For about nineteen hundred years, there was a theory
that the earth was the center of the universe. In this geocentric notion of the
world, the planets of the solar system were thought to revolve around the
earth. So, from the time of Aristotle in 300 BC to the 16th century
people generally held this view. But in the 1500’s, things began to change. A
man by the name of Copernicus formulated a theory that the sun, and not the
earth was the center of the solar system. This observation caused quite a
controversy that would reach its height with Galileo a few years later. The
theory of Copernicus caused a stir because it challenged something that had
been held as “truth.” It took something that had been accepted for hundreds of
years, something that was thought to be eternal and made it obsolete.
We have something like that in our gospel today.
Nothing was more precious to the people of Jesus’ time than the temple. For
them, it was the very center of their lives as the people of Israel and the
chosen people of God. The temple was not simply a building or another
structure; it was way of life and a sign of God’s presence and love. The
temple, in ancient Jewish thought, was a like a mini-earth. It was the model
for all society. As long as there was a temple, the Israelites were at home.
They were no longer slaves, or exiles, or a persecuted people. The temple in
Jerusalem, at the time of Jesus, was magnificent. It had been expanded by King
Herod and was even more beautiful than the temple built by Solomon. The gospel
tells us that it was decorated with beautiful and precious stones. And it was
massive. Some of the stones for its foundation were as big as a bus and it took
more than fifty years to complete this incredible building. The temple was the
pride of Jerusalem. It symbolized how the world should be and it was the
guarantee of God’s presence with them.
So you can imagine the reaction of the people when
they heard Jesus say the time was coming when there wouldn’t be a single stone
left on top of another from the temple. Not only did this prediction seem
unlikely, it was also offensive. He was basically saying that the one thing
that was at the center of their lives and gave meaning to their world would
completely disappear. And yet, it would indeed happen, less than 50 years after
the crucifixion of Christ.
In both the example of Copernicus and the prophecy
of Jesus in the gospel, people were devastated by the fact that something they
held as absolute truth was false or soon to be destroyed. The lives of these people revolved around
these beliefs. For those living at the time of Copernicus, their entire
understanding of the earth and how it fit in the universe was turned upside
down and inside out. And for the Jews, the very center of their culture, their
livelihood, and their worship was about to be completely destroyed.
Can you imagine the devastation and disbelief? It
would be like someone telling you and me that the White House would soon be
destroyed and everything that America stood for would no longer exist. It would
also be similar to someone predicting that St. Peter’s basilica and everything
it symbolized would soon be wiped off the face of the earth.
But what is the reason for all of the doom and gloom
that Jesus predicts in our gospel today? Why does Jesus predict the destruction
of this most sacred building of his own people? One reason was to wake up the
people of Jerusalem. They had become so focused on the temple itself that they
had lost sight of what it pointed to: God. They had decorated the temple with
jewels but they had ignored God who was present in their very midst. The people
of God became so absorbed in the building of the temple that they thought it
would last forever. This building became the center of their spiritual solar
system; the thing that everything else revolved around. Jesus makes it clear
that they cannot put their trust in anything made by human hands because it
will eventually crumble and disappear.
We can look at these people in the gospel and shake
our heads at their attachment to the temple. And we might chuckle at the folks
who believed, for almost 2000 years, that the earth was the center of the
universe. But we can and often do
make the same mistakes in our
spiritual lives. Think of the ways we often make something other than God the
center of our universe. How often we think that our lives revolve around our
work, our money, our house, other people rather than Jesus Christ himself.
And what are the temples that we have built in our
own lives? Things that are good in themselves but are meant to lead us to God,
not take his place. Like the people of Jerusalem, we can spend a great deal of
our time and energy building magnificent temples in our lives, whether that is
a career, a retirement, our marriage, a family, you name it. Something, which
was meant to lead us to God, can become the sole focus of our lives. And when these things end, and eventually they will, whether that
is because of death, downsizing, economic downturn, divorce, or the million
other surprises we can never predict, we can feel there is not a stone left
upon a stone in our lives.
But Jesus gives us hope at the end of our Gospel
today. He assures us that if we are faithful, if we make him the center of our
lives, then not a hair of our heads will be destroyed. He can say this because
he is the new temple, not made by human hands, which can never be destroyed. We
are safe with him. Let us make Christ the center of our lives this day and
every day of our lives. We know the world revolves around the sun; no one has
doubted that for many years. But our
lives are meant to revolve around the Son as
well, the Son of God Jesus Christ.
