"Be Cautious, Be Prepared, Be Assured"

25th Sunday after Pentecost

Proper 28

Lectionary 33

Luke 21: 5-19

"Be Cautious, Be Prepared, Be Assured"

5* And as some spoke of the temple, how it was adorned with noble stones and offerings, he said,

6* “As for these things which you see, the days will come when there shall not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”

7* And they asked him, “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign when this is about to take place?”

8* And he said, “Take heed that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is at hand!’ Do not go after them.

9* And when you hear of wars and tumults, do not be terrified; for this must first take place, but the end will not be at once.”

10* Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom;

11* there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.

12* But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake.

13* This will be a time for you to bear testimony.

14* Settle it therefore in your minds, not to meditate beforehand how to answer;

15* for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.

16* You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and kinsmen and friends, and some of you they will put to death;

17* you will be hated by all for my name’s sake.

18* But not a hair of your head will perish.

19* By your endurance you will gain your lives.

Grace and Peace to you from our Lord and Savoiur, Jesus who is the Christ. Amen

Our Gospel Lesson this morning deals with a subject that can frighten many, make many try to predict its coming and can catch many off guard, the subject is the second coming of Christ. Even Christ says in Mark.13:32 32* “But of that day or that hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

33* Take heed, watch; for you do not know when the time will come."

Be on guard, be alert!

But many don’t care about meeting Christ as seen in the following story: "The devil was planning to destroy the world. He called in his chief assistants. Anger stepped in and said that he would set brother against brother. Lust said that he would replace love and turn people into beasts. Greed advocated his passion for turning loose all the covetous cravings of the soul’. Gluttony, Envy and Jealousy each had their audience with the devil as they presented their plans for destroying the world. .

The devil was not satisfied. Finally the last one came in and said,’ I shall talk to people about what God wants them to be. I shall encourage them to follow the plans and purposes of God.’ The devil was aghast at such talk. But the little devil went on, "’However, I shall tell them there is no hurry. Wait until tomorrow. Don’t start until things are more favorable.’

The devil laughed and said,’ You are the one who shall go to earth and destroy it. You shall be called Procrastination."

Or another trick of the devil which is popular is to place high importance on our accomplishments as seen in the following:" Ted Williams, the baseball star, had a great day at the plate hitting two home run and going four for four at bat. Besides his fielding that day was remarkable. A young reporter came into the locker room and said, ’Mr. Williams,you did everything today but walk on water.’ With that Williams turned to the locker room attendant and said, ’Fill the shower, Today’ s the day! ’"

We chuckle, we laugh, we smile at both stories,but seriously don’t they have a lot of truth to them.

Jesus saw that kind of attitude in his day. As He and the disciples were in the temple, the disciples couldn’t themselves at being in awe of the splendor of the temple, the accomplishments of those who built it gave to them a sense that the beauty and wonder of this temple would somehow save them.

The ,temple was to many Jews the Messiah, and in Jesus’ eyes it was a false messiah so he say in verse 6, "As for these things which you see, the days will come when

there shall not ’be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down."