In name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

     I have to admit, I'm getting more and more excited about the new building, the closer we get to completion! On the one hand, it just adds so much to our property-with the way it connects so seamlessly with the Atrium, making the flow from sanctuary, to gathering space, to the hall where we will have coffee and fellowship and so much activity. And as you come up Union, it sits on our site so, could I say, majestically-showing that we have a full and complete ministry. And not only will the building be attractive and monumental, but the new south walkway will be much more welcoming and permanent, and the fellowship hall with its unobstructed view of the range will be magnificent, and the new classrooms will add so much to our Christian education and childcare ministries. And then, more than bricks and mortar, the building represents great sacrifice and dedication on the part of all our members, to make the building program a possibility. We ought to be thankful, and appreciative that we will have this wonderful, completed church, but also, excited, and proud of this church that has been entrusted to us, on this corner, in this city, in this nation!

     And how then, would we feel, were Jesus to stand outside with us at the end of the building program, surveying this great church complex, and Jesus would say, "As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down"? How would you feel about that? Consider, then, how those with Jesus, felt, as they were looking at, and speaking about the temple in Jerusalem, commenting how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God-and Jesus said, quite bluntly, as he often did-"the days will come when not one stone of this temple will be left upon another-all will be thrown down!"

     It surely must have caught them by surprise, that Jesus would say such a thing! Jesus loved the temple, and that was obvious. When Jesus visited the temple with his parents at age 12, Mary and Joseph went home, and Jesus stayed behind, without telling mother and father. And after looking for Jesus for three days, finally they found him in this temple, teaching-and he said to his parents, "did you not know that I would be in my Father's house?" And then, when Jesus found people in the outer courtyard of the temple selling animals for the temple sacrifices, in righteous indignation, he overturned their tables, and poured out their coin, shouting, "Do not make my Father's house a marketplace! For this is to be a House of Prayer for all people!" Jesus was often in the Temple, praying and teaching-and it was, in a way, home for him-just as we hope and trust, that this church, is Jesus' home. And yet, he could say about the Temple, his home-"the days will come when all will be thrown down!" This Temple, thrown down? The Jewish-Roman historian Josephus wrote that the Temple "appeared from a distance like a snow-clad mountain, for all that was not overlaid with gold, was of purest white." And no wonder it looked like a mountain-the temple mount enclosed 35 acres, and to do so, huge retaining walls had to be extended down into the Tyropoeon Valley to the west and down Ophel hill to the south. Huge building blocks were quarried, cut, faced and fitted with cement-and the largest measured 46 feet long by 10 feet high and 10 feet deep. Weighing 415 tons, it makes the stones of the Egyptian pyramids, a mere 15 tons, smallish! The Talmud says, "Whoever has not seen Jerusalem in all its splendor has never seen a beautiful city. Pliny, a Roman scholar, wrote, "Jerusalem is by far the most renowned city of the Orient, and not of Judea, only." Josephus writes that the Temple is "more worthy of description than any other under the sun."

     Is it any wonder, then, that folks talked about the Temple with a sense of awe, and wonder-and is it any wonder then, that Jesus overhead people speaking of the Temple? And who wouldn't wonder, in stunned disbelief, when he said that it would be thrown down, so that not one stone would remain on top of another! At the time of Jesus, it had already been under construction 46 years, and construction would continue three more decades after Jesus death! And we thought our building program took a long time! So, what are we to make of Jesus' words? Why does Jesus say this-to them, and to us?

     To teach us, to remind us, to caution us, that nothing lasts forever. Nothing in this world, anyway. Not the Temple in Jerusalem, which, by the way, was destroyed, not once, but twice, in 587 B.C., and 70 A.D. Not the Roman Empire in all its glory. And, not Washington, D.C., and probably, not this Temple, of which we are so proud and excited! Nothing lasts forever-and the more we consider governments or empires, or cities or churches to be, indestructible, and everlasting, the more chance there will be that one day, they will be thrown down, not one stone left standing upon another. Which hits us, as surprisingly and shockingly, as it hit those who first heard it from Jesus' lips. And yet, the rest of what Jesus says, in our gospel lesson today, is not intended to surprise or shock, but, odd as it may seem, to comfort, and encourage! Yes, Jesus affirms that there will be an end to all things temporal and earthly. And yes, there will be signs that point to that end-wars and insurrections, nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom-there will be great earthquakes and in various places famines and plagues, and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven. And if that's not bad enough, Jesus says, yes, then will come persecution and arrest, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. And where is comfort and encouragement in all of that? Where is hope and strength. While it's only natural that we respond negatively to all that Jesus says-and while our knee-jerk reaction is to throw up our hands and say, "oh, no!", these things Jesus says, he says simply to acknowledge what prophets had said for years, would happen, as Malachi says in our first lesson, "Behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven", when God's judgment would come upon the world, consuming the wicked. Jesus doesn't deny these prophecies, but affirms them, and tries to prepare his disciples for the eventuality of these things. But then Jesus says, in two sentences what should be our real focus, and what we want to hear and remember from this passage: Jesus says, "this will give you an opportunity to testify; for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict.but not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance, you will gain your souls."

     Now, I know, there's a couple things in these few sentences that we don't want to hear and remember-proverbial four letter words, at least, for Lutherans: "testify", and "endure". Oh, great, there will be wars and insurrections and famine and persecution-and then, in the midst of all that, we're supposed to testify?! We're Lutherans, Lord, we don't like to testify in the best of times, when things are easy and comfortable. Now, we need to testify when things are bad-really bad? Yes, Jesus says, this will be an opportunity for us. As in, there are no difficulties or problems-there are just "opportunities". And indeed, this-these disasters and trials, will be our "opportunity", to testify-to witness, to share the good news! And more good news is, Jesus tells us not to worry about preparing beforehand, don't be anxious about what we will say-for the Spirit will give us the words and the wisdom, that no one can contradict. So, we just wait for the opportunity-wait, assured that God is protecting us-assured that no matter what happens, God will protect, even the hairs of our heads! And no, no bald jokes-that's just too easy. Because Jesus' assurance is an important one-that even something so insignificant as the hairs on our heads, will be protected, by God. Is being protected, by God. So, we wait for the opportunity-and in the meantime, we endure. That's the second four letter word in these verses-endurance. That sounds like holding up through something difficult. That sounds like it will not be pleasant, but that we are to remain steadfast, in spite of the unpleasantness. And that's just what Jesus says. These will be trying times. These times will not be easy, but we are to remain steadfast-firm in the faith-ready to testify, but assured, by God's protection-and by holding fast, we will gain our souls-in other words, we will receive, eternal life! And that's, our ultimate goal. That's what we are to be looking for, and hoping for, and trusting in-eternal life-our souls, around the throne of God, forever! That is God's promise to us, and our promise, in response, is-we will endure-we will testify, when given the opportunity-we will, gain-not a longstanding church building, not a temple made with hands-we will gain, our souls-eternal life, life with Him, forever.

     In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.