Terrified?  Don't Be!!!

 

Isaiah 65:17-25    Luke 21:5-19

 

     Our daughter, Amy, is in New York City this weekend with two of her friends from college.  When we talked to her on the telephone on Wednesday evening she sounded a little disappointed about the stage hands strike which will limit the number of Broadway shows they will have the opportunity to see.  Thinking of Amy being in New York and reading about the temple in Luke made me think of the World Trade Center.

 

      If we had been on a tour of New York City on 9/10/2001 the guide probably would have taken us by the World Trade Center.  And, as we stood there, gazing at those magnificent towers that looked like they might reach to heaven, we might be thinking that these towers will be standing here forever.  They will at least survive our lifetime.

Of course that turned out not to be true.

 

       As Jesus talked to his disciples they were looking at the temple, another magnificent structure adorned with beautiful stones.  It is estimated that the huge blocks of green or white marble measured 67 feet in length, 7 feet in height and 9 feet in width.  From a distance, when the sun was shining on it, it looked like a mountain of snow.  They thought that the temple would stand forever.  They should have known better.

 

       Jesus shocked his disciples with his words.  "The day will come when not one stone will be left upon another, all will be thrown down."  Some would have characterized those words as blasphemy.  No one should talk like that about the house of God. 

 

       Jesus was not trying to be cruel.  He was not trying to be a smart alec.  He was just trying to get people to understand that the things of this world will not last.  Something as meaningful and as beautiful as the temple is temporary.  It will not be standing here forever.

 

      The disciples wanted to know when this would happen.  They wanted to be prepared.  Jesus responded don't be afraid.  Difficult times will come.  Nation will rise against nation, there will be earthquakes, you will be persecuted and put in prison because of me.  But do not be terrified.  This is a time to give testimony to what you have seen me do and heard me say.  Act out of faith, not out of fear.  Jesus said, "By your endurance you will gain your lives."

 

      To take that advice to heart we need to trust Jesus.  Recently I have been reading a book called Tokens of Trust by Rowan Williams.  I shared part of this book with our Sunday School class and the Shepherds.  It is the section about what it means to call God Almighty.  Williams states that we can trust God because God has no hidden agenda, no ulterior motives.  God doesn't want anything from us.  God simply wants people to receive his joy and delight.  God is almighty, meaning that God is present, God is powerful, and God is relevant.  God is never at a loss and can be relied on in any situation.   Whatever situation we are in, God can do something fresh and new.  That is why Isaiah was able to proclaim in the name of God to people in exile, "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth."

 

        Some people may be wondering, what do I have to give thanks for this morning. I don't have a home, my child is ill, I am not sure where my next meal is coming from, I am lonely, I don't have any friends.  That promise of a new heaven and a new earth sounds unbelievable to me. 

 

      I want to suggest that well to do people find God's promises difficult to believe as well.  You mean there really is a day coming when there will be no more infant mortality, no more old people dying too young.  It is really true that the wolf and the lamb will lie together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.  I find that hard to believe.

 

      It is all a matter of perspective but no matter where we are in this life, there are things about the life to come that are difficult to believe.  It becomes a matter of trust.  Do we trust God to do what God has promised?  Jesus was not trying to be cruel.  He was just stating the fact that all that we now see is temporary.  But there is one who is eternal.  And the way to life in all its fullness for rich and poor is to trust him.  In reality there is one thing we can all give thanks for, a God who is present, powerful and relevant, a God who can do something new in our darkest day.   God is the one thing we can give thanks for that is not temporary, God is eternal.