Grace to you and
peace from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen
The text for our
meditation is written in the 21st chapter of the Gospel according to St Luke:
Verse 6:
“ for what you see here,
the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of
will be thrown down.”
In ancient days,
the Lord asked Abraham to go to a very specific mountain and sacrifice his son
Isaac. Abraham demonstrated his faith by
preparing Isaac for the sacrifice, but at the last moment, God intervened and
spared Isaac. About 2,000 years after
Abraham nearly sacrificed Isaac, another son climbed the same mountain carrying
a cross. This time there was no
reprieve, for unlike Isaac, Jesus, the Son of God, offered Himself up to death
in order to take away the sins of the world.
Both of those
events happened in the same area and that area has a lot of history in between
those two events. A group of people
built a city on that site. The city’s
name was Jebus and the people were known as the Jebusites. King David conquered Jebus and changed its
name to Jerusalem. David’s son, Solomon,
would build the temple in that area and Solomon’s temple would stand until the
Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem in 586 BC.
That area lay in ruins for seventy years until Cyrus of Persia allowed
the people to return and rebuild. The
second temple remained on that site until about 20 BC. At that time, Herod the Great began an eighty
year building campaign that greatly increased the size and the beauty of the
temple and the surrounding areas. Herod
hoped that this building campaign would improve his image in the eyes of the
people, but it didn’t work. No one
mourned for Herod the Great when he died a few years after Jesus was born. Never the less, his improvements to the
temple grounds were pretty spectacular in size and scope and they continued on
after Herod’s death.
The disciples were,
quite naturally, impressed by the new buildings as well as the stacks of stones
and other materials that would soon be part of other buildings on the temple
grounds. It was all pretty
impressive. That is, it was impressive
until Jesus said, “As for these things that you see, the days will come when
there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown
down.”
Of course today, we
know that that is exactly what happened.
Rome attacked Jerusalem in 70 A D and destroyed it so that not one stone
was left on another. On the other hand,
the disciples didn’t know that. The
temple buildings were huge. They were
impressive. They were made from native
rock. The history of the temple site was
already ancient. As I said before, the
history went clear back to Abraham and Isaac.
What Jesus said would be very shocking.
Jesus was about to
fulfil the purpose of the temple. In a
couple days, Jesus would be hanging on a cross outside of Jerusalem. His sacrifice for our sins would fulfil the
role of the temple, the altar, the sacrifices, the festivals, and everything
else about the temple. All these things
were there to point forward to the one time for all sacrifice of Jesus
Christ. Once Jesus died on the cross,
the entire purpose of the temple would be fulfilled. This became clear when Jesus died and the
temple curtain tore in two. At that
point in time, the temple became obsolete.to
In its day, the
temple was not just a building, but it was a message. The message was the same two part message
that we find in the rest of the Bible: Law and Gospel. Every sacrifice proclaimed, “This is how bad
your sin is. What you see in this
sacrifice is what you deserve for your sin.
At the same time the death of this animal and its blood point forward to
the innocent suffering and death that will one day pay for your sin.” As the Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle Paul
to write, [Colossians 2:17] “These are a shadow of the things to
come, but the substance belongs to Christ.”
These words teach us that Jesus Christ is the fulfilment of all the
sacrifices offered on the altar of the temple in Jerusalem. Our sin demands blood and Jesus Christ is the
source of that holy blood.
Now that Jesus
Christ has made the sacrifice for sin and offered up His own body and blood for
us, we no longer need something to remind us of His future
sacrifice. Now we have reminders that
look back to the sacrifice that He already made and bring the benefits of that
sacrifice forward in time to us.
Our [1
Corinthians 11:23–26] Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took
bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and
said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In
the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new
covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup,
you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. In this sacrament, Jesus gives us His own
body and blood for the forgiveness of sins and by this sacrament we proclaim
His death … the sacrifice that He paid for the sins of the world.
Then there are the
words that the Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle Paul to write to the church in
Rome and to a young pastor named Titus: [Romans 6:3–4] Do you not
know that all of us who have been baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into
his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by
baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by
the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. [Titus 3:5–7]
He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to
his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom
he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour, 7 so
that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope
of eternal life. In Holy Baptism,
Jesus washes us with water and word and so pours the forgiveness of sins out on
us even as He joins us to Himself. He
joins us to Himself in His death so that we may also rise from the dead just as
He also rose from the dead.
Finally, there are
the words of authority that Jesus gave to the Apostles: [John 20:21–23]
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even
so I am sending you.” 22 And when he had said this, he
breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If
you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold
forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”
With these words, Jesus gives the authority to administer the very
forgiveness that He earned on the cross.
He makes His forgiveness available through the mouth of the pastor so
that all who hear the words of forgiveness receive the gifts of Christ’s sacrifice
on the cross.
The proclamation of
repentance and the forgiveness of sins are the true building blocks of the
church. In the Old Testament, the
proclamation pointed forward to the future Messiah in the many sacrifices
offered up on the altar. In the New
Testament, Holy Absolution, Holy Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper point back to
the Messiah as we eat His body and drink His blood; as we receive the washing
of Holy Baptism; and as we hear the words of forgiveness from the pastor as
from Jesus Christ Himself. These are the
true building blocks of the church.
The disciples in
today’s Gospel were distracted by the beauty of the stones and other
decorations of the buildings on the temple grounds. The most amazing thing that was happening in
that place was the spilling of blood that pointed forward to the blood the
Jesus would spill in a few days … the blood that washed away the sins of the
world.
There are times
when we are also distracted by our buildings.
We get so preoccupied by cleaning and repairing that we forget that the
most amazing thing that happens in this place is the forgiveness that comes as
we hear the promises of God in the spoken word of the absolution, the wet word
of Baptism, and the word that enters our mouths in the Lord’s Supper. The important thing is the presence of Jesus
Christ to give us His gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation.
The Roman army
destroyed Jerusalem and the temple, but the Holy Spirit preserved the Holy
Christian Church. Jesus still comes to
the church with His gifts. Someday, the
building in which we worship will fall into ruins, but the Holy Christian
Church will continue. Jesus will still
bring His gifts to His people. The day
is coming when the very power of the heavens will be shaken and the world as we
know it will disappear. Never the less,
the Holy Christian Church will carry on for the gifts of Jesus Christ are
eternal.
Jesus said, “Heaven
and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” Let us not put our faith in the buildings and
other things of this world that will all come to an end, but let us dwell in
the eternal word of God that promises life everlasting … the life everlasting
that Jesus earned with His perfect life and His innocent suffering and
death. It is the gifts that Jesus earned
for us on the cross that are the noble adornments of His Bride, the Holy Christian
Church. Amen
The love and peace
of our Great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your
hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen
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