Jesus Gets Scary
Psalm 16; Mark 13: 1-8
City Methodist Church [SLIDE 2] was opened in Gary, Indiana, in 1926. The construction cost was $800,000, today around $14,400,000. [SLIDE 3] It boasted a 3,000-seat capacity Sanctuary and adjoining buildings which included a 1,000 seat theater, corporate offices, a gym, Sunday School, a dining hall, and soon to be a bowling alley. [SLIDE 4] It was the crowning jewel of a growing Midwestern town, and put on incredible plays, services, and became a hub of all things Gary, Indiana. Today, it stands as a desolate ruin. [SLIDE 5] In fact, the church lasted only about 49 years, closing its doors for good in 1975. [SLIDE 6] Now it stands as a testimony to a very beautiful failure in a city that has declined into near ghost-town status.
In many ways the images are hauntingly beautiful. There’s a strong emphasis on the haunting part, because we sometimes look at these abandoned churches as all too prophetic of the direction of faith. But they are also a reminder that when we build on our own pride and self-righteousness, we are sure to fail because God has been forgotten.
In our Gospel lesson, the disciples have a conversation with Jesus where they compliment the beauty of the Temple. They refer to the Temple structure as “magnificent buildings” with “impressive stones” in the walls. [SLIDE 7] The problem is that this was Herod’s Temple, built by Herod the Great. That would be the same King Herod who had the male children of Bethlehem murdered after the visit of the Magi. The Temple he built was not a testimony to God, but to the brutality of his reign and the godless pride that reigned in his soul. But he used his alleged ties or conversion to Judaism to lure people into believing his authority.
Jesus will have none of it. He tells the disciples, awed by the beauty of this building, that it will be destroyed and every stone torn down. And indeed, years later, that very thing happens. The truth is you cannot build something new or rebuild in a better way unless what’s there is already torn down. A friend of mine lives in East Cobb, and in the mid 2010s, developers and wealthy folks went on a rampage tearing down the old 1950s ranch style homes in the area to build these giant mansions. [SLIDE 8] Every cul-de-sac had a whole set of new estates where formerly plain, older, and maybe somewhat run-down houses used to be.
But this is not just Jesus making a scary prediction, it’s also a reminder to us as followers of Jesus. It is easy for us to find points of pride that make faith harder for us. If we don’t tear down the Herod’s Temples in our own lives, then we cannot make room for what God is building in us and doing through us. If we are not willing to let God break down the walls, the hold-out places, the angry places, the hurt places, the years of trauma places…if all those Temples to Herod do not get torn down in our lives, we won’t have room for God.
Jesus talks openly to the disciples about all the scary and bad things happening and things to come. He tells them of people who will come promising to be a messiah, a savior to all the people around. And to a deceived people convinced they need saving from anything but God, any snake oil will satisfy. [SLIDE 9] That is especially true when times are difficult. Living in a time of wars, threats of wars, nations rattling the sabers of battle, earthquakes, famines, and all manner of scary things, can make people distrust God and look for a human to help them. Jesus says not to panic and not to be deceived. There is but one loving God for us, Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer.
The promise Jesus gives is that out of every bad and fearful place of life, something good can be built or birthed. From the carnage of violence and war, we can learn the vital importance of peace. From destruction and natural disasters, we can learn the importance of neighbors, love, and helping one another. And in this day and age we need it.
In the politically charged climate we live in, I’ve seen friends call it quits. I’ve seen families distance and no longer desire to see each other. We have built Herod’s Temple and called it politics. But out of our brokenness, we can still find love and grace. We can still live the peace and hope that Jesus teaches. Faith has to rise above this, indeed above everything. No matter how angry and upset we may feel, or the world may seem, as Christians, we follow a Jesus who went to the cross for all the world. Jesus suffered and gave life and hope to the closest disciples as well as the Pharisees who shouted, “Crucify him!” But to be Christ followers, we must understand that very point of who Christ is.
The Psalm makes the point very clearly. Verse 4 says, “Troubles multiply for those who chase after other gods.” But for those who remain faithful, verse 11 says, “You [O God] will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever.” We have to tear down the idols, the temples to Herod, and the broken places we continue to cling to in our lives. Or we shall surely fail.
I did a little deeper research on what took down City Methodist from a congregation of more than 1,500 to barely 100 in only 49 years. [SLIDE 10] In no surprise it was politics, racial issues, and money…struggles that never seem to go away. The minister who had the church built believed in integration and interfaith ministries, and the congregation grew very tired and dissatisfied with that. Some of the church wanted more involvement in the civic-minded work, others did not. But the biggest toll on the church was a changing demographic. The congregation was mostly middle to upper middle-class white, and when the city fell apart in the 1960s and 1970s, the congregation was simply gone.
Growing up, I used to hear a lot of sermons on how evil forces “in the world” would wage war against Christians, and we would have to fight or suffer and die. It was a very fear-inducing, fight-driven type of faith. But as I have gotten older and seen churches close and end their ministry, I have learned something. Maybe we all have learned it. Very few churches fail because of a hostile attack from without. Usually, they are torn apart from within.
That is why Jesus offers the hope of building and creating something new. We talk about it in terms of being born again—born anew. Here after all the dark and scary predictions, Jesus tells the disciples, “But this is only the first of the birth pains, with more to come.” It wasn’t a prophecy stopping right at the bitter end. It was a reminder that before God can build something new and beautiful in our churches, our communities, and our lives, we must tear down the old, decaying things within, and clear the path for Jesus’s work.
So where in our lives do we find the clutter? Where have we built Herod’s Temple testifying to those things we hold onto and won’t let go? Rev. Tullian Tchividjian, the grandson of Billy Graham, preached a sermon series years ago entitled, “Jesus, plus nothing, still equals everything.” [SLIDE 11] But the opposite is true as well. Everything minus Jesus equals nothing. City Methodist was a beautiful crown jewel of Gary, Indiana. But it was little more than a beautiful failure because it was built for pride and not for worship.
Remember that when Jesus’s predictions and teachings get scary and worrisome in the Gospels, it is not just to instill fear. Jesus talks about the troubles of the present to remind us of the hope that is eternal. If we feel things being broken down around us, life is changing too fast to keep up, or like we’re just a bit overwhelmed with things, remember this: Jesus was a carpenter, and he’s not done building in our lives. So then, may the way be cleared for God, the master architect, to build and create anew in us.
Worship Service Video https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/1471934513483457