St. Paul’s Church in
Bergen, Jersey City NJ
November 17, 2013
Year C, Proper 28:
The Twenty-Sixth Sunday after Pentecost
Isaiah 65:17-25
Canticle 9
2 Thessalonians
3:6-13
Luke 21:5-19
Surely, It is God Who Saves Me
Today,
in place of the psalm, we heard the beautiful words of Canticle 9, what’s
called “The First Song of Isaiah.”
“Surely,
it is God who saves me; I will trust in him and not be afraid.”
“Surely,
it is God who saves me; I will trust in him and not be afraid.”
Beautiful
words. But, let’s be honest, they are words that are not so easy to live out.
Lots of times it’s not easy for me – and, I bet, it’s not easy for most of
us - to trust in God and not be
afraid.
It’s
hard to trust in God and not be afraid during the trials and tribulations of
everyday life. Will I be able to pay my bills this month? Will I be able to get
a job? Will I be able to hold on to my job? Will the doctors be able to find
the right medication, the right approach, to heal what needs to be healed in me,
or someone I love? Will our kids and grandkids make good choices and live
happy, loving and productive lives?
It’s
not easy for most of us, during the trials and tribulations of everyday life, to
trust in God and not be afraid.
And
it’s so much harder in times of personal crisis when it feels like our lives
are falling apart.
It’s
hard to trust in God when we’re really not able to pay our bills, when we lose
our job, when the doctor gives us a devastating prognosis, when our kids and
grandkids make terrible, self-destructive choices.
It’s
hard to trust in God when the people closest to us disappoint us, betray us, or
abandon us.
It’s
hard to trust in God when we lose the people and the things that are so
important to us.
No,
it’s not easy for most of us, when it feels like our lives are falling apart,
to trust in God and not be afraid.
And,
it’s even harder to trust in God when it feels like the whole world is crashing
down around us in times of destruction caused by war or natural disaster.
This
time last year most of us were dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.
We were struggling with no electricity, no heat, dwindling food supplies. Many
of us who live in low-lying areas suffered enormous damage to our property –
possessions that took a lifetime to amass were ruined in minutes from the
terrifyingly powerful winds and the foul water gushing from bays and rivers.
This
time last year Sue and I were living out in Madison, a beautiful suburban town,
where after Sandy the big issue was not flooding but the damage done by huge
trees downed by the fierce winds.
And,
in fact, in our neighborhood, there wasn’t even much of that. The big hardship
was the lack of power for a few days.
But
in other parts of Madison – the higher elevations – hundreds and hundreds of
great old trees were brought down – brought down onto yards, into streets and
sometimes right into homes.
Early
in the morning, a day or two after the storm, we got a call that an elderly
parishioner had died peacefully overnight. He and his wife lived up on “The
Hill.” Before sunrise I carefully drove up there, avoiding massive old trees
that littered the neighborhood like matchsticks and the downed power lines
snaking across streets and sidewalks.
I
had never before really been at the scene of such a recent natural disaster.
When
I got to the house, there were a couple of police officers with the dead man’s
wife. The house was dark and cold and sad.
A
good man was dead upstairs in the bedroom.
And
outside the house there was widespread destruction.
It’s
hard to trust in God – it’s hard to not be afraid - when it feels like the
whole world is crashing down around us.
I’m
sure many of us have been reminded of last year’s super storm in recent days
when we’ve seen the horrific destruction caused by the typhoon in the
Philippines.
“Surely,
it is God who saves me; I will trust in him and not be afraid.”
There’s
nothing new, of course, about human beings facing personal trials and
tribulations. And there’s nothing new about people enduring wars and natural
disasters. And, there’s nothing new about men and women struggling to trust in
God and not be afraid.
In
today’s gospel lesson, Jesus is in Jerusalem. In fact, Jesus is in the Temple,
what was the heart of Jewish religious and political life.
It’s
probably hard for us to really understand just how important the Temple was for
Jewish people in the First Century. Yes, there were some people – including
Jesus himself – who criticized the priests and the others who led the Temple. But,
for Jews, the Temple was the center of the universe. It was the place where, in
a sense, God actually lived. And the Jewish people helped to keep their
covenant with God through the sacrifices that were made there.
So,
Jesus is in Jerusalem, in the Temple.
And
it’s here that Jesus says something shocking.
“As
for these things that you see, the days will come when not stone will be left
upon another; all will be thrown down.”
In
the gospels, Jesus predicts the destruction of the Temple – the destruction of
the center of the universe, the destruction of the place where, in a sense, God
actually lived.
Needless
to say, Jesus’ audience is shocked and full of questions.
When
will this be? How will we know?
And
then, Jesus gets even scarier, warning the crowd that there will be imposters
coming in Jesus’ name. There will be wars and insurrections. There will be
earthquakes and plagues.
But,
wait, there’s more.
Before
all of those terrible things happen,
Jesus’ own followers will be arrested and persecuted and betrayed by parents,
brothers, relatives and friends. Everybody will hate Jesus’ followers.
Then,
Jesus concludes with a much-needed word of hope and confidence.
“But
not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls.”
Now,
the first readers and hearers of the gospel would have known that Jesus’
predictions had come true. The Temple – the center of the universe, God’s home
– was, in fact, destroyed by the Romans in the year 70, forty or so years after
Jesus’ earthly lifetime. And, at least some of Jesus’ earliest followers were,
in fact, arrested, persecuted and hated.
It
must have been so very hard for the Jewish people and for those early followers
of Jesus to sing Isaiah’s song:
“Surely,
it is God who saves me; I will trust in him and not be afraid.”
And
yet.
And
yet, in the midst of these terrible times, God really is at work.
God
is at work in the midst of the trials and tribulations of everyday life.
God
is at work in times of personal crisis when it feels like our lives are falling
apart.
God
is at work in times when it feels like the world is crashing down around us –
when great waves wash away our homes, when an insatiable empire destroys God’s
home, when we are rejected or persecuted.
God
is at work in the midst of all that pain, all that mess and loss, creating a
new heavens and a new earth, bending hatred into love, transforming shameful
death on the Cross into the joy of Easter.
Judaism
didn’t die with the Temple. Instead, it evolved into the faith strong enough to
survive the worst persecutions imaginable.
And,
despite the attempts of political and religious leaders to crush it, the Good
News of Jesus gradually made it’s way around the world, making it even to
Jersey City.
And,
I know many of us saw God at work right here in those hard days after Sandy
swept through our area.
And,
I saw God at work that cold, sad, frightening morning in Madison a year ago.
As
dawn broke, the word began to get out that this wonderful, gentle man had died.
In
the midst of their own struggles – in the midst of the devastation up and down
their block, neighbors began to stream to the door to share their condolences,
to ask his wife if she needed anything, to cry and to hug.
They
brought her care packages made up of food and bottled water, whatever they had
around the house.
And
then, one neighbor ran an extension cord from his house next-door, powered by a
generator, so that a space heater could keep at least part of her house warm
during the cold time of loss and grief.
“Surely,
it is God who saves me; I will trust in him and not be afraid.
For
the Lord is my stronghold and my sure defense, and he will be my Savior.”
Amen.
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