Acts 2:1-21
Today we return to our Essential 100 Readings, and we are now post Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension and reflecting on the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
There is an ongoing
discussion as to whether we should call this the establishing of the Church, or
perhaps the birthday of the Church, but I don’t want to get into that
discussion today.
I also do not want to talk
about the Feast of Pentecost itself, apart from noting that Pentecost was a
Jewish Feast 50 days after Passover.
That is seven times seven
plus one, and that number is not insignificant and references back to the seven
days of creation.
50 years is also the Year of
Jubilee. A time when the clock was reset, and with a fresh start you could
start over again.
When reading Scripture, we
need to pay attention to numbers as they may be giving us important links and
clues.
Being an agrarian society,
many Jewish festivals were based around crops and Pentecost (Greek Pentekostos 50) is a Festival of First Fruits in the Spring season.
Among Jews the most popular
name for this festival is the Feast of Weeks, or Shavuot, in
Hebrew. When celebrating this festival, many Jewish people recall one of the
greatest events in their history, God's revealing of the law at Mount Sinai.
However, …
‘For the law was given
through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.’ John 1.17
What I would like us to
reflect on is the ‘Coming of the Holy Spirit,’ God’s breath, God’s wind - in
Hebrew Ruach.
‘In
the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now
the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of
the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.’
Or in the apocryphal story of
the child who said God’s Spirit was hoovering over the water. Not too bad an
idea as God is tidying and cleaning and bringing order out of chaos.
The story of creation
continues with, ‘And God said…’
Consider this, to speak a
word you need to exhale, to breathe out, it is nigh on impossible to speak
while inhaling.
God breathed out the Word of
Creation.
From John’s Gospel….
‘In the beginning was the
Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.’
The Word became flesh and blood,
and moved into the neighbourhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
the one-of-a-kind glory,
like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
true from start to finish.
A reading of John 1:14 from
‘The Message.’
This verse has been variously
rendered over the years, but most sit close to this idea of the Word coming to
dwell with us or among us.
Recently I have come to
prefer a rendition that sits closer to the original.
And the Word became flesh and
tabernacled among us. We looked upon His glory, the glory of the one and only
from the Father, full of grace and truth.
For while the concept of
Jesus dwelling amongst us or even moving into the neighbourhood speaks of
incarnation and intimacy, the use of the word ‘tabernacle’ reveals something
very important.
It does mean we do have to do a little more work to get behind this word ‘tabernacle’, but it is well worth the effort.
Tabernacle is also referred
to as ‘The Tent of Meeting’ – first used in the desert wanderings of God’s
people during the Exodus.
A place where dispute were to
be settled and the place where God met with Moses.
In short, a heaven and earth
place, much the same as in the Garden of Eden, the ‘tabernacle’ was a small
portable Eden.
Tabernacle and Temple both
carry the same basic concepts, except that the Tabernacle is portable, and the
Temple is in a fixed location.
And this raises a set of
interesting questions that we do not have time to fully explore today.
In the ancient world local
deities were often worshipped. (As they are in some places today). However, the
God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob revealed himself as God Most High, a God who
called the universe into being and continues to sustain and uphold it. In other
words, a far bigger concept than a local deity.
Psalm 24.1 declares ‘The
earth is the LORD’S, and all it contains, The world, and those who live in it.’
This raises questions such
as, where was God when the First Temple was destroyed and why did Daniel turn
his face towards Jerusalem as he offered his prayers?
During the Exodus wanderings
in the desert Moses receives exacting measurements and adornments for the
tabernacle and it interesting to note that this is arguably the first time
anyone is referred to as being filled with the Spirit of God.
‘Then the Lord said
to Moses, “See, I have chosen Bezalel son of
Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and
I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with
knowledge and with all kinds of skills— to
make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to
cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of
crafts.’ Exodus
31.1-5
Moving from Tent to Temple
was a desire of King David; however, it wasn’t David who was to build God a
house but his son Solomon.
And he built well and
lavishly. 180 feet long, 90 feet wide and at its highest point 207 feet high.
(That’s approximately 20 stories high)
The porch was equally massive
and overlaid with gold.
You can read the account in 1
Kings 8 of the dedication by Solomon and for our purposes this morning, I want
us to take especial note of verses 10 &11.
‘When the priests withdrew from the
Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the Lord. And
the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the
glory of the Lord filled
his temple.
The cloud that led them out
of Egypt, the cloud that came down upon the Tent of Meeting, the Tabernacle.
The cloud, sign and symbol of God’s presence, so filled the Temple that the
priest were unable to function.
Sadly, despite such an
auspicious start and with such a magnificent building the temple was to be
destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC.
By 538 BC. Babylon had passed
into history and the Medo-Persian Empire took its place. Cyrus the Persian
issued a decree to allow the Jews to go back to their land, and with the
blessing of The Persian Empire.
The first move back to Palestine was led by Zerubbabel, of
the house of David. In 536 BC. he laid the foundations for a new temple, built
an altar, and worshipped the Lord.
The prophets Haggai and Zechariah helped urge the Jews on. They
finished the work on the Temple in 516 BC. Exactly 70 years after the
destruction of the first temple. (Note
the number.)
Here however we see no
evidence of God’s glory descending at the dedication of this Second Temple. A faithful and joyful celebration indeed, but
nothing to indicate God’s presence settling like a cloud or any other such
manifestation.
Question then – is this a
true Eden place, a heaven and earth place, a God and humans place?
Enter Herod the Great and
another of his famous building projects.
This time to expand and
enhance the Second Temple.
This work began around 20/19
BC and would not be fully completed until 62 AD – eight years before being
destroyed by the Romans.
This size and scale of this
project was a true wonder of the ancient world.
The Jewish historian Josephus wrote this about the Temple and mentions some spectacular artistic touches which adorned the massive double doors which opened through the 180-foot-high façade into the shrine building itself. He writes, “The temple had doors also at the entrance, and lintels over them, of the same height with the temple itself. They were adorned with embroidered veils, with their flowers of purple, and pillars interwoven, and over these, but under the crownwork, was spread out a golden vine, with its branches hanging down from a great height, the largeness and fine workmanship of which was a surprising sight to the spectators, to see what vast materials there were, and with what great skill the workmanship was done.” “Its height extended all along to ninety cubits [135 feet] in height, and its length was fifty cubits [75 feet], and its breadth twenty [30 feet]; but that gate which was at this end of the first part of the house was, as we have already observed, all over covered with gold, as was its whole wall about it; it had also golden vines above it, from which clusters of grapes hung as tall as a man’s height;”
‘As
Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher!
What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!”
Massive indeed, with the
biggest stones weighing in at an estimated 250 – 300 metric tonnes.
However, this was not done to
the glory of God but for the vainglory of Herod.
And according to Jesus it had become a den of thieves rather than a house of prayer.
Jesus presents himself as the
‘temple’ – the earth heaven place, where sins are forgiven, new life begins for
all, no exclusive courts keeping people out, but an open invitation to all and
especially to the weak, the poor and the marginalized.
‘Jesus
answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise
it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken
forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three
days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body.’
And then we come to read
today’s passage which we will be visiting again at the Feast of Pentecost.
It sits here with us today as
part of our E100 readings.
The disciples, about 120 of
them according to Acts 1.15, were all together in one place.
And God’s shekinah glory
falls upon them, the Holy Spirit, the Ruach, the divine breath of God that
breathed life into being is poured out upon those gathered.
They have now become living
temples.
Do you not know that you are
a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man
destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is
holy, and that is what you are. – 1 Corinthians 3:16-17
So then, you are no longer
strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of
God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and
prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole
building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in
whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the
Spirit. – Ephesians 2:19-22
And we, you and I have that
very same calling upon our lives.
We too can be filled with the
Holy Spirit.
We too are called to be
living temples.
Consider all that the
tabernacle and temple represented.
All of that now resides in
you and in me.
We are now God’s tabernacle
that has moved into the neighbourhood.
And as we reflect upon the
tabernacle and temple there is much to learn.
Firstly, we need to recognise that there are still many
temples around the world.
There are those temples dedicated to other god’s or
deities.
Then there are modern temples, like MacDonald’s.
Or a super shopping centre, although we prefer to worship
online these days.
There are temples to football, cricket, and other sports.
There are temples dedicated to the body beautiful.
There are tabernacles that offer a seasonal worship
session of your favourite music artist.
Temples abound everywhere as much as they did in Paul’s
day when he wandered around Athens.
Therefore, what lessons can we learn both from history and
contemporary culture about tabernacles and temples.
Negatively we can learn that
we may have all the outward show and look rather splendid, and yet remain cold
and disconnected from God in our hearts.
We can parade our piety or
our good works – but do so for vainglory and not God’s glory.
Positively we can become that
heaven earth place, the place where God speaks into the world of his creation.
We can become the place of
prayer and the place we offer ourselves as a living sacrifice.
And like the tabernacle we
are mobile and wherever we go God is tabernacled with us, we are in
partnership, a covenantal relationship.
1 Corinthians 6.19 ‘Do you not know
that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you
have received from God? You are not your own;’
If our bodies are temples of
the Holy Spirit, then it behoves us to take care of them. Ensure they are
looked after as much as we are able. Enough rest and exercise and the right
food and drink. We should also respect other people’s bodies as well.
We are the enfleshed
representatives of God to the world.
We, like the first human
couple, are called to be kings and priest, image bearers of God.
But you are a chosen people,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may
declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
1
Peter 2.9
As Teresa of Avila put it “Christ has no body now but yours. No
hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks
compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good.
Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the
hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no
body now on earth but yours.”
Therefore we are the answer to the question of, 'where on earth is heaven.'
We are the answer to the question, ‘where
on earth is heaven.’
