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| The Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. It stands today where the Second Temple once stood. |
13 As he came out
of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what large
stones and what large buildings!” 2 Then Jesus asked him, “Do you see these
great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown
down.” 3 When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter,
James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, 4 “Tell us, when will this be, and
what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?” 5
Then Jesus began to say to them, “Beware that no one leads you astray. 6 Many
will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’and they will lead many astray. 7 When
you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place,
but the end is still to come. 8 For nation will rise against nation and kingdom
against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be
famines. This is but the beginning of the birth pangs. (Mark
13:1-8)
My stepdaughter never
bores me. She is always doing or finding interesting things. A few years back
she was studying Hinduism and decided to take her mother and me on a little
field trip to visit the Hindu mandir in Robinsville, New Jersey. I must confess
I was every bit a-gawk at this magnificent temple as Jesus’ disciples must’ve
been when they saw Herod’s temple in Jerusalem. Just about every inch of this
house of worship is covered with exquisite carved artwork. If you tried to take
it all in at one time your brain would go on “TILT.” I don’t think I’d ever
seen anything quite so fabulous. It’s the only mandir made of marble outside of
India. When one enters (after piously removing one’s shoes) there is an
introductory video in which a lovely young woman dressed in a brilliant sari
explains the walls of Italian marble are protected from the New Jersey winter
by outer walls of cinder block. This, she tells you, is beautifully symbolic as
the true temple lies within.
The Jerusalem temple
must’ve really impressed those Galilean fishermen. I’ll bet they’d never seen
anything quite like that before. I’m sure they were far less impressed by
Jesus’ alarming prophecy that this architectural wonder would, in the
not-so-distant future, be reduced to a pile of rocks. It was natural for these
boys to be anxious about this and ask their rabbi for a little clarification so
they could prepare themselves. Wouldn’t you?
Of course, our man, St.
Mark the Evangelist, is writing after the temple has been destroyed so he
might’ve been telling this tale in hindsight by putting words in Jesus’ mouth.
I like to think that this prognostication is a direct quote from Jesus. It is,
after all, quoted by the other two synoptic gospel writers, and the smart guys
of the Jesus Seminar seem to think it’s something Jesus probably really said.[i]
I wonder if Jesus foresaw
the destruction of the temple because a) he’s the only begotten Son of God and
just knows how the future will shake out, or b) he looks at the world and
society around him and takes a firm grasp on the obvious. Either explanation
will do, but I’ll bet that Jesus is trying to teach these boys a lesson about
being awake and observant. Jesus didn’t have to be the Son of God to know what
was about to go down. The Roman Empire was oppressive and severe. The Jews were
angry, frustrated, humiliated, and outraged. A bunch of knuckleheads would
certainly vent their anger in a full throttle violent insurrection against a
vastly superior power. You didn’t need a crystal ball to know this wasn’t going
to end well. Jesus could see what was about to happen, so he cautioned his friends
not to be led astray.
But we so easily let
ourselves be led astray, don’t we? It’s so easy to give way to anger or despair
and forget to seek the way of Christ. As you read this post, my friend, a
situation similar to the Jewish revolt which resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem
and her gorgeous temple is going on in Gaza.
I hope you won’t mind my
taking this digression, but the whole matter has been on my heart since the
barbaric and depraved attack on Israel of October 7 of last year. It seems to
parallel the Jewish war of AD 66-70 which brought about so much death and
destruction—only this time it’s the children of Israel who have all the military
might. It numbs my brain to even try to imagine what the Hamas
terrorists thought they could gain by their bloodthirsty assault on innocent
Israeli civilians. They had no more chance of achieving liberation than the
ancient Jews had against the Romans, and the result of their action is the same
devastation the Jews experienced centuries ago.
This situation creates
the worst kind of ethical dilemma. It forces us to ask which sin is greater: to
let innocent people go on suffering unjustly or to allow the guilty to get away
unpunished? Either choice invites catastrophe. If the guilty get away with an
act of terror, they will only commit more acts of terror, and others will be
emboldened to violent acts as well. If, on the other hand, ruthless punishment
is visited upon the offenders, it’s very possible innocent people will suffer
along with the guilty and breed resentment, hatred, and a new generation of
violent terrorists bent on revenge.
The Hebrew scriptures
taught that there must be justice, but that justice must be fair and
proportionate:
Anyone who kills a
human being shall be put to death. Anyone who kills an animal shall make
restitution for it, life for life.
Anyone who maims another shall suffer the same injury in return:
fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; the injury inflicted is
the injury to be suffered.[ii]
A life for a life. But
the situation in Gaza is now forty lives for a life. As passive watchers
of this nightmare, we can only pray that it will end soon, that the leaders of
our world will respond with compassion and wisdom, and that we will have the
compassion to sacrifice some of our own resources to care for those who have
suffered[iii]. We must not be led
astray from the way of Christ.
There are, no doubt, some
Christians who will see the events in Israel and Gaza as part of a countdown to
the end of the world. Don’t be fooled. Jesus has already told us these things
will always be happening. In our most dire moments God’s will for us is
still life. It is easy to give way to fear and anger, and easier still
to give way to despair and apathy. Yes,
the temple was destroyed and very few stones were left on stones. But what
happened afterwards was the flourishing of new kinds of faith which didn’t
depend on geography or architecture. Christians and Jews discovered, like the
Hindus who built the marble mandir in New Jersey, that the real temple—the real
dwelling place of God—is within us.
We can’t be led astray.
We must believe that every ending is a beginning. If every church in America
were to close tomorrow, Christ would still live within the hearts of the
faithful. Polling statistics and punditry to the contrary, I don’t believe the American
church is dying. It is being resurrected in a new form. I just hope I live long
enough to see it.
As we look around at this
crazy world let’s not look for signs of the end. Jesus didn’t come to snatch us
out of our troubles. Jesus came to walk with us and be within us through
all our conflicts, doubts, fears, and earthquakes. Jesus wants us to know that
on the other side of terrifying change there is hope and possibility. So, let’s
not be led astray. Let’s continue to practice kindness.
Hunter, one of my eighth-grade
Confirmation students, recently said the most remarkable thing about waiting
for the end times: “We should make the world such a great place that when Jesus
comes back, he’ll be happy to be here.”
I couldn’t agree more. Thanks for spending this time with me.
[i] My
reference is Funk, Robert and Hoover, Roy: The Five Gospels, the Search for
the Authentic Words of Jesus (New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1993)
pgs. 108-109.
[ii]
Leviticus 24:17-20
[iii]
You can make a donation to help those suffering in Gaza by clicking https://community.elca.org/middle-east-crisis
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