Nov 18 2024 12 mins
The Rev. Michelle Meech
2 Samuel 23:1-7
Psalm 132:1-13 (14-19)
Revelation 1:4b-8
John 18:33-37
Today’s story from the Gospel of Mark, as is true of all stories
about Jesus, takes place during a very fearful time when the
Jewish people had been living under an occupying force – the
Roman Empire. This had been going on for nearly a century and
the empire’s grip on their lives had grown tighter and tighter
despite the Jewish leadership’s attempt to mollify them.
The non-Biblical accounts, that is, the historical accounts of first
century Palestine (or, rather, what would come to be known as
Palestine), these accounts tell us that there were many people
claiming to be the messiah and had been for decades.
Because the Jewish people, in their growing fear and hatred of
the Romans, had grown desperate for a warrior messiah – the
return of a great king. One who would conquer the Roman enemy
and expel them from Jewish lands. Someone who would not
cooperate with Roman authority, as King Herod and his inheritors
had done, but would reign as king of the Jewish nation so that
Jews could be free from Roman control and oppression.
So, this passage from Mark is not exactly shrouded in mystery. It
is based in fact. And although the gospels were written several
decades after Jesus’ death and, in fact, after the utter destruction
of Jerusalem itself by the Roman Empire in their final blow to
eradicate the Jewish people from the land, it’s highly likely that
Jesus understood what was to come. Maybe not the specifics. But
I really do think that he knew that the very things the Jewish
people held as precious – the temple, their worship, their identity,
their community, their beliefs – I think Jesus understood that
these things would be destroyed.
Because Jesus did not choose to defend them. He understood
that there was something more important than their cultural and
institutional life. And that something is life itself.
Ours Is the God of Love: Mark 13:1-8 Michelle Meech
Pentecost XXV; Proper 28: November 17, 2024 St. Michael’s, NYC, NY
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Because he understood from his own study of the law and the
prophets – he was a rabbi, after all – he understood that God did
not care about ritual or sacrifice. God cared about life itself.
All of the gospel witness tells us in varying ways that Jesus got
the bigger picture. That the Jewish way of life was going to be
forever changed, that he himself would be killed because he was
willing to speak out against the hypocrisy of the religious
leadership, and that because of all that was about to go down, he
needed to teach his disciples how to get through it.
The exact words he used and the specific events that took place
sometimes vary from gospel to gospel and sometimes they are
much the same. But the message is consistent and clear: Love
God. Love your neighbor as yourself. This is what it means to
worship the God of life, the God who is Love.
It’s not about the temple – as Mark is saying here – because the
temple will be destroyed. It’s not about the institutional or cultural
life of the Jewish people because, again as Mark is pointing to
here – there will be wars and other signs of destruction. These
are just the things that will take place and they are the beginnings
of the birthpangs.
And Jesus says – do not be alarmed; the end is still to come. That
which is needing to be birthed, the life that needs to come into the
world is on its way.
I wish I could say that what happened in Jesus’ time is an
anomaly, but it’s not. History is filled with times of division and
fear that always result in power mongers rising to power. People
who think of others and, really, all the creatures of God, as
objects in their path. With hearts that have turned to stone, these
are the people who will manipulate others in order to create
systems of control and oppression so that they can gain and
Ours Is the God of Love: Mark 13:1-8 Michelle Meech
Pentecost XXV; Proper 28: November 17, 2024 St. Michael’s, NYC, NY
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maintain power. But it can only happen when people are already
fearful and sharp divisions have arisen amongst the populace.
The story of Hannah from our Hebrew scriptures today, also
comes from such a time. The ancient Israelites were becoming
fearful because the bordering nations were becoming militarized.
This was the beginning of the Iron Age and advancement in
weaponry was a significant outcome of that period.
Ancient Israel, at this time, was led by people called judges who
were not military leaders. And what arose from the fear of the
ancient Israelites was the desire for a defender. A terminator-like
character to whom they would willingly had over their power so
that they could secure their borders.
Perhaps that sounds familiar.
And this is the crux of the issue – the human response. When we
are fearful, we don’t usually look around and ask, “who needs
help?” We usually want to protect ourselves. Protect the things we
know and love. Protect our way of life – our institutions and
livelihood.
The kind of fear that they were experiencing – both at the time of
Jesus when the Roman Empire was occupying their land and in
ancient Israel as the nations all around them advanced
dramatically in their war-making abilities… the kind of fear that the
Jewish people were experiencing in both of our stories today, I
think, may be similar to what is being experienced right now. Here
in 21 th century America.
And while the particular circumstances may be different for us,
the wisdom of Christ echoes through the centuries to our ears
today: “the end is still to come.”
Ours Is the God of Love: Mark 13:1-8 Michelle Meech
Pentecost XXV; Proper 28: November 17, 2024 St. Michael’s, NYC, NY
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In other words, the resurrection is still to come. Life is on the other
side of these birthpangs. After the apocalypse, after the
overturning, the Resurrection is still to come.
We have no ability yet to see exactly what God is doing here, in
our lives. Now, I don’t think that God created the divisions and the
hatred. Not at all. But on my better days (when I’m not suggesting
to my wife that we need to move to Canada) on my better days, I
get a glimpse of God’s hope. And I know that God is with us. I
know that these are birthpangs for some new life. Because we are
not there yet.
And while I can get philosophical about this, and think I’m a real
smarty pants and get on a soapbox about how this is just human
behavior once again (which I think I just have), what brings me to
my knees, my friends, is this:
The God I worship, the savior I adore, the teaching I follow offers
me instructions about how to get through this. And the message is
consistent and clear: Love God. Love your neighbor as yourself.
This is the mission. Because that’s what has always been the
mission.
Instead of trying to lead an armed rebellion against the occupying
force, Jesus goes out and heals both Jews and Gentiles. He
feeds both Jews and Gentiles. And he teaches both Jews and
Gentiles. Jesus teaches people that we are to love God and love
our neighbor as our self. Instead of responding to fear and
desperation by building walls and drawing lines in the sand, Jesus
crosses borders.
Because, by being his disciples, we have come to learn that our
God is not a god of vengeance. Our god is the God of Love who
has told us through the resurrection that death is never the final
word. The end is still to come.
Ours Is the God of Love: Mark 13:1-8 Michelle Meech
Pentecost XXV; Proper 28: November 17, 2024 St. Michael’s, NYC, NY
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My friends, we worship the God of life. Not the god of prosperity,
not the god of institutions, not even the god of democracy. All of
these things may be used by God to bring about God’s reign on
earth, but they are not God. And, in that, my friends, is our hope.
We worship the God of life because the God of life is the God who
is Love Incarnate. And this love is what has to be the lens through
which we discern our actions and the actions of others as we
move through the next days, weeks, and months.
This love is not a passive-lets-get-along-to-go-along kind of thing.
But this love has agency – loving agency strengthened by God so
that we know who we are and whose we are. To proclaim the
image of God that is the core of who we are and the ground of our
very being and that which is the truth of every part of creation.
Because what we do as the Body of Christ, is not about the
maintenance of any institution. It’s about living the way of Jesus.
It’s about loving God and loving your neighbor as yourself.
Because institutions and empires, even the most cherished ones,
will eventually end. No one ever thought the Roman Empire was
going to end, but it did.
And in the midst of the world and all its ups and downs and
changes and chances and beginnings and endings… in the midst
of all the fear-mongering and the vengeance-seeking and the line
drawing, our messiah, our true messiah is found in a very simple
teaching, “Love God and love your neighbor as yourself.”
Our recently retired presiding bishop Michael Curry preached
about this very thing in his sermon on the day of his institution as
presiding bishop. He said:
“On these two commandments, love of God and love of neighbor,
hang all the law and the prophets. Everything Moses was talking
Ours Is the God of Love: Mark 13:1-8 Michelle Meech
Pentecost XXV; Proper 28: November 17, 2024 St. Michael’s, NYC, NY
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about, all the justice that the prophets proclaimed, everything
that’s in the Bible, it’s all about love of God and love of neighbor.
That love will turn this world upside down. And if it’s not about
love it is not about God.”
And that is exactly what it means to be a Christian in times of fear
and division, even when it seems like the world we love is falling
apart, our focus our mission must be to listen, always, for the
voice of love.
It’s not always easy to love in the face of terror, in the face of
hate, in the face of bigotry and fear and violence. But if we don’t
try, if we don’t commit to walking the way of Jesus, we risk losing
ourselves to the God of hate. Because our messiah has told us in
no uncertain terms, ours is the God of Love.
Ours is the God of Love.
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