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1 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.” 3 As 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?” 5 Jesus said to them: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 6 Many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and will deceive many. 7 When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 8 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains. (Mark 13: 1-8 NIV)
A joyous and blessed Monday to you, dear ConCafe Family! May you bless the Lord, dear Friend, with our loving acts of kindness to all around you today is my prayer for you. Please pray for the family of Mrs. Chavela Gonzalez, of Kingsville, who passed away this weekend. Her funeral will be on Friday and we pray God's comfort on all who loved her and appreciated her. Chavela was one of those loving fixtures at El Buen Pastor since my chlidhood and she seems to stay young all these years and I thought she would live forever; and she does now in the Kingdom of Heaven. Please pray for a dear friend and colleague in ministry, The Rev. John Alsbrooks, who underwent surgery this past Thursday and hit the floor running with so many things to do. May God heal him during this recovery is my prayer. Pray for one another; and pray for your needs as well.
As I mentioned above, there are some people, and some things that we believe will last forever. We especially hold dear some landmarks, both personal, and historical, that we believe will never go away. My childhood home has been gone since about 1965. The grocery store where I worked is long gone, as is my beloved place of employment during my high school years, The South Main Drive-In Theatre of Houston, the second-oldest drive-in theatre in Texas went down in the early 70s. I remember very vividly coming home from college and going somewhere with my Mom and she drove us by the location that was the theatre. "Where is the drive-in?" I asked, in sheer disbelief. "It was torn down," she calmly replied. And we can add to the list the names of those whom we loved and hoped would live forever. And, yesterday most churches had All Saints Sunday where the names of those who died this past year were remembered. In our church, Pastor Matt Pennington shared the name of seventeen persons from our church who died since last All Saints Day.
And so it was with the disciples, tourists that they were, like most Jews, in love with the temple; its symbolism, its place in their history, the imposing structure that it was, and for God to whom the temple pointed. They, like most of us, thought it would never go away. Yet, Jesus replies to their gushing of admiration, "Do you see all these great buildings? Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down." Gulp. Wait. What? It begged the question from four of them, "Tell us, when will all these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?" I believe they wanted an exact day on which to look forward to, or fear. They probaby thought, "If anyone knows when all this will be, it has to be Jesus!" However, Jesus says, "Be careful that no one leads you astray with false teachings. There will be many who will come pretending to be me, and thus lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of war, yet do not be afraid; the end is still not yet coming. You will hear of nation going against nation; kingdom against kingdom; you will hear of earthquakes, and famines. These are but the beginning of the pains of child birth."
The temple fell just as Jesus said. And the world has not yet ended. We have had two world wars and too many other wars, and nations still go up against nations; there's been too many famines; but we know that God is still in control and only He will decide when it all ends. What we do know is that we have to always be ready. We cannot pause just to wish that the end was already here, though there are some days when we do say, "Lord, if You're coming, this would be a great time!" But still it is up to God and on God's time, not ours. Ours is to continue the work needed to reach more and prepare more, and to help more and bless others as best we can. There is still much to do.
PRAYER: Loving God, in Your hands are we, and the many who need you. Help us be ready, but bless us to be in service to all. Let no one deceive us, but help us as we seek to find those who will receive You. In Christ Jesus we pray, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Be those who bless God today and all days.
Receive my blessings of hope and peace,
Pastor Eradio Valverde
