Pentecost+25/Proper 28B (Mark 13:1-8)

​Identities matter to people. It is a means to have a sense of belonging. When we say we have a certain identity of being something, it means we identify with something that we share in common with others who identify with that something. That common denominator functions as a ticket to join that identity. It is so natural that we social animals have a desire to belong to a community, that we are not alone in this world. This is a healthy way to live a meaningful life and find meanings and purposes in our lives by which we experience a sense of fulfillment.

But there’s always a danger of exclusion in this identity-making process. When we are too fixated on certain identities, we end up pushing out those who don’t share in common. There’s no room for differences. This strong fixation or grasping lacks a healthy desire to be diverse. It is only attracted to a secure, firm, unshaken status that is almost eternal and divine. A certain identity has become a religion of its own, and any identity group that doesn’t allow diversity is divisive and destructive.

In the gospel lesson today, we see Jesus’ disciples identify themselves with the temple in Jerusalem. They say, “Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!” This is the common denominator that they all share not only with themselves but with the rest of Jewish communities. They themselves are the magnificent temple. This may be the only identity that brings them together under the Roman ruling. Jesus too identifies himself with the temple but in a completely different way. He responds to his disciples’ astonishing remark on the temple, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.” Later he makes another comment on the temple, more explicitly identifying himself with the temple and coupling it with his death and resurrection: “I will destroy this temple made with human hands and in three days will build another, not made with hands.” (Mark 14:57)

What’s that temple built with “large stones and large buildings” that we identify ourselves with? There can be many temples we hold onto as our identities. Biological features we are given as we are born can be that temple. Economic wealth can be that temple. Social status too. In our workaholic culture, our professional roles can fixate our identities. I might be holding to the hat of being a boss even at home or gathering with friends. Our roles are not who we are but how we function in a different context with a specific goal. For example, if one who is a physician is hospitalized, that person is a patient in that context though with lots of medical knowledge. How that person becomes a difficult patient is when attempting to function as a physician.

So, what are these temples that we identify ourselves with? It takes some spiritual skills to see what they are. We sit silently and face what they are. What identity do I want to cling to? As experienced proofreaders, we thoroughly check in with ourselves. This invites one to the place of meditation or contemplation. Ask and respond non-judgmentally. What is my identity? “I’m the daughter of so-and-so, I’m the husband, I’m a manager, I’m so and so…” We want to go deeper so we question those responses. “But that’s who you are only with your parents, your spouse, your work, and so on.” The question of identity then leads to the question of who I am. When we reach that ultimate question upon question, it may trigger some anxiety or fear of losing ourselves.

 This may be what Jesus means: “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.” Not so comforting. Far from it. But that is the point. We’re stripped of all identities that we’ve been fabricating out of existential anxiety and insecurity. In that very moment of not knowing who we are, becoming speechless before the very existence of ours, simply being, we sit with God. This practice is to experience the death of our ego. Our need for identities, which is to belong, to not be alone, disappears because we’re with God the Ultimate Reality. We don’t need any other common denominator to be identified with God. Our being is enough.

This is one of many purposes and benefits of contemplation. We are free from labels through the death of ego and the resurrection. We stop feeding off from identities and statuses but feed on the Eucharist. This allows us to revisit those identities that we have and use them or fabricate them according to God’s will. We expand our ability to identify with those who are so different from us that our identical boundaries invite those who share nothing in common. We’re then identified with love and we become that human face of love. So how do we begin this process of transforming our identities? We sit together and contemplate with the help of the Holy Spirit. Amen