Scripture/Sermon of the Day

5 When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, 6 “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.”

7 They asked him, “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?” 8 And he said, “Beware that you are not led astray, for many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is near!’ Do not go after them.

9 “When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified, for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.” 10 Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom; 11 there will be great earthquakes and in various places famines and plagues, and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.

12 “But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. 13 This will give you an opportunity to testify. 14 So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance, 15 for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. 16 You will be betrayed even by parents and siblings, by relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. 17 You will be hated by all because of my name. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 By your endurance you will gain your souls.

I. There are so many places where our religion has similarities with other great world religions. Today’s reading reminds me of the Buddhist doctrine of annica — impermanence. This doctrine says all conditioned things are transient — all physical and mental events come into being and dissolve.

In other words, we’re born and stay here a little while and then die. We’re baptized here and end up over there. It’s the Christian way of saying “annica.”

II. Jesus said this poetically. He talked about impermanence all the time. His first sermon he said “REPENT!” CHANGE! He said we’re not supposed to stay as we are. People asked him, “Change into what?” He said, “Into me!” Why? It’s God’s will. It was the first thing God promised Abraham — God said “You will be a blessing.” Impermanence is good news. We don’t stay like this — God has bigger plans for us. “You will do the works I have been doing and you will do even greater things than these…”. Spiritually, our ego shrinks and Christ grows.

III. Jesus says this poetically. In the reading today some people talked about how beautiful the temple was. They told Jesus, “Look how beautiful it is — the stones and ornaments dedicated to God.” Jesus said, “Soon it will be a pile of dust.”

Jesus meant that literally — but he also meant the beautiful stones of flesh and bone and muscle that we are made of, the beautiful ornaments of our hair and eyes, the magnificent fortress of our bodies. And this lovely creation will also become dust too. Annica.

IV. I look at my dog Gideon. He joined our family as a puppy and now he’s almost five, still, by our years, young. And we’ve become close friends. I was walking him yesterday, and looked at his lovely face with admiration — and sadness — because his muzzle was all black just a year ago and now already the grey and white is coming in fast. I’ve buried three dogs and two cats and a guinea pig over there — and I see Gideon’s black face turning white already and I said to him, “Gideon — slow down. I know — everything’s impermanent — but would you please slow down. You’re aging too quickly!”

V. I think part of the sadness I feel for Gideon is — for myself. Gideon reminds me the clock on my life is tick, tick, ticking away too fast! And now, today, just two weeks before the November 30, the first Sunday of Advent, Jesus is telling us: “WAKE UP! THE END IS NEAR!” People crowd around him and beg for more information, “When??” They ask, they beg — “WHEN??!!” And Jesus being Jesus can’t give them a concrete answer but says, poetically, that buildings will fall and wars will rage and earthquakes will shatter rocks and even our families will betray us and awful things will happen, we’ll be arrested and dragged to court (notice — he’s talking about what will happen to him in just days) — “but don’t worry.”

“WHAT!!!???” The people say — “What do you mean don’t worry!!!” All of that change sounds painful and agonizing.” And then the people ask the wrong question. They want to know WHEN this will happen?

VI. Jesus, like a Zen Master, raises his hand and says calmly, “Don’t worry about when. In fact, as you see, the end of things has already begun. What’s important is that you HOLD FAST. KEEP WALKING WITH ME, THROUGH LIFE, AND DEATH, AND RESURRECTION. LOVE ONE ANOTHER, FORGIVE EACH OTHER, AND EXTEND COMPASSION EVERYWHERE. THIS IS YOUR WORK WHILE YOU ARE HERE. THIS IS ALL YOU NEED TO WORRY ABOUT. Let God worry about when. OUR WORK IN THESE LAST DAYS IS TO EXTEND GOD’S LIGHT AND COMPASSION WHEREVER WE ARE, RIGHT NOW.”