Where Do I Stand? / Luke 21:5–28 / Pr. Ted A. Giese / Sunday November 16th 2025/ Season of Pentecost / Mount Olive Lutheran Church

Mount Olive Lutheran Church / Pr. Ted A. Giese / 11AM Sunday Nov 16th 2025: Season of the Pentecost / Luke 21:5–28 “Where Do I Stand?”

And while some were speaking of the Temple, how it was adorned with noble stones and offerings, [Jesus] said, “As for these things that you see, the days will come when there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” And they asked Him, “Teacher, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when these things are about to take place?” And He said, “See that you are not led astray. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He!’ and, ‘The time is at hand!’ Do not go after them. And when you hear of wars and tumults, do not be terrified, for these things must first take place, but the end will not be at once.”

Then He said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for My name’s sake. This will be your opportunity to bear witness. Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. You will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives.

“But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it, for these are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written. Alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! For there will be great distress upon the earth and wrath against this people. They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

“And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

Let us pray: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in Your sight O Lord. Amen.

Grace peace and mercy to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Good Christian Friends from time to time when you’re out you may see a sign that says “Muster Point” it’s a place where everyone knows to go to when a critical incident takes place. Schools have lock-down drills and fire drills, many other residential and commercial buildings likewise have fire drills. At times of war and during times of mounting danger individuals and municipalities will build bomb shelters and people will know to head to when disaster strikes. On the prairies there’re roots cellars and other underground storm cellars to provide shelter from tornados. All of these things show how we already think about where we want to go, where we want to be standing, where we want to be located when all hell breaks loose: the place where you’ll be protected from the blast, from the fire, from the coming destruction, from whatever danger that might be.

Our Gospel Reading finds us again in Holy Week, in those days leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion and death upon the cross. Jesus has been teaching in the Temple and the authorities who were set against Him — the Sadducees and Pharisees, the Herodians, the Scribes and the Elders of the people — they were all seeking to entrap Him with seemingly clever, yet hollow questions, and over and over again Jesus had proven to be more learned and more authoritative than they were, He was likewise proven to be more deserving of honour and glory than they were. And now as they walked in the shadow of the imposing and well appointed Temple complex which had been renovated to compete with the earthly glory of the temples of the Greeks and Romans, some of Jesus’ disciples were speaking of how it was adorned with noble stones and offerings.[1] The Gospel of Saint Mark tells us how “one of the them even said, “Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!”[2] And in our Gospel today we hear Jesus’ response when He said, “As for these things that you see, the days will come when there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”[3] This very thing would happen to the Temple and much of the renovated Temple Complex with its refurbished courts around 40 years after this conversation in the year 70 A.D. when the Roman Emperor Titus, who’d finally had enough of the obstinacy of the Sadducees and Pharisees, the Herodians, the Scribes and the Elders of the people personally came himself and inflicted the very things that Jesus described in our Gospel Reading today. So when Jesus said the end of the Temple and the destruction of Jerusalem was going to take place within a generation His disciples naturally wanted to know how and when this would be. For His part Jesus wanted to teach them that there was more at stake than a building, more at stake than a city. More important than all of these things was the answer to the question of where they would stand when not just the end of these things happened, but when the end of all things was to come; how would they face opposition to the faith they held so dear. And so today the question emerges: where is the muster point for you? Where is the shelter in the stormy blast, where is the solid ground upon which you can stand secure when everything else falls away? Also, what was the solid ground for Jesus when His enemies encircled Him and He was brought to His suffering and death upon the cross of His crucifixion?

In Psalm 18 we hear King David write these words:

               “The LORD is my Rock and my Fortress and my Deliverer,

               my God, my Rock, in whom I take refuge,

               my Shield, and the Horn of my salvation, my Stronghold.”[4]

And in Psalm 40 David wrote:

        “I waited patiently for the LORD;

               He inclined to me and heard my cry.

        He drew me up from the pit of destruction,

               out of the miry bog,

        and set my feet upon a Rock,

               making my steps secure.”[5]

The Rock, the Fortress, your Refuge and Shield, the Horn of your salvation, your Stronghold, your Deliverer is not a building, it is not the Ancient Temple nor some future Temple in Jerusalem made by mankind, it’s not a modern building either, no, dear ones it is Jesus Himself upon whom you stand in your faith, from whom God promises your foot to remain firm. Stand on anything else and in the End it will give way and you will be left with nothing. The Old Testament Temple and everything that was done there all pointed forward to the coming Christ, and when Jesus appeared the need for such things began to evaporate, and His shed blood at the cross spelled the end of the need for the Temple and the scarifies offered there.[6]

Before heading out into the night to the Garden of Gethsemane the last thing Jesus said to His disciples was “I do as the Father has commanded Me, so that the World may know that I love the Father.”[7] He had also taught them about Himself saying “I am the Good Shepherd. I know My own and My own know Me, just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.” In any and every circumstance Jesus placed His trust in His heavenly Father and stood firmly on Him for all His needs.

Earlier when Jesus had tossed the money changers out of the Temple Jesus was confronted by His fellow Jews, by those taught by the Sadducees and Pharisees, and the Scribes and the Elders of the people saying, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” [And] Jesus answered them, “Destroy this Temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple,[8] and will you raise it up in three days?” But He was speaking about the Temple of His body. When therefore [Jesus] was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.”[9] The true Temple was Jesus Himself, not the impressive stones that His disciples marvelled at in our Gospel Reading today. 

Dear ones I ask again what are you relying on in the stormy blast? What is your Rock, your Fortress and Deliverer, in what do you take refuge, what is your Shield, what is the Horn of your salvation, your Stronghold? Is it your bank account? Your investments? Your pension plan? Your spouse, your family your friends? Your politics? Your reputation in the eyes of others? Your sportsmanlike conduct or athleticism? Is it your hard work, your degrees and accomplishments? Your personal strengths or the sharpness of your mind or your unvarnished tongue? If you count any of these things as your Rock, your Fortress and Deliverer, your Refuge, your Shield, the Horn of your salvation, your Stronghold over and above Christ Jesus and His Word then you’re like “a foolish man who built his house on the sand.” And so Jesus warns how when “the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”[10] Have all of these other things in your house but do not make them your house, do not make them the thing you build on, the thing you rely on, the thing you set your foot on: Have that be Jesus, have that be the Word of God.

[Words for the 11am Service: For all you members of Mount Olive Lutheran Church, for all you who are being prepared to become members, for all of you who are becoming members this day you are provided the opportunity to have Jesus as your Rock and Salvation when all earthly props give way, believe this with all your heart, make this your confession and you will not be put to shame.[11] This Jesus Christ is “faith’s bond and solid base” He “is the strength of heart and spirit, the covenant of hope and grace.”[12]] 

When Jesus taught them to set their eyes on Him and to keep the Temple at the heart of Jerusalem in perspective, that He was their true Temple and His body the fulfilment of everything the Temple pointed to, they didn’t all understand and at the end of Holy Week while on trial after His arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane some of the people who brought charges against Him in their confusion complained saying, “This man said, ‘I am able to destroy the Temple of God, and to rebuild it in three days.’”[13] And at the cross of His crucifixion “those who passed by derided Him” still unable to understand what Jesus was teaching, still unable to see who Jesus truly was wagged their heads at Him “saying, “You who would destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” So also [Saint Matthew tells us how even] the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked [Jesus], saying, “He saved others; He cannot save Himself. He is the King of Israel; let Him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in Him. He trusts in God; let God deliver Him now, if He desires Him. For He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”[14]

When everything was being stripped away, His clothing, His extended family, His disciples and friends, His public reputation, His ability to work with His hands and His feet, with His mind and His reason, even His very life who was Jesus’ Rock, in whom did He trust? His Rock and ultimately His salvation was in His heavenly Father who Saint Peter teaches “raised Him [up from the dead] on the third day and made Him to appear,”[15] Yes in His Easter Resurrection from the dead His heavenly Father rebuilt the Temple of Jesus’ body just as Jesus said would happen. The True Temple made new. Making Jesus the first born from the dead, made alive, forever and ever.[16]

When you waver He is your Rock, when hardships come, this Jesus is now your Deliverer your Shield and Refuge. Because He faced every destruction every trouble, the very catastrophe of death, with unwavering faith and trust in His Father He now has forgiveness for you when you are swayed by the impressive carved stones of the World and all those things tempting you to rest your foot on them. Yes as King David says in Psalm 94:

When I thought, “My foot slips,”

Your steadfast love, O LORD, held me up.”[17]

Today and tomorrow you can say the same thing because this “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. [Therefore, dear ones] Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace,”[18] strengthened by His love, mercy and patience. 

Saint Paul in the Acts of the Apostles teaches that “the God who made the World and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.”[19] Once you are lifted up and your foot is set upon Jesus, from that day on until The End, no matter what comes your way you have a place to stand, you have one to stand on, in mercy even though your foot begins to slips in sin, with repentance and forgiveness He makes your foot secure in Him; so as Christians we can say, “‘In Him we live and move and have our being’[20] He is our Muster Point, our Storm Shelter, our High Ground when all hell breaks loose. Don’t be caught standing on anything or anyone else. Standing on Christ Jesus you can fight the good fight, you can run the race, you can make your confession with a true heart in the day of trouble, in the day of thick darkness. Yes, “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God will stand forever.”[21] And there you stand on the Word of God made flesh, Christ Jesus our Lord.[22]  Amen.    

Let us pray: Lord have mercy on us, Christ have mercy on us, Lord have mercy on us, “take our minds and think through them, take our lips and speak through them, take our hearts and set them on fire; for the sake of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Amen.

[1] Luke 21:5
[2] Mark 13:1
[3] Luke 21:6; Mark 13:2
[4] Psalm 18:2
[5] Psalm 40:1–2
[6] Exodus 12; John 1:29-34; Hebrews 10:1-25; Romans 3:21-26; Romans 5:6-10; Ephesians 1:3-10.
[7] John 14:31
[8] They were thinking of the renovations of King Herod the Great.
[9] John 2:18–22
[10] Matthew 7:24–27 (this is the whole parable)
[11] Romans 10:9–11
[12] “I Come, O Saviour it Thy Table” Lutheran Service Book, Concordia Publishing House 2006, #618 stanza 5.
[13] Matthew 26:61
[14] Matthew 27:39–43
[15] Acts 10:40
[16] Colossians 1:18
[17] Psalm 94:18
[18] Hebrews 13:8–9
[19] Acts 17:24–25
[20] Acts 17:28
[21] Isaiah 40:8
[22] John 1:1-4, 14

Photo Credits: Main photo composite Luther's Rose from from bawue.museum-digital.de with text and photo of rock from AAA State of Play and man standing from freerangestock.