Mark 13:1-8
The Destruction of the Temple Foretold
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.
Gracious God, be with us in the labor of these days so that we might be reminded of your holy and saving work through the birth, life, death, and resurrection of your holy son, Christ Jesus. Amen.
Every generation has rumors or the apocalypse or the end times. I remember a while back, there was global fear about what would happen at midnight on December 31 of 1999. And sometime in 2012 there was a lot of talk about the Mayan calendar ending. I’m sure a simple Google search would pull up thousands more dates when the world was supposed to end. Perhaps they were miscalculated, but we are still here, so it seems that the end of the world hasn’t come quite yet.
But as a society we are fixated on knowing when the “end” might come and what it might look like. There are numerous book series and whole franchises of movies about the end of the world or the breakdown of society. Will it be caused by multiple climate disasters or global war?
Of course, those are only the secular views of the end times. If we get into all of the religious theories and doctrine and theology, we could go on for ages about what then end will look like for the world. Even Jesus joined the discourse in the text we read this morning. This story is called the “little apocalyptic text,” a brief mention of the destruction of the temple…
When the disciples looked at the temple, they saw an incredible structure— they saw a building unmatched anywhere else in the empire. It was an engineering marvel, rumored to have blocks of stone 40 feet long to make up the walls. And some said that the walls were covered in so much gold that people feared looking directly at it in the noonday sun because they might go blind.
But it was not only an incredible structure. For the disciples, it was a symbol— THE symbol— of God’s presence and faithfulness in the world. Its glory proved God’s glory, its presence represented God’s presence. It was where God resided and where the most holy of ceremonies and rituals took place.
So the shock of Jesus’ words cannot be understated. “Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.”
What would this mean for Jerusalem? For the Jewish people? What would it mean for God’s presence in the world and God’s faithfulness to God’s people? Surely Jesus wasn’t predicting the end of the world.
In reality, apocalyptic literature and episodes in the Bible like this one, are less about the end of the world and more about an unveiling, an uncovering of truth.
For the disciples, the truth was that God would be unconfined in the world. That they would not have one central place to go and find God. That God, indeed, could not be contained in the temple, as beautiful and large as it was, would have been a difficult truth to grasp in their world.
Today, uncovering the truth of God’s ever-expansive and bountiful grace is difficult for us to grasp as well. It’s easier if God fits inside of our boxes and small ideas.
On a larger scale in the world, oftentimes, uncovering truth is painful. It shows us the inequities of our society. It shows us how we have exploited and destroyed our planet. It shows us how we have contributed to diseases and death.
Uncovering truth is often something that comes with deep groans of pain, stretching, and difficulty. Jesus says, this uncovering is like the beginning of birth pangs. Jesus tells the disciples that the destruction of the temple is only the beginning of what will happen…
“When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines.”
“Do not be alarmed,” Jesus says. Even as he tells the disciples of all of these disasters and terrible things that will happen. As he tells them that the temple will be destroyed. That life as they know it will change forever. “Do not be alarmed.”
Perhaps what Jesus describes is happening not only in the world around us, but within the Christian community. Perhaps there is an uncovering that is happening within the church, and it is something we should pay attention to. What could the Holy Spirit be revealing in this time of pain and labor within the church? What could God be teaching us through the warnings of the world that the church is dying? Perhaps we are being reminded once again that God’s glory and power and majesty cannot be contained, but spreads out into the world abundantly. What might God be tellings us beyond these walls? In what ways is the Spirit leading us to dream bigger and more expansive in these time? Despite the warnings of the church dying, could God be calling this community to something new, something generous, and something risky? Jesus says “do not be alarmed.” Notice, pay attention. But do not be alarmed.
At the very end of this reading, Jesus says this is only the beginning of the birth pangs. That, I think, is the good news of this morning. That the famine, the wars, the painful unveiling of inequality and strife, the research that claims that the church is dying… it is only the beginning of the birth pangs. And like birth pangs, they will grow in intensity until they feel unbearable. And THEN— right when we think we can’t handle any more pain, when our whole being is saying we can’t go any further— is when we will be greeted with the cry of new birth. That is always the case with God— that what the world believes is the end is actually the beginning of God’s work in the world.
Jesus’ promise is that this pain is not the end. Because of God’s promise of resurrection for us and all of creation, death is never the end. God’s promise for us and for all of creation is the promise of a savior who, indeed, was born into a world of pain and continues his saving work even to this day. The world may say that this is the end. This, dear ones, is but the beginning. Amen.
