Good Morning Friends,
Today there is no Jewish Temple as such in Jerusalem. In its glory it was a place people went to discover the Holy Spirit of God. Some seek to build a new Temple for worship there, but it is not under construction, and it is unlikely we will see it rebuilt in our lifetime. The reality is that Israel has had a history of having and not having a Temple to gather together for feasts. The larger reality is that we cannot contain God in a building and the amazing thing is that Jesus realized this and sought, I think, to provide us all a better alternative. So today, we really cannot find God dwelling in an earthly Temple made of stones. And if we have lost sight of Christ in our lives, as Mary and Joseph in today’s lectionary text, we need to ask a basic question. Where Do You Seek And Find Jesus’ Spirit?
Scripture: Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day’s journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.” He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he said to them. Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart.
Luke 2:41-51a (NRSV)
For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”) —in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become “the father of many nations,” according to what was said, “So numerous shall your descendants be.” Therefore his faith “was reckoned to him as righteousness.”
Romans 4:13, 16-18, 22 (NRSV)
But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan: Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the Lord: Are you the one to build me a house to live in? When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. When he commits iniquity, I will punish him with a rod such as mortals use, with blows inflicted by human beings. Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever.
2 Samuel 7:4-5a, 12-14a, 16 (NRSV)
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.
1 Corinthians 3:16-17 (NRSV)
Message: The whole idea of the Temple for God is an interesting thought, and a lot of people are praying for its restoration in a physical sense in Jerusalem, but we also need to be praying for the Temple in each of us. You see, there is a subtle difference between a good idea and God’s will. In today’s scripture from Samuel, we see that God vetoed David’s plan to build a Temple, postponing it for a more appropriate time and perhaps ultimately building it in a way that even Solomon did not even envision. In Luke’s story of Mary and Joseph, we see Jesus in the Temple during a feast day. It is interesting because Mary and Joseph had lost track of Jesus. Mary and Joseph had Christ in their lives, then lost him, then found him again all during a pilgrimage to Jerusalem for a feast. They would find young Jesus in the heavenly Father’s house…. The Temple… but it was not the grand Temple that Solomon built, but a poor replica that would soon be destroyed. The reality is that Israel would go through cycles of having and not having a Temple and for us the possibility is that our experience of God might well go through similar cycles. For the Temple, like Christ would be a reality that people would have in their lives for a time and then be lost only to be found again. Friends, God knew that it would be difficult to experience worship given what was going to happen to the Temple, so God plotted out a way for us to experience worship through the Son of God. Of course, it is difficult to experience Jesus, especially when we cannot see him in the Temple or on the Throne, for today there is no earthly Temple and Throne aside from God’s Temple and rule in us. So, we seek God from the inside out. And yes, there is tension in the experience much like there is tension in today’s text. Hopefully, we seek understanding in the lives of others of faith, and in God’s creation, and in scripture, and in the sacraments in our seeking. Friends we are to abide in Christ and in our experience of Jesus on the Cross and in the Resurrection, build a Temple and Throne room in each of our lives for God to dwell.
And So, scripture like today’s is meant to draw us into a time of prayer and self-examination that seeks the Spirit of Christ to abide with us. There is tension in the text, but we can learn from it that the only option is to please God. So, contemplate who you fear and why and who you try to please. And here you might just learn that it is living in the joy and awe and love of the Lord that gives us a faithful purpose that lives on. You see, fear and joy and love are related to whom we try to please. Sometimes we please people because we fear they will not like us. We please ourselves sometimes because we are afraid people will hurt us or not meet our needs. But when we are in awe of God, we live in a way that glorifies God, and the amazing thing is that when we do, God provides joy and even greater love that allows us to please others in a way that pleases God. The thing is that we each we each might try to please those who we fear but the pleasing of those we love is a much better approach to experience God. And the beauty is that we will learn from the experience of seeking the right mindset. Thankfully in humbly seeking the Spirit of the Lord we gain wisdom and not disappointment…and we get to know God and to know ourselves. This is the backdrop for our message and the question before us about who oversees this relationship. What today’s scripture presents is a reality that if we are not seeking the Spirit of following Jesus, we are the ones lost and need to be found.
Pray we despite the anxieties of the times have faith in the divine promises of God’s love to always be with us. Pray we diligently seek the truth of Jesus in our lives. Pray we find Jesus in our repentance. Pray we turn away from the sins in our hearts. Pray we wait for Jesus to reveal the way of faith through the Holy Spirit. Pray that we follow the Holy Spirit’s redirection. Pray we discover eternity in our hearts. Pray that we become a place of worship. Pray we seek and find Jesus abiding in our hearts. Pray we trust and obey. Pray we wait for God’s perfect timing. Pray therefore we are not afraid of taking a stand for Jesus when given the opportunity. Pray we glorify God in how we live and in what we believe. Pray we have faith in the promises of God. Pray we build bridges of hope for others seeking God. Pray we build bridges for others to experience heaven on earth and the hope of heaven in our future. Pray we are more in awe of God than fearful of the world. Pray we believe that God has plans for our welfare and a future of hope. Pray our tension is relieved as we learn to love like Jesus finding the Spirit of the Lord everywhere. Pray, as a friend of mine once prayed, that we open our eyes, our ears, our souls to God’s teachings and guidance so we won’t need the world to tell us what to do each day.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 