Mark 13:1-8

⁷ When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. ⁸ Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.

Why is Jesus being so provocative? Doesn’t he know that the last thing you should preach to a church is that the building isn’t all that important? He never had to preach through a capital campaign to replace the boiler or the carpet. But this passage tells us something we already know. A church is not just a building or an institution. It is a community and a movement. A church works to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God. Being a church is not easy, but living by the golden rule of loving your neighbor is the hope of humanity. I will dive deep into Jesus' message about the Temple and conclude that building a solid community is deeply important in challenging times.

The Temple complex in Jerusalem is the holiest ground for Jews, Christians, and Muslims today. The Western Wailing Wall and the Al Aksa Mosque sit on the mountaintop Solomon built up with stone for the First Temple in 957 BCE. Babylonian destroyed Solomon’s Temple in 587 BC. Herod the Great rebuilt walls surrounding this area in Jesus’s day. The enclosed area is about 36 acres, the size of seven high school football complexes with quarter-mile tracks surrounding them (about 5 acres each), laid out side by side. The Wailing Wall, the remains of Herod’s wall, is about 187 feet high. That is about the height a 12 to 15-story building. This was a vast open-air complex that would have swallowed most football stadiums.  For historical comparison, it was larger than the Coliseum in Rome.

The disciples were justifiably in awe. In the presence of such grandeur, why is Jesus not impressed? For clue number one, let’s start with who built it-Herod. Remember your Christmas stories? Jesus had reason to hold Herod in contempt.  His family fled to Egypt to escape the slaughter of the innocents. Jesus may have leftover issues with any landmarks of Herod’s grandeur. Where others gaze in wonder, Jesus sees blood money and taxes stolen from people who can’t afford it, national wealth spent on Herod’s glory while people suffer in poverty.

This episode takes place about three days after the cleansing of the Temple when Jesus took a whip, drove out the moneychangers. Aren’t you surprised they let him back in? You would probably be banned if you did that at a church flea market or craft fair. But the Chief Priests feared the crowds enthralled by Jesus. 

One of the disciples blurts out, “Teacher, look at these buildings and huge stones.” The wiser and more sophisticated disciples might think, “You moron! Are you paying attention? Jesus does not like the Temple or the Priests because they want to kill him. They are the bad guys. Try to keep it straight, OK?” Jesus has had enough of the opulence of the Temple. He says, “The day will come when all of this will be thrown down, and not one stone will be left upon another.”

Now Jesus is getting everyone’s attention after poking the hornet’s nest. “When will this come about? Look around, Jesus. Those stones are humongous. This Temple will be here forever, like the Great Pyramids of Giza. What has God revealed to you about the future?”  Jesus calms everyone down before one of the Chief Priests listening in has an aneurysm on the spot. Jesus then delivers this warning:

“Beware that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray.  When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. For nations will rise against nations, and kingdoms against kingdoms, there will be earthquakes and famines in various places. This is but the beginning of the birth pangs.

Here is my paraphrase of what Jesus would say today,

“Don’t let fear and anxiety rule your heart. Terrible things happen. We are in a climate emergency with hurricanes and floods. We had a pandemic and inflation, and people are bitterly divided into political factions against each other. It is a frightening and uncertain time, but don’t get distracted from the core message to love one another and serve the common good. Everything feels like it is changing, but life is always changing. Don’t be led astray by leaders who offer easy and simplistic answers or blame others for our problems. Pull together in the hard times. That is how you get through. I’ll be with you, too, and I will show you the way.”

The first readers of Mark’s Gospel faced great tumult. Mark is writing around this terrible atrocity in Jerusalem. Is it a coincidence that the first written account of the Gospel story appears in the aftermath? As the shock of civilization-altering violence reverberates, Mark dips a quill into ink and writes these opening words of his story, “The beginning of the good news of Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God.”  Good news!? That is what the word Gospel means. Here is some good news. Writing about good news amid deep trauma and grief takes a lot of courage. Mark could have written a different story. He could have written a deep lamentation to speak of the collective suffering. Christians in 70 CE were still a faction within Judaism. They may have been in tension with the Temple leaders, but many hoped for reform. Human nature prefers gradual change. There are no early Christian texts hoping for the apocalyptic destruction of the Temple. Mark expresses strong language condemning corruption by Temple leaders, but there is no gloating in his Gospel. He never says God brought this destruction because of injustice and unfaithfulness. Nobody deserved this.

Mark doesn’t try to explain the destruction of the Temple. He has a different story to tell. Destruction and chaos are not the work of God. Instead, God has been at work behind the scenes. The Spirit was working in Jesus of Nazareth and the community formed around his life death and resurrection. His disciples have gathered to follow his teachings, and here is the good news. In verse 2 of Mark’s story, he quotes Isaiah, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make the path straight.” It’s an old story grounded in Moses and the prophets, but here is the new chapter, even as their hearts are still breaking and wounds have not yet healed. 

Mark moves relentlessly forward for 13 chapters as Jesus heals, offers grace and forgiveness, challenges prejudice, hatred and arrogance, and invites people into the coming Kingdom of God, which I like to translate into the Beloved Community. His message is still valid for us. Amid fear and uncertainty, pay attention to the path Jesus taught. Don’t just look for good news; create some good news, be the good news. The facts on the ground may be terrible, but hope is always about what we cannot see. Hope is not about data; it is about possibility. We are called to be stewards not just of what we see but of a future we cannot yet perceive. 

The last line of today’s text says, “These are the beginning of the birth pangs.” New life does not come easy. The birthing process is a great wonder to me. Women, you understand the ways of life better. Babies aren’t simply born; you must painfully push new human life out of your bodies and into the world. I can’t fathom it. I can only gaze in awe and wonder and try to say encouraging things. Breathe! Push! You can do it. Here it comes. 

I don’t know if Mark or Jesus ever saw a birth. But they know a good analogy when they see it. History has birth pangs. We face significant challenges, such as the climate emergency, and new technology that spreads disinformation faster than wisdom; culture is changing so rapidly that we struggle to adapt. Where is it all going? The world as we know it is being shaken to its foundations. 

There is a strong tendency to turn inward in times of trouble to find grounding and serenity. I’m a strong advocate of inward practices to strengthen the soul. But inward spirituality alone won’t bring us peace. Self-care is not just walking in the woods or treating yourself with something you like. Being in the community is also a vital part of self-care. In an anecdote from anthropologist Margaret Mead, she once held an ancient femur bone. She pointed to a healed break, saying, “This is when civilization began, when we advanced to care for the vulnerable.” Civilization declines when we forget protecting people who are vulnerable. 



To bring the future, we must go through the birth pangs. Breathe! Push! We can do this! The temples we cling to may be toppled someday, but the good news of the Gospel story continues. We hope for things beyond what we now see. We are stewards not just of what we have now but of the future. Thanks be to God. Amen.