The Gospel for The 24th Sunday after Pentecost (November 14, 2004)
Luke 21:5-19
When some were talking about the Temple, remarking how it was adorned with fine stonework and votive offerings, he said, ‘All these things you are staring at now—the time will come when not a single stone will be left on another; everything will be destroyed.’ And they put to him this question, ‘Master,’ they said, ‘when will this happen, then, and what sign will there be that it is about to take place?’ But he said, ‘Take care not to be deceived, because many will come using my name and saying, “I am the one” and “The time is near at hand.” Refuse to join them. And when you hear of wars and revolutions, do not be terrified, for this is something that must happen first, but the end will not come at once.’ Then he said to them, ‘Nation will fight against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes and plagues and famines in various places; there will be terrifying events and great signs from heaven. ‘But before all this happens, you will be seized and persecuted; you will be handed over to the synagogues and to imprisonment, and brought before kings and governors for the sake of my name —and that will be your opportunity to bear witness. Make up your minds not to prepare your defence, because I myself shall give you an eloquence and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to resist or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relations and friends; and some of you will be put to death. You will be hated universally on account of my name, but not a hair of your head will be lost. Your perseverance will win you your lives. -- The New Jerusalem Bible. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1995, c1985
A Study
"All a commentary on this one gospel can say is that Luke’s handling of it shows that he was aware that he was dealing with images that could be reshaped to express new outlooks. Nevertheless, as a first-century man, he did not evacuate them of all historical content or undervalue the radical nature of what they were proclaiming. Luke still looked for a direct and powerful intervention of God in the world and he did not expect it to be long delayed." -- Barton, John, and John Muddiman. Oxford Bible Commentary, Lk 21:1. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
The writers of this gospel text had the immediate past [oral] history from people who were there (or said they were there) with which to deal. Mark's writers did not know that the temple would be destroyed in 10 or 15 years or so. But they seemed certain that the destruction of the temple was the penultimate sign. The ultimate sign would be the coming again with great glory of Jesus. Luke's writers knew that the temple's destruction was not even close to the penultimate sign.
Luke surely embraced the Jewish concept that death is the "kiss between this life and eternity," and saw death as merely a bridge into the next life, a deeper entry into the kingdom.
A Reflection
There are so many ways to think about this text. A fellow Episcopalian and lay preacher, Martha Baker, is preaching at Trinity Episcopal Church in St. Louis this Sunday on this text. Her sermon may be found here.
Her imagery of the change of seasons as an ordinary event is compared to the "ordinary" things that Jesus calls us to do, and compared against the ordinary way things sometimes happen in ways we don't expect, or don't want them to. Above all, she calls us to hope, that ineffable grace given us to believe in something when the evidence doesn't support it, and to watch in wonder as the evidence changes.
As the last line in the gospel text has it, that is the perseverance that will win our lives.
My story about persevering through the ordinary is similar. My friend, Jim Filer, remarked on the strangeness of a pilot being afraid of heights -- something I mentioned a while back. "Afraid" is not a very apt description, though. "Terrified" is a much better word. Aside from a fright at the top of a very steep staircase at age 4, and again at the top of a 3-meter diving board at age 10, I had no fear of heights when I began flying in 1966. It was not until I was ferrying an aircraft from Rota, Spain, to Athens in Greece when acrophobia struck permanently. I had been forced by bad weather to climb until the helicopter ran out of power, and was barely above the solid clouds, themselves barely feet above the mountains, when I chanced to look out the window and down through a hole that had suddenly appeared in the undercast --- all the way to a valley about 13,000 feet below.
My heart felt as if it would stop.
I had had a series of very effective instructors in Pensacola, and during instrument flight training, the mantra was "always believe your instruments." For whatever reason, that was all I heard, and I did believe. And without once looking down again for the next few hours, I was able, through perseverance and belief, to regain some composure. I doubt that my crew ever knew.
Every work day, I have to take a third-floor corridor with a waist-high glass separator between me and the atrium floor. Every day I inch closer and closer to the separator. I persevere.
That is perseverance that will save my sanity, but not necessarily my life.
For that, I need to remember what Martha tells us so eloquently in her sermon. There will be wars, and earthquakes, and kings rising up against each other. Yawn. So has it always been. What has not always been is our perseverance to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to visit the prisoners.
Those should be the ordinary things. But they seldom are. Instead, we watch Iraqis kill each other on the evening news and yawn, we watch terrorists rant about foreign aggression before beheading innocent kidnap victims ... and we yawn.
But go out of my way to feed the hungry? What? That takes perseverance!
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The Rector of my parish preached on the same text with (not-unexpectedly) a different take. I highly recommend it.
The Collect
Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
5:07:18 PM 
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