This assignment was to write a homily for a weekday Liturgy
Pet 1:1-10
Mark 13:1-8
Imagine being told by a reliable source that the Lincoln Memorial would soon be destroyed. Imagine your reaction if you’d been told, back in the 90s, that the World Trade Center would be taken down.
This must’ve been the reaction of those hearing Jesus say that the Temple would be destroyed. In its day, the Temple was the visible center of Jewish culture – both secular and religious.
Often, we build structures in our life, structures that are not necessarily God-directed, even though we mean them to replace something godly that has been removed. This temple was just such a structure.
The First Temple, Solomon’s Temple, was destroyed by the Babylonians about 600 years before Jesus. The one Jesus knew was first constructed about 70 years later. But it was greatly expanded and beautified beginning about 20 years before Jesus birth. The force behind that expansion was King Herod the Great – yes, the Herod who would later try and kill the infant Jesus.
The Second Temple is a perfect example of what happens when we ignore the words of Jesus – “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven…. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
Herod’s treasure was the fame of his many building projects, with the Temple being at the center. The people’s treasure was this magnificent structure where they could come and buy animals (at inflated prices) to be sacrificed – a building that symbolized their Jewish identity.
And today? Except for one wall – Jerusalem’s famous Wailing Wall - it’s gone.
All our human achievements are like that.
90 years ago, Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig were the hottest thing in baseball. Now, they’re just a footnote in history.
80 years ago, Clark Gable, Bette Davis, & Judy Garland were among the biggest draws in the film industry. Today, they’re footnotes in history.
Today’s saint, Xenia of Rome, is a sharp contrast. The daughter of a prominent 5th century Roman senator, she fled home with two servants in order to avoid marriage. She started a women’s convent and lived a life of asceticism. Rather than living a life of luxury as was her right, she followed after Christ. Rather than expanding her treasures on earth, she laid up treasures in heaven.
In our epistle reading, St. Peter gives us practical advice on living the Christian life. “Make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love”.
Notice the sequence.
The foundation is virtue – doing the right thing for the right reasons.
Knowledge – know why you do things, seek to understand the things of the spirit.
Self-control – it is by self-control that we can resist temptation, and thus cultivate virtue
Steadfastness – persevere in the faith. Christ said, “he who endures to the end will be saved”.
Godliness – not just virtue, but Godliness. As he says in an earlier verse, “become partakers of the divine nature”.
Brotherly affection - This is brotherly love, of course. Being a Christian means being part of a community
Love - the Greek word ἀγάπη, sometimes translated charity. It is a love that is a choice, not a feeling, one that seeks the good of the other.
The structures we build in this life will pass away. They are not permanent, and we should never base our self-value, our existence, on them. Rather, cultivate the spirit – for that’s what will last for eternity.
So, ask yourself today, where is your treasure?
Do not lay up treasures on earth, but in heaven.
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