Second Sunday before Advent
Luke
21:5-19
The
Destruction of the Temple Foretold
5 When some were speaking about the temple, how
it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, 6‘As for these
things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon
another; all will be thrown down.’
1. Subverting
the mood.
The Orthodox Christian composer, Sir John Tavener, died this week
and in memory of him I have been listening to his setting of The Lamb, by William Blake.
John Tavener shows his genius in the way he interprets this
seemingly very simple poem.
Blake sees a lamb and muses on its 'spiritual' identity in the light of the Lamb of God,
Jesus.
Think of a lamb and we think of a sweet pastoral scene – a fluffy,
wooly little white thing…
But look below the surface…
Who made the lamb...? asks Blake.
God did, and what’s more, he called himself a Lamb; Jesus was the
Lamb of God, slain for the sins of the world.
Though a lamb is an innocent little thing, like a child.
Tavener’s arrangement is other worldly – using notes which clash
and make the poem sound more like a ghost story than a child-like reflection on
innocence.
And then the refrain is very rich, slow, deep and sorrowful, in a
minor key.
Not exactly how you might imagine a piece of music about a lamb.
In a similar way Jesus was inclined to subvert the mood…
Our gospel is set by the Temple – the grand Jewish edifice built
under Cyrus the Great and refurbished at great expense by Herod.
Crowds throng the Temple scene, going about their business, admiring
the splendid architecture.
They stand and gawp at the glory and grandeur of Jewish worship.
They point up at the pillars, standing as if inviolable in the Mediterranean
sun.
Jewish historian, Josephus wrote: ‘now the outward face of the
Temple (…) was covered all over with plates of gold of great weight, and, at
the first rising of the sun, reflected back a very fiery splendor, and made
those who forced themselves to look upon it to turn their eyes away, just as
they would have done at the sun’s own rays (John Pridmore, The word is very near you, p. 324)
So here they are, standing around saying how wonderful the
building is, how it is ‘adorned with beautiful stones and gifts to God’, and
Jesus simply refuses to join in.
‘As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one
stone will be left upon another, all will be thrown down.’
Prophets, those who tell it as it is, are often unpopular.
They are unpopular because they say the hard things, the things no
one wants to hear.
Jesus’ prophecies that the Temple will not remain, and this came
true in 70AD with the sack of Jerusalem, under Titus, who led 30,000troops into
the city of Jerusalem and took the Tempe apart bit by bit.
2. Freeing
faith from the private.
Jesus’ hearers lived in religiously fervent times.
The same cannot be said for Western society in the 21st
Century.
Today, apocalyptic sayings (of End Times and ‘doom’) would be
received as mental illness no doubt.
In those days, it’s taken as red that the end is coming somehow and
that this is a universal religious event coming to all mankind…
And so Jesus’ disciples ask him ‘When will these things happen and
what will be the sign of the end?’
And it’s in Jesus’ answer that we see the coming together of
religious faith and public history.
One of the most pernicious separations for us as believers today
in the West is the separation of faith and life into two spheres.
Whether we realize it or not, our society is set up such that
religious belief is seen as subjective and private, of little real import, and
everything else – politics, science, education, health, and economics are seen
as public matters.
It shouldn't be like this.
If Jesus is King of all the earth, what He says about things has relevance
for all society.
The faith of believers should have a direct impact on our world.
Perhaps we are beginning to see this more…
Recently Martin Lewis, the ‘moneysavingexpert’ had a much touted conversation
with the ABC, Justin Welby, about the commercialization of Christmas.
Instead of the usual, somewhat pious denouncement of spending,
Justin Welby refused to pour cold water on the practice of the giving of gifts
at Christmas.
But Martin Lewis wanted him to go further.
If people are in debt they should not borrow to attain the kind of
perfectionist Christmas that the adverts spur us onto obtain; they should buy
less.
Justin Welby did agree, and was able to end the interview with the
theological reason behind our desire to give gifts at Christmas: give because of
God’s great generosity in giving us himself in Christ.
So a great example of how religion, or belief in Christ, has
public meaning and relevance.
Another one was discussed at a recent Deanery Synod here when we heard
about the Parish Nurse initiative, which sees a volunteer, who is a qualified
nurse, but also a member of a congregation, go into partnership with other medical
personnel, the local Doctor, and the Christians in the church, to offer what you might call spiritual health care.
There are nearly 90 of these initiatives across the UK and many
more in the States – doctors are increasingly aware that health is not just a
matter of taking the right pills.
This is an acknowledgment that spirituality and health are not
easily separated.
Our gospel shows us a direct link between faith and history.
So, retail and spirituality; health and spirituality; history and spirituality.
I’m sure we can think of other examples where faith and life
really need to be seen as one whole.
Faith is never a private matter only.
Jesus’ prophecy about the destruction of Jerusalem point directly
towards the fact that God is the God of history; He is interested and involved
in what happens in our world.
This is a major claim.
Jesus, as prophet and Saviour, brings up back to what is
important.
The Jews were so proud of their religious heritage but unaware
that belief and behavior have consequences within history.
Unlike Jesus they would rather have kept faith to a matter of
buildings.
3. Regaining an apocalyptic framework.
William Blake was something of a prophet too perhaps.
He grappled with the problem of God who made the innocent lamb
also having made the not so innocent tiger.
Tavener seemed to comprehend this too, with his ghostly, unusual setting
of The Lamb.
We need to see beneath the surface, to the spiritual significance
of events and trends.
We need to develop an ‘apocalyptic’ framework for seeing history, and
seeing our lives (apocalypto=to uncover).
‘You will hear of wars and rumours of wars’ but these are not yet
the end, says Jesus.
It’s true – we do hear of wars and rumours of war – we are haunted
by Two World Wars, remembered last week, and by many conflicts since; but these
do not happen without some meaning…
…because, like natural disasters and disease, they are a sign that
all is not right with the world.
The world groans to be redeemed, and how it feels like birth pains
to us who wait, especially to those who suffer acutely, thinking as we do of
the traumatized survivors of the Philippine typhoon.…
The worldview of the believer is in stark contrast to that of many
other viewpoints we see around us.
We believe that the beginning of the end has begun.
The Temple is destroyed.
We hear of wars and rumours of war.
Many are persecuted around the globe for their faith – there were
more Christian martyrs in the 20th Century than in all the previous
19 put together.
Jesus said that we would be ‘hated by all’ because of my name.
Not the most comforting of sayings.
Perhaps one of the most challenging of all the verses in the New Testament.
We have seen how Jesus subverts the mood; how we need to free
faith from the private realm and let it go into all of life; and how we must regain
an apocalyptic framework for how we see the world.
As we approach Advent we pray for grace to take to heart the
difficult things we read in the gospel, as well as those things which bring us
comfort.
Because ultimately, reality is more comforting than wishful
thinking.
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