Today, we have one of these passages of the Gospel that is important to hear with a little bit of historical background. Now I know what some may think when we say that: Oh, she is going to tell us not to read it literally but to understand all of this as symbols. And that’s often the reaction we get when we try to explain the Scriptures, right? There are many Christians who suspect that if we try to explain, then it means that we don’t want to receive the Scriptures as they are, we don’t want to accept what’s obvious in them. Because we don’t really like the message, we try to find a meaning that would suit what we actually want to hear, not what we need to hear, not what the Spirit is really communicating through our lessons. We look at the Scriptures and often, because it’s too harsh, we declare that “It’s just an image” or “At the time, things were different“. Rings a bell?
Well, I think that these Christians have a point, you know, sometimes our explaining the Scriptures is an explaining away. We quite naturally want the Bible to confirm our own view of the world, stamps them with a “sacred seal” if you will, and when the Bible does not confirm our views, we ignore certain passages or find them a symbolic meaning. Our Collect today reminds us that we have to take the Scriptures seriously though. This morning we prayed: Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning, grant us to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them. We are certainly called to sit with the Scriptures, and instead of listening distractedly or glancing at them superficially, we are supposed to chew on them and “inwardly digest them”. I love this expression that really means that the Word is supposed to become one with us, and that hearing the Word is not less important than receiving the Eucharist. Yet if we take the Scriptures really seriously, we also need to take the time to study them thoroughly, using all the resources available to us to try to understand them as best as we can.
And using science to understand Scriptures does not always means that we will forego the literal meaning and end up seeing everything as a symbol, or as an image for something else, something that suits us better. Actually, I am telling you all this because the passage we have today is actually often read symbolically when it should be read literally, and looking at the historical background can help us to do just that. Let me explain: This passage is often read as Jesus warning the disciples about the end of times, using the imagery of the Temple, and wars, earthquakes and signs in heaven. We often say that in this passage, Jesus tells us how the end of the world will look like. Yet if we study a bit of the context, we soon realize that Jesus is actually speaking about a very real event that happened in 70 CE (an event that is still to happen for the disciples). Jesus actually prophecies about the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in Jerusalem during the first Jewish revolt. Josephus was a Pharisee who lived in the 1st century and a very well known historian, and although he wasn’t a Christian, his description of the event comes very close to the former prophecy of Jesus: Josephus tells us that six thousands of refugees perished in the Temple, deluded by a false prophet who told them that God wanted them to go find refuge there (Jesus says: Do not go after them). Josephus tells us also that on that day a star that looked like a sword hanged over the city, and a comet lasted for a year (Jesus talks about portents and great signs from heavens). So indeed, the end will not follow immediately (v9), it’s not the end of the world – yet. Jesus then goes on telling the disciples that before the destruction of the Temple take place, they will have to endure persecution, and we know that actually happened too. The Book of Acts has a lot of stories about the Apostles and first Christians being arrested and even put to death for their faith, and Josephus wrote about that as well.
So you see this passage is probably not as scary at it seems to be, as it often has been interpreted. Yes it’s about terrible historical events, but it’s not about the end of times and it’s not about God’s wrath against people. Taking the Scriptures seriously does not necessarily mean that we have to assume the worst. And it’s important to know how to interpret them so we won’t be misguided by a church or by community leaders playing on our fears. Jesus actually warns the disciples against those people.
But now the question is for us, if Jesus talks about an event that happened in the past, we understand the value it had for the disciples as a prophecy, but what does it have to say to us today? How can this passage of the Scriptures feeds us as the Collect promises us the Word of God will feed us?
Well, there are probably many answers to that, as you can imagine, but what I would like to say today is that to me, Jesus is teaching the disciples something that Jewish people at the time already knew very well and it is that History is not just History. It’s a time of testing and testifying, a time of sanctification too. In the midst of the chaos of their time, the disciples are called to endure (v.19), to trust (v.18) and to bear witness (v.13). We have just talked about the fact that the events described by Jesus weren’t, indeed, the end of the world, but to the Jewish people in the first century, the destruction of the Temple and of a great part of the holy city must indeed have felt like the end of the world, it was the end of their world, of the world they had always known. And it wasn’t only political and social turmoil, it was also the loss of their religious stability: With the destruction of the Temple, it must have felt as if God was abandoning them and their very lives were threatened in a very real way.
I think we can all relate to that in a way or another: wars, famine, epidemics, natural catastrophes have plagued our history from the beginning and even more so with the passing of time, as our world expands. A lot of people (not only Christians!) feel today that indeed it may be the end of the world, and it could be so. After all, we believe the end will come at some point but we also know that countless generations before us have believed it was the end, when it actually wasn’t so. In other occasions, Jesus tells the disciples it isn’t for them to know when the end will come, what really matters is how they behave in the midst of chaos, and he describes what they need to do in terms of faithfulness. With all we have been trough in the past years, the political instability, the social unrest, the sanitary crisis, and the economical challenges (you name it!), we have seen many people saying how important it was to remain decent, human and kind no matter what. As Christians, it means for us that we need to hold on to what is right and to what is true according to the Gospel as we understand it. In our country, we may not be persecuted because we believe in Christ, but we still have to affirm courageously our values because of Him. This how we “save our souls”: by staying true we don’t lose sight of who we are. And this faithfulness is important even if it seems very little, even if does not feel heroic at all. We need to be ready to testify about what we believe in, in the name of Christ. It may just look like a conversation which you don’t really want to have, as I know was my case in the past week when a lady at lunch engaged with me about racial equality – a topic on which we had very different views!
Finally, and over all, I think that what we can learn from this passage of the Gospel is how Jesus promises us that God will be with us if we cling to God, even in the darkest times. In the end, it’s not so much about our faithfulness, rather it is about God’s faithfulness. The way we choose to remain faithful is only a response to God’s desire to never leave us. The disciples, yesterday and today, are fully part of this broken and often dangerous world. Sometimes we wish that God will spare us from experiencing its painful realities. Yet Jesus promises us that God does not let go of us. It does not always mean that nothing bad happen to us, God does not shield us in the Temple (as we learn, the Temple can be and will be destroyed) rather God is present with God’s spirit, in inspiring us, in giving us peace, wisdom and courage so we can carry on. We also believe that in clinging to God, we are also joined with one another, supporting one another. Christians are not meant to be alone but by building community, they show up for one another and it gives them strength: This is what Luke will describe extensively in the Book of Acts. In the end, the Scriptures are only well understood when we translate them into actions!