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Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Brothers and sisters, be looking at the Gospel reading for the text today. Please be seated. In public areas, sometimes people can be seen with signs and handing out brochures proclaiming, “The end is near,” warning about the coming end of the world. You still see it around UT, actually, with some guys out on the drag there on Guadalupe. Overall, proclaiming bad news about the coming end of the world.
Well, the gospel reading today is full of such bad news, with Jesus warning the disciples that the end is near. The temple is going to be torn down. There’ll be wars between nations, earthquakes, famines, and apparently that’s just the beginning. And then Jesus has more bad news, especially for his followers. They’d be delivered over to councils. Basically, they’d get arrested and judged by public officials and even high authorities. They’ll be physically attacked in churches. They’ll be hated, even by family members, and there’ll be false teachers infiltrating churches claiming to be Christ themselves. No, the end doesn’t seem like a good outlook for the followers of Jesus.
But this isn’t the only time that Jesus spoke of such things. He told people many times, publicly, that the kingdom of heaven was near. Now, he probably didn’t have any signs or brochures he was handing out, as far as we know. And it’s at this time in the church year every year—the church year ends next Sunday. In fact, that’s the last Sunday of the church year. That’s when we hear these end-is-near scriptures. And they’re read in worship, not to scare people, but to give them comfort and hope. Because there’s a new year coming, a season of Advent that we look forward to, the birth of Christ. And because, well, followers of Jesus need that comfort, need hope.
Because these things that Jesus talked about, these warnings he gave, the end-is-near stuff—it’s coming. It’s going to happen. This can be a very difficult world for Christians. They’re hated. They’re attacked. In churches, Jesus never said that his followers will have their best life now. Jesus said being a Christian can be difficult, even dangerous. Now here in the United States, we may not see it that badly yet. But in some parts of the world, Christians are persecuted horribly. They are arrested. They do go before councils and are judged by authorities. They’re hated by the general population. They’re attacked in their own churches, even at the cost of their life. Now, we don’t experience that in the United States, but it can still be difficult here.
So in this gospel reading here, is there any good news? Pastor, you said that there was comfort and hope here. Where is it? We look at the reading, verse 10, which has the word gospel even in it. The word gospel means good news. In verse 10, Jesus says, amidst all of this tribulation and persecution, “The gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations.” Even in hard times. Even in difficulty. Even when the end is near, the gospel must be proclaimed. The good news about Jesus will be proclaimed.
That’s good news because, even in the persecution of Christians, or maybe especially in the persecution of Christians, Jesus is proclaimed and the church grows. In other parts of the world where Christians are persecuted heavily, even being killed because of their faith, the church there is growing again. An early church father in the second century, his name was Tertullian, he said this: “The blood of martyrs is the seed of the church.” Meaning that when God’s people suffer, when they suffer for their faith, when they’re even killed for their faith, it spurs growth. It’s good news that even in persecution, the gospel will be proclaimed to all nations.
But there’s more. Okay, wait, there’s more. Verse 11. And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say. But say whatever is given you in that hour, for it’s not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. In your persecution—should it ever happen, God forbid—God will give you the way to respond. The words, the actions, the courage that you need, the Holy Spirit is with you in it all and will speak through you.
This is good news. I know it doesn’t sound all that comforting or give you hope, but even in your persecution, or whatever’s going on when you are faced with it, the Holy Spirit wants to speak through you and bring good news to those even who are persecuting you. And you will endure it. More good news: Verse 13, the last one, the last words of the reading. “The one who endures to the end will be saved.” This is good news because even though the end is near, Jesus has given us ways to prepare for it. The first one being, he has given us warning. He’s given us a heads up and told us, “Hey, this is what’s coming, guys.” He told his disciples, he tells us today. This stuff is coming down the pike. This is dangerous stuff. This is going to hurt you, persecute you. But he told us to expect it. Expect it in the world and expect it on you.
Besides the warning in the reading here, in John chapter 15, Jesus said to his disciples, “The world hated me and it’s going to hate you. It persecuted me; it’s going to persecute you.” And in John 16, then he said this too: “In the world you will have tribulation.” So Jesus prepares it for us by warning us about it, telling us about it, but also that we can take heart in it. Okay, Jesus, I just quoted Jesus from John 16, “In the world you will have tribulation,” but it’s followed with this: “But take heart; I have overcome the world.” Whatever this world is going to throw at you—in persecution, in sin, in trouble, in tribulation, in trials, whatever—He has something more. He has overcome it, and you will be saved by it. You’re going to go through some stuff, but you can endure it. The Holy Spirit speaks through you. God is with you, and Jesus promises that you will be saved despite what happens. You will come through it.
I know it’s a trite thing to say, but it’s going to be okay. The gospel will be proclaimed in whatever situation you’re going through. But there’s yet some more bad news in this gospel reading today, and it’s in the first part of it where Jesus talks about the temple and the end of it being near, its destruction being. And like all Jews of that time, the disciples of Jesus obviously had great pride in their temple, and deservedly so, because at that time it was probably one of the most beautiful structures in the world at the time there in Jerusalem.
And the disciples say to Jesus, “Look at these wonderful stones and these wonderful buildings.” And Jesus would have none of it. Jesus says to them, “Yeah, look at this. There’s not one stone here that won’t be thrown down.” The end is near for the temple. It was destroyed 40 years later, in the year 70. The Romans destroyed the temple, knocking over the walls of the structure of the temple. And you can still see those stones today. In archaeological diggings, they found these great stones dating back to that period that were obviously just knocked over and just laying there. You can still see them today.
So the bad news for us in this is that today, likewise, we can have great pride in ourselves. All of our wonderful so-called accomplishments, the stones that we build ourselves up with—we love looking at them, don’t we? We love looking at our accomplishments. We love looking at ourselves. Yeah, we’re pretty pathetic. We’re sinful people. Yeah, we live in an often evil world that is evil to us, but sometimes, many times, we contribute to it. We’re often only concerned about ourselves. We justify everything that we do, and we’ll blame others for the things that are wrong happening around us. We say, “Yeah, look at us,” and Jesus would have none of it.
Jesus wants to tear down the temple. He wants to tear down our wonderful, sinful temple. He wants to throw down the stones that we think are so wonderful in our life. And he does it by having his temple destroyed, his body destroyed. And he did it not too far from the temple in Jerusalem, actually, at a place called Calvary—a place for crucifixions, for carrying out the death penalty—where his body, where Jesus’ temple, was beaten and spit on and then nailed to a cross where he died, his temple destroyed.
But then he rose again with a new temple, a new body. And he does that to give us something more wonderful than ourselves. In the forgiveness of our sins, He gives us a new temple, a new life, an eternal life. That’s the good news in all of this, that Jesus’ death, His temple destruction, was in place of our destruction. He was thrown down for us and instead builds us up with forgiveness, righteousness, holiness in all of your sins, no matter what you’ve done. No matter how long ago, no matter how bad you think they are, no matter how bad they actually are, they’ve been destroyed, thrown down. Not one stone left standing. They’ve all been forgiven.
Jesus proclaimed that the end is near. But the good news for us today is that the end is here. Our forgiveness is here now in Christ. Your sins have been destroyed and thrown down by His death and resurrection. The good news is the end is near. It’s here. May that give you comfort and hope, especially when you may be persecuted or hated by others. May that good news be what you rely on and find comfort and hope in. And may it help you to endure to the end. Amen.
Now may the peace of God, which goes beyond all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
