The Gospel of Luke 21.20-36
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Last week we stepped back into the Gospel of Luke, one of the four biographies of Jesus’ life, and we stepped back into a pretty intense scene because we’re hurdling in the narrative towards Jesus’ arrest, trial and death. Jesus has arrived in Jerusalem under the praises of the people, and tensions are growing between him and the Jerusalem’s temple leadership. In the eyes of the higher ups, Jesus is a problem, his strange authority in the temple and with the people deemed a threat. The higher-ups have been trying and failing to do away with Jesus by any means necessary. The question growing heavier daily is whether the higher-ups and the people will recognize Jesus’ authority and embrace him, or if they’ll cling to their own delusions of grandeur and power. And the even heavier question, which looms over this entire final act of gospel is: if the higher-ups and the people do reject Jesus by clinging to their power, and if Jesus’ disciples fail in following him and his way, how will Jesus respond? What kind of power will Jesus put on display? Well, the answer comes in the shape of a cross, but we have a good deal of the drama to cover before we come to that.
One of the things the gospels are trying to get across to us is that if we want to know what God is like we should look no further than Jesus – which was and is still a shocking thought. Look at this human person, in his authority, in his humility, in his generosity, even in his self-imposed vulnerability, and you’ll find yourself looking at the real God. This fall we’ll keep this firmly in mind as we see Jesus dealing with the corrupt higher-ups; teaching his disciples about what to expect of the world; teaching his disciples what it means to truly follow him; and finally, demonstrating a model of prayerful trust on the very worst night of his life – the night before his death.
Review: Luke 21.5-19
Last week Kirsten got us settled back into the gospel, and safe to say she had no easy task. We’ve come to a stretch in the narrative which has been notoriously difficult to interpret throughout Christian history. Jesus and his disciples are walking through Jerusalem’s grand temple, meant to be the seat of God’s authority in ancient Israel, but is in fact full of corruption. Jesus’ disciples remark at how impressive the temple is, and they were right. It was an incredible structure, probably jaw dropping for the largely rural rabble Jesus called closest (they may have felt a little like I did when visiting New York for the first time last September). So, as the disciples slobbered over the temple, Jesus says something incredibly important for them to hear and for us to hear still today – the whole thing would soon come tumbling down. Naturally, the disciples ask when this will happen given the toppling of the temple in Jerusalem would be a cataclysmic event for a first century Jewish person. What follows is Jesus’ response, which is our text last week and this week. His response isn’t easy for us to understand today, because it’s full of poetic language and imagery rooted in ancient Israel’s Scriptures, much of said language appearing to spring from the prophetic writings in those Scriptures. So, Jesus’ response may have been more accessible to his disciples then, and the first audience of Luke’s gospel (Christians living about forty or so years after Jesus). Not immediately accessible for us, then, which is only natural. Understanding a book written even two hundred years ago can be a challenge for us, even in our own language. We’re aiming here to understand a narrative written two thousand years ago, rooted in ancient culture, and in a translation from ancient languages into English, Korean or Spanish or any number of dialects. All to say, we’re not living in first century Jerusalem and should take that into account when trying to understand challenging or even confusing parts of the gospels.
What we heard last week from Kirsten was that Jesus was doing a few things in his response to the disciple’s question. First, he was answering his disciples’ question about when they should expect the temple’s fall and what signs they should look for. To which Jesus says the temple will fall soon, but not right away, and that they should beware of people who come along claiming to be him or spinning predictions. But after this Jesus also tells them what they should expect as his followers when the temple does topple. Put simply, being devoted to Jesus in the coming years would be no picnic, so he gives them instruction and encouragement on how to deal with the coming challenges. As mentioned a moment ago, it’s important to keep in mind that the first audience of Luke’s Gospel were Christians living some forty years after Jesus’ death and resurrection. And what many of them were experiencing was something of a world in turmoil. Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed in 70AD by the Romans, and there was significant upheaval throughout the Empire around this time with emperor after emperor dethroned and replaced. So, as Luke put together his biography of Jesus based on eye-witness accounts he no doubt had everything his fellow Christians were going through in mind. What might they need to recall from Jesus’ in such a tumultuous time? What reminders? What encouragements?
Along with all this, Kirsten helped us to see one of the great themes of the gospels – that God had arrived among his people in the person of Jesus, and that Jesus’ life, death and resurrection had done something completely unexpected and truly wonderful. God’s Spirit and life would now live in each and every person who hangs their trust and hope on Jesus. In other words, people can now be God’s temple, God’s house, God’s resting place. So, not only does Jesus’ death rinse away our sin and shame, but his resurrection promises us life now and in eternity, and the gift of his Spirit on all people gives us the capacity to live and love as God intended (which follows in Luke’s second volume, Acts)[i]. As our friend Rikk likes to say, when you choose to trust Jesus, you get a lot more than just having your sins forgiven!
Luke 21.20-36
Safe to say it would be a stretch to try and explain in detail what everything in this passage might mean. So we’ll aim today to make some sense of these words in the wider setting of Luke’s narrative, try to note some important details, and close with some thoughts on how Jesus’ words then help us as his followers now. We’ll give it our best shot.
We can break up the passage this way. This next section (Luke 21.20-24) appears to fit best with what we know of the events surrounding the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple by the Romans in 70AD. Jesus was proven right, it would all come tumbling down – stones, gems, corruption and all. Jesus then tells his disciples they’re not expected to stay loyal to the corrupt temple system as the consequences of idolatry and abuse of power arrive at Jerusalem’s city gates – folks should get out of dodge. The second section (Luke 21.25-26) appears to be pictoral descriptions of upheaval or convulsions throughout the Roman empire around 60-70AD, which Jesus again rightly predicted (there was a rapid succession of emperors at the time which created ripple effects). The third section (Luke 21.27-28) is language rooted in the prophetic book of Daniel, which appears to do with Jesus’ authority and identity. The temple’s fall, with Jesus and his people still standing, means Jesus’ name is further cleared and confirmed not only as Israel’s final prophet, and true king, but an even weightier figure. Israel’s God returned to his temple. Fourth we have a parable (Luke 21.29-31) to accompany the words above about the signs of things to come, as Jesus does love a parable. Fifth (Luke 21.32-33) we hear that the events above will take place within that very generation, but that for all the calamity coming his disciples can put their trust in his permanency and authority. Sixth (Luke 21.34-36) Jesus urges his disciples not to get weighed down or distracted, but to stay totally focused on him in all this – which is something not only the disciples and Luke’s first audience needed to hear, but we as his followers now need to hear too. The section closes with Luke noting that Jesus kept teaching in the temple (which was becoming increasingly dangerous for him) but would leave the city at night. Luke adds that “all the people came early in the morning to hear him at the temple.”
Well, that’s a lot. Here are some summarizing thoughts. Again, this whole section appears to be about Jesus’ authority over against the corrupt temple higher-ups and the signs of his final vindication following his death, resurrection and ascension. And as Kirsten noted last week, we should also assume that unless Jesus indicates otherwise, he’s answering his disciples’ question about when the temple would be destroyed – not right away, but it’s coming. And as we swim in the deep end of ancient poetic and prophetic language, we must admit Jesus’ words were more accessible then than they are now – we started by saying this has historically been a challenging passage to interpret. But, again, a big theme in Luke comes through: everyone needs to ask: who is this guy, really? (the temple higher-ups, the disciples, the poor, the powerful, the weak), which is truly a life and death question, if Jesus really was God among us.
End Times & The Second Coming?
Now I do hear some of us thinking, “I thought this passage was about the end times”, which is a very good question. As mentioned off the top, this passage has at times been interpreted in the light of Jesus’ promised second coming, and more so by some Christian traditions than others. Some traditions have even interpreted these words to have a possible double fulfillment, maybe Jesus is talking about both then and later. What do we do with those questions? First, let’s remember, that the “end times” we hear about in the Bible is not a time which is yet to begin – the beginning of the end started with Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension. So, we as his followers have been living in that time for a lot longer than the first generations of Christians expected – we’re still waiting for Jesus’ return.
Jesus’ words in our passage today, may be totally strange and new to us, or they may have played a significant role in our beliefs and postures about Jesus’ second coming over the years. And then there are others of us who are somewhere in the middle of those extremes. Finally, most of us are waiting for me to make some kind of point here, to which you’ll be happy to know we are beginning our final decent as I did promise to share some thoughts as to what any of this has to do with us today.
But just before that, let’s share a word about end times and this passage. Everything we just noted does not mean we’re building a case that Jesus won’t return. It’s just to say it appears that this passage may not be about that.[ii] The second coming is something we’re still waiting for, and the exact details and timelines don’t seem to be clear in Scripture, nor does it seem they are meant to be. There is a lot of clarity from Jesus on various matters in Scripture (like how we’re mean to love one another as he loved us, for example), but we don’t get clear timelines around The End. It’s also to say that our aim in reading Scripture should always be to try and read as closely as possible in order to follow Jesus closely and trust him increasingly. Which is one of the things I think Jesus was telling his disciples here, and Luke was telling his first audience, and what we need to hear today today. However things have shaken down or will shake down, we hang our trust on Jesus alone, even over against our own traditions and opinions – that’s you, me, and all the scholars debating these sorts of passages in the Bible included!
So what?
So, in light of all that what has any of this got to do with us? Well, let’s ask for a few moments what a passages like this in the Bible might stir up for us (it’s pretty intense) and what a passage like this might offer us today. These are words about destruction and turmoil, but also words about Jesus, his promises, and his authority.
Follow me into the 80s for a moment. In 1987 The United States and the USSR had been edging toward a growing stability in relations. In June of that year President Raegan had drawn both a symbolic and dramatic finishing line in the sand, challenging General Secretary Gorbachev with those now famous words to, “tear down this wall”, the wall at the time dividing East and West Germany. In December a major arms control treaty was signed between the two states, causing the world to breath at least a small sigh of relief. In retrospect 1987 was something of a turning point as the Cold War appeared to be coming a close. Easy for me to say with some finality and pep, because in 1987 I was two.
Reading the cold facts of history doesn’t always help us appreciate the sentiments of the time. For that we turn to things like music, because the music of a time can get across what a textbook can’t. As the world seemed to teeter on a knife edge in 1987, a song was released by post-punk rock band R.E.M. It was frantic, it was honest, it was titled: “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)”[iii]. Give that song a listen and you’ll get the point. Its chorus sounds like positive self-talk amidst the chaos of rapid verses spit out by the lead singer Michale Stipe. Stipe claims the song came to him in a dream-state, the place our subconscious bubbles up in all kinds of weird ways. It’s the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine). Listen to that song and some of the feeling of 1987 may come through. Everyone probably needed a little assurance that things were going to be fine. But were they? Is it the end of the world as we know it, and do we feel fine?
I share all this because it’s very easy for a passage like today’s to cause us to feel overwhelmed, confused, fearful – especially when the world today can feel like an increasingly bleak and scary place. How do we make sense of this? What should we do about it? I find it does help to remember that we’re not alone. Every generation reads these texts, every generation faces these big questions, and in a myopic kind of way, many generations have been somewhat worried, and sometimes convinced, that the End is coming now.
Talking about the end of anything can stir things up in us. The end of a job, a grade, a relationship. The end of a life. The end of our life. So it shouldn’t surprise us that anytime we talk about any ending, we’re handling sensitive stuff. Endings open doors to the unknown and the unknown can make us sometimes curious, sometimes hopeful, and sometimes anxious or fearful. In the case of our fear of the unknown, sometimes we obsess about the unknown in an attempt to gain some measure of control over it, which usually doesn’t diminish fear since there will will always be more unknowns (in fact it trying to control the unknown sometimes just ramps up fear). And, as many of us can likely attest, our grasping of control over every unknown is ultimately futile and frustrating, because control over the unknown is impossible.
A few years ago, I was sitting with a person as they faced the latter years of life. We looked at number areas of their life in which they were trying to find some traction and we came to a point where the big question hung unavoidably in front of us. “Do you think,” I asked, “and I might be way off base here, but do you think any of this has something to do with the fact you’re beginning to think more about your own mortality?” With a bit of stunned look they replied, “I think it does. But I’m not ready to talk about that now. I’ve never really talked about that. I just can’t.” I’ve not met many people very comfortable with talking about the unknown when it comes to the high stakes stuff of life, which includes discussions around endings and unknowns, or even death.
The passage we’ve looked at over the past two weeks is complex. We can try and parse every detail from the other, laying out historical or future timelines, getting our scholarship just right, all while keeping a watchful eye on the news. But Christians have been doing that literally for millennia. Sometimes Christians have obsessed. Obsessions about timelines, or the absolute right kinds of scholarship, or the news cycle. Does any of this give us peace or confidence for the future? Well in truth, some of it might. Good biblical scholarship is important, because we’ve seen where things lead in history if we get the wrong end of the stick. And the news shouldn’t be ignored, we all need to live in the real world, more so Christians need to love the real world with all its beauty and brutality, because God so loved world.
But, taking all that on, in the words of another singer from the 80s, “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for”[iv]. No matter the evolving scholarship or the ever-changing news cycle, I’m looking for something more. Something, I suspect, we can only get from the one who uttered the words we are reading to begin with. Here are the words in this passage which bring us comfort and confidence in all the endings and unknows of our human experience:
“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away….”
How can we possibly get our heads and hearts around that? Whatever ending we’re facing, be it our own ending, the end of the world as we know it, or the Ending and New Beginning at Jesus return, our trust is best placed not in our words, our knowing, our feeble attempts at control, because we are but a breath, so may be everything. The choice of trust we make as Christians is that we are not the center of the universe, nor is the time in which we’re living. There is another holding it all together. Holding our beginnings and endings, holding our world’s beginning and ending. I may pass away, heaven and earth may pass away, but he and his words will never pass away. With dusty feet, and a hungry tummy, and weathered carpenter’s hands, that strange figure stood in that first century super structure, and had the audacity to speak as if he were God.
In a sense, every day we could say to one another, “it’s the end of the world as we know it!”, because the world as we know it is always changing: sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse, and sometimes it’s unclear which. Things end. Temples end. Eras end. We end. The hopeful choice a Christian makes is that we’ve put our trust in one beyond and over all that. In him we’re part of the new temple and the new creation. Whatever unknowns and endings we dread there is one who never passes away, and as his people we’re defined as living in him.
Can you sense him drawing you today?
“Don’t go wasting your emotion
Lay all your love on me
Don’t go sharing your devotion
Lay all your love on me”[v]
Okay, technically those are ABBA lyrics, but you get the point.
As we move closer toward the end of Luke’s gospel, as we move closer toward the end of 2024: Watch and watch for the Son of Man. Keep your eyes on him in the Temple, and then at the table with his friends, and then in the garden under the weight of prayer, and then in the streets of Jerusalem under the weight of a cross, and then under the weight of your shame and fear on that cross, breaking it and lifting it off your shoulders – forever.
Watch closely the one who lived and died and lived again. Even if it is the end of the world as we know it, in him, we’ll be fine. We’ll be more than fine.
[i] Rikk E. Watts
[ii] Tom Wright, Luke for Everyone
[iii] R.E.M., It’s The End of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
[iv] U2, I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For
[v] ABBA, Lay All Your Love on Me
Luke Knight 