Luke 21:5-19 The House that God Built
As a teenager I remember visiting the home of a new friend at high school. It was a summer evening and I just started driving myself to these kids of things. I was excited to go to a party, and probably more excited to drive myself there. My friend lived in a suburb on the edge of town. As I got close, I remember trying to find the place amongst large fields with stately trees and I got kind of lost. Eventually I found what looked like the spot and I turned into a driveway. The driveway was endless. It was so long I wondered if I was crossing a timezone. As a I got closer I remember seeing stately sculptures and beautifully manicured hedges and roses.
After what felt like an eternity, I saw a breathtaking sight. The biggest and most grand looking house I’d ever seen, lit up before my eyes. I parked the car and sat in it for a moment. Tennis courts, a basketball court, sprawling lawns, a humungous pool and a spa. The front entrance of the house looked like the entrance to a grand public building – a museum or an art gallery or something like that. As I sat in the car, I felt a combination of two things. Firstly I felt somewhat small. I’d grown up with more than everything I needed. My family were comfortable, we owned a nice home, went to a nice school, all of that stuff. But this house made me feel somehow that I was missing out on something. Secondly, I felt a sense of awe. Who were these people? I saw my high school friend through new eyes. He must be pretty special I thought. Check out his house. It was like something straight out of the Great Gatsby.
I can still see the house, it left a real impression on me.
What we are impressed by tells us a lot about what we value.
There was something about this ostentatious display of wealth that really impressed me.
Today’s passage in Luke unfolds under the shadow of the temple in Jerusalem. Luke says, “some were speaking about the temple.” These unnamed folks whoever they were, are talking with great admiration about the temple’s beauty and stature. Like me gazing at my friends mansion, these folks are deeply impressed by this grand temple.
We might imagine them gazing up at the huge stones with admiration and awe.
The temple after all was impressive.
Firstly, the temple has a central role in the whole story of God’s people up to this point. This has been the place pilgrims have flocked for worship, a place where sacrifices have been made, a holy place in which God has revealed himself to people and has been adored for centuries.
So, the temple has a rich religious history in the story of God’s people.
But it also has a political history.
The version of the temple that is being admired here in Luke was the project of Herod the Great who undertook a whole series of building projects in order to make his claim to fame. His refurbished version of the temple was twice the size of the original. The temple was adorned with plates of gold and white marble that would make it sparkle and gleam. The Jewish historian Josephus said the gold plates flashed in the sun as a “snow clad mountain.” It wasn’t only the Jewish people who admired the temple, the Roman historian Tacitus called the temple “immensely opulent.” So, it was impressive. Very impressive. That was the point.
King Herod the great set out to achieve a whole lot of public works projects to make his name famous.
Herod functioned as a local king under the Roman Empire and sought to impress not only his Roman masters but also to establish his authority and power through a series of projects. Herod built fortresses, water channels, amphitheatres, roads, and the crown of his achievements was the refurbished temple of Jerusalem.
All of this spoke of his power and the power of the Roman Empire.
First century Israel was a conquered nation. One empire after the other had marched through – The Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, and now the Romans.
The Roman Empire ruled with might and great displays of power. They were a formidable force and their presence would be felt daily by Jews living under their rule.
The power and might of the Empire had even touched the temple itself, the central place of Jewish worship, through the influence of King Herod.
It was all rather powerful and impressive.
What does Jesus think of all of this?
Maybe those who are pointing out the beauty of the temple expect Him to agree. “Oh yes, it’s rather nice isn’t it?” “Very good”
But Jesus, in characteristic style bluntly says that it won’t last.
While the crowds and the disciples may be impressed by the temple’s beauty, Jesus makes it clear that they shouldn’t be too enamoured with it because it is merely temporary. While it looks like a big deal now, Jesus points out to them that soon not one stone will be left up another.
Why would he say this?
What’s Jesus got against the temple?
The crowds and disciples would likely hear this comment as a kind of heresy – “but this is God’s place” they might say.
Jesus isn’t impressed.
It seems that Jesus has a very different view on things.
But if we have been paying attention to Luke’s Gospel carefully, we won’t be surprised.
In the first chapter of Luke, in Mary’s song we hear this:
“He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly…”
God’s kingdom doesn’t look like Herod’s kingdom. It operates in a totally different way altogether.
Jesus predicts that the temple will fall, its’ time will pass, and as we will see later a new kind of temple will emerge but not one made of stones, rather the new temple will be made up of faithful people.
After Jesus drops such a bomb the people are suddenly keen to know when this will happen. How will we know they say?
Jesus firstly warns them not to be led astray by false prophets who claim to know the time. Jesus doesn’t enter into any crystal ball gazing giving people exact times or dates and he makes it clear this isn’t the point.
What we see through the whole chapter of Luke 21 is both the warning of the immanent fall of the Jerusalem temple, and a wider picture of the second coming of Jesus and the final judgement.
The big point in all of this is that God’s kingdom will come and a part of this will be the judgement of all false kingdoms, all oppressive powers that stand against God’s plan for creation.
The Jerusalem temple thought it looks golden on the outside has become corrupt.
Luke chapter 20 tells the story of the religious leaders arguing with Jesus and seeking to undermine his authority, even seeking to kill him.
They have clearly heard the message he is proclaiming.
God is bringing judgement upon the corrupt religious pretenders who are using their power for wealth and gain. The temple has been co-opted into the project of the Empire, no longer only a place of worship, it has been corrupted by power.
Because of this it will fall.
This prediction did come true in 70 AD. After a Jewish political revolt against the Romans, the Empire brutally retaliates, destroying the second temple and leaving the Jewish people in mourning.
Jesus foretells the destruction of the Jerusalem temple but from verse 9 onward he also foretells that this won’t be the end. There will be more to come.
What we see Jesus predict is a kind of clash of kingdoms.
The followers of Jesus will face persecution.
We see in the book of Acts, Luke’s second book, this all happens as Jesus predicted. The very first Christians face great persecution and trouble but as Jesus promises, he is with them. He gives them the words and the wisdom to stay faithful to Him even in the midst of great trouble.
There is much more that could be said about this passage, but this morning I want to draw our attention to the contrast between the temple adorned with beautiful stones and gold and the people of God persecuted, betrayed, and suffering.
What a contrast it is.
One is glittering gold and the other is weak and broken.
Jesus challenges the assumptions of his original hearers and he challenges our assumptions too.
We have our own versions of the temple.
We gaze in wonder at all kinds of temporary delights.
Like the world of Herod, we still live in a world of glitz and glam. We still live in a world which aggrandizes money and fame and strength above all else.
Of course, the church is not immune to this logic, we too, often think that big is best, we too are drawn to the glitz and gold of success.
Christian celebrities, mega-churches with lots of money, lives that look shiny and perfect on the outside.
It is so easy for us to buy in to cultural narratives in which our lives are defined more by what we have in the bank account, what we own, what we look like, or what we do for a living than they are defined by a God who made us and loves us.
It’s very easy to get obsessed with outward signs of success and miss the real gold of God at work in reality, in the gritty mess of our ordinary lives.
Jesus here talks about the destruction of a temple of gold and stones, and later in one of his letters, the apostle Paul talks about the temple that Jesus builds.
In 1 Corinthians 3 Paul says:
“16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.”
The temple that Jesus builds is his church. It doesn’t look that flash.
It isn’t that impressive on the outside, but it is God’s chosen means of bringing his kingdom and transforming the world. God chooses what is weak in the world to shame the strong.
So what does this look like?
I love the story of Jean Vanier.
Jean, born in 1928 grew up in a happy and privileged home. As a young man he embarked on a career in the British Navy and then the Canadian Navy. He had a promising career but felt called to something different.
He took time to study and during this time he helped a Catholic Priest with chaplaincy at a small institution in France that welcomed men with intellectual disabilities. These institutions were cold and harsh places, they were dehumanizing and broken.
Jean saw the deep need these men had for friendship and so moved by this he opened bought a house and set up a community with two of these men. In a very short time more homes were founded as Jean asked others to help him. L’Arche has grown in many ways, but central to its philosophy is Jean’s reflections about community.
He sought to bring the love of Jesus in little ways every day to people who had largely been ignored by everyone else.
Jean died recently, but the legacy he left through his writing speaks about the kingdom way of Jesus.
Jean, reflecting on community says this:
“A community is only being created when its members accept that they are not going to achieve great things, that they are not going to be heroes, but simply live each day with new hope, like children, in wonderment as the sun rises and in thanksgiving as it sets. Community is only being created when they have recognized that the greatness of man is to accept his insignificance, his human condition and his earth, and to thank God for having put in a finite body the seeds of eternity which are visible in small and daily gestures of love and forgiveness. The beauty of man is in this fidelity to the wonder of each day.”
― Jean Vanier, Community And Growth
I love Jean’s emphasis on the little things.
What Jean is talking about is faithfulness.
That is what we are called to as Christians.
Often, we aim for success.
The grand, the glitzy and the glamorous draws our eye.
But in Luke 21, Jesus simply calls his people to be faithful. To endure hard times and to trust that He will build the church.
We are his temple. God’s true temple is made up of ordinary people like you and me who are called to serve faithfully as we trust in what God is doing all around us.
Sometimes we overlook the small things, the ordinary things, the lowly things.
As we hear the Gospel today, may we let it ask a searching question of us. Where is God at work in the mess and muddle of our ordinary lives. Are we paying attention to this? Or like my teenage self are we distracted and impressed by that of little value?