The Rev. Austin K. Rios
13 November 2022: Proper 28
Isaiah 65:17-25
Canticle 9
2 Thessalonians 3:6-13
Luke 21:5-19
This past Friday, known as Remembrance Day in the member states of the British Commonwealth and Veterans Day to those in the United States, was a day to give thanks for the service of those who fought and died in World War I and to honor US military veterans who served in the many wars since November 11, 1918.
Several members of my family served in the military, and I am eternally grateful for their sacrifices.
As a way of marking the day, and at the suggestion of my daughter, I watched the new version of All’s Quiet on the Western Front, which presents a harrowing view of the horrors of trench warfare in the Great War.
There is a scene in the beginning of the movie where young German recruits, newly clad in their crisp, clean uniforms are being briefed by a commanding officer about the glories that await them in battle.
The officer, in animated tones reminiscent of sports coaches, tells the boys that they are beating the French and that future generations will sing songs of their glory.
In but a short time they will march on Paris and will win for their native Deutschland a victory for the ages.
The room is afire with the boys’ zeal and they soon head to the Front with great expectations.
Of course, the reality they face is anything but glorious.
They quickly discover that their leaders have hidden the awful truth from them and manipulated their hopes and dreams to refresh the ranks and to offer them up as sacrifices upon the altars of their own greed and pursuit of glory.
As my heart broke watching their particular stories play out, and I reflected upon all the ways that veterans of wars suffer both in the field of combat and in the tortured recesses of their own psyches, I couldn’t help but contrast Jesus’ marching orders today in the Gospel with those of the animated German officer in the film.
Jesus tells his disciples the truth about the struggle to which he calls them—that the gorgeous Temple that Herod the Great had just restored would one day be toppled, that wars and natural disasters would remain a reality for them, and that some of them would be betrayed, arrested, and even put to death because of their affiliation with him and his revolutionary message of love.
It’s a wonder that anyone ever said, ‘Hey Jesus! Sign me up for that! Sign me up for going to prison, having my parents betray me and disown me, and for death. Yeah, for the love of God, I’m all in Jesus!”
And yet, those sober eyed recruits—knowing the truth about the hardships that faced them—did say yes to Jesus’ call.
Why?
Part of me imagines that Jesus’ charisma and miracle working abilities were a major draw in those earliest days.
Once you’ve seen a blind man recover his sight, a young daughter and a man raised from the dead, and multitudes fed from a few loaves of bread and fish, you can’t unsee such things.
And yet, I don’t think those miracles alone would have produced a movement with the staying power of Jesus’—a movement that has outlasted the rise and fall of empires and whose call is as powerful today as it ever was.
What gives Jesus’ movement life, other than God’s grace, is that his evolved way of being can be followed by anyone regardless of how hard circumstances in the outside world become.
Jesus warned his followers about the resistance they would face, and he was truthful with them about the many tragedies that could befall them as both human beings and as his disciples.
But what he showed them by choosing the path of the servant over the path of the emperor, and what he proved by rising from the dead and revealing the limitlessness of a life of love is that the investments they made in each other and in the furthering of the Gospel could never be destroyed.
The Second Temple was destroyed in 70AD, but the Jesus movement marched on.
All the persecutions, betrayals, wars, plagues, and earthquakes have taken place as Jesus forewarned—and they remain a reality even this day—but the Gospel of Truth and Love that found expression through those who followed Jesus’ way together is yet undaunted.
And even when those who bear the name Christian have championed false gospels, leading many astray through church-sponsored empire building, or through perversions of Christ’s servant ethic, or by striking at the very foundations of the faith to serve narrow political interests—the movement of Jesus Christ and the reign of God to which it points remain unsullied.
This is the case because as heartbreaking, tragic, and painful as the truth and our fragile human experience and behavior can be, Jesus has shown us the way to approach catastrophes and hardships not with fear but with community.
The sadness, division, and destruction in our world—instead of paralyzing us into apathy or cynicism—can provide us opportunities to testify to the power of God in Jesus Christ, and the way his resurrected life shared in sacramental community transforms the world forever.
Together, we can proclaim the peace that the world cannot give—because it is a peace that is built among us in the soul places that moth, rust, and war cannot consume or destroy.
Over the next month, you are going to be asked to make a giving estimate for next year so that this message can be proclaimed here at St. Paul’s, and so that our ministries and mission may be shared commitments that lead to the flourishing of life among us and beyond our walls.
I’m going to take a page out of Jesus’ book and tell you the truth that we need all hands on deck, not only because having each one of us invested in our common life is the best way to care for our community, but because the hardships of war, inflation, and lost income have left us financially vulnerable.
Your vestry has set a goal of $50,000 for this campaign, and at our meeting today after the service, both the vestry and I will submit our giving estimates in hopes of starting the campaign well.
Please pray about how you will participate in this giving campaign, reflect on who and what gives you life here at St. Paul’s, and keep an eye out for materials to help you do so in the weeks ahead.
We are fortunate to have a magnificent space in which to worship, that has been lovingly and faithfully restored by our Board.
But there will come a day when “not one stone will be left on another” and when the hardships of our world become too much to bear alone.
It is then that we will look to the other “living stones” of the community that Christ has formed us to be.
We will seek help from one another to hold on to the truth when the pillars of our world are shaken, we will long to share communion once more and the peace that the world cannot give, and we will need to be encouraged and reinforced to forsake fear and see hardships as opportunities to testify.
To proclaim that in Jesus’ way is eternal life, and that we can know it and share it by following him into the evolved humanity to which he calls us.
We may not be able to stop all wars with the love we share and extend in Jesus’ name, but we can add the living stone of our lives to the Temple and kingdom that has no end.
That is a blessed, truthful, and worthy call my sisters and brothers.
A call blessed by our Lord and Savior that can both draw us as a community into the life eternal for which our souls long and root us in mutual service and testimony in the present.