Thirty Third Sunday of the Year November 13, 2022
Malachi 3:19-20a; 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12; Luke 21:5-19
Having read the gospel of the day let us reflect: How often
in life do we “speak about the temple”, and how it is adorned, speaking of its
splendour and beauty? Whatever temple we adore, be it our place of worship, an
object, our home, family or even our bodies, Jesus reminds us that the day will
come when it will no longer exist and “all will be thrown down”. Our pride and
adoration of earthly things can distract us from God, the one we truly adore.
We look forward to the time when nothing can separate us from the love of God –
neither death nor things present, nor things to come, nor anything in creation.
In our current information age, there are many who speak in
extreme words, exaggerating the truth and telling the news in alarming and
unsettling ways. Unlike Jesus, they do not offer truth or life. I listen to him
now and hear how he speaks to me of faith, hope and love.
Josh is an example of people who go to one extreme. There
are people also who go the other extreme, people who see the presence of God
only in churches and church services. We read about people like that in today’s
gospel. We are not told exactly who they are but some of them are probably
disciples of Jesus. They are fascinated with the splendour of the Jerusalem
Temple built by Herod in over 46 years and lavishly adorned with gold and silver
offerings of the people. For these people the Temple is God’s dwelling place on
earth and the adornment of the Temple means that the people’s faith in God is
strong. Can you imagine the shock on their faces when Jesus tells them that
this Temple standing in all its glory and majesty is destined to be utterly
destroyed leaving not one stone upon another? As predicted, the Jerusalem
Temple was utterly destroyed in AD 70 by the Roman army under the command of
Titus.
It is quiet easy to be deceived. Jesus warns his followers
not to be deceived. The Christian life
is to focus on the here and now and that will require strength and faith. The
world will continue with wars and insurrections and there will continue to be
natural disasters that defy explanation.
None of these things necessarily means that the world is coming to an
end. The teaching of Jesus does not
offer us a way to predict the end of the world.
Instead, the teaching of Jesus provides his followers with the spiritual
resources needed to cope with the adversity and hardship that is part of life
in the here and now. The final portion
of the passage is directed to the disciples and sets forth what they can expect
in the future.
Indeed the Gospel of today tells us about the fall of
Jerusalem. While Jesus was speaking of the fall of Jerusalem and the
destruction of the Temple, those who were with were associating this event with
the arrival of the Kingdom of God on earth.
Many of Jesus' followers recognized Him as the Messiah and they wanted
to crown Him as their King. So when Jesus spoke of destruction or anything that
could be associated with war, his followers assumed that the day was near when
Jesus would rule over them and the Roman domination would come to an end.
The Christian who, like the disciples in today’s gospel,
sees God in the grandeur of the temple but not in other people is only telling
half of the story. The Christian who, like Josh in our story, sees God in the
human person but not in the temple also tells only half of the story. Today’s
gospel, therefore, challenges us to endeavour to see and serve God both in the
temple when we gather for worship and in one another after the worship.
Remember, we treat the other person with respect and dignity not because they
deserve it by their own conduct but because God in them deserves it. This way,
our lives both in church and out of church, become one continuous act of service
to the same God who dwells in the human soul as well as in the temple.
Happy Sunday
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