November 18, 2007
Luke 21:5-28

The Rev. David A. Davis
“Apocalypse Then” 

In the old city of Jerusalem, the Western Wall is the gathering place for prayer. Rabbi Feldman over at the Jewish Center of Princeton explained to me that the term “Wailing Wall” is not an endearing one, not an appropriate one. It implies that Jews go there to “wail” rather than to pray, or that the only prayers of lament are said there in that sacred place below the Temple Mount. It’s the Western Wall. And it’s a memorable experience, standing before that wall, looking around at the crowds, pondering the generations that have been there before, being overwhelmed by the atmosphere of prayer, sensing that you are a part of something much bigger than yourself.
I stood there and watched a few of my traveling companions approach the wall. The visual experience matched the spiritual one, that sense of feeling rather small. As they approached the wall, they got smaller and smaller, and the wall got bigger and bigger. Actually, it’s the stones in the wall. The stones are mammoth. The trained eye will tell you that the lower scores on the wall, the oldest stones date to the time of Jesus and before. You can look up and see how some of those oldest stones were re-used later in rebuilding efforts. The stones are huge.

Some were speaking about the temple, admiring it’s beauty, noticing the abundance of gifts there within it, commenting on the majesty of the stones, and Jesus looked at those stones and said, “The days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.” Throwing down those stones would have been no small thing.

Here in Luke’s gospel, chapter 21, Jesus describes no stone left upon another. He tells of wars and insurrections, nation rising against nation, kingdom against kingdom, earthquakes, famines and plagues, death and devastation. Jesus predicts persecutions and Jerusalem surrounded by armies and creation itself in distress and the powers of heaven shaking. “When you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” Jesus preaches.

Talk about hellfire and brimstone. Some footnotes or margin headings refer to this section of Luke as “The Little Apocalypse.” It’s little when compared to the Apocalypse to John which is the Book of Revelation. It’s little in terms of the other examples of apocalyptic literature in the bible, like Daniel in the Old Testament. Little has to do with a sermon from the lips of Jesus that fills a few paragraphs here in the 21st chapter of Luke. “Little Apocalypse”. That’s an oxymoron. There’s nothing little about it! Vast stones thrown down, dreadful portents, great signs from heaven, being betrayed by parents, brothers and friends, death by the sword, held captive by other nations, the roaring of the sea, people fainting from fear and foreboding. The degree of suffering and destruction described by Jesus, there’s nothing little about it.

And it starts with those stones. Jerusalem and its stones are at the center of this end time sermon. Jerusalem surrounded by armies. Jerusalem trampled. The temple walls thrown down. Jesus is predicting the destruction of the temple. The death and devastation referenced by Jesus in the gospels was described in great, gory detail by Josephus, the Jewish historian of the 1st century in his book “Jewish War”. As harsh as these verses may be, the descriptions in Josephus are worse. Josephus tells of the destruction of the temple that came in 70 AD at the hands of the Romans. Luke’s gospel in written form would not have taken shape until after that destruction of Jerusalem. Luke’s Jesus was predicting. Luke was reporting. Those mammoth stones were turned upside in 70. A devastation and destruction beyond the imagination happened in 70. The destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Jesus looked at those stones and said “the days will come when not one of these stones will be left upon another.”     

It’s not little and it’s not easy, either; trying to understand Jesus and his apocalypse. This will be a time for you to testify but make your minds ahead of time not to prepare what to say. I will give you the words and the wisdom. Don’t prepare but be on guard and be alert. Some of you will be put to death, he warned, but not a hair of your head will perish. The end will not follow immediately, Jesus said, but then he said this generation will not pass away until everything has taken place. Even the heads of the biblical literalists who thrive on talk of the end of the world must spin a bit trying to figure out how the instructions from Jesus are to be carried out when the terror warning level rises to the extreme.

Luke 21 and the religious futurists. It is one of the not so subtle ironies of the strange political alliances these days. The extremes of “Christian Zionism”, the current support of Israel from some in the evangelical Christian world is only to support their ultimate destruction. According to the prediction chart of biblical literalism, before the Son of Man returns again, Jerusalem will have to be surrounded by armies. Jerusalem will be trampled. Before Jesus comes again those stones will fall in a heap. The walls will come tumbling down. The destruction of Jerusalem will be a good thing, because Jesus will soon be on his way!

Douglas John Hall, in his book The Cross in our Context: Jesus and the Suffering World suggests that the language of apocalypse is not only hard to understand, it is also “extremely questionable” and dangerous when used by Christians who look to justify themselves and ensure their own positions of power at the expense of marginalizing and demonizing the other. “Christians in America today (he writes) who resort to the language of “cosmic warfare”…must ask themselves….to what extent their witness contributes to the warmongering, enemy-imaging, and self-righteous moral vigilance of a society that needs to locate its problems outside itself in order to be able to maintain it’s value system and keep its lofty image of itself intact.”

You really can’t just take these apocalyptic stones of Jesus and re-use them and apply them to the complexities of the Middle East today, or the generalities of a battle between good and evil, or the huge challenges of interfaith dialogue in the 21st century, without first wrestling with the magnitude of the suffering and devastation then and there in the 1st century. Jerusalem 70 AD. The apocalypse then.

Luke 21 is not intended to be a recipe for the last days, a listing of some future-seer’s predictions, a palm reading for humankind. The sermon is a call to faithfulness when suffering, death, and destruction seem to carry the day. It is call for perseverance when the unimaginable breaks out in life and in the world. It is a call to center heart and eyes on the presence of God even while standing there in a heap of tumbled stones. Do not be led astray by those who say “I am he.” Do not be terrified. By your endurance you will gain your souls! Stand up and raise your heads, your redemption is drawing near! Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down! Pray that you have the strength to escape all these things and to stand before the Son of Man!

Luke, Matthew, and Mark all record a version of this sermon that tells of the destruction of Jerusalem. In each gospel, this call to endurance amid devastation and suffering comes right before Jesus is betrayed by Judas, it comes right before those all too familiar events that end at the cross begin to unfold, right before Jerusalem becomes the city of the Lord’s own suffering and betrayal. The city of his destruction. Jesus prediction of the apocalypse then, comes just before the drama of his own death and the revealing of his own resurrection. Apocalyse then, apocalypse now, apocalypse when….all to be understood in the hope of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Hope not in the next victory in politics, not in a victory of a nation in battle, not in a victory over one issue or another in the arena of public opinion. No, our hope is in God’s ultimate victory of life over death.

Three of the gospels include “the little apocalypse”. But only Luke finishes with the description of Jesus teaching each day in that very temple. “Every day he was teaching in the temple, and at night he would go out and spend the night on the Mount of Olives, as it was called. And all the people would get up early in the morning to listen to him in the temple.” After all that hype, all that talk of death, after pointing to those stones and telling everyone they would be toppled over, they sort of went about their business. They engaged in the routines of life. Routine, which of course, were centered right there in the temple. It’s like Luke’s description of the church on the Day of Pentecost, after all the miraculous work of the Holy Spirit, after thousands were added to the followers of Jesus, Luke writes “day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread from house to house and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.”

Routines of life defined by faithfulness and gratitude. A response to Jesus that includes devotion to his teaching, growing in faith, and a yearning to care for all people. When the Holy Spirit flows like tongues of fire or when the stones of life have come tumbling down, Jesus calls us to stand up, and raise our heads, and to know that our redemption draws near. That God is with us. Responding to Jesus not with predictions about the future or talk of divine warfare or a fascination with things apocalyptic, but rather, responding to Jesus with the devotion and the service and the gratitude of our daily lives.
One Sunday evening last spring I was preaching at Shiloh Baptist Church in Trenton. It was a celebration of Darryl Armstrong’s seventh year of ministry in that congregation. During worship, right before the sermon, the liturgical dance group danced to a gospel song by Hezekiah Walker called “Grateful.” The refrain of the song simply repeats the words these words, “grateful, grateful, grateful, grateful, gratefulness is flowing my heart.” At a certain point, then, only the refrain repeats. And it goes on and on. With each repeat of the refrain, voices are added in the choir (more parts I mean), and it gets louder and louder. Near the end, in that gospel music kind of way, it’s pretty much a shout that overwhelms the room.

I had heard the song before but I never understand the repetition, what seemed like an endless loop until I experienced that dance. When I experienced the dance, a contemporary praise song that I thought was just repetitious like so many others; it became a clear statement of faith for me. Each time the refrain came early in the song, the movement was the same. And then as it continued and repeated, the movement was the same, just more intense, more exaggerated. It was nothing like a fevered pitch or frenzy, rather, it was determined, almost defiant, growing stronger and stronger. There was a forward movement to both the dance and the rhythm of the song. The worship leaders, they were embodying a gratefulness that only grew deeper and stronger with every movement and tone of life. And sometimes, when the stones of life are falling down a bit, you have to repeat your gratefulness, sing a louder, move with a bit more strength, convincing yourself, and maybe others along the way, that your life is one of faithfulness and gratitude. Daring to be grateful to God.

Look around the sanctuary this morning. We may not be liturgical dancers and the congregation is far from a gospel choir most Sundays….but there is this movement and this determination, this perseverance, this routine. You can see it on the faces and hear it in the lives.

Thanksgiving to God is more than a day, isn’t it? 

 

          

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