Proper 28 -- Isaiah
65:17–25; For the
Psalm: Canticle 9; II
Thessalonians 3:6–13; Luke
21:5–19
A homily by Fr.
Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church,
Mt.
Vernon, Illinois, on Sunday, November 17, 2013.
“A CHANGE IN THE SYSTEM”
(Homily text: Luke 21: 5 – 19)
In this
morning’s gospel reading, Jesus and His disciples are walking through the Temple in Jerusalem. His disciples make remarks about the beauty
of that magnificent structure, and about how impressive it is. Jesus’ response, however, foretells the day
when none of what they were seeing that day would remain.[1] He says, “the days will come when there shall
not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”
Jesus’
response must have been startling to those disciples. After all, the Temple, which had been under construction
since the year 20 BC or so, seemed to be so permanent, so soundly built.
Yet the
truth of the matter is that the Temple’s
destruction brought about many changes for Jews and for Christians.
Since the Temple is the subject of our gospel this morning, let’s
take some time to reflect on its importance and significance, for the loss of
the Temple
brought changes to Jew and Christian alike.
What
follows in this homily, then, is a reflection on those changes, and the impact
of those changes on you and me as we live our lives as Christians in the 21st
century.
We should
begin by reminding ourselves of the place that the Temple occupied in the estimation of the
ancient Jews…..The Temple was the place where the sacrifices that the Law of
Moses required were offered. They were
the only place where such sacrifices took place. Moreover, the Temple
and its setting in Jerusalem
was a place of pilgrimage. Devout Jews
were expected to make journeys to Jerusalem
to be present at major festivals.
By contrast,
the local synagogue was a place of worship where the sacred writings were read,
and where reflection on those writings took place. We know very little about synagogue worship,
but catch glimpses of it in such passages as Luke 4: 16 – 30, where Jesus is
invited to read from the prophet Isaiah, and in Acts 13: 13 - 15, where St.
Paul is asked to offer a word of encouragement to those who had gathered for
synagogue worship in the city of Antioch of Pisidia on the Sabbath day. We know from this passage in the Book of Acts
that readings from the Mosaic writings, as well as the prophetic writings, took
place. We also know that reflection on
the scriptures and discussion took place.
In addition
to these aspects of synagogue life, another reality existed: Synagogues were found throughout the Roman Empire, wherever Jews lived. So the synagogue, with its worship practices,
constituted the daily reality in the lives of these ancient Jews.
The Temple and the synagogue
also represented the focal points of the early Christians, as we’ve noted above. The Book of Acts contains references to the
apostles being in the Temple,
and also in the local synagogues, as we’ve noted above. The break between Judaism and Christianity
did not take place until very late in the first century.[2]
Now that
we’ve noted the differences between the Temple
and the local synagogue, let’s reflect on the loss of the Temple and the sacrificial system that was
centered there. For both Jew and
Christian alike, the loss of Jerusalem
as the focal point of religious attention brought about many changes.
For the
ancient Jews, the loss of the Temple meant that
the priestly class which administered the sacrifices in Jerusalem was also lost. While many of the local Levitical priests who
lived outside of Jerusalem survived the
Jewish-Roman War, the Temple
priests did not. No longer could the
sacrifices that the Mosaic law required take place. What was left to these ancient people of God,
then? The synagogues, with their focus
on the Word of God written, along with the rabbinical system of teachers of the
Law and the prophets, survived.
Moreover, the synagogues were everywhere, so the faith of these ancient
Jews centered around the sacred writings and the local application of them as
it took place in the synagogues. The
focus of Judaism turned outward, away from Jerusalem, to a large extent.
A similar
movement outward from Jerusalem
also takes place for Christians.
Jesus
signals the end of the idea that people need a sacred place as the focal point
of devotion, as He converses with the woman who met Him at the well in Samaria. In response to her question about which holy
mountain is the place where people ought to worship, Jesus tells her that the
time will come when people won’t worship on the mountain that the Samaritans
thought was sacred, nor on the mountain in Jerusalem that Jews regarded as
being holy, either. Instead, He says
that the Father will seek people to worship Him who worship in spirit and in
truth. Such worship, He implies, can
take place anywhere.
Jesus’
prediction comes to pass after His death and resurrection….Early in the Book of
Acts, Jesus tells His followers that they are going to be His witnesses in “Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth”. (Acts 1: 8).
And so the apostles do exactly that, taking the Good News of God in
Christ with them in every imaginable direction, away from Jerusalem.
And as they
left Jerusalem, they remembered that, at the
time of Jesus’ death on the cross on Good Friday, the veil of the Temple was torn in two,
from the top to the bottom. The
significance of this event, and its coincidental occurrence with Jesus’ death,
is not lost on the disciples…they understand that, with Jesus’ death, the veil
which separated God’s people from God’s presence has been removed. (Remember that the veil of the Temple separated its most
holy section from everyone except the priest whose duty it was to enter that
sacred space. Thus, God’s presence was
veiled and separated from the people.)
Now, every
believer will have direct access to God, through Jesus Christ.
The veil
has been removed by His sacrifice on the cross.
Jesus has become not only the sacrificial victim, but He is also the
priest who makes the sacrifice possible.
That is the major theme of the Letter to the Hebrews in a nutshell.
Now,
Christian believers gather in house churches, wherever they live. They hear the holy scriptures read. They hear reflections on those sacred
writings in homilies, sermons and discussions.
In these ways, the lives of these very early Christians is quite similar
to those of Jews of the same timeframe.
But one
thing is different: Christians also take
with them the sacrifice of Christ wherever they go….that sacrifice is
commemorated in the Holy Communion as these early Christians break the bread
and hear the words, “This is my body,” and when they share the cup of wine and
hear the words, “This is my blood”.
Down
through the ages, Christians have been nourished by the Word of God and by the
sacrifice of Jesus.
Our worship
continues to reflect these two sources that sustain us in our walk with God, as
we celebrate the Service of the Word in the first part of our liturgy, and as
we partake of the Lord’s body and Blood in the Service of the Table.
So we
commune with the mind of God in His word written, the Bible, and we become one
with Christ as we receive Him in the Sacrament of the Eucharist.
Thanks be to God!
AMEN.
[1] When the Roman army destroyed the Temple in 70 AD, they destroyed all the structures on the
top of the Temple Mount, which is the large, rectangular raised
platform that continues to exist in Jerusalem
today. The most famous part of the wall
of the Temple Mount is the Western Wall or the Wailing
Wall.
[2] Scholars date the separation between Judaism
and Christianity to the year 90 AD, which is the date when a Jewish council
took place in the town of Jamnia.
