josephholubsermons


 

November 15, 2009 -  Pentecost 24
Mark 13:1-2

Religion or Spirituality

In our gospel this morning Jesus is walking out of the Jerusalem temple with his disciples, and one of the disciples commented upon the grandeur of the great temple.  "Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!"   And the Jerusalem temple truly was magnificent.   In fact, in terms of sheer size Josephus, a first century Jewish historian, reports the foundation stones of the  temple compound were 68 feet long, 9 feet high and 8 feet wide weighing as much as 1,000,000 pounds.  That is almost unimaginable.  Archeologists have not yet found stones quite that large, but they have found stones on the temple mount in Jerusalem as large as 40 feet long, 10 feet high and 14 feet wide. The temple was a formidable and impressive structure, unlike anything else. 

In response to the disciple's remark, Jesus said, "Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down."    

Now there are a couple of things we need to keep in mind.  Mark did not write his gospel until late in the 7th decade of the first century, sometime between 66-70.  Those particular years carry great significance, for those years  were a time of Jewish revolt against the Roman occupation.   In the year 66 a Jewish armed rebellion was mounted that had some success at first, driving the Roman occupation forces out of Jerusalem for a time.  But in the year 69 the Romans attacked, breached the wall of Jerusalem, and for all practical purposes the city was destroyed; its walls and fortresses reduced to rubble and the glorious temple burned and demolished. 

This historical reality obviously impacted and colored the way Mark told his story and the meaning he attached to Jesus and the message of Jesus for his community of faith.  This section of Mark's gospel is the climax/crescendo of a series of conflicts that had been occurring all  throughout  Mark's gospel between Jesus and the religious hierarchy who represented a religious system of domination and oppression over and against the common Jewish people. 

To put as simply as I can, for Mark and his community, Jesus' warning of the impending destruction of the temple was far more than merely a warning about the destruction of a magnificent building; but for Mark it represented the total transformation of their religion.  They experienced Jesus leading them into new definitions, new understandings, new expressions, new perspectives, a new way of doing religion.   The early followers of Jesus didn't experience Jesus as someone starting a new religion that eventually came to be known as Christianity.  That came much later. They experienced Jesus as  a revolutionary transformer of the religion of which they were already a part; a religion that had become obsessed with itself and its own self-preservation;  a religion that had become dominating, manipulating, top heavy with a controlling hierarchy,  self-serving, favoring the wealthy elites that were in a collaborative relationship with Roman power and authority. 

To put it in contemporary language Mark's Jesus was calling them from a religion that had become rigid and inflexible to a spirituality that was fluid and alive!   Spirituality was not a word they used, but it's a word I use to describe their experience of Jesus.  Spirituality is one of those words that is hard to define, but it has more to do with a path we travel and religion has more to do with a system/structure of propositional beliefs.   

I will illustrate it this way. This coming week is going to be a very special week for Marcia and myself. Later this week we are traveling to Kansas City, and we will get to see and experience first-hand, and hold in our arms, our first grandchild.  I don't know what my reaction is going to exactly be when I hold him for the first time.  I am just going to let it happen. 

However, I do remember those first times I held our son David in my arms.  I remember the glut of emotions that welled-up from deep in my being.   There was obviously some fear and anxiety thinking, "Oh my gosh, what have we done!"  and "Oh my gosh, we are totally responsible for this little life."   But also, I remember being taken by surprise by the depth of love and bonding that occurred as I held David.  It was a kind of love like I had never felt before.  With it came the awareness that our lives were now changed forever.  I would imagine that something similar is going to happen to me later this week . Of course, being a grandparent is not exactly the same thing.  One of you asked me the other day about how good I was at changing diapers.  My response was, when that time comes, and if I am holding little Jace, I look forward to handing Jace back to my son and saying something like, "Justice, what goes around comes around!" 

But one thing I know for sure is that this little life is already and always will be surrounded, embraced, enveloped and supported by great love from his parents, grandparents - from all sides - and it's changing everything and everybody. 

Love changes everything doesn't it?    Watching young parents act out of their commitment of love for their child is an amazing thing.  It's a transformative experience, and it and changes everything.  It changes their daily patterns, schedule and routines of life.  It changes their priorities and values of what is ultimately important.  It changes their attitudes about all sorts of things.  Love for this baby changes and transforms everything. 

It's been a joy to watch our son, whose personality from a young age has been to be a planner and organizer and somewhat devoid of spontaneity.   That’s not a bad thing, it is who he is.  But it has been amazing to watch him abandon his best laid plans and inclination to organize everything, and at this point live his life more spontaneously than ever before, responding to the ever-changing needs of his little baby boy - all because of his great love for his child.  I hardly recognize my own son.  We've talked on the phone and "Skyped" on the internet (real time video) and we have said to one another, "Can this possibly be the same planning, calculated rather spontaneous-less person who lived with us for so many years, and we thought we knew so well?"

At least for now, his life is no longer structured by well organized plans but now is now characterized by following the path of love for his child; where loves leads and where love is needed - a much more spontaneous kind of life that has moved him beyond a life of careful planning.  To me that is an analogy for the spirituality that Jesus leads us into and mentors us in.

The temple was a glorious and magnificent symbol of religion and all that religion meant at that time.  But Mark's Jesus said it was coming down, "not one stone will be left upon another."  Everything was changing.  Mark's community experienced the old religion being replaced and transformed by a new spirituality that they were experiencing in Jesus- a new way of following where God's love leads and to where God's love is needed - a much more spontaneous life lived out of the embrace and energy of God's love.   

And it was like a new birth. In fact, in verse 8 of this 13th chapter of Mark Jesus described this business of the temple coming down as "the beginning of the birth pangs."   

Just a few verses before this the scribe asked Jesus which commandment was first of all.  In other words his question was about the core: What is the core - the essence - the heart of the religious life?  Jesus answered him saying "love God and love neighbor as self." 

Jesus' life was a life full of the love of God, and he calls us beyond any religious thing, any religious expression, any religious system that undermines and makes secondary the love of God and its outward expression in the world of compassion and social justice.

What the ordinary people, who were often victims of religious oppression and domination, experienced in Jesus was that God could be found and met and experienced in their world, on their streets, on their turf, in the everyday ordinary relationships of life, and not merely in officially sanctioned environments over which religion had claimed exclusive power and total control. 

When religion defines faith as belief in propositions, Jesus invites us into a spirituality of following him along a path of self-giving love that calls forth from us faith as trust and commitment.

When religion is used to minimize and marginalize whole classes of people, Jesus leads us into a spirituality that affirms the dignity and equality of those same religiously marginalized; in his world it was women, children, Gentiles, the unclean and outcasts of all kinds.  Who are those that religion marginalizes in our world? 

When religion follows imperialistic and colonizing strategies sacrificing the rich and colorful texture of multiple cultural expressions, Jesus led his disicples into a spirituality affirming those outside of the culture and religion of Israel as models of faith and discipleship; a spirituality of expecting that God already is where we think God is not.  

When religion emphasizes a rigid holiness and perfection to the point where people find they cannot be truly honest, and sometimes even lie to each other and themselves about their religious experience and who they are, Jesus leads us into a spirituality of honesty and authenticity because the grace and unconditional love of God is the truth that surrounds each and every one of us.  Just like the child being held by the loving parent, we don't have to pretend to be that which are not. 

When religion gets obsessed with heaven and makes it all about how to get to heaven, Jesus calls us into a spirituality of the primacy of God's presence in this world with his prayer  "thy kingdom come on earth" and "if you do it to the least of these you do it to me."

When religion draws strict and forbidden boundaries between the righteous and unrighteous, the insiders and outsiders, the holy and profane, Jesus mentors us in a spirituality of boundary crossing as he led his first disciples across the religiously legitimated boundaries of his day with the words, "Do not fear!" 

Jesus replaced the rigid super-structure of religion with a spirituality of following where God's love leads and to where God's love is needed. 

William Barclay, minister of the church of Scotland and 20th century theologian once said, "The only victory love can enjoy is when the act of love is answered by the return of love." 

One of the great joys of life that my son and daughter-in-law will experience in the months and years ahead is when their commitments and acts of love are answered by little Jace as he, in his own unique way, returns their love back to them. 

For me that is the dynamic and rhythm that Jesus invites and calls us into; a spirituality of answering God's love by loving neighbor as self; a spirituality of following where God's love leads and where God's love is needed - a spontaneous life lived out of the embrace of God's love - and it changes everything!