Br. Luke Ditewig

Luke 21:5-9

“All this will be thrown down.” The temple, a monumental building, glorious and beautiful fall. The prized, central, historic place of worshipping God. The temple is not God, and it will not last. People respond not surprised or upset but asking: When? Jesus replied: Don’t be led astray. Some will come saying they are the One. They will say the end is near. Don’t follow them.

And “Do not be terrified.” There will be wars and insurrections, but these don’t mean the end is soon. Grieving loss is real, important, and not to be diminished or dismissed. We will lose what we most cherish. “All will be thrown down.” We will suffer. There will be much suffering including by war. We don’t know why.

We don’t know when, but one day the end will come. Jesus who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords will fully reign overall. Because of this, though we grieve and hurt, we are not terrified. Because of this, as we lament and work to alleviate suffering, we are not terrified.

God is bigger, more expansive than we see or experience. “Have you not known? Have you not heard? Have it not been told you from the beginning?” the prophet Isaiah wrote “[God] is the one who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants, [we] are like grasshoppers. [God] stretches out the heavens like a curtain.”[i]Earthly rulers pale in comparison. God knows and holds everything. Christ came down in flesh and feels all we feel.

With that expansive and intimate perspective, what hurts today? What losses do you grieve? What injustice stirs your anger? What burdens do you bear? The God of Heaven and Christ who came down as a human and the lifegiving Spirit has not forgotten us. God has not forgotten you. God sees, hears, knows, and loves.

What are grateful for? Who have been and are good companions? How have you been surprised by courage, beauty, and grace? What unexpected word or welcome or sight recently warmed your heart? Pray all of this, your whole life, grief and gratitude, with expansive hope. Do not be led astray. Do not be terrified.

[i] Isaiah 40:21-22