Symbols of God's Favor (23rd Pentecost / Proper 28C)

A sermon by the Rev. Guillermo A. Arboleda, written for and delivered at All Saints' Episcopal Church, Tybee Island, GA, on Sunday, November 16, 2025, the 23rd Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 28, Year C).

Image Credits: https://www.history.com/articles/statue-of-liberty

Primary Bible Reading(s)

(Click on November 16, 2025, to see all of the Lectionary Texts)

Luke 21:(1-4)5-19 (NRSVue)

[[1 He looked up and saw rich people putting their gifts into the treasury; 2 he also saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. 3 He said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them, 4 for all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on.”]] 5 When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, 6 “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.” 7 They asked him, “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?” 8 And he said, “Beware that you are not led astray, for many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is near!’ Do not go after them. 9 “When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified, for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.” 10 Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom; 11 there will be great earthquakes and in various places famines and plagues, and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven. 12 “But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. 13 This will give you an opportunity to testify. 14 So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance, 15 for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. 16 You will be betrayed even by parents and siblings, by relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. 17 You will be hated by all because of my name. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 By your endurance you will gain your souls.

Symbols of God's Favor

By the Rev. Guillermo A. Arboleda, Program Manager for New Starts, ELCA

5 When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, 6 “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.”

What are some of the great American symbols and architectural marvels?

• The original White House was completed in 1800, and President John Adams briefly lived in it. The White House was burned in the War of 1812 and rebuilt in 1817, so the current building is about 208 years old.

• The Statue of Liberty was delivered to New York Harbor in 1885. It has been a persistent symbol of this nation’s values as a place that welcomes immigrants for 140 years.

• The Mount Rushmore monument was carved into a mountain that Lakota Indians call Six Grandfathers between 1927 and 1941 (against the wishes of many Indigenous tribes who considered it a sacred site). That was 84 years ago.

• Locally, the Savannah City Hall was completed in 1906, but its most famous feature, the gold leaf on the dome, was not added until 1987. That was only 38 years ago.

• The Washington National Cathedral broke ground in 1907, and the first worship services were held in 1912, but the cathedral was not completed until 1990! One of the great religious symbols of The Episcopal Church is really only 35 years old.

Why do I keep talking about how old buildings are? Because every example I named is an older structure than the Temple that Jesus and the apostles visited in Luke 21.

Okay, well technically, Jewish people had been worshiping on that site in Jerusalem for almost 1000 years at that point, since the days of King Solomon. But it had been burned and destroyed and rebuilt a few times over that millennium. 

Most recently from Jesus’ perspective, King Herod began to rebuild the Jerusalem Temple in about 20-15 BCE. (That’s the same King Herod who tried to murder Jesus as a baby.) But building projects in the ancient world took decades to complete. Jesus and his disciples had the conversation about how beautiful the building looked in around 30 CE, less than 50 years into the project. But the Temple construction was not fully complete until 63 CE, that is over 30 years after Jesus was crucified, died, rose again, and ascended. So Jesus’ friends were marvelling at the beauty and grandeur of the Jerusalem Temple before it was even finished!

By all accounts, Herod’s version of the Jerusalem Temple was gorgeous and ornate. Everything was pearly white or covered in gold. And it sat on top of the hill called Mount Zion, so it could be seen glimmering for miles. It was a symbol for the greatness of the ancient Jewish religion, culture, and people. It seemed to be a symbol to Jewish worshipers of God’s favor and election. 

But this stunning structure also turned out to be very temporary and fleeting. Jesus predicted in verse 6, “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.” And that came to pass. The Temple would be demolished in about 70 CE as the Roman troops stomped out a Judean rebellion against the empire. It has never been rebuilt, and Jewish religion has fundamentally changed in the centuries since.

But the disciples’ anxious questions show us a really common human flaw. They misplaced their hope in the Temple building and establishment. They viewed the beautiful construction as signs of God’s favor, rather than mere symbols of a ruler’s wealth and power -- a flex. So when the Temple was gone, it seemed like God was gone. They didn’t know how to imagine a world without the perceived stability of the Temple. 

And it’s hard for us to imagine the world without the stability of symbols like the ones I named earlier. What is the United States without the White House or the Statue of Liberty? What is Savannah without the gold dome? What is The Episcopal Church without a National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.? That’s the crisis that the apostles confronted in this text.

And Jesus does not mince words. He doesn’t say that it’s all going to be okay. He doesn’t say that God will protect them from all hardship or harm. He says that there will be wars and insurrections (21:9-10). He says that there will be earthquakes, famines, and plagues (21:11). He says that his followers will be arrested and persecuted and forced to defend themselves before powerful rulers (21:12-16) who “will put some of you to death” (21:16). Unfortunately, this is not one of Jesus’ most comforting messages. 

But Jesus is not trying to discourage us. He is trying to prepare us. He’s trying to be real with us about how hard things can get. Because no matter how bad it gets, it’s never actually hopeless. Jesus calls on us to endure, to survive, to hold fast. Life may become very unpleasant, but God never abandons us. People may act very cruelly, but God is always gracious. Our symbols of might and security may fall, but they were always false idols. They were never as sure and certain as our hope in our loving, liberating, and life-giving God and Savior. As nice as big, pretty buildings and statues are, they cannot save us. Only God can. 

By the time Luke wrote these words down in his Gospel, the Jerusalem Temple had already been destroyed. Early Christians -- both Jews and Gentiles who were grafted into the Jewish story -- were devastated. Maybe these were the end times. Maybe Jesus was coming back right away to judge the world and set things right. Or maybe a Roman general was drunk on power and destroyed one of the ancient wonders of the world to prove a point about the empire’s dominance. Maybe people simply do cruel, evil things to one another. But in the midst of that, Jesus calls us to hold onto hope, to endure suffering our heads held high. We may continue to face waves of cruelty, threats, and injustice. But Jesus isn’t going anywhere. And he gives us the grace to stand firm too. In the words of Paul to the Thessalonians, “Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right” (2 Thessalonians 3:13). Support one another and lean on each other so that we can endure together. Amen.