Today, we find Jesus once again in the gospel according to Luke. This story comes after Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, but before Jesus’ final Passover celebration – which puts us in Holy Week territory. Jesus has been spending his days at the Temple, mostly, teaching and commenting. Just before this, Jesus had been observing the space where people come to give their financial offerings. He sees many wealthy people put large sums into the treasury, but notices it’s still an amount they won’t miss. Meanwhile, a widow comes up and empties her coin purse, putting in a fraction of a penny – everything she had—and Jesus notices her generosity.
That’s where we pick up the story.
Scripture: Luke 21:5-19
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.
If you’ve been around for a while, you’ve heard me say over and over and over again: I am a planner. In college, before the days when everything lived on our cell phones, I carried around two full-size day planners: one for my schedule of meetings and classes, and another for all of my assignments and tests. In seminary, every semester I made a color-coded spreadsheet for all of my classes that tracked every single reading assignment, paper, quiz, test, and reflection by their due date.
I’m already planning worship for Lent next year.
So when Jesus starts talking about the complete and utter destruction of the temple, which would’ve been the ancient equivalent of an apocalypse movie, I identify heavily with the people who were like “so, how will we know when this horrible thing is going to happen? Anything we should be watching for?”
For me, at least, there are few feelings worse than sitting around, waiting for a societal-level shoe to drop.
Having said that, it’s important to know that this passage in particular is one of those prophetic moments that is written FOR us, but not ABOUT us. This passage is not about 21st-century America, no matter how much we might see a few of our own predicaments described here.
Jesus is foretelling the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple, which happened in 70 CE – about 40 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection. It happened after the Romans went through three emperors and a power struggle in the span of a few years, and there was increasing local resistance to Roman rule in Judea. What started as a protest against Rome by a priest led to a guerilla warfare operation in the countryside, and eventually led to the rebels capturing Jerusalem and throwing out the Roman army, however briefly. In 70 CE, the Romans retook the city, destroyed most of it, and completely leveled the Temple.
Jerusalem was renamed Aelia Capitolina, a temple to Jupiter was built on the ruins of the temple, & a lot of people were exiled not only from the city, but the entire region of Judea. Most Christians in the area were Jews by birth, so this eviction applied to them as well.
When the temple was destroyed, Jews everywhere suddenly had to reorient all of their religious practices, their festivals, the ways they interacted with God. How do you ask God for forgiveness when, for hundreds of years, the only way to do that was through a sin offering in the temple? This led to the very beginnings of the rabbinic movement, which has developed over 2000 years into the Judaism of today.
It’s in that cultural soup that the gospel according to Luke was formed and written – while both Jews and Christians were trying to reorient their faith and practice after an apocalyptic shift.
Jesus’ followers asked the question I would’ve asked: “how will we know when the world is ending?”
But Jesus, as he often does, instead invites us to ask a different question: “what do we do when it all comes crashing down, but the world doesn’t end?”
His answer is not trite or simple, but he does offer some comfort, saying:
“Make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance, for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict.”
“You will be hated by all because of my name. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls.”
Yeah, he says, this era is going to suck. But hold tight. Lean on me. Keep going. I’m not going to leave you alone.
Every generation has at least one “where were you?” moment – the instant we learned about something that was so shocking and world-changing that it’s burned into our brains, and even decades later we can picture precisely where we were and how we found out.
The assassination of President Kennedy or Martin Luther King, Jr. The moon landing. The Challenger explosion. The fall of the Berlin Wall.
On September 11, 2001 I was in a math class when the principal suddenly pulled our teacher into the hallway. I can picture exactly where I was sitting, doing a worksheet. The teacher came back in, told us there had been an attack on the World Trade Center, and we turned on the TV in the classroom just before the South Tower collapsed.
Even the COVID lockdowns, and later the restrictions and social distancing, felt like a small apocalypse, where every assumption and routine we had relied on was thrown into chaos. I remember so vividly going to the grocery store in Ohio, and they had taped arrows on the floor so that each aisle was like a one-way street. You could only walk one direction, so we didn’t have to face each other while we were shopping.
This is where the prosperity gospel preachers – the ones who say “God wants you to be successful and wealthy and happy all the time!” – get God wrong.
At no point does Jesus does promise that his followers will be immune to the suffering and chaos of the world around them. In this passage, he’s pretty specific when he tells them all the ways they will suffer, too.
But he does promise that they will never be alone. His Spirit will go with them, giving them words when they are speechless and moving them forward when they stumble. He promises that chaos and destruction will never have the final word.
While Jesus isn’t talking about the events of today, his promise remains true. You are not alone, and God’s help is never far off.
I do wish we were dealing with fewer major historical events these days, but that’s not ultimately within my power. What is within my power is how I respond to those events – with despair or courage, with fear or hope, with anger or compassion.
Friends, I want to leave you with a blessing. The author is unknown, but it’s written in the style of the Franciscan tradition.
“MAY GOD BLESS YOU with discomfort,
at easy answers, half-truths,
and superficial relationships
so that you may live
deep within your heart.
May God bless you with anger
at injustice, oppression,
and exploitation of people,
so that you may work for
justice, freedom and peace.
May God bless you with tears
to shed for those who suffer pain,
rejection, hunger, and war,
so that you may reach out your hand
to comfort them and
to turn their pain to joy.
And may God bless you
with enough foolishness
to believe that you can
make a difference in the world,
so that you can do
what others claim cannot be done,
to bring justice and kindness
to all our children and the poor.
Amen.”