Not the Temple, But You and I – That we May NOT be Destroyed!
Malachi 3:19-20a; 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12; Luke 21:5-19
A close look at the gospel of today shows a narrative divided into two, beginning with the Temple in Jerusalem and ending with the ordeals of Christians. In retrospect, we know that the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D., and the world didn’t come to an end. Up until today, that Temple remains destroyed. But the second part of today’s gospel, on the one hand, it talks about you and I, and every Christian around the world, our agonies and pains; on the other, it reminds us of the negative things happening to our planet, and the things we care about. The message of today comes from the relationship between the lessons of the past, the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and what that Temple symbolizes, and how Christians are to handle the events of today – their persecutions and doom’s-day predictions; in the words of Jesus, “See that you not be deceived” (Luke 21:8).
Traveling around the world or watching the news, we see the beauty of St. Peter’s Basilica, churches in Europe and America, how beautifully adorned they are, like the Temple our gospel speaks about. Some of these basilicas were built hundreds of years ago, but they are only physically standing, for we see their collapse everyday. Today, there are more tourists visiting them than worshippers. A lot of the descendants of those who built those basilicas have abandoned the Christian faith. Most of our basilicas, although not destroyed like the Temple in Jerusalem, they now stand as relics of a distant past, a once-upon-a-time Christianity. The morality and virtues taught in those basilicas yesteryears are now threatened by same-sex campaigners, abortion crusaders, sex-offenders, antisemites, and dehumanizers. Indeed, the edifices stand, but their symbols have long collapsed – what a cataclysm!
However, Jesus takes our gazes beyond edifices and temples, basilicas and churches to human persons, to you and I. If the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed, but God remains alive and active among us, it follows that everything physical, including the human body, is susceptible to destruction; therefore we need to watch our lives and living. The good news is that God is indestructible, so is the human soul. The faith and the God that the Temple stood for remain alive even today, and no power of evil can ever destroy them. However, we need to see beyond the Romans who destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem to see ourselves substituting for the Romans in the destruction of the temples of God that we are, and serving as obstacles to the teachings of Christ. Each one of us is on a suicidal course through the choices we often make, and our omissions towards good actions/deeds. For instance, I am the same-sex campaigner because my life is not Christian enough to convince him or her of what is right and wrong. I am the abortion crusader because I refuse to stand up for proper sex education of my children in school, and believe that it is fine to have sex, while denying that I will deal with the pregnancy that trails my sexual promiscuity. I am the sex offender by my abuse of sex and abuse of minors and glorifying the structures that make that possible. Every action of mine that denigrates any human being, including myself, so that the images of God that we all are is disfigured is my sin and negligence – that is the destruction of the Temple today!
The encouraging phrase of Jesus, in today’s gospel, “do not be afraid/terrified” ( Luke 21:9) teaches us the attitude of a Christian when faced with personal and cataclysmic difficulties. In fact, Jesus added that, in such instances of disproportional distress and sufferings, it is time to become a martyr – “This will be your opportunity to bear witness/martyrion” (Luke 21:13). A Christian is a living and dying martyr. He/she must be on his/her way to jail, court and the gallows, on account of the Christian message. The conflict situations and negative experiences of today’s gospel are both the signs of the presence of a Christian in an anti-religious society and pointers that the human soul will survive every physical destruction and render an account of itself before God. The Roman destruction of a physical edifice, the Temple in Jerusalem, attempted the obliteration of the presence of God and his worship, forgetting that the human person is the temple of God per excellence. It is only the destruction of the human race that will eradicate the visible presence of God on earth – for “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14).
The human person is the standing temple marked out for destruction by the modern Romans, the individuals that are asking for the head of a practicing Christian, and one that stands up for the Christian teachings. This is the end-times that Jesus talks about in the second part of today’s gospel, the era of martyrdom for being a Christian. The end of the world is not the focus of today’s readings, but how to weather anti-Christianity in every age is the message. The “perseverance” the gospel calls for is the guarantee that martyrdom will never see the end of Christianity, but its resilience. Those who “persevere” in persecution are actually the authentic Christians and co-guarantors with God for its continuity.
Christianity is not so much about the knowledge of doctrines, but the practice of doctrines, being other and living christs in every age and generation. Our second reading underscores this point by harping on the word IMITATION: “For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us . . . We want to give ourselves to you as examples to imitate” (2 Thessalonians 3:7, 9b). Every Christian is a visible moral edifice, a temple visible enough to be seen and acknowledged as such. As long as physical edifices made of stones, cement and bricks trump the sacredness of the human body, the value given to human life and its defense and protection from conception to natural dead, so shall we continue to experience the decay of our society, the triumph of evil and the expansion of contemporary willing Roman soldiers to destroy whatever points to God as signs of his presence on earth.
There is a Christian fear, not the fear of evil and evil people – “But for you who FEAR MY NAME, there will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays” (Malachi 3:20a). It is the fear of the Lord that makes a Christian ready to save his soul, instead of his body “You will be hated by all because of my name, but not a hair on your head will be destroyed. By your perseverance you will secure your souls” (Luke 21:19). Here and now, judgment is already declared through human actions, either the fear of the Lord – through our readiness to die for the truth of the gospel, or fear of the world – through the compromise of our faith in order to avoid persecution and be accepted by the world. What sentence have you passed on your life?
Assignment for the Week:
Pick up the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17) and ask yourself which among them are hindrances to your salvation and come up with strategies towards “perseverance” in keeping God’s Commandments.