A Painful Birth of Something New

November 17, 2024
A Painful Birth of Something New

Scripture Reading:  Mark 13: 1 - 8 (NIV)

As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!”

2 “Do you see all these great buildings?” replied Jesus. “Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”

3As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John and Andrew asked him privately, 4“Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?”

5Jesus said to them: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 6Many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and will deceive many. 7When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 8Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.

MessageA Painful Birth of Something New

A prophetic conversation

I’ve had the great privilege of visiting the old city in Jerusalem seven years ago

I saw the old stone buildings that dates back to the time Jesus lived

And the Al Aqsa Mosque and the temple wall where the Jews pray

I went under the tunnels of the mosque, tunnels that the Jews dug to get closer to the remains of old temple that was destroyed in the year 70 AD as Jesus predicted

It’s a strange feeling to stand in a place where two religions (Islam and Judaism) collide as someone from a third religion (Christian) who also have a shared interest in the history of the place

The whole old city is divided into three sections - Jewish, Muslim and Christian… and you are made aware of which section you are in all the time when you move through the old city (Weird feeling!)

Somewhere in this city Jesus walked with his disciples and they had this conversation where one said:  “Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!” … Isn’t this wonderful, what we have?

And it was in between the beauty of what the disciple appreciated that Jesus said:  “Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.

Hearing this today, you get a real sense that Jesus was not just talking about the buildings!

I got to sit on the Mount of Olives, opposite the temple, between the old olive trees they say dates back to a time before Jesus… probably close to where Jesus sat with his disciples and had this conversation with them

It was a conversation about complacency and deception, sitting and looking in from a distance

A conversation about shattered ideals and painful destruction… war, earthquakes, famine… painful stuff

And the reminder that out of the painful, something new will come (birth pains)

Never become complacent 

Let us hear this conversation and allow ourselves to sit on the proverbial mount of olives and have a look with Jesus 

I love how Jesus is making his disciples aware of things in his ministry - telling them to pay attention 

Let us pay attention to our surroundings today…

We live in a world where it is so easy to become complacent

We have a government that works for us, we have a community that provides in our needs, and even though our hospital situation has changed, we still have access to medical care…

We have the right to vote, we have the right to say what we want, we have the right to worship who we want, we have the right to associate with whoever we want

Rights that was fought for - Remembrance Day reminded us this week

Let us never become complacent and take what we have for granted

Let us be reminded that what we have can be taken away from us - just think about the overnight news we hear from Ukraine 

Deception

Jesus warned about deception:  “Many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and will deceive many.”

Oh yes, the deception is still here… it is all around us… now more than ever…

Social media, fake news, smooth talkers, politicians that present opposing views in convincing ways…

People claiming to be the saviour, or that they are the way, or that they have the truth…

Sitting with Jesus on the mount of olives, we need to know that deception is a reality… we should not be surprised by deception

Rather we should learn to live with it and not allow ourselves to be deceived…

Broken down before being built up again

Speaking of the temple being destroyed, Jesus also said:  “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” (John 2: 19)

We know that He is referring to his body and resurrection - something they did not understand at the moment He spoke

Listening to this conversation then, we are reminded some things (institutions or thing we hold dear) needs to be broken down before they are rebuilt

Perhaps it reminds us further that things cannot remain as it is

There is still a process happening of breaking down and building up…

A process that might be painful but at the same time fruitful

A process that might involve war, earthquakes and famine, but that will lead to something new

Birth Pains - looking for signs of something new

This brings us to the metaphor of birth pains

Jesus describes all these struggles as birth pains

Pains that in the end give birth to something new

Nothing worthwhile is born without birth pains

Perhaps this serves as a reminder that the coming of God’s kingdom in this world is also going through birth pains?

Birth pains that we experience as God is leading us in a new direction? 

Resistance we feel, internally and externally, in following Jesus? 

Being challenged in our faith?

Birth pains of growth - personally but also as church?

Not discouraged, but encouraged by birth pains

I am convinced that Jesus had the intention to encourage his disciples that day on the mount of olives

Even though He was speaking of terrible things to happen, he was encouraging them

I’m sure they reminded themselves many times in their work as apostles sent out, about these words Jesus said

And this what Jesus is doing for us today - He is encouraging us 

Reminding us that we will experience resistance and that we will be challenged

But also putting the resistance and challenges into the context of the bigger picture of what God is doing all around us, where his Kingdom is coming

So let us find hope and encouragement in the fact that the pains we experience now are signs of the birth of something new!

AMEN


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