On Endings and Beginnings
November 17, 2024
Traceymay Kalvaitis
Psalm 16: 7-11
I will praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me.
I keep my eyes always on the LORD. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure,
because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay.
You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Mark 13: 1-8
As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!”
“Do you see all these great buildings?” replied Jesus. “Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”
As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John and Andrew asked him privately, “Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled? Jesus said to them: “Watch out that no one deceives you. Many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and will deceive many. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.
***
Today’s sermon is titled On Endings and Beginnings.
There is a game I often play with myself when I hear statistics that seem too incredible to believe. I cut the numbers in half and if I am still in awe, then I pay attention to that statistic because there must be some element of truth there. Take, for example, the following statistics that I made sure to cross check: The longest living known organism is a glass sponge, with a lifespan of up to 15,000 years. If the lifespan of a glass sponge was up to 7,500 years, I would still be impressed. The record for holding one’s breath underwater is 24.5 minutes; 12 minutes would be surprising. The average cloud weighs a million pounds; now if you told me that the average cloud weighed 500,000 pounds, 100,000 pounds, or even ten thousand pounds, I would be flabbergasted. Playing this game with numbers is one way I discern what to take seriously and what to disregard as hyperbole.
In my research this past week on our text from the book of Mark, I uncovered another staggering number. But before we go there, I need to offer the historical context for not just this one passage we have today, but for the entire gospel of Mark. The gospel of Mark was written in the late 60s or early 70s and during the same time period there was a brutal war between the Roman Empire and the Jewish populace. The war began with a tax revolt that turned destructive (sounds like the Boston Tea Party). When the Roman Emperor, Nero, heard about the damages to property, he ordered one of the Roman Governors in Jerusalem to seize money from the temple treasury; it was no small sum, 17 talents which would amount to 8.5 million in today’s money. That an officer of the occupying Roman forces would steal money from the temple treasury was enough to drive “…people of all ages to pick up a weapon and fight. Death was preferred to enduring continued Roman occupation.” The war lasted for eight years, during which time the gospel of Mark was written. The famous Jewish historian, Josephus, estimated that casualties totalled (here is the staggering sum) casualties totalled over one million. Even half a million, 500,000, is difficult to fathom. The city of Jerusalem was burned and the temple that had taken 50 years to build, was destroyed. Some pieces of temple stone measured 35 feet long, 18 feet wide and 12 feet high. The temple was considered one of the wonders of the world.
70 years before the temple was destroyed, Jesus predicted the destruction. He is recorded in the scriptures as saying, “Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.” Jesus saw the way things were going, even then. Taxes were going up and up; the standard of living for the Jewish people was going down and down. Romans officials were threatening and bribing the upper echelons of the Jewish priesthood so they would dissuade the people from revolt. Jesus could see that the situation was untenable. When Jesus’s disciples question him about when the temple, so recently completed, would be destroyed, Jesus does not answer directly; instead, he says, “Watch out that no one deceives you. Many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and will deceive many. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.”
Biblical scholars call such passages “apocalyptic” and we tend to think of apocalyptic as meaning the end of life as we know it, but in Greek, the word apokalupsis means “uncovering’ or “revealing.” Jesus is revealing to his disciples that there will be dark times ahead, but those times are the beginning of the “birth pangs;” they are the beginning of what will come. Here Jesus joins the long line of prophets, stretching back 3000 years, who foresaw times of great change in the world. Jesus joins the long line of prophets who dreamed of a better time, when peace would prevail and the reign of God would rule in the hearts and minds of humankind, prophets like Amos who wrote, “let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5:24). Jesus joins a long line of prophets who are unshakably sure of one thing: God’s goodness will prevail. This is the message of hope that runs throughout the gospel of Mark. This is the message of hope that radiates from the words of the psalmist we heard this morning, who wrote, “I will praise the LORD who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I keep my eyes always on the LORD. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure. You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy.”
O, that we may live with such assurance, Friends.
In closing, I hope we will remember, as we face the various trials and tribulations of life, that there is a presence moving through this world that is holding us together when worldly concerns threaten to pull us apart. There is a presence moving through this world that proves to us at every turn that love is stronger than fear and hate. There is a force moving through this world that invites us to health, to wholeness, to unity and to peace. Don’t tell me it’s impossible, because now I know that even the clouds that rise above us weigh over a million pounds; knowing that, I’d say nearly anything is possible. So be it. Amen.
*https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/portrait/jews.html
Pastoral Prayer
In the sacred silence, another world begins to unveil itself to us. Distances become irrelevant and the spaces between us are of little consequence. Our neighbors’ concerns are held tenderly, as if they were our own, and in these moments we are limitless…our capacity to love is infinite, for in these moments we are part of All That Is. God is within and all around us as we meet the demands of our lives. God grant us vision that sees beyond our shortcomings, vision that sees behind the violence, vision that shapes a path from where we are to where you want us to be.
Benediction
I leave you with these words from the book of Romans, chapter 15:
“May the god of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”