Gospel Text: Luke 21:5-19
Lectionary: Year C, Proper 28
Weather forecasts, financial market forecasts, interest rate direction forecasts, political polls, sports result predictions: these are a few of the many ways that we try to bring a little certainty into an uncertain world. We might have some vested interest in certain outcomes. Some predictions have better success than others. Some types of things we are interested in predicting are trivial while others have more far-reaching life consequences.
Our brains are wired to favor certainty. Uncertainties and ambiguities demand more mental energy, and we can only handle so much of that before our psyches are exhausted. When we experience or hear things that unsettle us, our natural inclination is to find the least costly way to resolve the discomfort and return us to a place of certainty and security.
For Jesus’ disciples, their Temple was heart of their religious, social, and political lives. It was the place where they came to meet and worship God. It was the basis for many or perhaps all of the traditions and rituals governing their social interactions. And it was a symbol of their national identity and unity, even if they were in reality, subjects of Rome.
When Jesus seemingly off-handedly mentions that the Temple will be utterly destroyed, it is a shock to their understanding of their world. It introduces a threat and uncertainty in their entire view of life that they need resolved.
Two-thousand years later, from our perspective, it might seem that the destruction of the Temple shouldn’t elicit such a strong emotional response. There really isn’t an equivalent that we might readily identify with. But perhaps suggesting that America and the American way of life will be utterly destroyed by a foreign power, and that all of us will be exiled away, might be a close analogy. If that doesn’t seem like the end of the world, is there anything else that would? Or for some others, being told that their family will be torn away from them, never to be seen again might elicit a similar kind of response.
Note too, how Luke begins this passage:
21:5 When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God…
This was not just another building. It was a sacred treasure, dedicated to God. For the Temple to be destroyed as Jesus said would seem to imply a complete abandonment by God.
I think it is with a deep sense of terror and panic that the disciples ask Jesus when this will happen and what signs they should expect leading up to this cataclysmic event. After all, this is Jesus who just spoke of the destruction, and they know he is no ordinary man. He is at least a prophet of God, if not something more.
It is curious that what Jesus says next seemingly has nothing to do with what his disciples asked. Jesus doesn’t say anything about the when or what, but goes and offers a warning about those who claim to speak in Jesus’ name and claim to have inside knowledge about what is about to happen.
Modern neuroscience has shown that when our brains are affected by fear and threat and when there is a strong emotional reaction, it wants to act instinctively to protect the person. Higher-order thinking and discernment take longer to process, going through a longer path, and it takes effort to suppress the initial, instinctive reactions. And so reasoned decisions takes a back seat to instinctive responses. The brain wants to return as quickly as possible to a safe and comfortable place, and if an easy, inexpensive path is offered, the tendency is to take it. Even if it means the path leads to longer term problems. Even if in hindsight it is a bad choice. Even if it means accepting falsehoods.
Another cognitive pattern research has shown is that the brain assigns greater weight to what it first hears. So perhaps that is why Jesus offers the warning first, before he responds more directly to his disciples’ question. By giving the warning first, it is the strongest piece of information that is associated with the context of the destruction of the Temple. The brain stores memory by context: sight, smell, sounds, and emotion. Jesus’ warning is stored in his disciples’ minds in association with the Temple and the terror and panic associated with its destruction. Whenever the context is recalled in the future, the warning too, will be present as one of the most important pieces of information associated with it.
The message given by Jesus would then appear to be that when we are faced with something that terrifies us, where we might want to instinctively resort to fight or flight, to give enough time to allow our higher-order reasoning to process the information. “Don’t go after the first person or thing that seems to offer a solution and a way out,” Jesus seems to be saying. Just because something or someone is offering to improve your feeling of comfort and security doesn’t mean they have your best interest in mind.
Only after this does Jesus begin to speak about some signs. These signs include increasing conflict and violence among nations and peoples; increasing incidents and intensities of natural disasters; and ominous signs and portents in the heavens. But don’t be terrified. And the end is still a ways off.
But even before all that occurs, his disciples will experience persecution and possibly even death. Friends and family could turn against them. Don’t see this as a calamity, but see it as an opportunity to testify about Christ. And don’t worry about preparing in advance, because Christ will supply the necessary defense that cannot be refuted.
One way of transforming terror and fear is to reframe it. First, Jesus sets expectations about some of the things that will happen. And then he offers a different way of looking at what initially can be seen as a negative experience. At the heart of Christ’s gospel is that even the greatest evil can be redeemed and transformed. The primary demonstration of this is, of course, Jesus’ death and resurrection, but here Jesus seems to be offering another way in which his disciples can play a part in the grand narrative of redemptive grace.
We now come to the last two verses for today:
21:18 But not a hair of your head will perish.
21:19 By your endurance you will gain your souls.
How can Jesus say that “not a hair of your head will perish” when he had just also said that some listening may be put to death? I think that the key to understanding this apparent paradox is to go back to the start of today’s passage where Jesus predicted that the Temple would be utterly destroyed. In comparison, those who faithfully endure will be preserved, even beyond physical death. Everything about them will be preserved and restored in the full realization of the kingdom to come. So much so that even the exact number of hair will remain.
The physical structure of the Temple, where people have given their treasures and dedicated them to God, will be destroyed. Not even one stone will be left on top of another. In stark contrast, the person and being of Jesus’ disciples will be preserved, down to the very last hair.
It is this knowledge and hope that has sustained the church of Jesus Christ through two millennia of trials and tribulations from both within and without. This is the basis on which individual Christians and communities of faithful have kept their courage when by all appearances, their cause seemed lost.
Fear can be contagious. But so is courage.
A healthy Christian community is a courageous one. It absorbs the fears and terrors brought by individuals and transmits courage in return.
When for so many of us, the world seems like a very scary place and getting scarier with each passing day, it is easy to succumb to fear and terror. We might resort to anger. Or maybe depression. Or disassociating. Or any number of unhealthy coping methods. Just to get through another day.
We need hope and courage to replace our fears. Yes, individuals can each ask God for courage. But it seems that the primary task of transmitting hope and courage is given to the body of Christ. Hope and courage are learned by living in community with others who possess them.
My exhortation and prayer for you this morning is that this church be known as the community where hope and courage vanquishes fear. May we fully live out Jesus’ command to us, “Do not be terrified.”
