Thirty Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Year B, Green
Introduction
I really did intend to get cracking on some tidying up jobs in the garden some weeks ago, when the sun was shining and it was warm. Sadly this year events have overtaken me and now I realise I have little time left. The days are getting much darker and much earlier. I am now running out of time and I realise that soon it will be too late, Winter will be here and I will have missed my chance.
This reminds us all that Advent will be upon us in no time and we will light candles to remind ourselves that as the darkness of winter surrounds us God will be an ever present light in our darkness. The readings today use a type of writing called ‘apocalyptic.’ literary genre. We see evidence of this literature in today’s readings from the book of Daniel and from Mark’s gospel.
The Greek word ‘Apocalypse’ means ‘to reveal.’ Fantastic images and pictures are used which are not supposed to be taken literally. Sadly many cults have taken the pictures and numbers used in Apocalyptic writings and used them to make predictions about the end of the world. Many people have spent a great deal of time in speculation about the end of the world. Bits of scripture are analysed and ideas formulated about when the world will end and how God will rule over all. It's a bit of fun, although probably a long way wide of the mark, and so many dates have come and gone and we are all still here. We would do better to spend more time thinking about the kind of judgement which Jesus spoke about in our reading today, judgement of ourselves and our own generation - not the end of the world.
Jesus spoke to his generation about judgement which would come upon them, and soon the Temple was brought down and Jerusalem was destroyed. Each generation is judged and we all are challenged and confronted by the gospel message of Jesus. When we look at our society and our own lives, what do we see? What is certainly true is that we reap what we sow. If our priorities are good ones, if our motives are true, then individually and collectively we will be blessed in knowing the peace of obedience. We do not become the elect by floating into the sky to meet Jesus, we do so by how we live our lives today.
However these images do have an important purpose to reassure and encourage believers that the world was safe in God’s hands. Jews living under persecution were reassured in Apocalyptic writing that God had not forgotten them and that he would reward those who were faithful. The message is true for us today as we witness world events which frighten and seem beyond control. Jesus uses this Apocalyptic imagery from the Book of Daniel to allude to a time of tribulation. The distress will be profound, even nature will go into chaos. At such times Jesus encourages Christians to trust in God. This is what ‘holding the faith’ is all about, living reassured that even in the chaos God has not abandoned us and that ultimately we will see him reign over all.
Opening Sentence
Psalm 1:1
Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand
in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in
the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.
Collect Prayer for the Day — Before we read we pray
Heavenly Father, whose blessed Son was revealed to destroy the works of the devil and to make us the children of God and heirs of eternal life: grant that we, having this hope, may purify ourselves even as he is pure; that when he shall appear in power and great glory we may be made like him in his eternal and glorious kingdom; where he is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. Common Worship
Heavenly Lord, you long for the world's salvation: stir us from apathy restrain us from excess and revive in us new hope that all creation will one day be healed in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Common Worship Shorter Collect
Eternal God, from whom all thoughts of truth and peace proceed: kindle, we pray, in every heart the true love of peace, and guide with your pure and peaceable wisdom those who take counsel for the nations of the earth; that in justice and peace your kingdom may go forward, till the earth is filled with the knowledge of your love; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Methodist Worship
Almighty God, you sent your Son Jesus Christ to be the light of the world. Free us from all that darkens and ensnares us, and bring us to eternal light and joy; through the power of him who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. Methodist Worship
First Bible Reading
Daniel Chapter 12:1-3
At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people--everyone whose name is found written in the book--will be delivered. Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.
Second Reading
Hebrews Chapter 10:11-14, 19-25
Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again
and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But
when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat
down at the right hand of God. Since that time he waits for his enemies to
be made his footstool, because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever
those who are being made holy. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence
to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way
opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a
great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere
heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us
from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let
us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is
faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and
good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of
doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day
approaching.
Gospel Reading
Mark 13: 1-8
As he was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, "Look,
Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!" "Do you see all
these great buildings?" replied Jesus. "Not one stone here will be left on
another; every one will be thrown down." As Jesus was sitting on the Mount
of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John and Andrew asked him
privately, "Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the
sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?" Jesus said to them: "Watch
out that no one deceives you. Many will come in my name, claiming, `I am
he,' and will deceive many. When you hear of wars and rumours of wars, do
not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.
Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be
earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth
pains.
Post Communion Sentence
Gracious Lord, in this holy sacrament you give substance to our hope: bring us at the last to that fullness of life for which we long; through Jesus Christ our Saviour.
Commentary
The Temple of King Solomon was destroyed in 586BC. Seventy years later, a
second Temple was built on the same site and during the reign of Herod this
temple was greatly enlarged and expanded. The Jewish Temple was the most
beautiful building in the whole world, even though Herod had not fully
completed building it. The Temple was enormous and imposing and it is
understandable that the disciples would have been hugely impressed. The
smallest stones in the structure weighed 2 to 3 tons. Many of them weighed
50 tons. The largest existing stone, part of the Wailing Wall, is 12 m in
length and 3m high, and it weighs hundreds of tons. The stones were so
immense that neither mortar nor any other binding material was used between
the stones. The walls towered over Jerusalem, over 400 feet in one area, and
a quarter of a million people could fit comfortably within the structure.
Jesus' prediction that a structure so immense would be levelled to the
ground must have seemed implausible.
Understandably perhaps, Jesus did not like the Temple very much. He told his
disciples that he came to serve and not to be served Mark 10:45, whilst in
contrast Jesus saw the temple as representing those who wanted to be served.
As the disciples wandered around admiring the place, Jesus bring them back
down to earth with a bump and tells them that the whole thing will be
destroyed.
Jesus prediction came true when 40 years later this Second Temple was
destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD after the failure of the Great Revolt
against Rome in which perhaps 1 million Jews died.
When the Romans had finished their destruction, only one outer wall remained
standing. They would probably have destroyed that wall as well, but it was
not even part of the Temple itself, just an outer wall surrounding the
Temple Mount. In the early centuries after the destruction of the Temple,
Jews were prohibited by the Roman authorities from entering the city of
Jerusalem, and the customary place for mourning the Temple was the Mount of
Olives, which overlooks the Temple Mount from the east. The wall is the most
holy shrine of the Jewish world. The Jews were not allowed to come to
Jerusalem until the Byzantine period, when they could come once a year on
the anniversary of the destruction and weep over the ruins of the Holy
temple. This is why it became known as the ‘Wailing Wall.’ This rather
undignified name never won a wide following among traditional Jews; the term
"Wailing Wall" is not used in Hebrew. During the more than one thousand
years Jerusalem was under Muslim rule, the Arabs often used the Wall as a
garbage dump, a humiliation to the Jews who visited it.
During the centuries in which the Muslims controlled Palestine, two mosques
were built on the site of the Jewish Temple. This was a shrewd move for any
attempt to level these mosques would lead to an international Muslim holy
war (jihad) against Israel, so the Temple cannot be rebuilt. To this day,
Orthodox Jews pray three times a day for the Temple's restoration. Of course
for the Jews this remnant of what was the most sacred building in the Jewish
world became the holiest spot in Jewish life. Throughout the centuries Jews
from throughout the world made the difficult pilgrimage to Palestine, and
immediately headed for the Kotel ha-Ma'aravi (the Western Wall) to thank
God.
After the Six-Day War in 1967 the Jews emphasised "Western Wall," a
reflection of the feeling that, with the reunification of Jerusalem under
Israeli sovereignty, there was no longer anything to wail about.
Henceforward, the wall should be a place of celebration. One of the first to
reach the Kotel in the 1967 Six-Day War was Israeli Defence Minister Moshe
Dayan, who helped revive a traditional Jewish custom by inserting a written
petition into its cracks. It was later revealed that Dayan's prayer was that
a lasting peace "descend upon the House of Israel."
And so the passages today with their apocalyptic warnings should remind us
of the lessons of history. Choose carefully the things which you admire, do
not become beguiled by human beauty or greatness. Seek rather to be faithful
and obedient and put your trust in God.
Meditation
" . . . there is a better understanding today that the mere accumulation
of goods and services, even for the benefit of the majority, is not enough
for the realization of human happiness. Nor, in consequence, does the
availability of the many real benefits provided in recent times by science
and technology, including the computer sciences, bring freedom from every
form of slavery. On the contrary, the experience of recent years shows that
unless all the considerable body of resources and potential at human
disposal is guided by a moral understanding and by an orientation towards
the true good of the human race, it easily turns against human beings to
oppress them." True
Pope John Paul II, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 28
Hymns and Psalms
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Holy Holy Holy 237 (Tune: nicea)
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There is a redeemer 673
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Beauty for brokenness 806
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Blessed assurance 59
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Rejoice the Lord is king 575 (Gopsal)
Prayers for Sunday and the week ahead
I am two men; and one is longing to serve thee utterly, and one
is afraid. O Lord, have compassion upon me.
I am two men; and one will labour to the end, and one is already weary. O Lord,
have compassion upon me.
I am two men; And one knows the suffering of the world, and one knows only his
own. O Lord, have compassion upon me. And may the Spirit of our Lord Jesus
Christ Fill my heart and the hearts of all men everywhere. Used by Prebendary
Austen Williams (1912-2001)
God of Life, help us to choose life, not death. God of Life, help us to respect,
not destroy.
God of Life, help us to treasure, not control. God of Life, help us see our
value, not in things, but in Your gifts.
God of Life, beat our swords into ploughshares. God of Life, beat are spears
into pruning hooks.
God of Life, replace our shopping sprees with celebrations of community. God of
Life, replace our busyness with contemplation.
God of Life, replace our "things" with Your gifts. God of Life, change our
violence into Your peace.
God of Life, help us to choose Life, not death. Amen.
Let us pray that all men may learn to seek first the kingdom of God and his
righteousness, caring for justice more than for gain, and for fellowship more
than for domination.
Let us pray that all may have the courage and the energy to think for themselves
strongly and clearly, and to seek for the truth and follow it whatever the cost.
Let us pray for deliverance from prejudice and for a desire to appreciate what
is just and true in the opinions of those who differ from us.
Let us pray that all may have the faith to believe that whatever is right is
always possible, and that what is according to the mind of Christ is upheld by
the limitless resources of omnipotence.
Let us pray that in ourselves and in others suspicion may give place to trust,
and bitterness to goodwill; and that we may all become trustworthy, whether we
work with hand or brain.
Let us pray that God will grant peace in our time, and give us abundantly of his
Holy Spirit, whose fruits are love and joy and peace. William Temple
Additional Material
Verse of scripture
'Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world' John 1:29
Collect Prayer for the Day—Before we read we pray
Heavenly Father, whose blessed Son was revealed to destroy the works of the devil and to make us the children of God and heirs of eternal life: grant that we, having this hope, may purify ourselves even as he is pure; that when he shall appear in power and great glory we may be made like himin his eternal and glorious kingdom; where he is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen
Post Communion Prayer
Gracious Lord, in this holy sacrament you give substance to our hope: bring us at the last to that fullness of life for which we long; through Jesus Christ our Saviour.
Meditation
We who believe in Jesus Christ are aware that we are living between the time of Jesus' resurrection from the dead and the fulfillment of all things. We live, not in utopia, not in a cloud-cuckoo land, for we are aware of the pain and evil around us. The struggle against evil continues. But we know that the beginning of the end has come. Like the Allied forces in World War II, we have landed on the beaches of Normandy; the war is not over; there is still a costly fight ahead, but victory is certain; the end is in sight. We know that a new creation has been inaugurated. We know that something has happened in history which cannot be turned back. We know that we will still have to struggle against evil, but we know that the victory has been won. South African theologian and pastor John W. De Gruchy, Faith for a Time Like This(Cape Town: Rondebosch United Church, 1992)
The Agnus Dei (John 1:29)
O Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world, have
mercy upon us.
O Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world, have mercy upon us.
O Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world, grant us peace.
Commentary
"Not one stone upon another"
The readings today are a part of a particular kind of scripture that we call ‘Apocalyptic,’ scripture concerned with the end of all things as we know them and the coming of a new age, the coming of the Kingdom of God. These types of passages are frightening to some, others find an unhealthy fascination in them and love to predict that the end of the world is drawing near. They do this even though Jesus himself said that not even he, the Son, knew when the world would end. Have no time for such people, or their vivid imaginations which would be better satisfied watching the X-Files. It is the same part of human nature that forecast the end of the world in the year 2000, when all our computers were supposed to come crashing down and aeroplanes would fall from the skies. The same kind of people marched up mountains proclaiming that the Millennium meant that the end of the world was at hand. Great fiction but nothing to do with reality.
So what is the passage really about? Well, the Temple was fabulous, a treasured monument, the place of promise, the temple of Solomon rebuilt in glory, it was big, it was solid and important, a symbol of national hope and pride. The ancient world considered both Jerusalem and the temple in its heart to be magnificent. Dazzling white stone, intricate carvings, gold adornments, all made the temple building and its various courts a "wonder" to all, especially country bumpkin-types like most of Jesus' disciples. So along comes Jesus and says "You're impressed by this grandiose architecture? Well, there's not a stone in the whole works that is not going to end up in a heap of rubble." Of course what Jesus said came true, the only parts remaining today are bits of the parts of the platform base, now seen in the Western or Wailing wall.
Jesus was giving his disciples a warning, preparing them and telling them that the world was a place in which there would be wars, earthquakes and famines. They should not be surprised or tempted to follow false leaders, or put their trust in anybody else.
So, what is important to you? What stones are we all tempted to admire and consider magnificent things? What is your most treasured belief? Your deepest hope? What gives meaning to your life? Or to the life of our nation? Of our world. Are they stones of wealth, of influence, of possessions, of accomplishment, of being loved? Imagine them as stones in the building Jesus and the disciples were looking at, a building containing thousands of stones, the stones which represent those things that we seek out, those things we turn to for a sense of permanence, for comfort, for peace of mind, all built into a building.
If we build our lives out of such stones then we will eventually find the whole thing come tumbling down. However if we place our trust in Christ we will have no need to worry in the face of adversity. A theme of ‘Apolocalyptic’ writing is that eventually all will be well, so be not alarmed, do not worry. The storms and quakes will come. The Agnus Dei (John 1:29) is a phrase which is sometimes said at communion services. It says, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.’ It does not say "Lamb of God, you take away the storms of the world" or "O Lamb of God, you take away the pains of the world" or "O Lamb of God, you take away the evils of the world."
So be warned by Jesus, the storms, the strifes, the quakes will come. However God is with us and Jesus promises to walk with us through the gathering clouds and storms of life, so that eventually all will truly be well. The temple made with hands will give way to a temple not made with hands: the community of faith built on the cornerstone of the Son, the true Stone (12:10-11). God will win in the end. The faithful will be redeemed. God is in control. So no matter how dark the skies become know that you are not alone and there is no greater friend than Jesus.
Prayers for Sunday
A Prayer for Children.
Dear Father and Mother of us all, maker of the light, keeper of our souls, we thank you for your warm presence, for keeping us safe, and taking away our fears. Help us remain close by your side, where there is peace and joy for evermore, we ask it in our brother Jesus' name. Amen
There is fear sometimes O God in many human hearts, even at times in our own hearts. There is aimlessness in the hearts of others, senseless excitements about the details of the end of time, about the signs that are around us, and yet they know not your peace. You understand the afflictions of the lonely, of those who have no one to draw close to. We pray especially today for these O God - that they may know your presence and see your power - and be consumed b y your glory and so find that which we all need. Shine your light, we pray, upon those we name before you in our hearts now, be it ourselves, or a friend or neighbour.
Govern all by thy wisdom, O Lord, so that my soul may always be serving thee as thou dost will, and not as I may choose. Do not punish me, I beseech thee, by granting that which I wish or ask, if it offend thy love, which would always live in me. Let me die to myself, that I may serve thee; let me live to thee, who in thyself art the true life. Amen. Theresa of Avila
O God in heaven, have mercy on us! Lord, Jesus Christ, intercede for your people, deliver us at the opportune time, preserve in us the true genuine Christian faith, collect your scattered sheep with your voice, your divine Word as Holy Writ calls it. Help us to recognize your voice, help us not to be allured by the madness of the world, so that we may never fall away from you, O Lord Jesus Christ. Albrecht Durer (1471-1528)
And now, Serene Son of God, whose will subdued the troubled waters and led to rest the fears of the people, let your majesty master us, your power of calm control us; that for our fears we have faith, and for our disquietude perfect trust in you; who live and govern all things, world without end. John Wallace Suter (1890-1977), Dean of Washington Cathedral