Nothing Lasts

In Mark 13 an unnamed disciple looks up at the Temple’s enormous stone wall and gasps, “This is huge!”

We can relate to this can’t we? Admiring humanity's dominance over it's environment.

Alan Culpepper says,
It is the essence of humanism to look at the flowering of our God-given potential and artistry and think that it is the highest good. We may easily look at our great cities and pride ourselves on our conquest of the environment. We may easily look at our technology and medical advances and think that we can now control our destinies. And we may look to our prosperity and material comforts and think that we can provide for our needs.
Yet in humanity’s great narrative Empires have come and gone. Every century presents a new world power and a new world order. Change is marked by war, laws, and architecture. And in every case – the present power falls. Even though we have gone from the country to the city, from tents to buildings, from camels to cars, from roads to airplanes, the constant in history is not power but the replacement of power.

I’m just wondering if in our endeavor to better ourselves if we miss something holy because Jesus snaps at the chance to tell the unnamed disciple that buildings don’t last – nothing lasts except him.

Culpepper continues, “Marveling the magnificence of our work, as though it can be lasting or transcend our mortality, marks the long history of human delusion that reaches from the tower of Babel to the tragic collapse of the twin towers of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.”

Jesus is right, things don’t last and maybe in our endeavor to better ourselves we do miss something holy.

The goal for life is not conquering the environment so we can leave our mark on history. The goal is to become fully alive in the present, naked 'now.'

Comments

Adam said…
Barrett, I love what you say in your conclusion:

"The goal for life is not conquering the environment so we can leave our mark on history."

I agree totally (though of course we should care for the environment, but that's a different matter)!!

I hope you'll post soon on what you mean by becoming fully alive in the present, naked 'now.' What does that look like? How do we do it?
November 14, 2009 at 11:26 PM
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