Wednesday, December 2, 2020

Wednesday, December 2, 2020

 Every day [Jesus] was teaching in the temple, and at night he would go out and spend the night on the Mount of Olives.

Luke 21:37

In the week leading to Passover and Jesus’ crucifixion, we find the great teacher teaching crowds in the temple. From his Triumphal Entry to Maundy Thursday, Jesus taught about the coming of God’s kingdom with parables some may find unsettling: a cursed fig tree, cataclysmic war, the destruction of Jerusalem, its temple, and the upending of creation. 21:38 tells us that “early in the morning all the people came in the temple to hear him;” not exactly the teachings that would get me out of the house first thing in the morning. Crowds were captivated, most likely because Jesus’ end-times teachings connected with their own lived experience; most probably because for Jesus, that end was much closer than anyone realized.

2020 has felt like its own end-times teaching from Jesus: COVID-19’s global spread and death toll, a contentious election cycle, the outcry for racial equality on local, national, and global platforms. My wife and I have navigated her cancer diagnosis, two surgeries, and long (but successful) chemotherapy treatments. I’m sure similar has happened in your own households. 2020 has us praying all the more fervently, “Come, Lord Jesus.” No wonder the crowds flocked to him. Jesus taught as someone who knew death, but was all the more convinced of resurrection. In the face of persistent uncertainty, Christ persisted in proclaiming God’s steadfast love and mercy, nurturing hope in the face of hopelessness.

Jewish tradition holds that Messiah’s return will happen on Mt. Olivet, where Jesus concluded his teaching. In the same way crowds were drawn to Jesus, so he draws us, taking the hopes and fears of his people with him to the place of his coming, where he too prayed and recharged from a day spent steeped in death. May we learn from Jesus’ teachings where we might turn for comfort, relief, and hope, praying all the more, “Come, Lord Jesus.”

Teach us your ways and draw us near to you, that when you return in glory, we might find rest; in the name of The Father, and of The Son, and of The Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Rev. Brandon Heavner is Pastor at St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, Bethlehem, PA 

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