Gospel text for Sunday 14 November 2021

 Mark 13.1-8         As Jesus came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!” Then Jesus asked him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.”

When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?” Then Jesus began to say to them, “Beware that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. 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. This is but the beginning of the birth pangs.”

Reflection       “Not one stone will be left here upon another….” Immediately my mind leaps to images  seared to my heart twenty years ago of the one hundred and ten stories of the Twin Towers in New York City turning into dust and again January 2021 watching the U.S. Capitol building, battered, trashed and dishonored. Peeking through the eyes of the disciples at these icons of civilization we see a glorious way of life that is too big to fall. But Jesus’ vision penetrates external appearances. He sees beyond the impressive edifice and the elaborate rituals practiced therein. Jesus shines light on the shadow-side of our institutions. 

Just one day before we meet Jesus sitting opposite the temple on the Mount of Olives, we find him standing inside the temple quoting the prophet Jeremiah,  “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations, but you have made it a den for robbers.”  (Jer 11.17) Gasping we watch as Jesus chases the money changers away and curses the temple. Peter, James, John and Andrew are with us so they should not be shocked when the very next day we hear Jesus say, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another…”  There is no reading  between the stones. Jesus sits in opposition to the religious and economic life of temple culture and predicts its demise.

Thirty years later Jesus’ prediction is fulfilled. The temple that has been the center of Jewish life for hundreds of years is destroyed by the Romans. But this is not the end of the story.  As Jesus insists, “It is but the beginning of the birth pangs.” In fact, it was after the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem that Rabbinic Judaism arose with its emphasis on a disciplined life as practiced by reformed Jews to this day. New life.

Returning our attention to birth pangs, in most cases they are not impotent anguish and sterile suffering. Birth pangs are productive labor. Something new is being born. I believe this is what the German poet Marie Rainer Rilke meant when he wrote, “what batters you becomes your strength.” Birth pangs.

Considering the present moment I believe  birth pangs bear down on us from every corner. We hold our breaths as hurricanes swoop across the nation in the wake of rampant wildfires and melting glaciers. Images of war and rumors of war break into our living rooms and vibrating pockets. Birth pangs.

Mass marketing aims to delude, distract and tempt us. Social media blows wind on words meant to coax and craze us. Pundits of every persuasion smugly warn us, “If you listen to the other guy, you and the whole world are going straight to hell in a hand basket.” Is that what Jesus is talking about when he warns the disciples and us, “Beware that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray?” Who are we to believe?

My vote is, Jesus whose words ring with the wisdom of the prophets. “Not one stone will be left here upon another”  because the way of life governed by gross abuses of power and failure to care for the human community must come to an end. Birth pangs. We are meant to live in humble relationship with the One sovereign and merciful God and extend that mercy to all people. Birth pangs. Thousands of years ago and today our religious and political institutions are intended to support and sustain the embodiment of the people in communion with God and each other.

But woe to us when our institutions aim is to sustain them selves and  serve those in power. Woe to us when we lose sight of right relationship with God and human community. “For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom” until false gods are tumbled,  the arrogant humbled and the fear mongering are tamed. Birth pangs. 

Jesus continues, “Do not be alarmed; this must take place…” for in Rilke’s words, “What batters you becomes your strength.”

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Gospel text for Sunday 23 June 2013

Luke 8:26-39     Jesus and his disciples arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. As he stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me" -- for Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many times it had seized him; he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds.) Jesus then asked him, "What is your name?" He said, "Legion"; for many demons had entered him. They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss.

Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.

When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus sent him away, saying, "Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you." So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.

Reflection    Inside my generally poised and quiet exterior I’ve borne a few storms along the way; whirlwinds of uninvited thoughts and indubitable tornadoes of emotion. Inside it felt no less perilous than the raging wind and waves that provoked Jesus’ disciples to shout, “Master we are perishing.” (Luke 8. 24) And although I have never been physically bound “with chains and shackles” I do recall feeling the weight of the world hammering my chest while wirey fingers cuffed my throat. Fear - this will never end. Fear - this will end. I suspect most people have had a taste or two of such extremis, where circumstances (inside or out) seem so grave, so isolating, so out of control, that there is nothing to do except fall down on our face before Holy God and surrender. And then...

We know the story. Something unexpected happens. Jesus calmed the storm his disciples believed would kill them, and then they were “afraid and amazed...(and asked) who is this who commands even the winds and the water...?” (Luke 8.25) Jesus moved on to approach the tormented man of Gersasene, and instead of turning away disgusted by his vulgar behavior, Jesus asked the deranged man whose “chains and shackles” were insufficient to contain the powerhouse of his emotions, Jesus asked, “What is your name?” In other words, Jesus ‘saw’ beyond the circumstance. Jesus ‘saw’ the real man. By asking the man his name Jesus affirmed his very essence. And the tormented man was restored to his right mind. The people who had persecuted him were “seized with fear.” But not the tortured man. His heart was filled with desire. He begged to stay with Jesus, the one by whom he felt seen and loved.  

Exposed and naked the tormented man fell down before Jesus. In an act of utter surrender he prostrated himself before the “Son of the Most High God.” And he was transformed.  In his Letters to a Young Poet Rainer Marie Rilke wrote, “Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are really princesses who are waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage. Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants our love.”