Proper 28 (33) – Year C
23rd Sunday after Pentecost: November 16, 2025
Gospel Lectionary Text
Luke 21:5-19
21:5 When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said,
21:6 "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."
21:7 They asked him, "Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?"
21:8 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.
21:9 "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."
21:10 Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom;
21:11 there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.
21:12 "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.
21:13 This will give you an opportunity to testify.
21:14 So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance;
21:15 for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict.
21:16 You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death.
21:17 You will be hated by all because of my name.
21:18 But not a hair of your head will perish.
21:19 By your endurance you will gain your souls.
Context
Welcome to the 23rd Sunday after Pentecost. In this week’s Gospel, people are marveling at the temple, the shining centerpiece of God’s presence. It’s dazzling. But Jesus isn’t dazzled. He sees what’s coming: “Not one stone will be left upon another.” And within a generation it was true — not only the building, but the whole system it represented came crashing down in 66 CE.
The temple wasn’t just sacred architecture. It was a machine of fascination — part bank, part slaughterhouse, part theater of holiness. It was the beating heart of a world ordered around sacrifice. The collapse of the temple that Jesus anticipated wasn’t divine punishment, it was the inevitable unraveling of a system built on rivalry and debt.
When Jesus speaks of wars, earthquakes, and famines, he’s not predicting the end of the world. He’s describing the tremors that come when our false securities crumble and when mercy begins to dismantle the old order from within. Jesus isn’t being gloomy. He’s being realistic.
In the face of such chaos, Jesus says, “Do not be afraid.” He says it’s an opportunity to testify to a new kind of power — the power of love calling forth life amidst the ruins of a dying order.
Question
How does the Gospel of peace unmask the violence of humanity? And what does it mean to “endure” that reality without fear — to “testify” to God’s goodness even as things fall apart?
Reflections
In Grace and Truth
By Gideon Ochieng |
CTM Kenya recently shifted its base to another community called Kawangware. There, we have a cohort of 75 leaders who are learning, in community, what it means to bear witness to good news in hard places. They are practicing incarnational leadership by serving in some of the most challenging spaces in our city. They are...
Some Good News
By Lina Thompson |
Perhaps this is what we are to testify to … the third way Jesus himself incarnated. At the cross, God absorbed into God’s self, in the body of Christ, all violence. God absorbed it, and did not return it. God suffered violence for all time and for all situations.
Stone by Stone
By Kris Rocke |
This week’s text is difficult. It is the reminder that peacemaking is not for the faint of heart. The text begins on a positive note. “Some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God” (v. 5). Jesus beholds the beautiful edifice that overlooked the city, but…
Praying Eucharistically - Weekly Homily by James Alison:
Understanding the Bible anew through the Mimetic Theory of René Girard.
Poetry
A Dream Deferred
by Langston Hughes
Prayer
This week, the call to prayer comes from the Street Psalms Centering Prayer:
Come, Holy Spirit, wild and free. Do as you please. Shine your light on me that I might see things as they are, not as I am. Free me to act in your name with courage, creativity, and compassion.
