The gospel readings so far this week have been from Luke 21, a chapter that is prophetic, apocalyptic, and sometimes seen as Wisdom literature. The context is in the middle of the last week of Jesus’ life. As the disciples are admiring the Jerusalem Temple, Jesus tells them: “All that you see here—the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.” (Luke 21:6) Jesus offers a description of this time – a description that was the final verse of yesterday’s gospel: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues from place to place; and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky.” (vv.10-11)
The Temple that the disciples are viewing was a magnificent edifice undertaken by King Herod the Great 20 years before the birth of Jesus. It played a central religious and cultic role in Israelite life, as well as functioning on a political level. It was a symbol of the national state of which Jerusalem was the capital. It was a structure meant to impress and to give the sense that what it represented would last forever. The great structures of time and place, Babylon to the Aztecs, was a sign that what the kings had built would, like their glory, endure forever. Such are the delusions of man.
All these earthly structures, political systems, civilizations, and more will ultimately be left in ruin: “there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.” At that moment will your sure foundation be based on the tradition of the apostles with Jesus as the cornerstone? (Ephesians 2:20)
Hopefully your answer is “yes.” Still, “They will seize and persecute you, they will hand you … because of my name. It will lead to your giving testimony.” And what will you say on that day? Yes, yes, I know that the next verse says “you are not to prepare your defense beforehand,” but remember those were words to the disciples before the destruction of the Temple, before the Crucifixion and Resurrection, and before Jesus’ Ascension into Heaven. These are different days.
What will be your testimony? We are challenged – or we should be – when the prophet Isaiah tells us: “It is too little, the LORD says, for you to be my servant…. I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”
It is especially in the days when the structures and systems upon which people rely are being taken down stone by stone that we are called to witness – to give testimony. What words will you have that the salvation of Jesus may reach the ends of the earth?
Image credit: Photo by Brett Jordan at Pexels | CC:BY