Today's passage is Matthew 24:1-14.
When the disciples point out the beauties of the temple as Jesus is leaving it, he says it'll all be rubble one day. On the Mount of Olives the disciples ask him when he will come in triumph and when the end of the world will be. He tells them various signs and says the end will come when the gospel is preached to all the nations.
Jesus doesn't think much of the temple. As he leaves it after excoriating the teachers of the law and the Pharisees in it, his disciples try to point out something nice about the temple. He dismisses it by saying not a stone will be left on another (v.2).
Jesus hates false teachers and prophets, and he has no time for architectural wonders. The temple was originally built for the glorification of God but the disciples show themselves no better than the Pharisees when they admire the temple for itself.
The temple is not God, the great cathedrals of Europe are not God, nor is Pangyo chapel or Hweemoon chapel God.
I certainly don't mistake Pangyo chapel for anything special, but I sometimes praise Hweemoon too much because it's everything Pangyo isn't.
But both Pangyo and Hweemoon will one day be rubble and I need to remember that and repent.
Like the disciples, I always want to know when the end will come. I don't worry about the end of time because that's just too big for me to fit in my mind. I do worry about smaller ends.
When will my sick mother die? Should I go visit her this Christmas in case she worsens and dies before I have one more visit?
Will this be my last chance to implore her to accept Jesus?
Is this my last contract with my school? Will I have time to finishe what I've started? How long will it take? When will I know when I'm finished?
Will I live long enough to see my daugher Tess graduate from school?
More importantly, will I live to see her meet Jesus?
The disciples live with Jesus and Peter calls him the Christ. They were there when he entered Jerusalem to acclaim, but here they are asking him when he will come in triumph.
They can't see the end because they can't see what's in front of them.
Jesus' description of the signs of the end are what have always been. Wars and famine.
Love growing cold because we think more and more of ourselves and are blind to our sins.
When will I stop being so judgemental and love my students more?
When will I stop being too tired to pray?
When will I give my new teacher my testimony?
When will I take that stressed teacher out for coffee and sharing?
When will I stop being consumed by work?
When will I stop building temples to myself?
When Michelangelo was painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling, the pope constantly badgered him with a question: "When will you make and end?"
Michelangelo's answer was always the same: "When I'm finished."
Jesus gives the same answer to their question about the end of things.
When it's finished.
Maybe I'll die this year. Maybe I'll die in 10 years or 20. I don't know.
And it doesn't matter. I need to be ready. That's what Jesus tells me. Be ready. Endure, stand, be ready.
See the temple as a pile of rubble. Be ready. Don't let my love grow cold. Be ready.
Lord, give me your Spirit so I can love with your love. Keep me from falling pray to my weak will and human desire to know when the ends of things will come. Keep me focuse on where I am now and give me your strength to do your will in the life you have given me and sustain me in.
