Preached at St. John’s Lancaster 18 November, 2012
Proper 28B: Hebrews 10:11-25
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| Reconstruction of Solomon's Temple from The Bible Museum in Amsterdam |
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| Saint John's Episcopal Church, Lancaster, Ohio, USA |
God’s love for us is so marvelous, so far reaching, so creative, that he has built into the development of every culture, every people, and every person points of contact which in his providential time might help us to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. Pope Gregory the Great understood this when he counseled Abbot Miletus to hold feasts of the martyrs in places where the pagan Anglo-Saxons had worshipped devils- that those who walked in darkness might be more apt to come to the light of Christ. But if God plants the seed of faith in every culture, he planted it most clearly in the history and culture of Israel, and in that faith which scholars name Jewish Temple Worship.
When after his resurrection Jesus walked the road to Emmaus with the disciples, the Bible tells us that their hearts burned within them as he explained to them “in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.” (Lk 24:27) The early Church treasured this teaching of how God revealed himself through prophetic word and sacrament in ancient Israel, and the Book of Hebrews is the Holy Ghost inspired and superintended record of much of what Jesus shared on the road that day as he opened the Scriptures to them and revealed himself in the breaking of bread.
This brief introduction brings us up to today’s second lesson, where we are invited to discover the deeper significance of what Jesus did for you, and for me. It is only fitting that we should discuss the significance of temple worship here at St. John’s, where we figuratively come up the mountain by climbing the long flight of steps at the front of our church, pass between Jachin and Boaz, the great columns at the west end of the temple, and enter this parish church, which shares the same dimensions as King Solomon’s Temple, where the priests described in today’s lesson laboured in the service of God.
The writer of the Book of Hebrews describes in some detail how the daily Rota of the sons of Aaron and Levi served according to the law of Moses to provide that sacred sacrificial link between God and his chosen people, the Jews. With the exception of the seventy years of captivity, these faithful men offered the appointed sacrifices in the appointed way for over a thousand years; sometimes in tabernacle, sometimes in temple, but always according to the plan God had revealed to his servant Moses. They provided for all who would see a picture of God’s plan for reconciling the world to himself. Every day they assembled to do what God had commanded, but every day ended with the need to repeat the sacrifices and rites on the following day, because no amount of blood from beasts could heal the wound of sin that separated men and women from God.
And then Jesus came into the world. He lived among us to demonstrate to all people what attitudes and actions God would have to characterize our lives. He was God of God, because he was the incarnate Second Person of the Holy and Blessed Trinity, the Son. He was uncreated and eternal, and had always been with the Father and the Spirit. And of his own free will and accord, he became one of us to demonstrate the degree to which God the Father loves you and me. He was fully human because of the ministry and vocation of Blessed Mary the Virgin, Theotokos, his mother. And then, he did the most amazing thing. He willingly submitted to an unjust death at the hands of those he came to show this love of God. It was not just the Jewish leaders, or the Jerusalem mob, or the Roman Soldiers who murdered him that day. We were all there because of the sins we have committed against God’s holiness, and his love, and his righteousness, and his justice, and his peace. We were there in a very real sense when the mob cried out “His blood be upon us and upon our children. Crucify him!” The Bible tells us that he could have called it off at any time, but he did not. He willingly took upon himself all of our sins, individual and corporate. There is no evil act, or thoughtless oversight, or uncaring attitude which has ever or will ever occur that was not borne by Jesus on the cross that day.
And when he died he said, “It is accomplished!” And the great veil of the temple, a full hand’s breadth in thickness, which hung just about where I stand, and shielded the sanctum sanctorum, the holy of holies, from all but the high priest, was torn asunder by the miraculous hand of God. And from that day to the end of time, there is no need for the sacrifice of bulls or goats, for the Lamb of God died to take away the sins of the world! “Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain…” (see text of lesson) therefore let us approach our Loving God and Heavenly Father with the full assurance that the price of our disobedience has been paid by the blood of Jesus, freely given as the gift of love for you and for me. No more is it necessary to multiply sacrifice upon sacrifice. Circumcision has been perfected in the waters of Baptism and Seder has been completed in Eucharist. And we are set apart as the people of God. Old things are passed away and all things are made new. Our sins have been put away once and for all by the more perfect sacrifice. By the blood of the everlasting covenant we are reconciled to God. The shame and power of our sins have been broken and we can live new lives of hope and change and victory in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And now, the Lamb who was slain lives again in the power of the Resurrection. He calls us who have been baptized and washed in pure water to meet together, which we do this day. He calls us to encourage each other and to provoke each other to love and good deeds. He calls us to live with each other in hope, our lives directed by true hearts filled with that assurance which comes of faith. For today the prophesy of Blessed Jeremiah is fulfilled among us. As we enter this new and everlasting covenant because Jesus has fulfilled the prophesies of the sacrificial system, God writes his law, his motives if you will, upon our hearts and our minds. He fulfills his promise to remember our sins and our lawless deeds no more. He gives us the ability and charges us with the expectation that we will strive to live according to his way, revealed in all of the Scriptures, modeled in the life of Jesus Christ, and seen with regularity among those of us who name the Name of Jesus as our Saviour and our Lord, our Brother and our Friend, and our Master.
Go forth this day in the knowledge that your sins have been put away once and for all by the blood of Jesus, which has ushered the Everlasting Covenant into our lives. Live as did Jesus, in conformity to the teachings of the Bible and in the hope of eternal life. And provoke one another to love and good deeds. In the Name of The Father, and of The Son, and of The Holy Ghost. AMEN.
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