Precious Stones

A Sermon Preached by Deacon Lynn Czarniecki

November 19, 2006

Mark 13: 1-8

            In J.R.R. Tolkien’s masterpiece, the “Lord of the Rings”, Tolkien creates a character, a Ring of Power, which coerces and seduces anyone who owns it. The ring becomes for that person a thing so prized, so important that not only can the one holding it not conceive of living without it, but he will do anything to continue possessing it. The Ring is seen as the most beautiful and desirable object in the world. The Ring possesses a life and power of its own. It is entirely precious.

            Like the One Ring, the temple of the Jews in Jerusalem had also taken on a life of its very own. Built over a period of eighty-three years, it was built to impress people with its beauty, size and overwhelming grandeur.  It loomed over the city of Jerusalem and it is easy to see why the disciples were awed by it. But, despite its beauty, it was also a place where power was misused and injustices were practiced. Jesus, sitting outside the temple saw into the heart of the matter. He knew that this edifice, presumably built to the glory of God, had become a “den of robbers.” He knew that the priests and scribes who lived lives of luxury and comfort within its walls did so on the backs of the poor. In essence they were collaborators with the ruling puppet King, Herod and the Roman occupiers. Their power depended entirely on maintaining the status quo; of holding on to the very stones of this great temple to assure that they remained in power, retaining all the perks that came with that power. The temple had taken on an importance all its own, separate from the traditional teachings of Moses and of God. It was inconceivable to anyone that this mighty place could ever be destroyed.  It was just too precious to the ruling elite.

            I once knew a man named Joe who was suffering from cancer and undergoing stem cell transplantation in a last effort to survive. We had long talks about his life. He had owned his own contracting business and spent all his time working at his business making money and building his business up over the years. He gave up time with his wife and children for the sake of his business which meant everything to him. He said: “I only cared about making my business a success and I neglected everything else around me, my wife, parents, children and friends.”  Finally, faced with the possibility of his own death, he realized that he had clung to something that was ultimately unimportant. He had built a precious temple which he never could conceive would fall, and now it meant nothing to him.

            How many of us cling to artificial temples of importance in our lives? What possession or endeavor is so precious to us that we cannot conceive of ever being without it? What false temples have we raised in our own lives that keep us from experiencing those things in life which are truly good and holy? Is it owning just the right house? Or maybe it is belonging to the right group at work or in school. Is it the next big promotion that we cannot live without? Maybe it is simply our desire to always feel safe, warm and secure. Have these become our temple stones? What price have we paid to maintain these precious stones?

            The materialistic and acquisitive culture we live in has created its own false temples: success, wealth, celebrity, destruction of the natural world, exploitation of large parts of the world’s population. The so called developed world has become the imperial oppressor of the rest of the world. The wealthiest possess and consume the majority of the earth’s resources while the rest of God’s creation struggles daily in poverty, chaos and war. The modern temple is not a particular building but an entire way of life which has become so seductive and coercive that its end cannot be imagined. It is entirely precious to those in control.

            Jesus presented us with a different way of living our lives. He taught us to cling, not to false temple stones of success and wealth, but to the lasting gifts of friendship, family and love. He taught us to embrace the gifts we have been given and to use them for one another. He taught us to forgive ourselves and those who have hurt us and he taught us to love those who would destroy us. He knew that as long as we sought after and clung to these false stones of security we would never feel completely whole or in right relationship with God. Like Joe, we would one day find ourselves needing something more.

            Jesus understood completely what was wrong then and what is wrong now. He knew that the temple could not last forever anymore than any of the great edifices that came before or after it. He knew that the cruel and violent empire in which he lived would also perish. He offered people an antidote to the culture in which they lived. This antidote was a new kingdom; one that turned everything upside down. He promised a kingdom in which the very stones of the temple would be brought down in order that a new kingdom, based on love, compassion and justice for all people would be built. He reinforced repeatedly the words of Micah: “do justice and love kindness.”

            Jesus rejected the status quo of his time with its exploitation of the poor, its exclusion of so many from the table.  Jesus’ kingdom would turn all that around. As followers of Jesus, what does this mean for us? We are the church of Christ . We cannot maintain our identity in this world as one with the culture. We need to understand ourselves as being counter to the prevailing culture. We need to identify, not with those who have the power and the wealth, but with those people who live on the margins. When we become one with the poor and marginalized we will be on the way to building the Kingdom of God . Jim Wallis says: “Confession is to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and it must be made specific. If Jesus is Lord, then Caesar is not, the Pentagon is not, Gulf Oil, Exxon, and General Motors are not, national security is not, the consumer society is not, the good life is not. Jesus is Lord and our visible confession of him will make us a confessing community.”

            Here at St. Stephen’s we are entering into the season of the incarnation. The greatest miracle of all happened and is happening still. God came among us. God’s kingdom is inaugurated by the birth of a poor child in a poor and oppressed land. It is in this season that we feel close to Jesus and we take notice of those among us who are in need. We give them food and presents and collect coats for them. In these acts we are identifying with those on the margins and in doing this, we are repudiating the prevailing culture and creating a new thing, God’s thing. Perhaps during this season we can also slow down and take the time needed to be closer to our families; to get to know our neighbors; to see those near us who live outside the mainstream; to understand more about the ways in which our culture lures us away from Christ and coerces us into clinging to those false temple stones. What better way to prepare for the birth of him who loves us beyond measure, than to exchange our precious and seductive stones of security for that new kingdom of compassion, justice and love?