Text: Matthew 24:1-14
Prayer Pointers:
For the blessing of life in community
For joy in the midst of persecution
For peace among friends
THE TEMPLE THE DISCIPLES are discussing was the second Temple, the first having been pulled down by the Babylonians some 600 years earlier. This is Version 2.0, built on the foundation of the original, begun by the returning Exiles in 516 BC and only completed by Herod a few short years before this conversation. By the 70’s AD, the Romans would pull this Temple down even more efficiently than the Babylonians did the first time around. The disciples are dismayed at the idea that the Temple was in danger, but we might shrug and say, “don’t you know your history?”
We might ask ourselves that same question. One of the most important truths about Jesus Christ is that he is the key to our relationship with God, and through his work we are built into a temple suitable for God. We still have the ancient idea that sacred space is the way to connect to God; but as Peter declares, God has made us the “living stones” that are being on the foundation of Jesus into a Temple suitable for God’s Spirit to dwell. How has God worked in your life, shaping you? Where has the Spirit of God blessed you? What challenges and dangers have your faced and seen God’s hand upon you? The stories we have are reminders to each of us and strength to our brothers and sisters when things get hard and the road gets difficult.
The things that surround us—brick and mortar—are not our history. The people that surround us, and the God who claims us as his own are our history, and we should know that story well.
May your day be grace-filled ~ Pr. Dave Brooks