The Rev. Virginia W. Nagel
Episcopal Diocese of Central NY (Retired)
Today's Bible readings give us a great deal to think about. In fact, they
form an essential core for our spiritual well-being and development.
The reading from the first book of Kings in the Old Testament is concerned
with the dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem. You probably remember that a few
weeks ago we read about how King David wanted to build a temple for God. It
bothered him that he had just built a fine palace for himself, and to use as a
seat of government for the combined kingdoms of Israel and Judah. But, he said,
it was not fitting that the Almighty Lord still lived in the travelling worship
tent, the Tabernacle, that had been constructed back in the time of Moses and
the Exodus. He wanted to build a fine home for the Lord to live in, close to his
own palace. This would also have the effect of consolidating both the religious
and secular powers in the same place, Jerusalem. True, there sere several small
temples built in various cities throughout Judah and Israel, but David
envisioned a great, glorious temple to be the one center of worship for all
Jews, close by his own palace.
God spoke to the prophet Nathan, who took God's message to King David:
No, you are not the right person to build a temple for me. Your son shall build
it, but not you yourself. David was bitterly disappointed, but he
accepted that this was part of the punishment for his grievous sins, and so he
occupied himself, during the remainder of his reign, with buying marble, cedar
and other fine building materials and laying them away so they would be ready
for his son to use in building a temple, some day.
David eventually died, and his son, Solomon , became king. We learned last
week that the Lord asked Solomon what gift he would like from God, and Solomon
asked for wisdom to govern his people justly and well, and God gave him that
gift, and many others as well. After getting well established as king, Solomon
asked God if now was the proper time to build a temple for him in Jerusalem, and
God gave permission for him to do that.
So Solomon called for the most expert workmen, and set them to work building
the Temple. I need to point out that this was not the Temple Jesus knew, several
hundred years later. Solomon's Temple was destroyed at the time the Babylonian
army defeated Jerusalem and carried the Jews away to captivity in Babylon.
Still, the Temple Solomon built was the most beautiful he could build for the
Lord. It used the finest woods, marbles, and had gold and silver liberally
affixed to the walls, the altars and doors. It was widely acclaimed as a marvel
of beauty.
Once the Temple was finished, Solomon and the priests set off to the place
where the holy Ark of the Covenant, which contained the tablets of the
Commandments God had given Moses, had been safely hidden. They brought the Ark
in a grand procession to Jerusalem and set it up in the Holy of Holies, the
inner-most room of the Temple. And then the glory of the Lord filled the Temple,
in a cloud of gold...showing that the Lord had indeed come to claim his new
resting-place and to take up his residence there. Solomon's speech, or rather
prayer, of dedication is the largest part of today's reading from the Old
Testament. God had promised that as long as his people abided by his laws, he
would remain in the Temple and hear their prayers. When, many years later, the
people began to treat their religion as a mere formality, God departed, and
allowed the Temple to be destroyed and the people taken into captivity.
Later on, Nehemiah and Ezra rebuilt the Temple, when the people returned from
Babylon and came again into Jerusalem. But that's another story.
You probably noticed that Solomon said in his prayer of dedication that
he well knew that the Temple, or any other building, would not be able to
contain or limit the Lord God. God is infinite, and cannot be
understood, much less limited, by humans, or by anything they can make. But God
in his mercy was willing to dwell among his people, as long as their way of life
showed that they were truly his people. This gives us a major piece of guidance
for our own lives. We are accustomed to say that God is everywhere, and so he
is. But will God stay with us if we do not live in accordance with
his teachings and commandments? What does that mean for us, today, with our
culture heading in a direction directly opposed to much that God taught us? Can
we still say that God is with us, listening to our prayers, when we simply
ignore the way of life he prescribed for us, and go off in our own ways to do
our own thing? What do you think this has to say with the condition of our own
lives, our nation, and the world today? Do we still take great joy in going to
God's house, and in joining in worship of our Lord, as the Jewish people did
when they went up to the Temple, singing the psalm we have just sung today? Or
has our religion become empty of faith, a plain formality?
And then, there is what Jesus taught, part of which is in today's Gospel
reading. I don't know if you noticed, several Sundays ago, when Jesus began the
long teaching that we have been reading the past few weeks, that he and his
disciples were on their way to Jerusalem. Jesus kept returning to the Temple,
returning to the seat of God. We all should do that...not only keep returning to
church, and attend regularly, but keep returning to the presence of God, who
dwells in our own hearts, if we invite him there. That's what Jesus was talking
about in today's reading: Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide
in me, and I in them. Later on, on the night before Jesus died, he told
his disciples that if they loved him, they would keep his commandments,
and then he himself, and God his father, would come to them and live in them,
and the disciples would live in God and Jesus...as the grand old prayer
at Holy Communion says, he, God, will dwell in us, and we in him.
It seems pretty plain that we need to keep to a lifestyle guided by God's
commandments and Jesus' teachings, which are actually basically the same; and we
need to return again and again to a place of public worship, join with others in
giving glory to God, as well as giving attention and worship to that same God
who is living within us, and who surrounds us with his love and protection.
Paul's letter to the church in Ephesus follows much the same theme. He tells
us that we must put on the armor of God, and goes on to list the pieces of that
armour, along with their significance in helping us live a Godly, righteous
life. Actually, his is summing up what we must do to keep God in our land and
our places of worship, and to keep God and Jesus living in our hearts, and to
live, ourselves, in the cloud of God's presence and glory.
Everyone today seems very fond of that phrase, the bottom line.
It seems quite clear that for us, the bottom line today, is to live God's way,
and thus be filled with his presence, and thus find ourselves living in a
culture and a nation that is filled with the glory and love of God. That's our
goal and our hope, and if we all do our part, we will be sharing in bringing
about the coming of God's Kingdom to earth, as we pray every time we say the
prayer that Jesus taught us: Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth
as it is in heaven. And we finish that prayer with another prayer, a
single word that means: Let it be: Amen, amen.
