Broken Hallelujahs

Luke 21L5-19

This is one of those texts that is sort of hard to explore.  Just before these words of Christ in Luke’s 21^st chapter, we encountered the widow who had given everything she had to the temple.  Last week we talked briefly about the Levirate Marriage Law and how that prevented the marginalization of widows; and now we encounter a widow who literally has nothing, and this is now juxtaposed against the lavishness of the temple.  We covered Mark’s recollection of this text about this same time last year, but unlike Mark, Luke separates the story of the widow giving literally all she has from the story of the temple.  And although I wanted to frame this story up with what preceded it, I do want to focus on what the lectionary through Luke has given us today.

So Jesus and his friends are speaking about the temple and about how truly beautiful it is; it is clad in gold, and covered in precious stones.  The temple’s builder, Herod, was known for his abilities in architecture, and he spared no expense nor opportunity for opulence when building this temple.  It could be seen for miles and was awe-inspiring to look upon.  This was the place they believed the essence or spirit of God dwelt.  They believed this was, truly, a holy space, and it was respected, revered, and protected as such.  So when the temple is mentioned, Jesus comments, but with words no one expected; Jesus foreshadows the destruction of this sacred place.  The Son of God is speaking words of destruction about a place held so highly by those with whom he is speaking.  So they respond much in the way many of you would respond if I were to say those words about this church:  “what?”

Because I hope it would strike everyone in here in such a way that it stops you in your steps and you, as you process what has been spoken, begin to ask questions, such as “when will this happen?”.  And this is the prelude into what most people focus on in this collection of verses:  the eschatological texts. 

Eschatology is a big fancy word for the study of the end of times; something that most of us are interested in, or at least curious about.  I think that comes down to most of us not liking surprises.  I’m not a big surprise person myself, which can’t come as a shock to most of you because I’m a self-acknowledging Type A Control Freak.  Surprises are outside of the realm of control, therefore outside of my comfort zone.  Now I’m not talking about birthday surprises, or Christmas surprises, or things like that…I’m talking about the “end of times, destruction of the world” type of surprises.  These are things I’d like to know about…because I’m a planner…and I’d like to have that at least penciled in on my calendar.  Anyone here feel me on that? 

Jesus continues his eschatological discourse with some hallmarks of what we have come to see as that time to come:  wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes, famine, plagues, false prophets and teachers; all sorts of really unpleasant things.  If we stop and think about it, how many times and for how long has this verse been hijacked for the convenience of the person speaking on it?  In my lifetime, I remember hearing this verse at the destruction of The Berlin Wall, The Twin Towers Tragedy, Hurricane Katrina, and The Haitian Tsunami, just to name a few.  I recently took a course on “theodicy”, which is the theology of why evil exists in the world and why God does nothing about it, and I learned that this text was thought during the black plague that this text was being fulfilled, just to mention a part of history that most of us are familiar with.  This verse has been used to sell books, movies, tickets to seminars and speeches, and all sorts of things.  Why?  Because it preys on one thing:  fear.  And rightfully so, since this text does come at us with a ring of horror in a way.  The end of time scares us because we don’t understand it, we can’t control it, and it is veiled in secrecy.  These are things that we as human beings grapple with. 

But I don’t believe that’s what Jesus was hoping would be gleaned from his words.  For that, I think we need to look a little deeper.  While this text does deal with eschatology, I think it encompasses more than that.  Day in and day out in our lives, we don’t experience volcanoes and earthquakes, plagues or false teachers; but day in and day out, most of us, at one point or another in our lives, we have all experienced some really bad stuff.  I’m not talking about a dead car battery or some lost keys…I’m talking about some devastatingly, life changing stuff; illness, loss, divorce (which, can go either way but it’s worth mentioning).  These are things that alter who we are, our way of life, and our abilities.  So, if you’re willing, I would like to shift our focus in this text away from the more end of time talks, and more into the how do we handle these very personal experiences arena.

Have you ever heard someone express themselves saying “God is good”?  Of course.  I say it myself.  When do we usually say that?  Well, usually when something good has happened.  When someone comes through surgery successfully or recovers from an illness, we rejoice with “God is good”.  When we are able to pay for that unexpected expense, or get a passing grade on a test we didn’t study for, we share with our friends and loved ones, “God is good”.  When we get a big tax refund, or even when our team wins that high stakes game, “God is good”.  And it’s a true statement; indeed, God is good!  I love that we can praise and thank God for the good things in our lives.  But what about when these bad things we mentioned before happen?  When we go to the doctor for our yearly physical, and get news we weren’t expecting?  Is God still good, then?  Or when our loved one goes in for hip replacement and passes away on the operating room table; is God still good?  Or when there’s no food in the cupboard, and the landlord just served you with an eviction notice, and you don’t know where you and your children will go…is God still good then?  Is God still good when we’re in an abusive relationship and can’t figure out how to get out?  Is God still good when thousands die in an earthquake, or hurricane, or tsunami?  Is God indeed still good when thousands of innocent people die at the hands of a terrorist? 

The answer is yes; God is still good through all of these things.  Do we say that?  Usually not.  It’s usually in these times that we cease to praise God, and start to petition God.  It’s during these points when we feel we have nothing to be thankful for, opting instead to focus on our need.  But I think what we all need to realize, aside from the indisputable fact that God is good all of the time, and we should especially offer thanksgiving during these times.  I did a sermon very early in my lay speaking time talking about broken hallelujahs.  If you’re all singing the Leonard Cohen song in your head right now, you’re welcome; it’ll be there all day.  But think about it.  It’s so easy and almost effortless to offer these hallelujahs when everything is going right, but when things aren’t going right, those hallelujahs take some real effort.  We have to fight through our fears and our anger and our tears to cry them out; and for that reason, in my heart, I feel that those mean more to God than the easy ones.  They come from a true and grounded place of thanksgiving, through our wounds and the destruction that surrounds us.  They erupt from the ashes.  Sometimes they come with sorrow, and sometimes they’re a war cry; but these broken hallelujahs are the most precious, because like that widow and her two copper coins, they’re all we have left.