November 16, 2025
Mark 12:41-13:1-8
Introduction
We’ll get to the first part of our text in a little bit, because I think the second part needed addressed sooner than later—because though Jesus says, “…do not be alarmed…” there are some alarming points he’s just made.
A Disciple of his is admiring the incredibleness of the Temple, to which Jesus says, “Yeah, it’s nice. Too bad it’s all going to come tumbling down. Oh, and just so you know, there are going to be people who claim to be me, there are going to be rumors of wars, nations are going to rise up against nations, earthquakes and famines are coming—but don’t be alarmed. It’s all just some birth pangs.”
And Jesus told the Disciples this because though what he was saying probably sounded like an ending, Jesus was talking about a movement toward wholeness, fullness, and completion. He’s describing the beginning—the birthing—of new life.
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Last week, I talked about finding and seeing a new vision—to see as God sees. Today’s Gospel is another version of that call and continues the theme of “making all things new.” And it’s exactly what we need to hear these days when it looks as if so much of the world is coming apart at the seams. Today’s Gospel overflows with good news. And yes, it’s difficult and challenging, and will require hard work and some pain, but it’s all worth it.
This is a Gospel about hope. It’s a Gospel about opportunities and possibilities. It’s a Gospel about finding meaning and new life. It’s a Gospel about your future and my future. And who among doesn’t sometimes wonder, worry, or even become alarmed about our future and the future of the world?
Move 1
I’ve come to realize that when I get alarmed—or as I said last week, when I get “grouchy”— about the future, I’m not actually focusing on the unknown and a time yet to come. Rather, what I’m really focused on is the known and the present time. I want to know if the “temples” I’ve built will withstand the test of time. Will the center hold? Will my relationships endure? Will my acquisitions and accomplishments continue to give identity, meaning, and security (or at least a numbing illusion of those things)? Will the systems I’ve created for my life—wellbeing, comfort, and happiness— remain intact? Are the foundations of my life stable and strong—and if so, are they strong enough to last?
In other words, I’m focused on the large stones and large buildings of my life—and because I am, when I hear Jesus say, “Not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down,” I get a bit twitchy and grouchy. Maybe you do too. Because Jesus says the very things I am most focused on are coming down. Which makes me realize I’ve missed the point and been distracted from what really matters, from the new life that is waiting and wanting to be birthed into the world through me.
Move 2
Missing the point. Distracted from what really matters. Missing the new life that is waiting and wanting to be birthed. I bring all this together because I am confident that is precisely what is going on with the Disciple who says to Jesus, “Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!” This Disciple has missed the point and distracted himself from what really matters. And I say this for a couple of reasons.
First, what this Disciple says doesn’t make sense to me.
This surely wasn’t the first time this Disciple, an adult Jewish man, had been to or seen the temple. He had probably grown up going to the temple, and he’d gone to the temple with Jesus at least twice before this day—Mark tells us that. The large stones and buildings of the temple were not new to him. He’d seen it all before.
Second, there’s a disconnect between what he says and what has just happened. Which brings us back to the first part of our text for today.
Jesus and his Disciples have just left the temple where they sat opposite the treasury watching the crowd put money into the treasury. They saw the rich put in large sums, but a poor widow put in one penny, all that she had. Jesus says to his Disciples, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury.” And with those words Jesus has cracked the mortar between the stones of power, wealth, prestige, reputation, position, and security. A separation has begun.
Jesus holds up the widow as a testament of what is coming. But she’s not what the Disciples or we would think to see as the vision for God’s future. She has no wealth, power, position, or security. She’s the one we often overlook, ignore, and sometimes abuse. And because Jesus is giving them this vision—a vision they don’t what to see— the first thing (the only thing) any Disciple says is, “Wow! Look how big that building is.” They don’t get it. Maybe we don’t either.
This Disciple is trying to change the subject and distract himself from what Jesus has just said. Haven’t you done that? I have. We change the subject or distract ourselves, so we don’t have to deal with the vulnerable, painful, or broken parts of our lives. He’s looking at the large stones and buildings so he doesn’t have to look at himself in light of the widow. He’s feeling the large stones and buildings of his life beginning to shift and separate…and he’s getting grouchy.
Move 3
When have you felt that shift and separation?
I felt shifts and separation happening throughout college and seminary as my worldview and experiences broadened. I feel it every time a loved one dies. I feel it every time I tell myself a lie rather than face the truth about myself. I feel it when the values I claim are not the values I speak or live. It happens when I use my accomplishments to avoid facing how I need to change. I feel these shifts and separations every time I look at what’s happening outside of me, and when I dare to look at what’s happening inside of me. Shifts and separations are there whenever I refuse to see, acknowledge, and receive the widow and her way of life in my life.
That separation shows up in all my attempts to ignore the elephant in the room. It separates me from God, from you, and myself. I end up denying myself the life I say I want. And it’s not just a separation. Somewhere in that separation there’s usually a conflict or division within me or between me and another, and I try to ignore it or diminish it.
And you know as well as I do that’s a difficult and uncomfortable place to be, because we’ve all been there. Jesus says it looks and sounds like war and rumors of war. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes and famines. Every one of those is an image of separation: nation separated from nation; kingdom from kingdom; the earth from itself; the stomach from food. Even the widow is an image of separation. She’s separated from her husband and the life she once had.
Those images describe not only what is happening around us but also within us. That’s the hard and challenging part of today’s Gospel. It’s showing and telling us the vision we don’t want to see, hear, or deal with. It’s too frightening, painful, and uncertain.
What if, however, all these causations of separations are not separations that destroy but they are separations that create? What if they are an opening, a space, a vision for something new to come to life? What if they are simply the birth pangs Jesus is speaking about? Because if they are birth pangs then they are telling us exactly what Jesus is saying… Something new is coming. New life is about to be born.
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Jesus is never more compassionate than he is during these times when he is trying to get his Disciples and us, to see the vision of what God is doing. When he is trying to get us to realize there is something better coming. He speaks with such tenderness and reassurance. “Do not be alarmed. This is but the beginning of the birth pangs. Don’t worry. This is normal. It’s all going to be ok. I’m the Midwife who will get you through this birthing process and soon you’ll see the new life, the new creation.”
Conclusion
These Gospel stories are calling us to take a look at our life today and ask…
What are the large stones and large buildings of your life that are being thrown down or need to be thrown down? What would it be like to stop changing the subject and distracting ourselves? What if we “bellied up” to the elephant in the room and said, “We need to talk. We have some things to work out?”
I wonder what would come of that conversation.
I wonder what having that conversation would then ask of us, what it would offer us, and what might be born.
What if, in those times when it feels like our life is shifting and separating and everything is being thrown down, instead of letting ourselves miss the point, or get distracted from what really matters, or ignoring the new life that is waiting and wanting to be birthed, what if we instead trusted the Divine Midwife and just pushed a little? Pushed with faith, pushed with hope, pushed with love, pushed with anticipation of something new.
Do you think that pushing would be hard and painful? I do.
But do you think that pushing and the struggle and pain would lead us to something we truly want and need—something we would never want to miss or be distracted from? I do.
So let’s give it a try. Let’s push. Push away our habit of distracting ourselves from what really matters. Push away our obliviousness to the elephant in the room. Push away our fear of our “temple” coming down around us. Push away being grouchy. And let’s push into the world what God is showing, and push what God is doing. Let’s… push and push and push and see what God creates in us and through us. Amen.
Pastoral Prayer, November 16, 2025
Gracious and loving God, we come today aware of how even the strongest structures of this earth—like the great temple—will crumble, and how the world will face trials, wars, and disasters. We confess much of the time we think the world will simply grow to greater heights and strength. Which is why the challenges of this life can shake our foundations and leave us shocked at what we thought could never be, but what was truly inevitable.
And so we pray for an ever-stronger foundation of faith, trust, and assurance that all is in your hands; that you will is unfolding despite how good, or bad we think everything is.
Which is why we pray too, for all who are facing adversity and hard times. For those among us struggling with illness, financial strain, grief, or uncertainty—praying you grant them Your peace that passes all understanding while assuring them they are seen and heard.
We pray that when the earth is shaken and the future seems unclear, help us to remember the words of Your Son: “These things must take place, but the end is not yet” a powerful reminded that these are but the birth pangs of Your coming kingdom.
We pray you give us the faith to know that Jesus will always guide us to the new life being born, even amidst the chaos unfolding because your son is our rock and our refuge. Keep our eyes fixed not on the temporary trials of this world, but on the eternal hope we have in Christ.
And we pray you embolden us to face these challenges not with fear, but with unwavering trust in your promise that you, despite the destruction and the world falling down around us, you are still bringing forth new life you are still creating, you have not given up…and neither should we.
We ask that you would listen now to the prayers welling up in our hearts and spirits, that we share with you now, in this time of Holy Silence.
All this we pray in the name of the one who came to push into the world your kingdom, Jesus the Christ, who taught us to pray saying, “Our…”