Pentecost XXIV, Year C

Malachi 3:13-4:2a,5-6
2 Thessalonians 3:6-13
Luke 21:5-19

+ In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Some years ago, the parish's theology book club read John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. I sneered at its theology then, and while I am still not wholly at ease with its Puritan sensibility, my views have matured. I have greater appreciation for Bunyan's genius and faith. The 17^th century bestseller tells the allegorical story of Christian, a character who represents every Christian, and his journey from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City. In other words, Bunyan describes Christian's spiritual development, the pilgrimage that each of us embarks upon from our initial decision to follow Christ all the way to what we hope will be our heavenly reward.

The pilgrimage is a difficult journey. Most Christians know and have experienced Christian's trials and challenges. Christian journeys through the Slough of Despond where he feels depressed and discouraged about his sin. Christian walks through the Valley of the Shadow of Death where he experiences inner distress and conflict, those periods of life when darkness and dreariness make it difficult to follow Christ, those times when we feel little faith or hope or charity or gratitude or reverence. Christian goes to Vanity Fair where the empty things of the world tempt him, where ambition for wealth, comfort, social position try to divert us from steadfastly following Christ, where self-concern, self-absorption hardens our hearts. Christian escapes from Doubting Castle where he nearly loses hope, those times when we lose confidence in God's promises to us, when we lose confidence in our experiences of God's love and mercy.

These are only a few of the numerous obstacles separating Christian from God. With grace operating through the assistance of characters like Evangelist and Hopeful, Christian completes his pilgrimage to the Celestial City. He achieves his goal, the destiny of what is essentially the growth of character, of what in many ways is an inward quest of having God renew and perfect our souls. Christian reaches heaven, but it has required much growth from him. His development comes from self-examination, from searching his heart and mind, knowing that he is sometimes deceived, sometimes on the wrong path to God. But then he experiences God in new ways and changes his ways. Bunyan's classic is a powerful, authentic story of Christian growth, of a blossoming faith.

Best-selling Christian fiction of our day rarely is so edifying. Much contemporary so-called 'Christian fiction' is not about God's assistance with our spiritual growth. It is often unconcerned with the need for our character to change and to grow throughout our lives. Rather, much of this curious genre of 'Christian fiction' is about perceived external enemies; it focuses on the morality of other people, instead of on every Christian's need for continued moral development. We should be more concerned with amending our own sinful ways than judging others. "Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?" (Mt 7:3)

Some enormously popular Christian fiction speculates about the end times and who will receive God's blessing and who will not. The writers of these books appear to relish pronouncing God's judgment upon their enemies, often people that the author fears or doesn't understand. These books reek of Schadenfreude, taking delight in the misfortune of others. Many of these books are little more than revenge fantasies, hardly a Christian endeavor. And although they are cloaked with Biblical language, they do not heed Christ's warning not to speculate about the end of time. Jesus says that we can't know much about it.

In today's gospel, the disciples want to know about the signs of the end of time, and Jesus answers their question by sort of joking with them. Jesus gives a list of horrible things - wars, famines, earthquakes, all of the drama and excitement and destruction we love to hear about, like rubber-necking at an accident, like watching television coverage of a hurricane. But Jesus doesn't want us to focus on that, and here's the joke. Don't focus on that because you are going to have bigger problems than that. Jesus says, "Before this spectacular end, you are going to be betrayed by family members, and thrown in jail, and hated and persecuted, and in your agony, you will be called upon to witness to the faith." He does not give them a neat description about what will happen at the end of time. Indeed, after his resurrection, Jesus answered the disciples more directly: "It's not for you to know." (Acts 1:7)

What we do know is that the world will come to an end. That's the important part, and it's important because it assures us of the transitory nature of our worldly existence. To impress this point on the disciples, Jesus talks about the destruction of the Temple. Jesus and his rural friends have come to the big city, to Jerusalem, and they've gawked at the Temple. These were people who lived in simple stone and mud homes, which rarely were even two stories. The Temple precincts had incredible dimensions. The Temple sat upon a stone platform supported by retaining walls 80 feet high. The Western Wall, the Wailing Wall, the only remaining part of the Temple, is one of those retaining walls. The stones of the walls are mammoth; the largest stone is 40 feet long. Besides the enormous scale, the Temple and its furnishings were made of the finest materials and handiwork. The ancient historian Josephus reported that "the outside of the Temple was adorned with so much gold that, when the sun shone upon it, it virtually blinded those who looked at it. The grandeur of the whole complex of courts, buildings, and porticoes" some thought were without peer. ⁽¹⁾

"The days will come when there shall not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down." The disciples could hardly fathom Jesus' prediction of the Temple's destruction. It was not only the destruction of what seemed a most permanent building, but it was the destruction of the pride of the nation, the center of national life, the undoing of their national identity, fundamentally changing everyone's life. Jesus message is: All worldly things are passing away. We can't rely upon them.

That's a hard message for anyone. We don't like it, and we certainly don't live like we really believe it. We place enormous confidence in worldly things. We spend an inordinate amount of time and effort making our homes comfortable and building up a retirement account. We rely upon worldly things to give us with a sense of stability and security and permanence, but it's false. "Remember, O man, that dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return."

The only thing to rely upon is God's love. God wants us to live with confidence, but that means trusting him, not our bank accounts, or prestige, or abilities. That's why being good stewards of our time, talent, and treasure is so important. What we do with out time, talent, and treasure shows us what we trust. Our hearts follow where we put our money. Do we put it in worldly things or to God's service? Where are our hearts - the City of Destruction or the Celestial City?

Life comes from allowing God to be the foundation and purpose of our lives. A faithful Christian community is more interested in learning to trust God and witnessing to God's love and mercy than in speculating about the end times. A faithful Christian community is more interested in all out commitment of ourselves to God than in judging others. A faithful Christian community is more interested in building godly character than in predicting who will incur God's wrath.

We also have to keep in mind that what appears to us as God's wrath can be his love. Worldly misfortune is not God's judgment upon us. Every Christian knows that suffering and pain and loss are part of every life. Being a Christian does not mean we are exempt from enduring hardship and evil - not at all. In today's gospel, Jesus tells his disciples to have patience, to be longsuffering. In Acts and S. Paul's letters we read continuously about the trials and challenges of the disciples, who are persecuted and ostracized and imprisoned and even killed for the sake of the gospel.

Jesus promised his disciples that the evil and difficulties we encounter we may use for good. He promised them that in their troubles they would receive wisdom, that in their troubles he would be with them, that in their troubles their endurance would give them life. Jesus wants his disciples to know that our disappointments and challenges will not crush us if we trust him. Rather, the bad things of life can become opportunities for us to grow in faith and to witness to faith. The evil endured by the disciples became a means to build the Church, to glorify God. If we allow it, the same thing happens in our lives.

+ In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

1. Carol Meyers, article on 'Temple, Jerusalem,' in The Anchor Bible Dictionary, Vol. 6., Doubleday (1992), p. 365.