Christian Pathway

Gospel: Luke 23: 33-43

I doubt there’s a generation of  Christians since this moment in our reading  that hasn’t thought now’s the time, look at all this mess. Or words to that affect, we know we aren’t the first because  in acts the disciples repeatedly reflect on this speech and act as if he’s coming back any minute (always good advice that). 

 Its  also a warning not to always take every word of the bible totally literally, because we know the temple lasted another 70 years.  The western or wailing wall is all that remains today.   In John he said it will rise again in three days, and that hasn’t happened yet  So what do we make of this

 The bible is poetry, history, biography prophecy autobiography spirituality and much much more so  this means there  are many examples of language we know not to take literally, and we need to choose carefully what words we do? 

I am dying of laughter, doesn’t mean your dying, I have butterflies in my stomach, doesn’t mean I literally have butterflies flying inside me , and say ““The wind whispered through the trees” doesn’t mean the trees actually spoke words. Very few people actually kick the bucket when they

Die and so on

We know this event didn’t take place  the temple stood and so we know Jesus idiom or metaphor  was misunderstood and used against him as a veiled threat in his arrest.

But we still use the wider passage to try and apply this to our times, as did every Christian since.  When I see how people use the bible at times I find it Odd how we spot some things and don’t spot others.  Yet this passage gives us a clue to always have an eye on context when reading the bible, to see whether this is metaphor, rhetoric, poetry or so on?

so parking that

So if we know this wasn’t literal what what was jesus on about?

The temple was for the jews God’s presence on earth, for them  its where God lived, inside that building.   Only the high priest could go behind the curtain inside the inner sanctum to where god lived, and only on Yom kippur the day of atonement.  

When Jesus died on the cross and the curtain was ripped in the temple, he did away with all that separation, and we can be with him all the time through prayer.

That’s what he meant when he said  ““As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down.”  He is the temple, and 

the temples role as the only place God lived would be known is rendered obsolete, redundant essentially displaced by him when he died and rose again and god is everywhere in all of us. 

You and all creation are now the temple. Because we know God is in us and we are in him

If you are looking for words you can take literally, plainly spoken read word for word and with no need to interpret in todays readings  its these passages.


¹² “But before all this, they will seize you and persecute you. 
They will hand you over to synagogues and put you in prison, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. ¹³ And so you will bear testimony to me. ¹⁴ But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. ¹⁵ For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. ¹⁶ You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers and sisters, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. ¹⁷ Everyone will hate you because of me. ¹⁸ But not a hair of your head will perish. ¹⁹ Stand firm, and you will win life.

Why did he tell us that?

That prophecy actually  comes true regularly in mankind, when voices of anger and hatred get louder, they never go away but  but sometimes they get loudera. And they are getting louder girth now, grace is about to become expensive, because we follow Jesus who is love and mercy and  and we are asked to show and act and speak love. 

However words of mercy are less and less welcome. words of love towards the people society doesn’t want you to love will cause scorn, words that contradict current ideas of loyalty, leadership, the accepted voice of wisdom

Opposing these with words of love  are becoming harder . Across the world people hate people for their faith including Christian’s being hated for their .  For all these things when tested by society,  you will be given the words to say.   Why do we have to stand firm , for the same reason why we as Christians have a cross as our emblem not a union jack, or the Stars and Stripes ,  we belong to another country another kingdom, the  leader we answer  too isn’t any of the leaders of our day or any day, but of eternity. 

When we speak about where our ultimate loyalty lies it will lead some to be angry, maybe to persecute you, maybe take you to the authorities, or the angry people or the mob.  

We need to stand firm in that moment and speak the love of Jesus .we must also “make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. ¹⁵ For I will give you words and wisdom that

none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict”

remembering of course that the first thing truth does is piss you off, so like many Christians it may all lead to further suffering .  However we are given one final reassurance, ¹⁹ Stand firm, and you will win life.”
“Therefore, luke —urge you to follow the example of the early believers in Thessalonica, as Timothy testified: stand firm in the Lord.
its going to get harder, our selfish and self interest will speak to our hearts  our neighbours and people we love will speak and  various leaders will speak and get our attention, but we don’t answer to them. 

We need to speak love and stand firm in the lord, because that’s who we do and will answer too, ¹⁹ Stand firm, and you will win life. As our psalm says today, the lord comes to judge the earth and its him we answer too, and he is asking us to show love and mercy. Stand firm in the lord.

When the world gets angry we mustn’t join in, when the world hates we must not hate, when the world excludes we love the Samaritan the outcast.

Theres a saying attributed to Billy Graham

 that we you me and all of us are often  the first bible people encounter. So we in our lives must bear witness to the love of God for all his creation.  And that’s why this prophecy does come true almost every generation 

However 

We call Jesus lord, and we belong to  this lords manor and he makes the rules and he has   has one rule as its most important one. Love for all. To bear witness that we belong to this lord we follow his most important rule and love everyone as best we can we also disobey the rule of this world and the other kingdom of angry people when it calls on us to hate.  Even if  as it says in our reading to day “⁷ Everyone will hate you because of me. 

at that moment we listen to jesus Stand firm, and you will win life.”

amen