Apocalypse Now and Always 28B

 

Apocalypse Now and Always

After teaching in the Temple, Jesus and some of his companions, step outside. Someone says, “Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!” Then Jesus asked him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.” [Mark 13:1-8] 

They and we are not meant to understand this as much as imagine the majestic Second Jerusalem Temple being razed to the ground. It was the center of the universe. The Holy of Holies surrounded the Ark of the Covenant, surrounded by the Great Hall of Sacrifices ongoing day after day after day, surrounded by Temple Courtyards with its bazars, animal booths, and currency exchanges, and finally surrounded by the Great Rampart Walls of the City on the Hill itself! It was the stable and safety physical embodiment of Torah Life, Torah Existence, Torah Identity. How can it be destroyed? And when will it happen? 

There will be wars and rumors of wars, famines, earthquakes, false prophets, false messiahs, and there will be many who will try to lead you astray. Nation against nation, tribe against tribe, families torn apart. Yet, Jesus seems to say, pay no attention to any of it. These are birth pangs of a new age, a new consciousness. Nothing but distractions. Set your minds on God. 

This is all just the beginning of what many call Mark’s “Mini-Apocalypse.” Think back to Advent 1, November 29, 2020, in the very midst of a surging Pandemic Apocalypse, before there were any vaccines, cases and deaths were skyrocketing all around us. It was on that Sunday that we heard the final verses of Mark’s mini-apocalypse: “Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. 

“But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.” [Mark 13:32-37] 

It’s not about when. Because “when” is always “now.” It always seems as if:

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere  

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst  

Are full of passionate intensity.    – Wm. Butler Yeats, The Second Coming 

Now is precisely when we need to Wake Up! Now is when we need to, in the words of Hebrews, “hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”   [Hebrews 10:23-25] 

To wake up, to keep awake, is precisely when we need to remember Saint Paul and not look around us, not ask when or where, not be afraid; rather we are to hold onto faith, hope and exercise acts of charity. We are to remember that the first Temple is long gone. The Second Temple is long gone. All temples we erect to enshrine the familiar will pass away; will give way to a coming new age of faith, hope and charity – the reign of God. He who has promised is faithful! 

We meet together under any and all circumstances, not to preserve the past, but to anticipate the promised kinder and more just future for all people, all creatures and all the Earth itself. To be God’s people is to be a community of faith, hope and charity. It’s not easy. It’s always risky. The best cannot and must not lack conviction in the face of the worst who are always full of “passionate intensity.” 

We know what that looks like. And we know what the faith, hope and charity of God looks like – for we have seen it all in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ. And we know we cannot persevere on our own. We desperately do need to meet together, however and whenever we can. Even if it is to be by virtual means. 

We need one another to be able to “hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life,” as we pray this twenty-fifth Sunday after Pentecost – that day when the Spirit flowed into and all around the very companions of Jesus who were hiding in a house from the apocalyptic death and destruction that had gathered all around them after seeing their Lord crucified, executed by the state, the Empire, the minions of Caesar. Their faith, their hope and their charity has continued down to this day – not without wrong turns and truly sinful behaviors – in Christ’s Body, the Church. 

He seems to say, look at the majestic monuments we erect for and to ourselves. Then wake up! For life is not to be found in the monuments, nor in the stones that build them. Life is from the Spirit of God which continues to blow and breathe through those who hold fast to meeting with one another, and living lives of faith, hope and charity; abide these three; the greatest of these is charity and Love for others. All others. All the time. That’s the only time that matters. Now. Right now. Apocalypse Now and Always! 

We may wish to ponder just why it is we are given these apocalyptic visions from Mark as bookends on the first Sunday of the year, and now the last Sunday of Ordinary time. Amen.