Proper 28 :: Malachi 4: 1 – 2a / Psalm 98 / II Thessalonians 3: 6 – 13 / Luke 21: 5 - 19
This
is the homily given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania on Sunday, November
13, 2022 by by Fr. Gene Tucker.
“WORSHIPING WHAT WE CAN SEE, OR SOMETHING WE CANNOT SEE”
(Homily
text: Luke 21: 5 – 19)
In
this morning’s Gospel reading, we become observers as Jesus and His disciples
make their way through the precincts of the Temple in Jerusalem. The disciples
marvel at what they see, the large stones, the magnificence of the place, the
display of its noble stones and offerings. It must’ve seemed so permanent, so
indestructible.
But
Jesus brings them up short, saying that the time will come when “not one stone
will be left upon another that won’t be thrown down.”
At
its very most basic level, what is at play in the interchange between the Lord
and His disciples is a matter of what can be seen and be experienced, versus
larger, more intangible, but more durable realities.
That
Temple, whose construction had begun under King Herod the Great in about the year
20 BC, had, by the time of this conversation, advanced far enough to be a
source of Jewish pride and identity. Indeed, judging from the size of the
platform (known as the Temple Mount), which encompassed an area of about
thirty-three acres, the temple buildings themselves, which sat atop the
platform, must’ve been impressive[1]. We
do know that the construction of the Temple had advanced enough that the Holy
of Holies had been built atop the Temple Mount, for its curtain was torn in two
at the time of Jesus’ death on Good Friday. (The Temple’s construction would
not be complete until the year 66 AD.)
Jesus’
prediction of the Temple’s destruction came to pass in the year 70 AD, during
the Jewish-Roman War[2]. During
its destruction, the temple buildings themselves were destroyed, leaving only
the Temple Mount, which survives today.
Let’s
return to something we said a moment ago, that business which has to do with
focusing on what is visible and can be experienced, versus more intangible, but
more durable, realities.
The
disciples seemed to be caught up in the magnificence and the grandeur of the
temple complex. It must have, as we said a moment ago, seemed to be so
permanent and so durable. Except it wasn’t.
What
endured is the sober matter of God’s judgment on human behavior which replaces
the honor due to God with something else. What we’re talking about here is
idolatry, being defined as anything that displaces God’s place of honor with
something else that we might value or worship. The picture of God’s chosen
people at the time of our Lord’s earthly ministry isn’t a completely good one,
for, as the ancient prophet Isaiah said, “this people honors me with their
lips, but their hearts are far from me[3].”
The
problem with the temple complex was that its grandeur, magnificence and beauty
might have led to the tendency to value and even worship the temple itself,
instead of the God whose presence it was supposed to point to. If, as the
disciples seemed to do, people concentrated on what they could see and experience,
instead of looking beyond that visible reality to the unseen reality of God which
lay behind it, then idolatry becomes a genuine possibility.
We
said that the enduring truth is that God will not countenance any displacement
of the rightful place He is to occupy in our value system and in our worship.
The
question then naturally arises, “What might tempt us to displace God in our
value system, in our worship, and in our priorities today”?
This
question poses an especially critical concern for us Episcopalians, we who are
inheritors of the Anglican way. For we value beauty, we value doing things well
and with care in our worship. We value the heritage of our Prayer Book. We love
our buildings, the music, the organ, the liturgy, and so forth.
We
place a high priority on the various causes we are engaged in.
It’d
be easy for us to love all these things for their sake alone, for – after all –
they are the things we can see and experience.
The
takeaway from this morning’s reading might be that we are called to take an
in-depth look at what we value and what we worship. Are the things we devote
our energies to the things of God, or are they something else altogether?
[1] Today, all that remains of the temple complex is the Temple Mount
itself. Some of the stones used to build its walls weigh an immense amount: Some,
it is estimated, weigh about 570 tons. Modern machinery today would be
hard-pressed to move something weighing that much, so one wonders how ancient
peoples 2,000 years ago managed to do so.
[2] The Jewish-Roman War lasted from 66 – 70 AD. The first century historian Josephus wrote an account of it.
[3] Jesus quoted Isaiah 29:13, which may be found in Matthew 15:8 and in Mark 7:6.
