Sunday
11/15/15 Freeville/Homer Ave UMC’s
Sermon Title: “All will be demolished”
Old Testament
Lesson: 1 Samuel 2:1-10
New Testament
Scripture: Hebrews 10:11-14 (15-18) 19-25
Gospel Lesson:
Mark 13:1-8
Welcome once again on this the Twenty-Fifth Sunday after
Pentecost. Twenty-Five Sundays after the Holy Spirit moved on that day of
Pentecost so long ago. On that day, the Apostles and the early Christians went
forth preaching the gospel and changing the world. Nearly two-thousand years
later, we continue the mission of Jesus Christ and his church, here this
morning.
Yet,
has this church building, or has Freeville or Cortland for that matter, existed
for nearly two-thousand years, like the Christian Church has? I ask about
Freeville and Cortland, as these are the two places that I serve as a pastor.
According
to the research that I did to prepare for this sermon on www.Wikipedia.com,
Freeville, NY was first settled in 1787, and was not incorporated until July 2,
1887. Cortland, NY was first settled in 1791, was made a village in 1853, and
then was incorporated as a city in 1900.
So why have I just given you these dates and these bench
marks for Freeville and Cortland? This is why, to show you how young our places
of residence are. You might also live outside of Freeville and Cortland, but my
guess is that whatever town or city that you live in, is probably not much
older than Freeville or Cortland. In the span of the length of the Christian
faith, in the span of the length of God, our places of residence and our church
buildings are babies.
Imagine in your minds for a moment then, that it is the
year 1781. It is over seventeen-hundred and fifty years after Jesus Christ was
crucified and buried, yet what today is Cortland and Freeville was likely forest.
Perhaps various Native American or indigenous tribes had lived here for years
or centuries before the European settlers arrived. In this year of 1781, the
British Army under General Cornwallis will officially surrender to the
Continental or the American Army. This will officially make our thirteen
colonies into thirteen independent states. We will then have a weak government
in place, until we create our current constitution, and until we elect our
first president in 1789, George Washington.
Freeville and Cortland were only first settled by settlers
within two years in either direction of our constitution and the election of
our first president, George Washington. When George Washington was elected as
our first president, Jesus had been crucified and raised about
seventeen-hundred and fifty years before this even happened.
I
am sure at this point you are thinking, “yes, our pastor used to be a social
studies teacher. Can’t you tell!” I give these bits of history though, to show
us again how young our towns and cities are. I remember when I was in Israel
last year standing in churches as early as the 300’s AD. In doing some research
on www.Wikipedia.com again, I discovered that the oldest church in the United
States is the Old Ship Church, built in Massachusetts in 1681 AD.
All of this serves to teach us, the security that we think
we have in our homes, in our church buildings, in our identities in places like
Freeville and Cortland are young, and will not last forever.
We do love these church buildings that we gather in don’t
we? We are grateful to the saints that went before us, that gave us the
opportunity to worship in a building like this. Yet these buildings were built
over eighteen-hundred years after Christ walked the earth. I wonder then, will
this building be here in 200-years? Or will we have a new church built somewhere
else at that point? Will this building be here in 500-years? Will Freeville and
Cortland still be called Freeville and Cortland in 500-years? After all were
haven’t been here that long.
Will our very infantile country still be called the United
States of America in 200 or 500 years? Will this country still be here in 1,000
years? While we like certainty, and while we like stability, this is the one
thing that I know, that only God was before everything, and only God will be
after everything. God is the Alpha or beginning and the Omega or the end.
In addition to this, many of us want to be remembered after
our deaths. Perhaps we are recognized through the name of a room, a building,
or a stained glass window, and or etc. For years maybe, people will speak of
our names, and know who we were. Will people speak of us in 200-years though?
Will people speak of us in 500-years, or a 1,000-years? Will the places where
we are buried still be in active operation 500-years from now? Could the cemeteries
that we get buried in, be consumed by nature 500-years from now? Perhaps
500-years from now, the cemeteries that we will all be buried in one day, will
have faded into the landscape. The headstones will have sunken into the soil, and
the ones visible will be faded and unreadable. Most people would not even know
that the cemeteries that we are in, even used to be cemeteries. I remember
coming across some cemeteries in the woods when I would be out with friends as a
child. Did those folks realize that were buried in that cemetery, know that
their cemetery would fade into the forest?
The point is, is that so many of us put so much stock into
the things of this world, into our legacies, Into our towns, our cities, yet I
would argue that God existed long before Freeville and Cortland, and God will
exist long after. This means then, that the only constant, the only enteral
truth that we will have for eternity, is God. For if 1,000 years from now, if this
place no longer exists, and if everyone who used to live here has been
forgotten, than only God will know us.
In this way my brothers and sisters, I don’t wish to be
famous. I don’t even wish to even be remembered for hundreds or thousands of
years. Instead, I just wish to be faithful to God. It doesn’t matter to me if
people remember me for years after I have died on this earth. For as one pastor
put it, I seek “to be nameless to history, but faithful for eternity.” For when
it is all said and done, this church building may be here, or not. Your house that
you live in, might be standing hundreds of years from now, or not, this town or
city may be here or not, but God is eternal.
To connect all of this, we have a challenging gospel of
Mark reading for this morning, where Jesus tells the disciples that temple in
Jerusalem will be “demolished” (Mark 13:2c, CEB). In fact, Jesus says, “Do you
see these enormous buildings? Not even one stone will be left upon another. All
will be demolished” (Mark 13:2, CEB). Jesus is saying to his disciples, don’t
put you faith in this building, but rather put your faith in God.
Well as some of us might know, even when Jesus was a child,
what is today Israel was essentially a colony of the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire
ruled over Israel, and the Jewish people had to pay taxes and tribute to Caesar.
Jesus was even tried by the Roman appointed Governor Pontius Pilate. In
general, the Jewish people wanted the Romans out, and they wanted their own
independent country.
Jesus was crucified around the year 33 AD, and this morning
his disciples are swooning over the beauty of the temple, that was just being
finished, by the way. The gospel begins by saying, “As Jesus left the temple,
one of his disciples said to him, “Teacher, look! What awesome stone and
buildings?” (Mark 13:1, CEB). Jesus then says to his friends and brothers, this
beautiful temple, and all the buildings that comprise it will be shattered into
dust.
To give just a little bit more history, in the year 66 AD,
the Jewish people being tired of living under the oppressive rule of the Roman
Empire, rebelled against the Romans. This rebellion was crushed in 70 AD, when
the Roman army utterly destroyed the entire temple. Every building of the
temple, every edifice of the temple, was destroyed, as Jesus told his disciples
would happen. All that remains of this temple in Jerusalem today, is part of
the Western or Wailing Wall. As Jesus Christ predicted though, all of the
actual temple would be destroyed. He was telling his disciples then, don’t
trust in the building, trust in me. For longer after this building is gone, “I
AM.”
To hear a different version of this, in the New Revised
Standard Version of the Bible, it says in Mark 13:2, “Then Jesus asked him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone
will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down” (Mark 13:2, NRSV). All
that remains of the great temple is the Western Wall, which is like a fence
remaining on the out perimeter of a destroyed house. Further, I have to agree
with what the disciples said this morning when they said, “What awesome
stones,” as the stones in the Western or wailing wall are huge (Mark 13:1b,
CEB).
So, I am saying lets abandon this
building, or our towns and our cities? Of course I am not! In fact, I hope that
this church building will be here for years and years and years to come. I hope
that Freeville and Cortland will be here hundreds of years from now, but Jesus
points out to us this morning, that only God is eternal. Memories fade, things
change, but God is eternal.
After Jesus told his disciples about
the coming destruction of the temple, he then led them to the Mount of Olives.
The Mount of Olives is a beautiful place in Jerusalem, and it overlooks the
ancient city. At the bottom of the Mount of Olives is the Garden of Gethsemane
and a church that was built there to commemorate it.
At this point in the scripture the
gospel says that, “Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, “Tell us
when these things will happen? What sign will show that all these things are
about to come to an end?” (Mark 13:3b-4, CEB). Peter, James, John, and Andrew
were essentially saying then, “we believe you that the temple will be destroyed
Lord.” What there were asking here though, is “how will we know that the
destruction of the temple is coming?”
Jesus then tells these four of disciples,
“Watch out that no one deceives you. Many people will come in my name saying,
‘I’m the one!’ They will deceive many people” (Mark 13:5-6, CEB). Jesus is
telling these four disciples, to trust in him, trust in God.
Jesus then says, “When you hear of
wars and reports of wars, don’t be alarmed. These things must happen, but his
isn’t the end yet” (Mark 13:7, CEB). Jesus is saying then, these will be the
signs of the coming destruction of the temple, but it is not end Jesus said.
For Jesus’ return, his second coming to earth, is the end.
In the last verse of gospel readings,
Jesus then says, “Nations and kingdoms will fight against each other, and there
will be earthquakes and famines in all sorts of places. These things are just
the beginning of the sufferings associated with the end” (Mark 13:8, CEB). So
not only is Jesus prophetically speaking of the signs that will trigger the
destruction of the great temple, but he also seems to speaking of the signs
that will one day usher in his return or “Second Coming,” or as he says, “the
end” (Mark 13:8c, CEB).
As I was writing this sermon, and as I
was thinking about the words that Jesus spoke on the Mount of Olives to his
four disciples, I thought about the recent attack in Paris. How many of us feel
grief, anger, and sadness at the continued barbarity of terrorist and extremist
groups. How some people, might even get angry with God, saying things like, “If
we truly had a loving God, how could such things happen?”
It would seem to me that in our own
free will that we sometimes freely chose to harm others. That we sometimes
freely chose to cause great human suffering. I heard at least a few times
yesterday, different Christians saying “Come, Lord Jesus.” Most Christians say
this not out of a desire to usher in a bloody and violent apocalypse, but instead
to say, “God we need you now!” “God we need you to intervene in this world, and
make things right!” When we say, “Come, Lord Jesus,” we are saying, “Jesus come
and help us to build the world you called us to build.” We might even say, “We
know that when it is all said and done, that all there is, is us and you God,
but until then, won’t you come and help us set this whole things right.”
While I will support bringing people
to justice and protecting the weak and the innocent, to honor my French
brothers and sisters in Paris this morning, I say, “Come, Lord Jesus.”
I hope that these church buildings may
be used to bring glory to God for years, and even centuries to come. I hope
that Freeville and Cortland, and the United States of America remain here and strong
for many years to come. I hope that through God’s help that we can continue to
build a world of peace, justice, prosperity, and human flourishing. I hope we
can continue to build that kingdom of God that Jesus taught us about long
before this town or city existed, long before this church existed, long before
we were walking this earth. For when it is all said and done, Jesus tell us in
Matthew 6:21, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Mt.
6:21, NRSV). I give to God, through his church, because as because since my
heart is with God, so is my treasure is with God to.
I would like to close with a quote
from “St. Nicholas of Flue.” Here is what the quote says, “Seek to keep peace.
Protect widows and orphans and you have done before. Such care gives the
greatest joy possible on earth, since it is thanksgiving to God, and it give
God greater joy in heaven. You must also prevent public sins and always
personally insist on justice. You should carry the passion of God in your
hearts, for it will be your consolations in your last hour.”
So this morning, I say to you in general, and I say for my
brothers and sister in Paris, France, “Come, Lord Jesus.” I say again, “Come,
Lord Jesus.” Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment