Main Site Cathedral Church of the Advent Cathedral Church of the Advent
  • Sunday Morning Sermons
  • Dean’s Class
  • Other Classes and Audio
  • Lenten Preaching

A Paradoxical Answer to Human Need

December 18, 2017| Posted By Charles Gaston

A Word from Canon Smalley
in the December 24, 2017 Adventurer

One of the passages of Scripture that we often hear during our church season of Advent is from the 13th chapter of Mark’s Gospel. It is disconcerting initially, speaking of the destruction of the temple, God’s judgment, and the second coming of Jesus, of how we will not know the hour, and the exhortation to stay awake. In reflecting on this recently with friends, what struck me was the application of the destruction of the temple to your life and mine.

The temple was magnificent aesthetically and central for the people of Israel in every way – culturally, politically, socioeconomically, and religiously. It was their identity, central to their understanding of themselves, and Jesus speaks words that seem inconceivable even to his closest followers: “There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”

The temple had become an idol, a stumbling block in the people’s relationship with God, a false security, and God was going to allow for its destruction. A hard truth perhaps, but it would be replaced with something infinitely superior, something permanent to which we can cling and which keeps us fast. Perhaps you have experienced such in your life.

For you and me, all of our idols and temples will inevitably be torn down. Though it may sound severe, it is really the removal of false hope and security, to be replaced by the genuine article.

God’s answer to false hopes and false temples is to give himself: a sure and certain hope, an everlasting gift. As you receive this newsletter, we are preparing to celebrate God’s seemingly paradoxical answer to human need. Instead of grand temples or systems or mighty armies, he gives himself as an infant, tiny and vulnerable. This infant will become the Son of Man, the Suffering Servant, and through the temple of his body being torn down and raised up again he will defeat our greatest enemies – ourselves, death, and separation from God – and secure our victory. Let us give thanks for him; O come, let us adore him.

– Craig

  • Share11
  • Tweet
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
Subscribe to
our Podcasts

Browse:

  • by Scripture
  • by Speaker

Audio Categories

  • 5 O'Clock Service (12)
  • Adult Education (331)
  • Art (5)
  • Ash Wednesday (13)
  • Books (9)
  • Christmas (54)
  • Community (5)
  • Dean's Class (524)
  • Death (4)
  • Easter (14)
  • Evangelism (2)
  • Faith and Family (63)
    • Gospel Moments (6)
    • Philosophy of Ministry (6)
  • Good Friday (10)
  • Lectures (76)
  • Lenten Preaching (359)
  • Marriage (11)
  • Maundy Thursday (8)
  • Men's Ministry (5)
  • Music (14)
  • Other Classes (1,123)
    • Cinema (16)
    • ECW (10)
    • History (6)
    • Lent (14)
    • Men's Ministry (29)
    • Missions (11)
    • Newcomers & Inquirers (61)
    • Nightmare (3)
    • Parenting (64)
    • 2012 Rooted Conference (13)
    • Small Groups (12)
      • 3 minute lectern talks (4)
    • Women's Ministry (83)
    • Youth (28)
  • Other Sermons (368)
    • Confirmation (2)
  • Parish Life (15)
  • Parish Meeting (3)
  • 2015 Parish Retreat (4)
  • Podcasts (1,775)
    • 5 O'Clock Service (12)
    • Advent Theological Lecture Series (1)
    • Gospel Moments (6)
    • Men of the Advent (1)
    • Other Sermons (16)
    • Classes and Lectures (491)
    • Dean's Class (320)
    • Good News for Teens (27)
    • Lenten Preaching (231)
    • Sunday Evening Sermons (158)
    • Sunday Morning Sermons (395)
    • Women of the Advent (10)
  • Rally Day Skit (2)
  • Refectory (16)
  • Reformation (2)
  • Stewardship (8)
  • Stewardship 2015 (4)
  • Stewardship 2016 (7)
  • Stewardship 2018 (3)
  • Stewardship 2019 (1)
  • Sunday Evening Sermons (320)
  • Sunday Morning Sermons (646)
  • Thanksgiving (7)
  • Theology (144)
  • Trinity Bible Study Class (48)
  • Women of the Advent (10)

Series

  • Adult Educations (1)
  • Advent Theology Lecture Series (14)
  • Arts + Culture Series (8)
  • Atonement (3)
  • Christ and the Christmas Crunch (1)
  • 1st Corinthians Class (15)
  • Crime Fiction and Gospel Conviction (2)
  • Ecclesiastes (3)
  • Election & Predestination (3)
  • End of the Book (4)
  • 3 part Exodus series (3)
  • Faith and Family (97)
  • Fatherhood (5)
  • Galatians (3)
  • Hebrews (8)
  • How to Read the Bible (2)
  • 2016 Kanuga Renewal Conference (3)
  • Three Lenten Sermons on St Peter (3)
  • Minor Prophets (4)
  • Old Testament (6)
  • The Parables (12)
  • Parables of Jesus (5)
  • Quotable Quotes (5)
  • 3 part Revelation series (3)
  • 1st Samuel (5)
  • 5 part series on James (5)
  • Sermon on the Mount (4)
  • Solas (6)
  • Summer Conversations (13)
  • Titus (4)
  • The Upside-Down Kingdom (2)
  • When Good Fathers Die (3)
  • Why We Worship the Way We Do (3)
  • 2015 Women's Retreat (4)
  • 2016 Women's Retreat (3)
  • 2018 Women's Retreat (3)
  • Zechariah (4)
  • Sunday Morning Sermons
  • Dean’s Class
  • Other Classes and Audio
  • Lenten Preaching
Main Site

© Copyright 2023 Cathedral Church of the Advent. All Rights Reserved | web development by Infomedia