonder what new and better thing is on the horizon.
·
I
see that the Play Station 4 is now out to the excitement of uber-gamers
everywhere - with the XBox One to hit
shelves later this week. C’mom Wii
what’s taking you so long?
·
Even
though the 11th month of 2013 is barely half over, the new 2014
vehicles have been available for many weeks now.
//
As a species, our curiosity
and creativity allows us to believe that improvement and expansion is always
possible.
Now, there is the ethical
question that goes alongside the practical possibilities: just because we can, should we?
Ethics should always be
part of the discussion. We do well, when
we don’t brush “should we” question aside.
That is true in virtually every decision we face.
The moral issue is.. should we act? It could just as easily be phrased: we can do this, why don’t we?
Will we by our actions (or
inactions) create or destroy? And
perhaps more importantly: Will we understand why? and Are we prepared for the
impact?
//
Both of the scripture
passages for today centre on contexts where the Hebrew people struggled with a
destroyed temple in their midst.
Isaiah chapter 65 speaks to
the returning exiles who found the once mighty Temple of Solomon as a pile of
rubble - the treasured Ark of the Covenant lost forever. The message they heard from their prophets
was... God promises to “create
Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight”. This was (presumably) going to
happen relatively ‘soon’ – the text says God was “about to”
do this.
//
//
Even though the story told in Luke chapter 21 is from Jesus’
lifetime, when Herod’s Temple still stood in its prime, we can’t ignore the
fact that it was written a few decades later - in the years just after the temple’s
destruction. When people first read
about Jesus’ saying, “the days
will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down”, that was not a future
prediction; they were living in the day that HAD come.
//
Few of us, I suspect, live completely
spontaneous lives - moving from moment to moment without any hopes or plans for
what might be to come.
Now, on the other end of
the scale, not everyone is a hardcore, second-by-second organizer.
Most of us fall somewhere
in the middle, maybe leaning to one end or the other, but with some combination
of plans and hopes and dreams - as well as a willingness to let things simply
emerge into our lives. Or at least an
acceptance that not everything can be planned for.
I still laugh when I
remember a classmate of mine from theological college talking about a minister
friend of his who was one of these super-scheduled people. In an effort to make sure that not every
moment of his week was planned, he would block off sections of his daytimer
with the words “spontaneous time”. Okay on Thursday at 2:30pm, I will be
spontaneous. I find that funny
partly because that is just the kind of thing I could see myself doing.
//
//
How do we deal with our
anxieties about what the future will bring?
The scripture passages for
today give us hints as to some of the ways people have sought to remain
faithful within the limits of the realities of the human experience, where we
can wonder and worry about – but not know – the future.
One of the things we see in
these scriptures is that God desires us to know peace and to trust in God’s
grace.
//
The prophet Isaiah,
speaking to a post-exilic people, wants them to know that it is God’s desire
that they enjoy life to its fullest. The
New Creation Isaiah talks about is not all that different from the old one –
people will live and die in this world.
But there is a hope for a life of lessoned unnecessary sufferings – the
kind of things experienced by the parents and grandparents who lived in the
time of a selfish empire.
We can see that in the
promise that “they shall not build and another inhabit; not plant and another
eat.” – exactly what the Babylonians had done to their ancestors.
Isaiah points to an
idealized future of peaceful harmony – people can live out their whole lives,
because the effects of war and famine will be gone. For the earlier generations, destruction and
dislocation was a way of life – predators were at the door. In Isaiah 65, the text harkens back to the
words of an earlier prophet who imagined true and honest peace being like a
wolf being able to sleep in the same place as a lamb – and a lion being content
with the farm animals’ hay for food.
For Isaiah, the idealized
future is the best that this world offers – the best that humanity can be.
//
//
Isaiah speaks about
creating something new and positive.
Luke speaks of the destruction, violence, war, suffering. And yet, the message of Jesus from Luke is
also positive at its core.
The context of this
teaching within Luke’s gospel is that this is during Jesus’ final week. These are some of the last teachings he will
do in the the Temple before his arrest.
Jesus knows (as I suspect
we all do), that in times of crisis and struggle, people can have a tendency to
become fearful – even to the point on giving up what they once believed for
whatever might make them cope with their fear.
And Luke, the author of
this gospel knows that this was exactly the danger facing the church that he
was writing to in the mid-70s. The wars
and rumours of wars that Jesus talked about seemed to be an exact match of what
had happened leading up to the destruction of the Temple.
If we had read on a bit
further in Luke 21, we would have heard Jesus giving further examples of the
various ways people might experience the difficult realities of their time
–specifically the problems they will face as followers of Jesus [those words
must have really resonated with Luke’s audience], but we would have also heard
the words of hope sprinkled in there:
12... 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 defence in advance; 15for
I will give you words
and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or
contradict ... 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.
The encouragement for
Jesus’ disciples and for the people of the Jesus Movement a few decades later
was... to remember – whatever takes place – that there will be opportunities to
bear witness to what they have known as followers of Jesus. The wise words they speak will ring true with
even their harshest accusers. Rather
than planning for the worst, Jesus encourages them to trust in a holy presence
in their lives – to know that they are not alone.
//
//
When we get worried about
the future, when are anxious about the situation we find ourselves in, we have
options as to how we might want to respond.
Ironically, when we are in
a state of deep worry or anxiety, we may be in the worst position to step back
and plan our decision with the most open mind.
I think that is why people
escape into paths of quick relief in spite of the obvious reality those
solutions may cause worse damage down the road.
As I have watched the news this week, I have left behind my initial disgust
with Toronto’s mayor, Rob Ford, and now and deeply saddened by the effects of
his ‘ill-advised, escapist’ decisions have had on him. He is such a broken man. I wish for him the healthiest of mercy and
healing – even if he is still too deep to see that need himself.
Contrast that with the
world’s response to the people of the Philippians – hard as it is to reach the
worst hit areas; as tragic as it is to deal with the fearful sights and smells
of death; as insurmountable as the problems seem to be, the world is coming
together for the common good.
//
Hope and promise are strong
aspects of the human condition. But they
do need a kick start when trying to confront deep fear and worry.
What is needed – first – is
even the tiniest bit of relief from the fear, so that we can move out of our
primordial, instinctive brain into the area of reason.
What I see from our
scriptures today is that first step away from fear can be made with the
knowledge that God’s care and compassion envelopes us no matter what we are experiencing. We are not alone.
//
We, as humans, as children
of God, as citizens of this wonderful dn mysterious universe, deeply desire to
know peace – peace on earth and peace of mind and heart. We long to live lives of meaning and purpose.
//
Jesus showed his disciples
a way of living beyond the boundaries of fear and hate. He welcomed outcasts. He climbed over the walls of exclusion. This was a treat to those who benefited from
those barriers, but Jesus remained faithful.
Luke’s gospel encouraged the
early church to be similarly faithful and to hold on to the hope and promise of
God’s love for them and indeed the whole world.
//
May it be so with us. Let us pray:
>>>
Creator of heaven and
earth, holder of mystery and certainty, we praise you for the gift of your
love. Help us to see beyond fear to know
that we are not alone and that we are destined to live in peace. Amen.
#713VU “I See a New Heaven”
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