Pentecost 25 (Mark 13:1-8) “Take heed that no one deceives you.”

 

Jesus is the truth.

 

As the incarnation of the co-eternal logos, the Word of God, Jesus is the very pattern of truth. Jesus is also the perfect mirror of truth.

 

Jesus clarifies for all people everywhere the problem confronting our species and the solution God provides. The truth is that God is love. The truth is that God the Father created our species and each of us through the action of God the Holy Spirit to be the forever friend of God the Son, Jesus Christ.

 

The truth is that our species chose to separate from God. The truth is that separation produces pain, pain results in distortion, distortion results in sin and sin concludes in death. The truth is that God the Father offers all people everywhere the solution to separation. The truth is that the solution to separation is Jesus Christ.

 

In Jesus the logos, the co-eternal Word of God who is the co-eternal Son of the Father, permanently and irrevocably reunites humanity with divinity in his own person. Jesus is the solution to separation. Jesus is the only solution and the final solution.

 

Why does this matter?

 

It matters because belief produces action. Action is a choice that enters in the world of cause and effect to produce a result.

 

It didn’t take a prophet to discern the direction the religious and political leaders were taking the people of Israel. It didn’t take the Son of God to discern that such a direction would lead to confrontation, war, defeat and the destruction of the Temple.

Nevertheless, God the Father had directed God the Holy Spirit to reveal to the prophets the essential reality of choice, cause and effect and consequence. The people rejected this reality. They chose to embrace what they incautiously chose to believe based on their needs and desires, their demand and their pride, their fear and their self-will.

 

Nevertheless, God the Father sent the co-eternal Son into the world. The Father sent the Son to one specific nation at one specific time and place for one specific purpose. God the son came as the Truth to reveal the truth. Humanity is lost in separation. Humanity is found in Jesus Christ.

 

Jesus didn’t need to draw on his divine knowledge to predict the destruction of the Temple. The precedent in Scripture was there for everyone to read and to heed. The prophet Jeremiah proclaimed the principle and preached the warning. No one had the faith to move beyond their belief in national pride to accept Jeremiah’s message. No one had the faith to question their inherited beliefs to receive God the Father’s message in Jesus.

 

Religious zealots and political extremists defined the problem in sectarian, partisan, and nationalistic terms. They presented a compelling argument grounded in fear and relying on pride. They issued a series of non-negotiable demands that produced a sequence of choices that entered into the world of cause and effect. At any time they could have changed course. At any time they could have turned back to the Bible, to the writings of Moses and the prophets. At any time they could have asked God to reveal to them where they might be wrong.

 

They did none of these things.

 

They not only believed they knew the truth. They had come to that place of invincible ignorance where they knew that they knew the truth. They only read the Bible to reinforce these beliefs. They only asked questions to bully and intimate people who disagreed with them. Most tragically, they rejected, ridiculed, slandered and killed the One God the Father had sent to save them from themselves.

 

Their choices in 30AD entered into the world of cause and effect to produce a consequence in 70AD. In 70 AD they chose to empower the rigid inflexible uncompromising religious and political zealots. Those zealots seized Jerusalem, killed the priests, instituted a reign of terror in the city to impose the true religion and expelled the Romans.

 

When the Romans came back they brought to Jerusalem the full might and power and wrath of the Empire. They destroyed the city and the temple in the city. They massacred the population and they excavated the very mountain on which the city stood. The modern day city of Jerusalem is slightly north of the ancient city.

 

What they chose to believe in 30AD had terrible consequences for the next generation in 70 AD. Jesus wants us to understand that their choice reflects a pattern in human behavior. Jesus warned his generation and all future generations: Take heed that no one deceives you.”

 

The principles and particulars of the Biblical revelation are an open book.

 

God is love.

God’s love is universal and unconditional.

God’s love incarnates in Jesus Christ.

Jesus is not just one among many religious teachers who offers some insight about God. Jesus is God in human flesh.

 

The Bible supports no one specific economic, political or social system. No one can legitimately claim: God is on my side.

God wants us to examine and question our beliefs in the context of the Bible and in the context of the person of Jesus Christ.

 

Why is this important?

 

Jesus knew very well that a species lost in separation from God would produce teachers, leaders and religions to maintain and support separation. He knew that people in future generations would question his existence, his motives and his message. He knew that false Messiahs would emerge from the religious and secular realm to keep people lost in a state of fear, pride and self- will. The lost exist in anxiety and fear. The lost are defined by death.

 

He knew this. And he warns us of this. Do not rush to belief. Think. Question. Examine. Test. Read the Bible. Study the Bible. Memorize the Bible. The Bible is your first line of defense against deceit.

 

Hear the invitation of God to meet Him on the seventh day, the day of Real Presence, at the altar of sacrifice in the Real Presence of the Blessed Sacrament. Holy Communion is your second line of defense against deceit.

 

Jesus came to seek the lost, to find the lost and to restore the lost to Divine love. Accept no substitute. There are many who will asset they bring a new revelation. There are many who will assert that Jesus is just one of many religious teachers. Jesus is the truth who reveals where we live from the place of deceit. Jesus is the love of God who rescues us from deceit.

 

Listen carefully to what Jesus says: Take heed that no one deceives you.”