Pastor Christa von Zychlin

Our Savior’s Evangelical Lutheran Church

Hartland, WI. 53029

November 14, 2004

24^th Sunday after Pentecost

Luke 21:5-19

Some people are admiring the beautiful, solid rocks of the Temple in Jerusalem. 

It was God’s temple they were admiring.   But it was also in many ways King Herod’s temple.

King Herod is one of ancient history's truly extraordinary figures. 10x married, a serious drinker and a half-Jew who was half-trusted by his subjects, he played the superpower politics of his day quite nicely,  allying himself with Julius Caesar, Mark Antony then Emperor Augustus, in a political dance involving some very tricky maneuvers, not unlike Middle East politics today.

 But Herod was up to it.  Herod was a ruthless.

History tells us that Herod killed  thousands of Jerusalemites in the streets while acquiring his power.

In the Bible, He was the man who had the little children in & around Bethlehem slaughtered, because the Magi told him that one of those babies was destined to be King.

And Herod was the builder king -  he ordered up huge forts, palaces and  whole cities throughout Judea,; he created an artificial harbor at Caesarea Maritima that lasted 600 years. 600 years!  Think of that!  Is there anything we build today, in Hartland, in Waukesha, in Milwaukee, that will last 600 years?

It was in Jerusalem,, that Herod "undertook to make one of the major wonders of the ancient world." He rebuilt the existing meandering streets on a paved grid and created a moat-ringed palace featuring—Las Vegas style, in a desert country—picturesque water gardens. He added an amphitheater and a sports stadium.

But the jewel in the crown, the spiritual, economic and social center of Judea -- an icon to Jews throughout the world, and, not coincidentally, a tribute to King Herod’s own deep sense of the importance of religion…..   was the Temple of Jerusalem.  It was not the first nor the last time in History that a strong showing of religious devotion would be firmly tied to political ambition. 

It was Herod’s plan to  rival Solomon, the biblical builder of the first Temple.

In preparation for this project, Herod got himself a thousand wagons (with oxen), hired 10,000 skilled workmen and trained 1,000 priests as masons and carpenters, because Biblically,  only priests could build the Temple proper 

All Jews around the world were expected to pay a yearly half-shekel Temple tax. Historians aren’t exactly sure of a shekel's worth, but definitely the total earnings were huge, and supported this great “faith- based” initiative.

Tradition forbade the Temple's enlargement beyond Solomon's original Temple dimensions. So Herod expressed his egomania by adding a 35-acre platform— "the greatest ever heard of," writes Jewish historian Josephus—on which the Temple could sit.    The Western “Wailing Wall” where Jews pray today is a small 2,000 year old slice of the platform's 16-ft.-thick western side.  A 2,000 year old slice!  Is there anything we build today, in Hartland, in Waukesha, in Milwaukee, of which even a slice will last 2,000  years?  Even two stones put together that will still exist in 2,000 years?

 At the time of Jesus, No visitor seeing Jerusalem for the first time could fail to be impressed by its visual splendor. The long, difficult climb from Jericho to the Holy City ended as the traveler suddenly caught sight of a view like few others in the world. Across the Kidron Valley, set among the surrounding hills, was Jerusalem, "the perfection of beauty," in the words of Lamentations, "the joy of all the world."

That view from the Mount of Olives was now, in Jesus’ day, dominated by Herod’s new gleaming, gold-embellished Temple located in the most holy spot in the Jewish world. Here was, people thought,  the Lord's earthly dwelling place  whose massive white stones (some of them 30 ft. long and weighing up to 50 tons each) gleamed in the bright Palestinian sun and could be seen from miles away.

 “Will you look at that!” Some people are saying to Jesus,  as they stand close up to the temple walls.  “See these beautiful  stones and this magnificent building.”

 You and I can imagine the awe and the wonder.  Many of you have traveled.  The first amazing thing you see in Europe are the buildings which are not 100 or even 150 years old, but 500, 600, a thousand years old.

These people in Luke chapter 21 are religious sight seers, too. 

Just like You & I have done... admired tall buildings, marble floors, skyscrapers, cathedrals, domes, pyramids, glistening sanctuaries in exotic and some not-so-exotic places:  Jerusalem, Rome, New York, Milwaukee. 

"Will you look at that! These buildings must be centuries old!"  And we admire the power of human beings to create things that endure longer than their own lifespans.  We admire the collective skill and vision and sacrifice it took to construct.  The Thousands and thousands of shekels and dollars, buckets of sweat, some not insignificant tears.

Is there anything we build today, in Hartland, in Waukesha, in  Milwaukee, that will last even a generation? 

Sometimes we have "tourists" “spiritual sightseers” even in our little church.

"Wow, you certainly have nice facilities" people will say, when they come in for weddings and funerals, piano recitals and Scout activities.

 Sometimes I myself have been known to admire a church for its building.  It’s not the rocks I admire so much as… maybe the

Gymnasium… for the kids to play

The state of the art "education hall " …with big screen TV’s and  already hooked up video projectors…

An especially majestic sanctuary with room for hundreds of people at a time to come forward & kneel for communion.

I think about the people involved to make something like that happen.  And I think about the spiritual vision & the financial commitment involved to get something like that going. 

And I hear the tourists say to Jesus “Look at this stuff, Teacher,  isn’t this great?”

And what does Jesus say?  What does Jesus say about Herod’s magnificent temple?  It will all be knocked down.  It will all be dust.  It will all be flattened.  The holiest places, the most magnificent cathedrals, the most state of the art Sunday School classrooms.

 “The time is coming,” says Jesus, (and I quote):  “when not one of them will be left in place.  They will all be knocked down.”

He was right.  (of course!) Both the Temple and the City of Jerusalem were indeed about to be destroyed.

On the 10th of August, in A.D. 70 -- the 9th of Av -- in Jewish reckoning, the very day of the month when the King of Babylon burned Solomon’s Temple 7 centuries previously,  the Temple was burned again. The Romans took the city and put it to the torch, burning the Temple to the ground,  

 Carrying the precious metal candlesticks and cups off to Rome to be melted down & sold.

“So then,” said some of the early Christians, who survived that day.  “Then why labor at all?  What does it matter?  Why even spend time teaching or building or  feeding the hungry, when all of this world is so temporary?  Why should we tithe, give from our incomes, when Jesus himself says, this will all be dust?” 

Why should we?

Because in churches like this one, in Our Savior's Church, while we know that  gymnasiums and state of the art classrooms or even  magnificent sanctuaries may not  outlast even this generation,

 The claiming  of hearts and souls, the training of muscles and minds for the Kingdom of God, the  crafting of living stones for a sanctuary paid for in our Savior’s blood,  This, this will outlast every last brick being put into our temporary walls. 

Our annual Stewardship Weekend is coming next weekend.   As we prepare for that important spiritual decision, each of us will be facing the question, "What is God calling me to give as a percentage of my income?  How is God calling me to the hard work of helping in building the sanctuary and the programs of His Church? And frankly, what does it really matter in the great scheme of things?" 

 Those are REAL spiritual questions, thank God we have no temple tax to take each other’s shekels.

We will each be personally called by God to provide financial resources in very different amounts. 

But however we hear His call, let us keep in mind that God doesn't need us to give money so He can have a bigger church, a fancier temple, made out of stronger, sturdier stones.  Rather, God wants to use our deepest spiritual acts of giving

 in order to build stronger, sturdier church people, doing stronger and sturdier and even holy, magnificent, state-of-the-art acts of love and healing, for His Name's Sake.

 Is there anything we build today, in Hartland, in Milwaukee, that will last 2,000 or  600 or even a generations worth of years?  Quite probably not , but what God is doing in us when we teach the Bible, pray for the sick, welcome the stranger, care for the hungry, give out of our incomes,   receive the Holy Sacrament, that construction will last an eternity. For that is part of the eternal  Kingdom of God.  Amen.

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