End-of-the-world events

Sermon preached at St Alphege, Solihull, at the 8am Eucharist
Sunday 15th November 2009, 2nd Sunday before Advent, Year B

Readings: Daniel 12: 1-3 [Hebrews 10: 11-14 &19-25] Mark 13: 1-8


Last Wednesday I was standing on the Mount of Olives, looking across the Kidron Valley at the Temple Mount. I was in a garden called “Dominus Flevit” or “The Lord wept”. There is a church there in the shape of a teardrop. According to tradition, this is the site described in Luke 19 (v41-44) where Jesus wept over Jerusalem. It may well be that this is the same site, recalled in our gospel reading today, where Peter, Andrew James and John privately ask Jesus when the temple will be destroyed.
Jesus answers that the signs of the approaching destruction will be false Messiahs, wars, earthquakes and famines. He describes these as the beginnings of the birth pangs. The trouble is that false Messiahs, wars, earthquakes and famines seem to be characteristic of every age so they are not as the clear cut indicators that the disciples might have been hoping for. As it turned out, the temple was destroyed in 70AD by the Romans. There is no doubt that it was a terrible event for the Jewish nation, well worthy of Jesus’ tears. The temple has never been rebuilt. The temple mount is now dominated by Islamic buildings; the al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock.
The destruction of the temple felt like an end-of-the-world event for God’s chosen people, the Jews. But in the scriptures it is hard to distinguish prophesies about this event from prophesies about the second coming of Christ, which is also seen as a time of great anguish, and an end-of-the-world style event. Our reading from Daniel 12 would appear to be about the second coming of Christ because it mentions the resurrection of the dead in a way comparable with Revelation chapter 20.
At this time of year, when one church year is ending, and another beginning, our scripture readings encourage us to reflect on the second coming of Christ and on the end times. Next week, the last in the Churches year, we celebrate the feast of Christ the King expressing our confidence that ultimately good must triumph over evil, and Christ must rule over all things.
This confidence that good must ultimately overcome evil – where does it come from? How can we be so sure about it? It comes from the death and resurrection of Christ. Evil can do its worst, it can crucify the one who created all of us, but the resurrection reveals Jesus as the resurrection and the life, the source of eternal life which he wants to share with all people.
We can be sure that just as God’s own temple was torn apart in AD 70, so our own lives, sooner or later, in small ways and big, are torn apart. It can happen through the loss of a job, or through problems in a marriage or through other sufferings small and large. In these moments it is important to remember Jesus on the cross. We need to grow in love for Jesus as he suffers on the cross. Through our own sufferings we can be united to Christ in his death. And this unity with Christ in death leads to a unity with him in resurrection, in new life. And the more we experience this, the more confidence we place in it. We can become sure that good, ultimately must overcome evil. Amen.