26 Pentecost/Proper 28/Ordinary 33 Year B November 18, 2018
Luther Memorial Church Seattle, WA
The Rev. Julie Hutson
Daniel 12: 1-3 + Psalm 16 + Hebrews 10: 11-25 + Mark 13: 1-8
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
When I moved to Columbus, Ohio to attend Trinity Lutheran Seminary it was one of the first times in her young life that my daughter had ever seen a big city. Looking up, as we drove through downtown Columbus, she said “Wow, Mom…look at those tall buildings.” I think of that every time we read this passage from Mark 13. The disciples and Jesus are leaving the temple and the disciples basically say the same thing: “Look, Teacher! What huge stones, what wonderful buildings.”
What’s helpful to us as we look at this story is a little bit of context. Jesus had entered Jerusalem and has had one confrontation after another with the religious authorities he has encountered. They have all aligned themselves against him, repeatedly trying to trap him and discredit him. At times, they’ve even plotted his death. Jesus has been sparring with them all along the way, with the disciples as witnesses. He has denounced the religious authorities, calling out their attempts to trick and trap him. He’s been really straightforward about this AND he’s told a whole bunch of parables to make his point as well. The tension in Jesus’ ministry is building to a boiling point. And the only response the disciples can come up with is “Look teacher, what large stones and what wonderful buildings.”
It’s fascinating that what the disciples notice is the size of the buildings. And they aren’t five years old, like Taylor was. They are fully grown men who have been following Jesus, accompanying him in all of the drama and discord and discourse of his ministry and all they can muster is a comment on the size of the building.
I wonder, where else do we see the work of God….where else do we see empire attempting to thwart the work of the Gospel ….and completely miss its significance in the world and in our lives because we are too busy noticing things that aren’t that significant in the grand scheme of things. Or in God’s plan for God’s creation.
We are moving toward Advent. Advent is the four weeks leading up to Christmas, including the four Sundays. In the Church it is considered a time of contemplation, of introspection, and of waiting. But I’ve been in the stores, have you? The season just ahead of us will not invite us to look deeply within, instead it will entice us with unmeetable expectations, frantic schedules, and rampant consumerism. Rather than waiting in quiet wonder, we will be reminded every day that there are only this many shopping days left until Christmas.
Look teacher, what large stones and what tall buildings.
There is so much that is heavy and hard in these days. There is so much that begs for and deserves a response from the church. Thousands of people in California enter into this season of comfort and joy experiencing the loss of home, hearth, and loved ones. Instead of welcoming their college students home for the holidays, parents have planned their funerals and stood at their gravesides. Refugees fleeing violence and certain death are being met with military force rather than compassion. Unpredictable dictators continue to develop weapons of mass destruction. Nation is rising against nation and empire against empire. And rather than look at these matters squarely, rather than confront them and call them what they are….which is sin….we demure. We distract ourselves with large stones and tall buildings and the very things that do not further the Gospel of love and inclusion. Rather than care for the least and the lost and the hungry and the orphan and the widow we declare that it’s too political to talk about these things and they have no place in church life.
So, tell me, people of God. Tell me Jesus followers. What do we talk about instead? What is our response to what is happening in the world?
The book of Hebrews gives us a starting place. At the conclusion of today’s reading, the writer of Hebrews offers this hopeful, yet necessary reminder: Let us keep firm in the hope we profess, because the One who made the promise is faithful. Let us always think how we can provoke each other to love and good works. Don’t stay away from the meetings of the community, as some do, but encourage one another.”
So, three distinct, concrete ways that the recipients of this letter can carry on in the faith, can move forward as Jesus followers and children of God. 1) Don’t lose hope. 2) Provoke one another to love and good works. 3) Be involved in the common life of the community of faith.
Beloved community, I suggest this morning that these are also the ways we will move forward as Jesus followers and children of God. These are the ways we will move our eyes from the things that distract us to look squarely at the needs of our neighbor and the needs of the world around us. These are the ways we will find our way through wilderness to the fullness of life God intended for us. These are the ways we will enter into Advent with expectant hearts and quiet minds and peaceful spirits.
So let’s look at them more closely. Let’s hold them up to the light of the Gospel.
Don’t lose hope. Anne Lamott says that “hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come.” Just show up and try to do the right thing. Hope. Hope is what brought families to the Broadview Thomson library last week, on a cold November night, to hear about the process necessary to apply for an apartment at Compass Broadview. Hope is what is simmering in the hearts of families whose loved ones are missing in the fires. Hope is what is compelling families toward the dream of life in a safer country, even if it means being turned away. Hope is what trembles in the heart of a person who dares to speak the truth of their sexuality. Hope is what begins to fill those places where we have been hollowed out by the twists and turns of life.
If we are to live as people of God’s promises, we will need to live as people of hope. Hope is not believing in a possibility; it is believing in what seems impossible. Like resurrection.
Provoke one another to love and good deeds. Most of the provoking that is done these days is to something besides love and good deeds. It is to fear. There is much provoking to fear taking place right now. Fear of the other, the stranger, the traveler. Fear that we will not have enough or be good enough or have enough time. And we are reminded here to provoke one another to love. And the best way I know to do that is to love first. Love is the greatest commandment and it is the very essence of God. Love is a child born in a manger to parents who have no shelter. Love shines in the world like the stars in the heavens. The prophet Daniel said in our first reading that the wise will shine like the bright heavens and leaders of justice like the stars forever more. They aren’t wise and they aren’t leaders because they have bigger buildings or larger portfolios. They are wise because they act from love. They share love. Love is what provokes them to good deeds. Beloved, we must do good in the world. Otherwise, as the book of James notes, our faith is just dead. It’s faith, but to what end? To what purpose? Faith is not life insurance. Faith is life assurance. Assurance that eternal life is ours because of Jesus, so we can get out there and live like the one we follow. Or at least we can try.
And we can’t do that without a community of faith. It’s just true. I could spend another entire sermon preaching about the value of gathering for worship and service and fellowship and prayer and singing and it would be what is more commonly known as preaching to the choir. But in community is where we are strengthened for what lies ahead. It is where our burdens can be carried by another when they are too heavy for us to bear. It is where our joys can be celebrated. Dear Ones, give thanks for this gift of community, for it is ultimately the truest representation of the Body of Christ, active, present, and living in the world. Don’t stay away. Even if you are tired, especially then. Even if you are angry, especially then. Even if you doubt, especially then.
All around us there are signs of the living Christ and the love that he shares. And so in this season, look for those signs. Be those signs. Share those signs.
Thanks be to God, and let the Church say…Amen.