Walter Brueggemann said that passages like this one are “intellectually difficult and pastorally problematic.”
Brueggemann, who died earlier this year, was one of the most influential Bible interpreters of our time.
If someone like him finds this scripture to be difficult and problematic, what hope is there for someone like me?
(And why didn’t I find something easier to preach on?)
Well, let’s see if God does have a word for us today in this difficult and problematic scripture…
▶️ The scripture passage starts with Jesus saying to those who were with him that the magnificent temple in Jerusalem will, one day soon, be destroyed. Not one stone will be left upon another.
If Jesus did say such a thing in his lifetime, those who heard him would certainly have been shocked. This temple was, at the time, the largest man-made structure on earth. In scale and grandeur, it rivaled the pyramids in Egypt and the Colosseum in Rome.
The walls of the temple were 50 feet high, and were made of gleaming white and green marble. A traveler arriving in Jerusalem would see it from miles away.
The temple symbolized permanence. Stability. It was the center of Jewish life.
For Jesus to speak of the destruction of the temple would be to speak of the destruction of society itself. And indeed, Jesus went on to mention things like wars and insurrections; nation rising against nation, kingdom rising against kingdom; earthquakes, famines, and plagues.
But then, he adds: "Don't worry about it. Don’t be afraid.”
A question I often ask when trying to understand scripture is: “Why did the author feel it important to include this?” In this case, “Why did Luke think this was an important thing to include in his account of the gospel?”
And, in this case, the answer to that is quite obvious.
Luke wrote his gospel around the year 80, give or take.
And the temple that Jesus predicted would be destroyed, actually was destroyed, by the Roman army, in the year 70.
So, Luke was writing this not long after the temple had been destroyed.
Which means the people Luke was writing to had already experienced all these things that Jesus appears to have predicted. They had experienced—and were still experiencing—what, in many ways, felt to them like the end of the world.
And Luke included this in his gospel as a way of letting people know that it was all part of the plan.
Or, if not “part of the plan,” Luke at least wanted them to know that there still was a plan, that God still had a plan, that there is a future even beyond the end, and that these difficult, cataclysmic, apocalyptic times they were living through, though difficult, were actually giving them an opportunity to grow in faith and witness to the gospel.
Now, the difficult and problematic part of all this is that it does sound very apocalyptic. It’s very eschatological.
And we know that other Christian writers, like the apostle Paul, really did expect the end times, the second coming of Christ, and a literal new creation to begin in their lifetimes.
Something that, obviously, did not happen.
And now, it’s 2,000 years later. And it still hasn’t happened. Not in the great, cosmological sort of way that scripture seems to imply.
Which is why this scripture is “intellectually difficult and pastorally problematic,” as Brueggemann said.
What do we do with this?
Throughout Christian history, there have been leaders who said they have studied the scriptures, they have read the signs, and that they know exactly when the end of the world is going to happen, or when the second coming will take place.
One such prediction made just a few months ago even got quite a bit of attention, at least online.
But the date came and went, as it always does…
It’s all quite embarrassing, really.
But one thing I do know is that, in many ways, people today are living with that same dread, that same feeling, that the world is ending, that the Jews and early Christians felt in the first century. Everything seems to be coming to an end.
▶️ The climate is changing. The earth is already experiencing stronger hurricanes, longer droughts, and warmer temperatures. Some animal species are adapting by migrating, but many other species are finding it hard to adapt, and extinction rates have skyrocketed.
The good news is that we have the technology and the ability to stop climate change. The bad news is that we lack the leadership to make it happen.
Too many of our leaders are more interested in what’s good for their party, or what’s good for business, and less concerned about what’s good for people, or for the earth. True dialogue has been replaced by inflammatory accusations, name-calling, and lies.
The rights of so many are being threatened or have already been taken away. This is especially true for those who are most vulnerable: the poor, those earning minimum wage, immigrants, minorities, and the LGBTQ community.
Jesus taught us to love our neighbor, and when someone asked him “who is our neighbor?” Jesus responded by telling a parable that worked to expand infinitely the definition of who is our neighbor. And yet so many of our leaders today are doing just the opposite, working to restrict and narrow the definition of who a neighbor is, drawing the circle ever smaller.
And in the midst of it all, the teachings of Jesus seem to be less and less influential. His way of love is not being followed, not even by many who claim to be his followers. And the hypocrisy is driving many others away, preventing them from ever hearing or knowing the true, life-giving, life-affirming message he proclaimed.
In many ways, it feels like the church today is crumbling, just like the temple did in the year 70.
Maybe one way we could read this passage is to not focus on a specific moment in history when the world is coming or will be coming to an end, but to recognize that the world is always coming to an end, at least for someone. Someone is always facing the end of life as we know it, and that is something that many people are feeling today: this great existential dread.
And yet, Luke tells us to not be afraid.
▶️ And Luke tells us that we still have an opportunity, that perhaps because of these difficult times, we have an opportunity like never before, to bear witness to the gospel, to live out our faith, and to show the world what it really means to follow Jesus; what it really means to trust in him; what it really means to love God and love our neighbor, and to work for wholeness in the midst of this fragmented world.
That doesn’t mean it is easy. I wish it were easy! Why do we have to work so hard just to create or maintain a decent, liveable world? Why is it always such a struggle? Why do so many fail to see what it is that makes for peace in our world? Why can’t a world of justice and peace, and harmony and love just come naturally? Easily? Why must we work so hard at it?
I’m tired of working hard. I’m tired of the struggle.
And I have it easy. I have privileges that many do not. So many have struggled a lot harder than I have or ever will.
Does it even make sense, that we have to work so hard just to prevent a human-caused end of the world? Wouldn’t you think that everyone would work together on at least this one thing? Wouldn’t you think that this would be one thing we could all agree on, that a more peaceful, more loving, more sustainable world is worth striving for? And sacrificing for?
How much easier would the struggle be, if we all had this one goal in common?
Yet there are people—people with power—whose decisions and actions work contrary to a more peaceful, loving, sustainable world; people who are working to break the world rather than put the world back together.
Which makes our task, of bringing wholeness to this fragmented world, all that much harder.
Luke says that the difficulties and the struggle give us an opportunity.
I don’t know if I want that opportunity. It sounds like an opportunity to do something hard, something difficult, something challenging.
But maybe, when we take advantage of the opportunities that arise in difficult times, we find more fulfillment. Doing something hard, and succeeding—doesn’t that bring a greater satisfaction than just doing something easy.
Haven’t there been times when you’ve struggled for something, and in the end you felt really good about yourself, because you worked so hard for something you believed in?
And I think about the youth camps I’ve worked at; we often give our campers the opportunity to do something hard. Go on a hike. Pass a swim test. Or, the hardest of all: speak in front of your fellow campers during worship.
Campers often push themselves to do these things… and the struggle, the effort, pays off. The struggle is always worth it in the end.
Maybe that’s why things are hard. Maybe that’s why we struggle.
Maybe not every struggle fits this explanation. I mean, I can think of some exceptions. But many of the struggles we face, when we face them, we do become stronger, and we do find greater fulfillment and satisfaction.
Heck, even the struggle to preach on a scripture that is “difficult and problematic” can be more fulfilling and more rewarding than preaching on a scripture that requires, well, very little effort…
And when we accomplish something that we didn’t think was possible, we can look back, and realize that God was there with us, helping us, giving us the strength we need, making it possible.
If everything was so easy, we could do it, and say “look what we did.” It was so easy, we didn’t need God.
But when we struggle, and when we do something hard—something we didn’t think possible—it makes us realize that we really do depend on God. It makes us realize that God hasn’t let up. God is still giving us the strength we need.
It bears witness to God’s strength and God’s love and God’s faithfulness.
And we are left with the realization that, no matter what we’re going through, we don’t need to be afraid, because God is with us.
So yes, there is a lot going on in the world. And yes, the struggles we face are difficult. And yes, it does often feel that the world is ending.
But God is present, with you through it all. And God will give you the strength you need. And God will bring you into that future that God has waiting for you.
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