Extreme Makeover: Temple Edition: Sermon Mark 13:1-8

Dear God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and feet and work through them; take our lips and speak through them, take our hearts and set them on fire for you. Amen

This is one of the toughest Scriptures to preach on. I mean it is really kind of depressing isn’t it. Many preachers have used this Scripture to scare people into conversion or in someway make the “Good” news, “Bad” news. So, this is my challenge this morning, to take something that on the surface is kind of scary and still show that this is Good News.

Mark 13 is known as the apocalyptic discourse of Jesus. Even the word “apocalyptic” is scary. What kind of images does it conjure up? We think of the Apocalypse, the end of the world, but that is not the original meaning of the word apocalypse or apocalyptic. Apocalypse comes from the Greek and means, to reveal or to uncover. So its context within the Bible is about uncovering a hidden aspect of God’s plan, not necessarily one of the destruction of the world.

Mark 13 begins with Jesus and the disciples walking and looking around Jerusalem only a few days before Jesus was to be crucified. They were walking around and they stopped to look at the magnificence of the Temple. Now this Temple was the second one built, the first was destroyed by Persians and this new one was rebuilt by King Herod the Great the father of the Herod Antipas, who was the Herod who spoke to Jesus before Jesus was crucified. Herod the Great is the Herod from the massacre of the innocents in Matthew 2. Herod the Great had rebuilt the Temple, more for political gain than for religious piety. The Temple for the Jewish faith was vitally important. It was the place where they went to worship God, it was the central focal point of their faith, and the Temple is where God interacted with the people. Everyone made pilgrimages to this place. It was something that every Jew was familiar with and more than likely had visited personally.

The Temple was huge. The Temple stood on a hill, the Mount Moriah from the Old Testament and it was 15 stories high. So it must have been an awesome sight. So the Disciples were commenting of the size of the Temple and were commenting to Jesus, “what large buildings and what large stones.” The stones from which the Temple was made weighed several hundred tons. What is Jesus’ response? “Do you see these great big buildings? Do you see these big stones? None will be standing on top of one another, they will all be destroyed.”

Place yourself as a Disciple, the person you have been following for the last 3 years has just told you that the focal point of your faith, this gigantic, beautiful place will be destroyed. It would be like someone saying, that the Capitol Building will be destroyed or the White House. I am sure they must have thought Jesus was a little nuts, a little off his rocker. However, about 40 years down the road, the prediction came true, the Temple was destroyed by the Roman Emperor Titus in 70 AD. The only thing that remains from Herod’s Temple is the Western outside wall, known today as the Wailing Wall. It is called this because Jews come there to mourn the loss of the Temple, the effects of the destruction of the Temple are felt even today. The reconstruction of the Temple is an important part of Jewish prayer; they long to rebuild what is lost.

Now so far this is pretty depressing and you might be thinking, Brad I thought this was supposes to be Good News. So, why does Jesus tell them this? Why does Jesus bring this up now? Jesus was trying to teach them something, as always. Jesus was saying that the Temple is nice but it is not vital. The Temple is big and beautiful, but it is just a building with rocks, and wood, and gold, and just like any other building it can be destroyed. But even at its destruction God still reigns and God is still in control. We do not have to go to a Temple to interact with God, because God lives within us. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:16 “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” We are the Temple of God Spirit and through Christ we have a personal relationship with God. Jesus was preparing the Disciples for what was to come and was beginning to show them that the Temple was not vital to faith, because the Spirit would dwell within them.

The second part of the Scripture lesson today is Jesus’ warning against the false prophets. Jesus says, “Beware that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray.” So, how are we supposed to know the false prophets from the true proclaimers of the Gospel? Is there something we should look for in the proclamation of the gospel? The answer is yes, the key is love. 1 John 4:8 states it simply, “God is love.” Not God is of love, or God is like love, but God is love. So, logically if we are proclaiming God’s message it should be a message of hope and love not one of fear and hatred. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13 “¹If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ²And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.” This shows that love is the key, if you proclaim a gospel without love then it is a false gospel, it is a false teaching. Love is the key, those who proclaim a gospel of hate, or a gospel without love are not proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I saw a preview for a story on Channel 2 News about an attack on Christianity. Recently singer Elton John called for a ban of all religion because all it does is spread hate against people who are different, specifically gays and lesbians. Rosie O’Donnell one to the hosts of The View, made a similar comment about a so called radical Christianity. Now our first reaction to these kinds of comments is to simply dismiss them. They are made by whacked out celebrities and they have no relevance on us here in Tennessee. However, indulge me for a moment because I want to look a little deeper at the underlying issues. These celebrities are reacting to what they perceive as a threat. But what threat do they feel?

How many people use the Bible and the teachings of Christ to spread hate and judgment? Jerry Falwell after 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina blamed so called gay and lesbian sinners and said these events are God’s way of punishing America. Fred Phelps, who is the leader of Westboro Baptist Church, is the man whose followers go around protesting at the funerals of soldiers who have died in Iraq, claiming that God is punishing American soldiers because our the country’s tolerance of the homosexuality. This is not a gospel of love but one of hate. So you have all of these so called Christians getting press on television because the loudest, most obnoxious people get the attention, and they proclaim that God hates you because you are gay or because you act or think differently. So can we really blame a person who wants to ban religion if the only religion they have been exposed to is one of hate? The kind of Christianity that these people proclaim, I believe, is a false gospel and they are leading many astray.

But we know that this is not the true gospel? We know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is one of love. John 3:16-17 state it clearly, “For God so LOVED the [WHOLE] world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the [WHOLE] world might be saved through him.” If God is love then God cannot hate. If God sent his Son to die not to condemn for our sakes then how can we then condemn other people? The true Gospel is one of love. It is one where God wishes a true relationship with us, a relationship of trust, of hope, of faith, and of love.

What about the last part of the lesson today? “When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. ⁸For 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.” Many people have used these verses to claim that the end is near. Whenever there is a major conflict there are those who say this is it. This is the end and they are always wrong. Jesus states “But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” (Matt. 24:36) If Jesus does not know when the end will come then how can any of us really know. Instead of worrying about when the end will come I want to focus on the joy that will happen after. Micah 4:3-4 He shall judge between many peoples, and shall arbitrate between strong nations far away; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more; but they shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees, and no one shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken. This is what we have to look forward to. When there is no more war, in fact the tools of war have become tools of agriculture; the tools of death have become tools of life.

This is the gospel that we must proclaim a gospel of peace, a gospel of grace, and a gospel of love. This is the true gospel. Even as the Temples are destroyed and even as false prophets corrupt the gospel of love into one of hate. Even as nation continues to rise against nation, we have hope. Hope grounded in the love of God shown through the teaching, the death, and the resurrection of Christ. I would say to Elton John and to Rosie, before you give up on Christianity come on down to Rehoboth/Liberty UMC and we will show you the true gospel of love.

Let us pray…

Grant, O Lord,

that what has been said with our lips we may believe in our hearts,

and that what we believe in our hearts we may practice in our lives;

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.