March 26, 2024 [TEACHING TUESDAY]

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6.23)

“As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. ‘Tell us,’ they said, ‘when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”’” (Matthew 24.3)

REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

[Author’s Note: By the sheer weight of gospel evidence the traditional Church calendar for the events of Holy Week follow the Synoptic Gospel order: Sabbath dinner on “Saturday”; Declaration Entry on Sunday; Cleansing the Temple on Monday; the Olivet Discourse on Tuesday; Judas plotting with the Temple officials on Wednesday; Preparation for the Passover/Seder Meal on Thursday; The Betrayal, Arrest and Crucifixion on Friday; Shroud Saturday and the Sabbath of Grief; culminating with Resurrection Sunday. What can we say with surety about the events of Jesus’ ministry over the course of Tuesday and Wednesday. There is agreement among the Synoptic Gospels of a wealth of teaching from the cursing of the fig tree to the prophesied destruction of the Temple. Intermingled is the questions of authority and Judas’ plan to invoke Jesus’ authority over the enemies of Israel. With such volume of teaching, it would be difficult within this time frame to reflect on them all because it is the Resurrection that is the objective this week’s reflection. John’s gospel certainly simplifies the plethora of oratory focusing on “what the people, both Jew and Gentile, believed about the Messiah.]

It is in light of this witness that I will, for today, focus on the centrality of the Temple and its leadership. We already were exposed to the Synoptic Gospel renderings of Jesus clearing the marketplace on “Monday.” The significance of that event cannot be lost to us. It was certainly one thing to have a marketplace be a marketplace. The Temple grounds were not solely the habitation of the priests and Levites who served in the Temple and the Temple itself with the Holy of Holies. There were various “courts” in place where people from all around the world could come and experience the worship of God by those who called themselves God’s people. Even that group of people was not limited merely to those who lived in Israel, both Judea and Galilee. The very essence of a Davidic kingship focused on restoring a united kingdom to be called Israel. Even in the days of Jesus, there was a division of the house. That division can somewhat be summarized as to Judea representing the “Southern Kingdom” of old and Galilee representing the “Northern Kingdom” where the ten tribes had settled. But even at that Galilee was not the best term fitted for those “Lost Tribes.” Because of the various kingdoms which had ruled over Israel and created an age of exile spanning centuries, the assimiliation and dispersal of those who called themselves Jews was intense. There were communities of Jews in nations all across Asia Minor, the Middle East and Africa. Their fidelity to their faith waxed and waned but there was little doubt as to the celebration of those holy seasons which were established to guide them in their faith. Because of that, the Temple remained as the central focus on their attention even from a distance. Many longed to make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem to celebrate them in all of their wonder and glory. Even the mission of Israel to be a beacon to the world and draw all people to know Yahweh Elohim was a flame which attracted moths of all nations and peoples. The greatest misunderstanding, I believe, is the intent chosen by the leadership to believe that God had made them the masters of all people instead of their servants. It would be here that the marketplace mentality showed its greatest corruption.

The destruction of the Temple was an internal one. Yes, the building had been damaged and destroyed a number of times. The Temple itself sits upon six different layers of building since the time of Melchizadek when Abraham first came to Salem. Even now, the hope in Israel by some is the rebuilding of the Temple. That effort would create a seventh layer, a seventh hill. The effort to establish Jerusalem as the center of the world would be complete according to human hands. Little wonder that the New Heaven, New Earth and New Jerusalem is being fitted not by human hands but is instead being created in the expanse of heaven. Still, we are confronted with the discourse between Jesus and the disciples (Matthew 24 specifically) which aligns the destruction of the Temple with the coming of the Messiah in power. Framed with that human mindset, the disciples stumble over the very stones which their builders rejected. When they looked at the Temple and all its exterior glory, they are not ignorant of the corruption inside brought on by a Roman ruler who sits in Jerusalem and the chief priests who were their servants. But, it would seem, as it does even today, that the external is a far better criteria of authority and success than the interior. Isn’t this the way of sin? Hearken back to the Garden of Eden when the Serpent asked Eve about that glorious fruit. Though it was forbidden to take and eat, its exterior appeal seemed to outweigh the internal conflict. If it looks good, then eat it. Or in our more recent mentality of the late 20th Century, “if it feels good, then do it.” The very heart of the teachings which Jesus offered in the days which followed the cleansing of the marketplace (where salvation and life were bartered for and purchased so that they people would look good and feel good) all spoke to the internal conflict which lay beneath or behind the facade of “glory as was the Temple.” I would invite you, mighty ones of God to spend time reading Matthew 22-25, Mark 12-13, Luke 20-21 and John 12. Open your eyes and ears to the messages of internal versus external and feel the true conflict which leads to the destruction of human temples and the call for a “clean heart and a right spirit.”

It is significant to me that Jesus weeps over Jerusalem and that He will not return to it the way it is. Remembering back to the vision given to Ezekiel where the “Glory of God” removes itself from the Holy and Holies and takes its place on the Mount of Olives until the day of restoration, I cannot feel anything but the prophetic urging which Jesus declares will happen for those who will bind themselves together as God’s people in His name. The “Glory of God” will not return until there is a purging and cleansing of the temple. I do not mean a rebuilding of the Temple but a humbling of its people to serve and not be served.

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, before we were conceived in the womb, You had already formed us in Your love and by Your Spirit spoke us into being. Each one of us is blessed with the opportunity of doing right, being good and producing the fruit of the Spirit so that others may be fed the truth of that same love so that the two will become one. It is our soul’s sincere desire to embrace the oneness You have in mind that we would know that we are Your people and that You are our God. Lead us in that discovery of the truth and the manifestation of that love for us all. In Jesus’ name, we pray. AMEN.