A walking talking Temple

Easter 1 year C Sermon  John, Acts and Revelation

Isn’t it incredible …and inspiring…
how after the resurrection…Jesus’ new life-giving presence
leads his followers to such courageous and defiant
apostolic preaching…

and even when many of them are martyred for this 

in the arenas of Rome…they continue
to hope in the future completion of God’s new creation…
begun by Jesus on the cross and envisioned at the end of the first century…in the book of Revelation

As John writes to the seven churches already established in the near East: he writes...Grace to you and peace from God… who is and was and is to come, and from the seven spirits before God’s throne…and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and ruler of the kings of the earth.

May there be glory and dominion forever and ever
to him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood …and made us to be a kingdom of priests…
serving God his Father. So be it AMEN.

Don’t you wish that kind of fire was in your belly instead of doubt…Yet still…there were those who doubted…
like Thomas who refuses to believe…
till he can see and touch the living Christ…

 …and what overcomes his doubt… of course
is the mysterious… peace breathing presence…
of the risen Christ…
And this experience… overrides all uncertainty.

And inspires those early witnesses …to throw every caution to the wind…even in the face of deadly opposition…
even wild animals and torture…as they continue to proclaim God’s kingdom over and above the authority of the Roman Empire and the Temple priests.

Their ultimate testimony…

Slide words

‘We must obey God… rather than any human authority’.

But does their witness to Jesus…their courage inspire you …to bold witness and action… in defiance of governments and religious authorities… when what is happening in across the world and in this nation is counter to the compassion and justice of our God revealed by Jesus on the Cross. Do you seek the peace breathing presence of Jesus to give you this courage…and do you seek the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in your prayers and your worship with the people of God?

Blank slide

My friends…we aren’t just going through some religious ritual here …because the story of Easter is meant to inspire us to risk our lives and our reputations here at the ends of the earth.

In the season of Easter… we don’t just remember some random miracle…or some nice spiritual lesson…

We are retelling the story of God’s revelation in Jesus…
on the cross…of a new and very practical way to be human…

a new way of being in the world…that dazzles with its boldness and threatens established authority…
a new and different way…a way to live…
that has the potential to put right all that’s gone wrong in our own lives and in our world.[i]

In the power of the holy spirit…this remembering
gives us strength and courage as we see how political and religious power are turned upside down and redefined Last week…that symbol of human power… we call kingdom…is overturned as Jesus inaugurates and establishes God’s sovereignty forever…through the power of forgiveness and self-giving love on the cross.

But kingdom isn’t the only symbol of power and authority to be transformed … by the coming of the Christ…
there was another… which had long stood…
high above all others…like a city on a hill…
and after Easter its power is never the same.
In the first century…the Temple in Jerusalem isn’t just a ‘religious’ building’ it was the centre of the people of God…the place where heaven and earth connected…the place to go…
for healing and the forgiveness of sin… the renewal of fellowship with God.

And from a religious and political perspective…the Temple is God’s power base…the place where God’s power is concentrated. [pause]

But now …Jesus himself takes on this role… becoming
a one… man… walking…talking… dwelling place for God…

In his birth and life and lifting up on the cross…
the person of Jesus… is revealed to be the place
where heaven and earth meet…and the means by which people find themselves forgiven…renewed and restored in their relationship with God…

God’s Temple is redefined as a person in the Body of Jesus Christ…God’s Temple is in the Body of Christ….

To make sure no one misses the point… Jesus gathers round him twelve close friends…appoints the twelve to be his disciples … echoing the twelve tribes of Israel.

But the central problem for the Temple priests who demanded Jesus’ execution…was they just didn’t recognise the moment of divine visitation.

Remember Jesus prophesy of Rome’s destruction of the Temple as he weeps over Jerusalem

Slide words

They won’t leave one stone on another, because you didn’t recognize the time of God’s coming to you.

Blank slide

Radically and dangerously… Jesus is revealed as the place where Israel’s God now dwells…and he will not take up Moses seat…but will be crucified…speaking words of forgiveness.

From this perspective it’s no accident that when Jesus breathes his last on the Cross…the Temple veil…
The veil that keeps people out… of the holy of holies…
is torn in two… from top to bottom.

For God’s will to be done on earth …symbols of political and religious power must be overturned…

And Jesus’ followers went on to proclaim…often to their peril… that their only authority is God…revealed in Jesus Christ…the walking talking Temple at the heart of God’s new creation…

And like the wilderness tabernacle… Jesus is a temple on the move…and the veil that separated humanity from God is  gone forever.

Well, what’s that got to do with us…you ask…

Everything…didn’t Jesus pray and promise…to dwell in us…as the Father dwells in him… our bodies as God’s temple…as walking talking temples…through the pouring out of the holy spirit?

Aren’t we supposed to love as he loved…to forgive the sins of others as our sins have been forgiven? Aren’t we sent out…be walking talking temples…to carry on his work of grace and new creation…

Whenever the powers and principalities of this earth commit acts of violence exploitation and greed…may we stand up and speak out in word and deed and may we raise our voices in the words of the first disciples…

The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, and you had him killed. But God has exalted him to his right hand as Leader and Saviour…and before all human authority
we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.

---

[i] Walter Brueggemann said this first. And I am grateful to NT Wright once again for the ‘walking talking Temple’ image.