A Temple in Transition

Dr. Jon Burnham preached this sermon from Mark 13:1-8
at Batesville Presbyterian Church on November 19, 2006

Stand on the Mount of Olives and look toward the city of Jerusalem. See the ancient stone wall surrounding the city. See the gold dome of the Muslim mosque called the Dome of the Rock that sits on the temple mount and dominates the skyline. Walk down the hill and across the valley, through the stone gates into the city of Jerusalem and find your way to the temple mount. See Orthodox Jews wearing their black suits with beards and black hats, swaying back and forth in their seats as they quietly sing the Psalms before the Wailing Wall which are the only stones left standing from the time of Solomon's Temple when many of the Psalms were written. Walk to the narrow passageway that leads up to the temple mount where the magnificent temple stood in Jesus' day. Notice the young Israeli guards swarming around the area like bumble bees with their submachine guns loaded. Walk up onto the temple mount and see the splendid golden dome and intricate design of the round Dome of Rock. Enter that mosque and there in the middle is a large stone where Mohammed is said to have ascended into heaven riding on a mighty steed.

What you will not see on the temple mount today is the magnificent Temple of Jerusalem that stood on this spot during Jesus' lifetime. Herod had begun remodeling this temple 20 years before Jesus was born and it was finally completed it 64 years after Jesus death. So throughout his entire life, the temple in Jerusalem was a work in progress. It was a temple in transition. This temple was 20 acres of white marble with some single stones 37 feet long several tons heavy. This magnificent temple was destroyed and burned to the ground by the Roman army when they stamped out the Jewish Maccabean Revolt only 6 years after the temple was completed. This magnificent temple was the inspiration for our scripture reading today. As he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to Jesus, 'Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!' Then Jesus asked him, 'Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.'

Later, as they are sitting on the Mount of Olives, looking at the temple from a distance, the disciples ask when the destruction of the temple will occur. Jesus replies in apocalyptic language of death and destruction that applies as well to us as it did to them. In the 20th century 180 million people were killed in war. That equals nearly 5,000 per day. So every day during the previous 100 years, a group of people roughly equal to the population of Batesville were killed in war. Every single day. For 100 years. This is death on a scale we can hardly fathom. Jesus tells his disciples there will be wars and rumors of war.

More and more we are experiencing upheaval in nature. Hurricane Katrina recently wreaked havoc on our neighbors on the Gulf Coast. Just this week there was a 8.0 earthquake in Japan. The Darfur region of Africa continues to bleed and starve day by day. Earthquakes and famines. The whole world seems to be coming apart at the seams. We hear from scientists that there are holes in the ozone layer. Even Evangelical Christians are now concerned about the environment. As Thomas Friedman says about America, "Green is the new red, white and blue." That green signifies our need and desire to develop alternative energy sources that are cleaner and do less damage than the ones we have now. Envision our round blue earth as a temple and sometimes it seems as if the temple is being destroyed. Jesus says all these tumultuous events are but the beginning of the birth pangs. Paul will extend this image of birth pangs, saying, "The whole creation groans as it awaits rebirth." The temple of planet earth is in transition.

Jesus uses temple in 3 senses and in each case the temple is in transition. There is the temple in Jerusalem; the temple of the earth and the temple of our bodies. He said once, "Destroy this temple and in 3 days I will rebuild it." Those who heard it thought he was referring to the temple complex in Jerusalem but he was referring to the temple of his body. The Apostle Paul extends this image to include each of us saying, "Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit." There is one thing we know with certainty and that is that death always precedes resurrection. That is true for any kind of temple. Every temple is in transition.

Now don't be led astray by Jesus' apocalyptic language. Apocalyptic language is poetic, not scientific. Jesus is not providing a road map to the future. This is not an a.b.c. timetable of the last days but more a paint by the numbers portrait of the death and destruction that precedes the resurrection of any kind of temple. A retired First Grade teacher tells story of one of her First Grade students who was very proud of the watercolor finger painting he made during class one day. The next day the boy was frowning so hard the teacher noticed and asked him what was wrong. "You've got my picture upside down," said the little boy. That's what Jesus would say to some modern writers who want to factualize the artistic portrait of destruction Jesus paints in our text. "You've got my picture upside down."

Someone said a picture is worth a thousand words. That is the idea behind the spiritual practice of drawing and coloring a mandela. Mandala means mirror in the ancient Sanskrit language from whence it comes. A mandala is a  symbolic circular design that serves as a reflection of our spiritual journey at a particular point in time; similar to a photograph of what is going on in the inner spectrum of our consciousness if such a photograph were possible to take. Each mandala corresponds to a number from 1 - 12 in a circular design that correspond to the numbers on a clock. Each number on the dial signifies a different place in a person's spiritual development. Mandala #5 denotes destruction, completion of a cycle of growth, death. Mandala #6 means rebirth, a new cycle is beginning, resurrection. Jesus is speaking in our text today about Mandala #5, the mandala of death and destruction. This is a painful place to be. If you ever find yourself painting mandala #5 you will be coming from a painful place in your spiritual journey. But take heart, because after the mandala of destruction comes the mandala of new life, more thorough integration, resurrection, the beginning of a new cycle.

We are not painting a mandala today but we are participating in an act of representation. Our pledge cards serve as a type of measurement of where we are in the cycle of our spiritual development. Use this pledge process as a mandala, a mirror into your own soul, a photograph of where you are on your spiritual journey at this particular moment. Know that where you are today is not necessarily where you were this time last year or where you will be this time next year. For each of us is a temple of God in transition from one stage of spiritual growth to another like the minute hand on an old fashioned clock on the wall that passes each number on the dial in a never ending circle of life. If you find yourself today at mandala #5, feeling like your world is coming to an end; take heart, you will not remain in the graveyard of the soul. For after the mandala of death comes the mandala of resurrection. You will be born again to new life in Christ.