Views From the Pews for Bible Sunday, November 16, 2025

My Dear Brothers & Sisters,

In today’s gospel, some were speaking about the temple, its beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God. It is what structured their community. It gave identity and meaning. It was the center of Jewish life. Jesus looks at it and says, “The days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.” Jesus is speaking about more than just the physical temple in Jerusalem. The Jerusalem temple includes every temple you and I have.  So what do we do on the day our temple falls?  When a Category 5 hurricane hits our lovely Island, Jamaica?

Some people will simply give up and walk away in despair. They can see nothing left. All is lost and the situation is hopeless. That is not Jesus’ response. Some will become angry, resentful, and fight back. Others will say this is God’s will or maybe even God’s punishment. Many will look for easy answers, quick fixes. Again, these are not Jesus’ response.

Jesus’ response is just the opposite. Be still, be quiet, do not be led astray. Do not allow your life to be controlled or determined by fear. Do not listen to the many voices that would cause you to run and go after them. Endure he says. Be faithful, steadfast, persevere here and now. Jesus is calling us to be present and faithful in whatever circumstances we find ourselves.

The place of fallen temples is the place in which God, speaking through the prophet Isaiah, declares: “I am about to create new heavens and new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight. I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people; no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it or the cry of distress” (Isaiah 65:17-19, proper 28C).

Those promises are fulfilled through our endurance. By endurance we gain our lives, our souls. Jesus is calling us to the virtue of stability. We are to remain fully present, faithful, no matter how uncomfortable life may be. In so doing, we discover that God has always been with us – in the changes, chances, and chaos of life; in the pain, loss, and disappointment; in the destruction of our temples.  Endurance, perseverance, and stability are the ways in which we offer God the fallen stones of our temples.

Stone by stone, God rebuilds our life. Stone by stone, God restores the original beauty of our life and world.  We can all tell the story of the day our temple was destroyed. The greater story is how we discovered God next to us in the temple ruins and how, stone by stone, God rebuilt what we could not. It is the ongoing story of God recreating life out of loss and ruin, a story of God rejoicing and delighting in his people.

This story is the holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to you. It is real, sacred, and true. Trust that story, tell it over and over to yourself, proclaim it to all you see, and then go live that story.

nterruptingthesilence.com/2010/11/15/stone-by-stone-god-rebuilds-our-temple-