From the Daily Lectionary for Thursday in the Fifth Week of Pentecost
Matthew 24:1-14
As Jesus came out of the temple and was going away, his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. Then he asked them, “You see all these, do you not? Truly I tell you, not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.”
When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” Jesus answered them, “Beware that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Messiah!’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not alarmed; for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places: all this is but the beginning of the birth pangs.
“Then they will hand you over to be tortured and will put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of my name. Then many will fall away, and they will betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because of the increase of lawlessness, the love of many will grow cold. But anyone who endures to the end will be saved. And this good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world, as a testimony to all the nations; and then the end will come.”
Jesus is speaking here of the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple by the occupying Romans, but more than that he is employing apocalyptic language to describe the gravity of the situation. The world is falling apart. Matthew, of course, is writing after 70 C.E., after the destruction of the Temple and the razing of Jerusalem. He is also privy to the smoldering talk of insurrection. He’s got the twenty-twenty vision of hindsight. The so-called “Pax Romana” has proven to be no peace at all, but oppression and hardship, by design. This passage represents Matthew’s further indictment of the Jewish leadership’s complicity to the iron hand of a foreign power.
Jesus and his disciples are fast approaching the retaliation from the elders, chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees, which will result in his arrest, torture, and death. Jesus has condemned the Jewish leadership for their murderous resistance to the call of the prophets, and he will join the prophets come before in the same fate. In the context of the apostasy of the powerful, Jesus for Matthew becomes a metaphor for the death of Israel herself, a chosen people, loved passionately by God… a chosen people to be the light of justice to the world. This is an unfolding of profound tragedy.
Matthew’s community for whom he writes was probably situated in Antioch, an intellectual center of the ancient Near East. It was too dangerous for Jews to live in Jerusalem in the late first century. Matthew is witness to the exploding diaspora of the Jewish people. Once a settled quasi-sovereign nation, they now have become nomadic refugees scattered about the empire. Their unity that was once sacred is no more. As Jesus approaches the cross, so too does Israel approach its dissolution. I’m reminded of a scene in Elie Wiesel’s book, Night. The scene takes place in Auschwitz. A woman looks upon a mass execution of women and children at the hands of the Nazis, and asks, “Where now is our God?” And a voice answers, “there is your God… hanging in the gallows.”
We too live in apocalyptic times… plague, global warming, the inhumanity of racism, corrupt government, the deterioration of the rule of law. For what may we hope? Jesus tells his disciples that things will in all likelihood get worse, but that the present suffering is merely the pangs of new birth. As people of faith, who believe in a loving God, who believe that “the arc of the universe bends towards justice,” we have a choice to make. We can throw up our hands in despair at the calamity all around us; or we can trust that we are approaching the threshold of a new day; that we are in the liminal space of renewal and transformation; that Love is stronger than the forces that beset our common life. I choose the latter. I believe in the truth. I believe that if there is to be death, there will surely be resurrection. I believe that the ancient pattern holds: suffering yields to joy; Death yields to rebirth.
I remind you again, dear and good people, we are made for times like these. It is for us to give hope for the future to a world wracked by despair… and it is for us to play our part in shaping a future formed and forged by the fire of Love. Jesus’ admonition is to persist in the Truth; don’t be swayed into falsehood. We know the difference. Don’t let indifference lead us into compromise that would divert us from the cause. These are the days of clarity, such is the way of apocalypse. For the sake of God’s gracious vision for a just and peaceful and sustainable world, let’s not let them pass us by.
A Prayer for the Newly Baptized (BCP p. 308)
O God, we thank you that by water and the Holy Spirit you have bestowed upon us your servants the forgiveness of sin, and have raised us to the new life of grace. Sustain us, O God, in your Holy Spirit. Give us an inquiring and discerning heart, the courage to will and to persevere, a spirit to know and to love you, and the gift of joy and wonder in all your works. Amen.
