Luke 21:5-19
“LORD Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, I give myself to you in faith and obedience.”
Jesus the Christ, Jesus the Messiah, Jesus the Anointed One of God … the center of our faith … the anchor of hope … a portrait of life and love … the image of the invisible God … the firstborn over all creation … by Him, all things were created … He is before all things … and in Him all things hold together.
Jesus my LORD: he head of the body; the head of the church … the beginning and the end; the Alpha and the Omega; the firstborn from among the dead … all of God’s fullness dwells in Him … through Him, all things on earth or things in heaven are reconciled to God … through His blood shed on the cross (Colossians 1:15-20; Revelation 22:12).
Jesus my LORD.
Our reading today … Jesus in Jerusalem … the political and spiritual center of God’s people … a city built on a hill … the Temple built by Herod the Great … a thorn in the flesh for Rome … the pinnacle of pride for the people … the City of David.
The boys from Galilee are impressed … “What a place,” they say. “How glorious it is; look at all the big buildings.”
Like Iowa farm boys visiting New York City … or a young lady from Nebraska strolling down Rodeo Drive …
Jerusalem the Golden …
I remember my own journey to Israel … we arrived in Tel Aviv … spent a few days on the Sea of Galilee, and then the bus ride to Jerusalem … following the footsteps of Jesus … from Galilee to the Holy City.
As the bus labored up a steep roadway, we all held our breath … the tour guide alerted us … “You will see the city as Jesus saw it.”
The bus crested the hill, and there it was … in the bright light of mid-morning … gleaming … alabaster white … a golden hue … the city of David … my eyes filled with tears.
The disciples were mightily impressed … why not? … this incredible city - one of the wonders of the world … every Jew dreamed of making pilgrimage there … “Oh to be in Jerusalem” … at ever Passover meal, “Next year in Jerusalem.”
We toured the city for a week … every turn of every corner, a piece of history … a story to be told … a picture to be taken … and finally the Temple Mount itself … the Western Wall … sometimes called the Wailing Wall because of all the tears shed by those mighty stones.
In the niches of the wall, scraps of paper, thousands of them – prayers scribbled … I scribbled mine: for Donna and the children … and I wept by the Western Wall.
In AD 70, the Roman Empire, fed up with Jewish unrest and rebellion, laid waste to the city – demolished the Temple, one stone at a time – nothing left; everything gone.
The gold and the silver, the precious stones and tapestries, hauled off to Rome – war booty - to underwrite the building of a monument … the Coliseum … to celebrate the victories of Emperor Titus …
Jesus foresaw all of these unhappy events … when the boys from Galilee were oohing and awing at the Temple’s splendor, Jesus saw something else … He saw the tragic outcome of the present course … headed for a showdown with Rome, and Rome would win.
It would be the end of the age … the world as the disciples knew it would cease to be … their world would come to an end.
Hardly the news anyone wants to hear … but so it is with life … what we know and those we love soon gives way to the flow of time …
This last week, Donna and I were looking at old slides … goodness … I was once young … and my children were once babies … things change … we move on … we all march to the beat of the same drummer … a rhythm tapping out the days, until we draw our last breath, and life is no more.
Stone-by-stone … the end of the age!
The disciples were unnerved … “When will this be? Will there be any signs? We’d like to know.”
“Beware that you are not led astray,” says Jesus.
Many will come claiming to have all the answers … “Do not go after them,” says Jesus.
Steady as she goes! Don’t be terrified … take advantage of the moment to testify: tell the world about faith, hope and love; grace, mercy and peace.
When you’re up against it, I will give you the words and wisdom you need … to withstand the onslaught of the world …
Steady as she goes … by your endurance, you will gain your souls …
An incredible promise: by your endurance, you will gain your souls …
A promise that makes sense … endure and we gain our souls … because souls are lost, when fear takes hold … when we’re unnerved by circumstance, when we panic, the center collapses, we become prisoners of the immediate … events dictate our state of mind.
Circumstances decide our character …
We’re no longer centered; our point of reference no longer within, but out there somewhere in the swirling sands of time …
Disasters and wars: cutbacks at work … slumping housing market … stocks in decline … a child’s report card … a fateful call from the doctor’s office.
Our stomach churns … sleep is fitful and nightmarish … imagined scenarios race through mind, and everyone of them is bad … trusted members of the family fail us … friends turn the other way, too busy with their own stuff … faith ridiculed by the skeptic; rejected by the cynic.
The end of the age! Or so it seems.
Jesus dares to say: be steady … remain centered; … you will make it through the storm; I will bring you to a better place … it’s going to be all right … not a hair on your head will perish … nothing lost … by your endurance, you will gain your souls.
Talk about the power of positive thinking …
The glass is half-full … a positive spin … roll with the punches … bend with the wind …
Jesus is that kind of person … so is Paul the Apostle … Martin Luther and Martin Luther King, Jr. … John and Charles Wesley … Mother Teresa … life is no picnic for any of them, but they make meatloaf sandwiches, fix potato salad and have a picnic anyway.
Things turn our best for those who make the best of how things turn out!
Jesus on the cross … salvation for the world.
Paul in prison … opportunity to sing hymns - witness to the jailor.
Martin Luther tucked away in Wittenberg Castle – a death sentence hanging over his head … he writes the Reformation documents that change the world.
Mother Teresa, the inner burden of spiritual turmoil and doubt … picks up a washcloth and comforts a dying man.
They all trust the fundamental promise of God: “I am at work in ALL things for good.”
A simple faith – there’s good here; I may not see right now, I may not know how it’ll all turn out, but I trust my Father in heaven.
I take God at His word, signed and sealed with the blood of Christ … confirmed on Easter morning … the stone rolled away; the powers of death undone … the old book closed; a new book opened … a new story, a new beginning, a new day.
The power of positive thinking …
“The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.”
“The earth is the LORD's, and all that is in it.” (Psalm 24)
“To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul. O my God, in you I trust.” (Psalm 25)
“The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?” (Psalm 27)
The power of positive thinking … Robert Schuller didn’t invent it … Norman Vincent Peale didn’t invent it … Joel Osteen didn’t invent it …
But from the wellsprings of Scripture … the ancient text … the Word of the LORD … “God created the heavens and the earth” … “God at work in all things” … “then I saw a new heaven and a new earth” … “and we will be like Him” … “in the twinkling of an eye.”
Steady as she goes!
The power of prayer … “Jesus my LORD” … “Our Father who art in heaven” … “Now I lay me down to sleep, I the pray the LORD my soul to keep” … “God is great; God is good; let us thank Him for our food” … “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference” … “not my will be done, but thine” … “for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever” …
Steady as she goes.
The Holy Spirit … the Counselor, the Advocate; God inside us; God with us … the Holy Spirit instructs us in the things of Jesus, seals the grace of God upon our hearts … brings us into the kingdom of God, centers us in God’s unconditional love; implants God’s unconditional love into the center of our lives …
Steady as she goes.
Jesus knew full well that changing times unnerve us … and times are always changing … we’d like to know a few things, if you please … some inside information.
Jesus replies cryptically … an answer that’s no answer at all … a simple reminder; a reality check: earthquakes there are, and wars rage … natural disasters and human tragedies … small and large … played out in our living rooms and in our workplaces … in the halls of government and on the battlefield … fires roar up a canyon and homes are gone; rain ceases and a city is threatened … a thousand dramas every day … large and small … things change … things come and go … birth and death … hope and sorrow … joy and fear … love and anger …
Jesus says, “So what else is new?”
Steady as she goes!
Hang on to God, because God hangs on to you, and God will never let go.
It’s going to be all right; you’ll make it … the storm will pass; you’ll be the better for it … keep your eyes on God … steady as she goes.
“Do not be afraid little flock; it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32)
“I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20).
“I will never leave you or forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5)
Steady as she goes!
“Let mutual love continue.
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers …
Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them …
Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have.”
Steady as she goes … easy does it … stay calm … stay focused … stay centered in the love of God … read your Bible; pray often and pray simply …
And by your endurance, you will gain your souls!
Hallelujah and Amen!
