WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.725 --> 00:00:02.625 Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ. 2 00:00:03.425 --> 00:00:03.925 Amen. 3 00:00:06.425 --> 00:00:10.625 It was the end of the day. The end of three days 4 00:00:10.625 --> 00:00:14.125 actually, three days in a row in Jerusalem. 5 00:00:14.725 --> 00:00:20.025 Three days in a row in the temple in Jerusalem, and these were no 6 00:00:20.725 --> 00:00:23.825 ordinary three days. 7 00:00:25.125 --> 00:00:31.325 On Sunday, Jesus had entered Jerusalem like a Marvel superhero. 8 00:00:32.325 --> 00:00:37.125 With people shouting and laying down their palms and welcoming him 9 00:00:37.425 --> 00:00:38.525 with great accord. 10 00:00:40.325 --> 00:00:44.325 Mark tells us that after the parade ended and Jesus went to the temple 11 00:00:45.225 --> 00:00:46.425 that afternoon. 12 00:00:47.725 --> 00:00:48.925 He didn't do anything. 13 00:00:49.825 --> 00:00:51.925 He just looked around. 14 00:00:52.925 --> 00:00:54.725 He was scoping it out. 15 00:00:56.525 --> 00:00:57.225 The next day 16 00:00:57.225 --> 00:01:01.325 Jesus came back to Jerusalem with his disciples and they went back 17 00:01:01.525 --> 00:01:05.225 into the temple and Jesus entered the temple that day, like a man on 18 00:01:05.225 --> 00:01:05.925 fire. 19 00:01:08.525 --> 00:01:12.525 He came, and he drove people out and he flipped over their tables. 20 00:01:12.625 --> 00:01:16.425 And he prevented anyone from carrying anything around in the temple, 21 00:01:16.425 --> 00:01:19.725 and the people were astonished, and the leaders in the temple were 22 00:01:19.725 --> 00:01:22.725 even more astonished, and not in a good way. 23 00:01:25.925 --> 00:01:29.525 And then they came back for a third day to Jerusalem. 24 00:01:29.825 --> 00:01:32.625 A third day into the temple. 25 00:01:32.625 --> 00:01:36.125 And this time, the religious leaders were ready for him. 26 00:01:37.225 --> 00:01:41.225 The chief priests and the scribes, they approached him right away and 27 00:01:41.225 --> 00:01:42.525 they challenged his authority. 28 00:01:42.525 --> 00:01:45.925 And they said by what authority are you saying and doing these things? 29 00:01:45.925 --> 00:01:49.425 And Jesus told them the parable of the wicked tenants. You know, the 30 00:01:49.425 --> 00:01:54.225 parable about the tenants who killed the vineyard owners, son. 31 00:01:55.325 --> 00:01:58.725 And then Jesus said, what's the vineyard owner going to do to these 32 00:01:58.725 --> 00:02:01.725 tenants, he's going to destroy them. 33 00:02:04.925 --> 00:02:06.125 And they got the message. 34 00:02:08.625 --> 00:02:13.925 So they sent Herodians and Pharisees to Jesus to try to trap him, but 35 00:02:13.925 --> 00:02:14.725 it wouldn't work. 36 00:02:14.725 --> 00:02:18.025 And the Sadducees came to Jesus and questioned him about the 37 00:02:18.025 --> 00:02:24.625 resurrection and they got no dice. Confrontation after confrontation in 38 00:02:24.625 --> 00:02:28.025 God's house in the temple. 39 00:02:28.825 --> 00:02:34.125 The temperature is rising stress is building. 40 00:02:35.925 --> 00:02:39.225 And then right before they saw the little widow putting her to little 41 00:02:39.225 --> 00:02:40.725 mites in the offering bin. 42 00:02:40.825 --> 00:02:45.125 Jesus gets in one more jab on the scribes for their fancy robes and 43 00:02:45.125 --> 00:02:48.425 their fancy greetings and their false prayers. 44 00:02:51.125 --> 00:02:56.125 You can see the zeal and his heart bursting forth the fire in his 45 00:02:56.125 --> 00:02:56.825 eyes. 46 00:02:57.325 --> 00:02:57.425 Now 47 00:02:57.425 --> 00:03:01.425 Mark, doesn't say it this explicitly but I pictured, Jesus storming 48 00:03:01.425 --> 00:03:02.325 out of the Temple. 49 00:03:03.425 --> 00:03:05.225 Leading his disciples away. 50 00:03:05.425 --> 00:03:10.725 This was going to be the last time he would be in the Lord's House. The 51 00:03:10.725 --> 00:03:14.325 last time in his Father's house before he died. 52 00:03:16.325 --> 00:03:17.825 And leading them out of the temple. 53 00:03:18.025 --> 00:03:20.425 That's when one of the disciples 54 00:03:23.025 --> 00:03:25.525 had a moment of admiration for architecture. 55 00:03:29.625 --> 00:03:31.025 Oh look teacher 56 00:03:31.225 --> 00:03:33.125 look at the magnificent buildings. 57 00:03:33.125 --> 00:03:34.825 Look at the pretty stones. 58 00:03:38.325 --> 00:03:40.425 Mark, spares us his name. 59 00:03:44.225 --> 00:03:46.125 Matthew and Luke, don't name him either. 60 00:03:49.025 --> 00:03:53.825 Now, I'll grant this unnamed disciple that it probably was an 61 00:03:53.825 --> 00:03:54.925 impressive sight. 62 00:03:56.225 --> 00:03:58.625 The temple in Jerusalem. 63 00:03:58.625 --> 00:04:02.925 Josephus, the first century historian says that the temple was plated 64 00:04:02.925 --> 00:04:06.825 with plates of gold and that when the sun rose in the morning, or when 65 00:04:06.825 --> 00:04:09.625 the sun set in the evening, like which it was probably getting close 66 00:04:09.625 --> 00:04:10.525 to it, this time. 67 00:04:10.825 --> 00:04:15.525 It would reflect off these gold plates like with fiery splendor. 68 00:04:16.925 --> 00:04:20.125 And Josephus says that if you tried to look at it, if you tried to 69 00:04:20.125 --> 00:04:22.825 force yourself to look at it, your eyes couldn't stay there because it 70 00:04:22.825 --> 00:04:24.525 was like looking right into the sun. 71 00:04:25.225 --> 00:04:27.925 And the stones, the stones, this disciple noticed. 72 00:04:28.225 --> 00:04:32.825 They were some of them Josephus says, we're 45 cubits long, which I 73 00:04:32.825 --> 00:04:33.525 didn't measure. 74 00:04:33.525 --> 00:04:37.125 I was going to, but it was probably about as wide as this chancel area 75 00:04:37.225 --> 00:04:40.325 about eight feet tall, 70 feet wide. 76 00:04:41.325 --> 00:04:42.725 Ten feet deep. 77 00:04:42.825 --> 00:04:45.225 These are some massive stones. 78 00:04:47.125 --> 00:04:49.525 And so, you can understand this disciple, getting a little excited 79 00:04:49.525 --> 00:04:53.025 about what he saw, but Jesus was in no mood. 80 00:04:55.625 --> 00:04:58.225 And so Jesus stops in his tracks 81 00:04:59.725 --> 00:05:04.125 and he turns, and he looks at the disciple, with fire still in his 82 00:05:04.125 --> 00:05:06.125 eyes and he gets up in his grill. 83 00:05:06.125 --> 00:05:11.625 He says you see these stones, not one, not one will stand on top of 84 00:05:11.625 --> 00:05:12.325 the other. 85 00:05:19.525 --> 00:05:21.825 It was a quiet, walk down the hill after that. 86 00:05:25.025 --> 00:05:27.125 Jesus led the disciples 87 00:05:29.425 --> 00:05:30.725 down the hill 88 00:05:31.925 --> 00:05:36.425 to the Kidron Valley, which was just to the east of the temple, down 89 00:05:36.425 --> 00:05:42.225 the hill, to the Kidron Valley, and then up the hill past, the Garden 90 00:05:42.225 --> 00:05:43.325 of Gethsemane. 91 00:05:44.825 --> 00:05:47.825 Up the hill to the Mount of Olives 92 00:05:49.525 --> 00:05:52.025 and there they sat down. 93 00:05:54.425 --> 00:05:59.125 By now it was evening, they were to the east overlooking, this 94 00:05:59.125 --> 00:06:04.725 Valley to the city of Jerusalem with the sun setting behind it. 95 00:06:07.825 --> 00:06:10.525 With those gold-plated walls. 96 00:06:12.125 --> 00:06:14.925 I imagine, I mean, I'm a sucker for sunsets. 97 00:06:15.625 --> 00:06:16.825 I imagine 98 00:06:16.825 --> 00:06:23.125 it's a beautiful scene, but nobody mentions how pretty it is. 99 00:06:27.325 --> 00:06:30.225 Finally, after sitting there a little while, a couple of them, muster 100 00:06:30.225 --> 00:06:34.125 the courage to hazard a question. 101 00:06:35.825 --> 00:06:41.625 Peter and James, and John, and Andrew ah Jesus 102 00:06:42.225 --> 00:06:48.525 that thing you said about the stones and the temple, when's that going 103 00:06:48.525 --> 00:06:49.225 to happen? 104 00:06:49.825 --> 00:06:52.325 And could you give us a bit of a heads-up? 105 00:06:52.325 --> 00:06:54.125 What's going to be the sign? 106 00:06:54.825 --> 00:06:57.125 So that we know to expect it. 107 00:07:00.125 --> 00:07:04.525 Now, by this point, the walk must have done Jesus some good because he 108 00:07:04.525 --> 00:07:06.125 doesn't seem quite so fiery. 109 00:07:07.425 --> 00:07:09.425 And he takes this opportunity, 110 00:07:09.825 --> 00:07:14.925 one of the last opportunities he has, to teach his beloved disciples. 111 00:07:17.325 --> 00:07:20.125 And his teaching, at least in the verses that we read this morning. 112 00:07:22.125 --> 00:07:24.025 We're not criticism. 113 00:07:24.625 --> 00:07:26.225 They were not chastisement. 114 00:07:27.725 --> 00:07:28.825 They were a warning. 115 00:07:31.525 --> 00:07:35.525 You think that in the temple was heated, Jesus says. 116 00:07:37.425 --> 00:07:38.625 It's going to get worse. 117 00:07:41.625 --> 00:07:45.925 Nations against Nations Kingdom against Kingdom. 118 00:07:49.125 --> 00:07:50.025 It's going to be bad. 119 00:07:50.025 --> 00:07:53.925 There's going to be wars and famines and earthquakes. 120 00:07:56.025 --> 00:07:57.925 And it's going to be, especially bad for you. 121 00:08:00.225 --> 00:08:07.625 He said to them, you will be handed over, you will be beaten in the 122 00:08:07.625 --> 00:08:08.625 synagogues. 123 00:08:11.725 --> 00:08:12.725 You will suffer. 124 00:08:14.225 --> 00:08:20.125 Families will turn against each other brother against brother, father, 125 00:08:20.725 --> 00:08:22.425 against son. 126 00:08:26.125 --> 00:08:27.525 And then just to be clear 127 00:08:28.725 --> 00:08:31.925 he said to them, you will be hated 128 00:08:33.525 --> 00:08:34.525 by everyone. 129 00:08:36.825 --> 00:08:37.825 Because of me. 130 00:08:43.025 --> 00:08:45.025 And the sun set 131 00:08:46.525 --> 00:08:47.625 behind the city. 132 00:08:53.225 --> 00:08:57.825 Now at this point, it is important to recognize that we sitting here 133 00:08:57.825 --> 00:08:58.425 today 134 00:08:58.525 --> 00:09:01.025 we're not sitting there on the Mount of Olives. 135 00:09:01.625 --> 00:09:07.025 Jesus is not talking directly to you and me, he was talking to Peter, 136 00:09:07.525 --> 00:09:13.525 James, John and Andrew and he was warning them about what would happen 137 00:09:13.525 --> 00:09:15.625 when they were brought into the synagogue. 138 00:09:16.525 --> 00:09:21.325 He was warning them about when they were brought before, Kings and 139 00:09:21.325 --> 00:09:22.125 governors. 140 00:09:22.725 --> 00:09:25.825 He was preparing them for the sufferings that were to come. 141 00:09:26.225 --> 00:09:27.425 And so we have to be a little careful 142 00:09:27.425 --> 00:09:30.425 not to read ourselves too quickly into this scene. 143 00:09:32.125 --> 00:09:37.525 But Jesus does have something to say in these words to us about the 144 00:09:37.525 --> 00:09:39.325 nature of the Christian Life. 145 00:09:41.825 --> 00:09:43.325 And it's relatively simple. 146 00:09:44.325 --> 00:09:45.825 Following Jesus 147 00:09:46.925 --> 00:09:49.325 involves suffering. 148 00:09:52.225 --> 00:09:54.325 Suffering for doing good 149 00:09:54.425 --> 00:09:56.725 Jesus is talking about. He's not talking about the suffering 150 00:09:56.725 --> 00:10:01.025 we experience when we do evil. When we do that, we deserve it and we 151 00:10:01.025 --> 00:10:01.825 should stop doing it. 152 00:10:01.825 --> 00:10:07.925 So stop doing evil. But he's talking about suffering for being 153 00:10:07.925 --> 00:10:08.825 faithful. 154 00:10:10.525 --> 00:10:14.125 Suffering for doing what is right. 155 00:10:15.425 --> 00:10:17.025 We shouldn't be surprised 156 00:10:18.925 --> 00:10:22.525 when we live in a world that has turned against its maker, when the 157 00:10:22.525 --> 00:10:27.525 maker has restored us to himself, the world will turn against us. 158 00:10:28.325 --> 00:10:29.825 That's the way of Jesus. 159 00:10:30.825 --> 00:10:34.125 That's the way of the cross. 160 00:10:39.025 --> 00:10:39.925 Back on the hill 161 00:10:41.125 --> 00:10:42.325 the Mount of Olives. 162 00:10:43.625 --> 00:10:44.725 Peter, James and John 163 00:10:44.725 --> 00:10:47.025 at this point, we're probably wishing they hadn't asked. 164 00:10:49.325 --> 00:10:51.025 And they're growing uncomfortable. 165 00:10:51.025 --> 00:10:52.525 The sun has set 166 00:10:52.525 --> 00:10:54.325 dusk has fallen upon them. 167 00:10:54.425 --> 00:10:56.025 The chill in the air 168 00:10:56.125 --> 00:11:00.725 now is matching the chill in Jesus words. 169 00:11:03.925 --> 00:11:05.325 And as it grew dark 170 00:11:06.425 --> 00:11:08.425 Jesus had another word for them. 171 00:11:10.725 --> 00:11:12.025 He had a Word of Promise. 172 00:11:14.625 --> 00:11:18.725 The one who endures to the end 173 00:11:20.525 --> 00:11:21.725 will be saved. 174 00:11:24.125 --> 00:11:28.525 Persecutions will come beatings will come betrayals, will come 175 00:11:28.625 --> 00:11:32.825 suffering will come even and especially when you're being faithful. 176 00:11:32.825 --> 00:11:40.225 Jesus said, but the one who endures to the end will be saved. 177 00:11:43.725 --> 00:11:45.225 Now the disciples didn't get it 178 00:11:45.225 --> 00:11:49.025 then there was still a couple of days to go before it would become 179 00:11:49.025 --> 00:11:49.525 clear. 180 00:11:50.725 --> 00:11:54.525 But they would soon learn that what Jesus had been saying about their 181 00:11:54.525 --> 00:11:55.325 suffering. 182 00:11:56.625 --> 00:12:03.425 He was actually saying about his own suffering. Before they would be 183 00:12:03.425 --> 00:12:04.125 handed over 184 00:12:04.325 --> 00:12:08.325 he would be handed over. Before they were put before Governors. 185 00:12:08.425 --> 00:12:12.625 He would stand before the governor, before fathers would turn against 186 00:12:12.625 --> 00:12:15.225 Sons, his Father 187 00:12:16.325 --> 00:12:18.425 would deliver him over to death. 188 00:12:20.725 --> 00:12:26.625 And he would suffer and he would be scorned and he would be shamed and 189 00:12:26.625 --> 00:12:29.925 he would endure. 190 00:12:31.825 --> 00:12:34.225 He would endure until the end. 191 00:12:35.425 --> 00:12:37.325 Until it is finished. 192 00:12:37.525 --> 00:12:38.625 He would endure. 193 00:12:39.825 --> 00:12:41.725 And he would be saved. 194 00:12:42.925 --> 00:12:47.325 The owner of the vineyard would raise his son from the dead and this 195 00:12:47.325 --> 00:12:49.525 son would chart a new path. 196 00:12:49.525 --> 00:12:54.425 A new path for all who would follow him. A path for Peter and for James 197 00:12:54.425 --> 00:12:58.825 and for John and for Andrew and this path would lead through 198 00:12:58.825 --> 00:12:59.725 suffering 199 00:13:01.725 --> 00:13:02.925 to Salvation. 200 00:13:04.425 --> 00:13:07.325 It would lead through the cross 201 00:13:08.725 --> 00:13:10.125 to the resurrection. 202 00:13:11.925 --> 00:13:17.625 And it is the path to which he has called you. 203 00:13:19.925 --> 00:13:23.625 The path to which he has called me. 204 00:13:26.425 --> 00:13:35.025 The one who endures to the end will will be saved. 205 00:13:36.425 --> 00:13:38.225 That's God's promise to you. 206 00:13:40.125 --> 00:13:47.525 It's his promise to us when the night has ended and that bright 207 00:13:47.525 --> 00:13:50.525 morning dawn's. 208 00:13:52.525 --> 00:13:58.825 When when the New Jerusalem with gold-plated walls shines like the sun 209 00:13:58.825 --> 00:14:04.325 in the sky when all the saints together with the lamb. 210 00:14:06.025 --> 00:14:09.925 When all the saints, who from their labors rest are gathered together. 211 00:14:10.025 --> 00:14:13.325 Bright shining like stars in the new Jerusalem. 212 00:14:15.625 --> 00:14:19.425 You shall be saved. 213 00:14:23.325 --> 00:14:27.425 Now, if I had been among the disciples on that hill. 214 00:14:30.625 --> 00:14:32.725 As the day ended 215 00:14:33.925 --> 00:14:36.725 I think if I'm going to be honest with myself, I think I would have 216 00:14:36.725 --> 00:14:38.125 been pretty scared. 217 00:14:40.325 --> 00:14:43.025 I think I would not have liked what I heard from Jesus. 218 00:14:45.525 --> 00:14:49.425 But I think as I try to put myself in that position, I think I would 219 00:14:49.425 --> 00:14:50.925 have taken some comfort 220 00:14:50.925 --> 00:14:54.925 and that Jesus wasn't talking just to me as a solo individual 221 00:14:54.925 --> 00:14:55.625 disciple. 222 00:14:55.925 --> 00:14:58.625 He was talking to at least the four of them. 223 00:14:59.625 --> 00:15:03.325 And I think I would have found some comfort in the fact that I wasn't 224 00:15:03.325 --> 00:15:05.125 going to suffer all by myself at least. 225 00:15:07.125 --> 00:15:08.525 I mean, you guys know what this is like. 226 00:15:09.825 --> 00:15:11.525 When you're going through something really hard 227 00:15:13.125 --> 00:15:14.125 and you feel alone 228 00:15:14.125 --> 00:15:15.425 that's really hard. 229 00:15:17.925 --> 00:15:20.525 But the disciples look around, and I can imagine them thinking 230 00:15:20.525 --> 00:15:21.025 themselves. 231 00:15:21.025 --> 00:15:22.525 Well, I guess we're in this together. 232 00:15:24.325 --> 00:15:26.425 I guess they'll be some company in our misery. 233 00:15:29.725 --> 00:15:33.225 And actually think that's one of the maybe important takeaways from 234 00:15:33.225 --> 00:15:36.025 this text for you and me today. 235 00:15:37.925 --> 00:15:39.025 The church 236 00:15:40.225 --> 00:15:43.325 is a people who endure 237 00:15:44.825 --> 00:15:45.525 together. 238 00:15:47.725 --> 00:15:50.325 It's a people who suffer together. 239 00:15:51.725 --> 00:15:53.625 Hopefully not so much at each other's hands. 240 00:15:55.025 --> 00:15:57.625 Although there's plenty of reasons to repent of that. 241 00:15:59.325 --> 00:16:04.625 But we are a people who struggle to endure together. 242 00:16:07.325 --> 00:16:11.525 And so I want you to think for a moment, very concretely about your 243 00:16:11.525 --> 00:16:16.525 life, your struggles, your suffering right now because sometimes our 244 00:16:16.525 --> 00:16:20.725 suffering is relatively light, sometimes things are going okay and our 245 00:16:20.725 --> 00:16:21.825 suffering is relatively light. 246 00:16:21.825 --> 00:16:26.325 We can admit that. Sometimes our suffering is very intense and we can 247 00:16:26.325 --> 00:16:27.225 barely make it. 248 00:16:28.125 --> 00:16:29.925 And so I want you to think right now for a moment. 249 00:16:30.025 --> 00:16:32.725 Let's just assume some of you are in this category here. 250 00:16:32.725 --> 00:16:32.925 where your 251 00:16:32.925 --> 00:16:34.525 suffering is relatively light. 252 00:16:37.625 --> 00:16:39.625 There are brothers and sisters around you 253 00:16:42.525 --> 00:16:44.025 who are at the end of their rope. 254 00:16:45.725 --> 00:16:47.025 Who are barely making it. 255 00:16:48.925 --> 00:16:50.025 You know who they are. 256 00:16:53.225 --> 00:16:55.725 As a brother or sister in Christ 257 00:16:56.825 --> 00:17:00.725 in light of the promise of God and and the guarantee that we're going 258 00:17:00.725 --> 00:17:01.425 to suffer. 259 00:17:02.025 --> 00:17:04.125 What can you do 260 00:17:05.425 --> 00:17:09.625 to help your brother or sister endure. 261 00:17:13.525 --> 00:17:15.225 I want you to give that some thought. 262 00:17:23.125 --> 00:17:24.925 Maybe you're the one that's here, though. 263 00:17:27.025 --> 00:17:30.925 Maybe your you're barely making it. 264 00:17:32.425 --> 00:17:35.125 Maybe the suffering is very intense. 265 00:17:37.825 --> 00:17:39.025 If that's where you are 266 00:17:42.025 --> 00:17:43.125 then look around. 267 00:17:45.625 --> 00:17:46.325 One of the Lord's 268 00:17:46.325 --> 00:17:47.525 incredible gifts 269 00:17:48.725 --> 00:17:56.625 is his body, your brothers and sisters whom he has given to support 270 00:17:56.625 --> 00:17:58.925 you to help you endure. 271 00:18:00.425 --> 00:18:01.925 Don't try to go It alone. 272 00:18:05.625 --> 00:18:08.625 Give your brothers and sisters, the privilege 273 00:18:09.625 --> 00:18:13.025 of helping you endure. 274 00:18:16.825 --> 00:18:22.625 This is what the Christian Community is all about. 275 00:18:24.125 --> 00:18:27.125 It is a community who struggles. 276 00:18:28.425 --> 00:18:29.425 Who suffers. 277 00:18:31.725 --> 00:18:33.525 But does not suffer alone. 278 00:18:35.325 --> 00:18:36.625 We suffer together. 279 00:18:37.925 --> 00:18:44.825 Side-by-side arm-in-arm with the promises of God in our hearts and the 280 00:18:44.825 --> 00:18:47.825 promises of God on our lips. 281 00:18:48.125 --> 00:18:53.125 He who endures until the end will be saved. 282 00:18:55.825 --> 00:18:58.425 We will be saved together. 283 00:19:01.325 --> 00:19:02.425 In Jesus name. 284 00:19:03.925 --> 00:19:04.425 Amen.