I.N.I.
a sermon
to be preached at Christ Episcopal Church, Accokeek, Maryland on 15
November 2015, that is, the 25th Sunday after Pentecost and the Third
Sunday of End Time (Proper 28 [33]), and based on the Epistle for the
day, Hebrews 10:11-25
Grace,
mercy and peace be your in Chris Jesus, our Lord.
My
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Most of
us want to live fully-rounded lives in which we are surrounded by
family and friends, able to work satisfying work, followed by resting
comfortably as we relax and refresh ourselves with good, healthy food
in safe and secure surroundings. I'd even say that most people in the
world want the same sort of thing for themselves. While the
definitions of "safe," "healthy," "relax,"
"satisfying," and "work" variy from one person
to the next, it makes sense that everyone at least wants things in
life to be okay, and would really like things to be better than okay.
And lots
of people are willing to make great sacrifices so that they can enjoy
that kind of life. Or so that their children can enjoy that "better
than okay" kind of life. Maybe you or people in your family made
great sacrifices so that others could go to college. Maybe you
sacrificed a successful career in order to stay at home while your
children were little. Maybe you can identify with refugees around the
world who sacrifice everything but the clothes on their backs in
order to get to a country where they'll be safe, secure, and free.
People often give up a lot, sacrifice things, for a greater good, or
to achieve something of value. Which brings us to today's Scriptures.
Our Old
Testament ancestors, when they were doing their religion right,
sacrificed a lot. It would be an instructive exercise to read slowly
through the first 5 books of the Old Testament and write down how
many and what kind of sacrifices are written about there. All kinds
of domesticated livestock were to be offered up at various times for
various reasons. There were also offerings of grain, and olive oil,
and even salt. It was an ancient system that traces back at least to
Genesis 4, where both Cain and Abel - the sons of Adam and Eve -
offer to God some of the fruits of their agricultural labors. Much
later -- and after many other sacrifices you can read about -- the
Lord standardized the system in the laws given to the Israelites
during the Exodus from Egypt.
It is
these latter sacrifices, the system of daily sacrifices and sin
offerings and all the rest that were made first in the Tabernacle
(during the Exodus and earliest years in the Promised Land), and then
made in the Temple in Jerusalem (during the years the people of God
were not in exile and the years the Temple was not destroyed) -- it
is these sacrifices that the writer to the Hebrews is referring to at
the beginning of today's Epistle: "Every priest stands daily
ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices..."
(Heb 10:11).
I have
trouble imagining what that must have been like. The noise. The
smells. The crowds. The blood. The confusion. I think I would have
had difficulty obtaining a sense of worship there – maybe if I had
grown up in that system it would have been comfortable, but I didn't.
I would have gotten a sense of relief out of it ... after I had left.
And that was really the point of the sacrificial system: to be an
offer of forgiveness and relief and peace to the faithful, penitent
person coming to God with an offering of the finest animal they had
... leaving it there at the altar to be killed and then burnt up,
wholly consumed by the fire til nothing was left.
And the
priests, we are told here in Hebrews, stood there day after day
repeating the same sacrifices over and over again, sacrifices which
-- we are also told in the rest of verse 11 -- "can never take
away sins." That thought must have struck at least some of the
priests and people, as if they said “Here we are again; making the
same offering, the same sacrifice; maybe this
time it will be enough, maybe this
time the Lord will be satisfied, maybe this
time my heart will come away at peace.” But, no, that wasn't to
happen. The next day the priests were back on duty; the animals were
lined up again; the knives were sharpened; the fires stoked; the
prayers said and rituals performed; and the sacrifices started up
again. If it wasn't that the Law commanded that they were to do these
things, certainly many would have come to the conclusion that these
sacrifices "can never take away sins."
And
then into this world came Jesus.
Our
Gospel reading from Mark 13 shows Him and some of the disciples at
this same Temple. In Mark 12 He had been with them inside the Temple
teaching, discussing, disputing. Then right before our lesson "He
sat down opposite the treasury, and began observing how the people
were putting money into the treasury" the rich making an
offering of large sums and the poor widow putting in her two small
copper coins. After pointing that out to His disciples, they left the
Temple complex.
As they walked out, one of the disciples -- we don't know which one,
but he was showing his country roots -- marveled out loud like a
tourist "Look Teacher! What large stones and what large
buildings!" (Mark 13:1) If there had been an Internet back then,
he would have had pictures on Facebook or Instagram or something as
soon as he could get a connection. Jesus's response was both loving
and understanding and unsettling all at once: "You see these big
buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another...." (Mark
13:2)
The brighter disciples were set to thinking what that meant. No
stones piled up meant no buildings. No buildings meant no Temple. No
Temple meant no place to offer sacrifices. No sacrifices meant . . .
well, what did it mean? It would have meant that the
sacrificial system was coming to an stop, that either they were a
dead end, or maybe that they'd finally be enough.
But God had a surprise. If the disciples had been really listening
to Jesus, especially in the previous weeks and months, then they
would perhaps have understood what the surprise was. Yes, the Temple
was going to be destroyed and the endless sacrifices brought to an
end (that was going to happen about 40 years later). But, no, it
wasn't because those animal sacrifices burnt on the altar had finally
been enough. Before the Temple destruction came to pass, the writer
to the Hebrews explained what really happened. He wrote "but He
[Jesus], having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down
at the right hand of God ... For by one offering He has perfected for
all time those who are sanctified." (Heb 10:12, 14). For the
time being, the priests still stood day after day at the altar
because their work was never-ending; while Jesus was sitting down at
the right hand of God, His work done.
The endless sacrifices of animals were coming to an end because the
one sacrifice of Jesus finally took away all sins for all time.
Which
means that believers here in Accokeek and around the world can
rejoice. God doesn't want us sacrificing animals day after day. God's
justice isn't still waiting to be satisfied for the sins that you and
I commit day after day. (Although I wouldn't be surprised if He got
annoyed at the way we so often try to fall back on a sacrificial
system as if it would do us some good.)
Maybe it's not the bloody animal sacrifices again. And it probably
isn't the sacrifices that parents make so their children can go to
college, or the sacrifices refugees make to escape persecution and
death in their homelands. But I'm pretty sure all of us - at least
from time to time - start to feel as if something else we do or say
or give up will maybe somehow, even just a little, show the Lord how
good we are, or how worthy we are, or how much we ought to get some
blessing from Him. Our Scriptures for today tell us that that system
of trying to please God just doesn't cut it. The priests stand there
day after day, because that job was literally an endless one. Jesus
was sitting down because His one sacrifice of Himself was over and
done, good for all time and all people.
Now if you still want to DO something -- and out of your
thankfulness and gratefulness to God for His forgiveness that now
yours in the wake of Jesus's crucifixion and resurrection, you DO
want to do something -- keep reading the lesson in Hebrews for
guidance.
"Therefore" he writes in verse 19, as a result of what I
just told you and growing out of the new life you have in Jesus,
"Therefore ... since we have confidence to enter the holy place
by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated
for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a
great priest over the house of God..." (Heb 10:19-21), because
of all this, let's do some things in response. The normal Christian
life, in other words, isn't one where we try to be good enough for
God, worried about how and whether we measure up, scared of upsetting
an angry old God in Heaven. That was all taken care of by the
sacrificial death of the perfect Son of God on the cross. The normal
Christian life is the life of forgiven children who have confidence
to enter the holy place. And in that confidence, let us ... well,
there are a few things listed here in Hebrews 10 that I want us to go
through slowly enough to really hear them.
First,
"let us draw near [to God] with a sincere heart in full
assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil
conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." (10:22)
Cleansed inside and out, fully believing in what God has done for us,
our old evil consciences sanitized and made whole again, assured by
faith that God really means what He said about forgiving us, let us
draw near. He's still God. He's still king of the universe. He's
still our perfect and eternal father. But we don't have any reason to
draw back from Him. So let's you and me draw near. Let's come to Him.
Let's come meet Him in the Sacrament. Let's hear what He has to say
in His Word. Let's find God in all things, big and small. The earth
is full of the glory of God, and finding Him in it is a treasure
hunt, a joyful joy-bringing way to spend our time wherever we are.
Second, "let us hold fast the confession of our hope without
wavering for He who promised is faithful." (10:23) We regularly
make confession of our faith using the words of the Creeds. And in
those creeds we express our belief in things like the forgiveness of
sins and the resurrection of the body, things that we hope for, that
we have a deep and sure expectation and desire that they will happen.
Why in the world can we be so certain that something as outrageous
as the resurrection of our bodies will actually happen? Because He --
that is, Jesus -- has promised us it'll happen. He then rose from the
dead Himself, becoming what we call the firstfruits of the
resurrection. That makes it certain. That makes it sure. That makes
it absolutely bound to happen. So let's you and me hold tight to the
confession of our hope. Let's talk about it amongst ourselves. Let's
even share that hope with others.
Third,
"let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good
deeds." (10:24) Here, maybe for some, things get a little
trickier because this involves other people. I mean, I can draw near
to God in a little prayer closet, and I can hold fast the confession
of the hope in me without moving a muscle. But to start stimulating
others to love and good deeds necessarily involves other people. And
what if other people start stimulating me to
love and good deeds! Well, this IS a communion of saints we're in si
it's bound to happen. The real problem, however, is that we might set
out stimulating people to do the stuff that we don't want to do
ourselves off onto someone else by calling them 'good deeds'. Or we
might try to stir up guilt in order to get someone to do these things
rather than stirring up love. If our relationships are not the fruit
of freedom, then they probably aren't the fruit of love. Yet we can
point out to others opportunities to do good deeds when we see
something that needs doing and that matches their talents. We can
express our love of others by telling them how much we appreciate
their gifts and talents. So let's do all we can to stimulate others
to love and good deeds.
Fourth,
let us "not forsake our own assembling together" (10:25a)
This, well, this this morning it's kind of 'preaching to the choir,'
isn't it? Because you're all here. And most of us are here most every
week unless we're sick or out of town. We do
assemble together. So perhaps we can take this as an admonition to
find ways to get other people to assemble with us in order to "pray,
praise, and give thanks." We can also view this as one of the
ways in which we can carry out the third imperative to stimulate one
another to love and good deeds. Being together, especially for
services of worship, to receive the Eucharist, to hear and learn
God's Word ... these are deep ways in which we stimulate others to
good works, to works done in and from love. So let's you and me not
forsake assembling together.
Fifth, let us "encourage one another" (10:25b) This life
of drawing near to God, of holding tightly to our confession of hope,
of stimulating one another to love and good deeds, this new life in
Christ will and does attract opposition. Speaking plainly, Satan
doesn't want us to do any of this. So he throws up opposition and
roadblocks, and tries everything he can to pull us off the path we
are on. Not a one of us is immune. Which means that every one of us
is in need of encouragement from time to time. So let's you and me
prime ourselves to be in the habit of encouragement, especially of
others in the family of faith.
These five imperatives can only make sense to us growing out of the
once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus. If ever we are or were stuck in the
old way, the pre-Jesus way, of doing things and if we are or were
focused mostly on trying to sacrifice our way into God's good graces,
well, we'd find that the old never-ending loop just wouldn't let us
get to the point of living the Gospel life of these imperatives.
But
remember this: Jesus "offered one sacrifice for sins for all
time ... [and] by [that] one offering He has perfected for all time
those who are sanctified" (10:11,13). WE are sanctified by the
blood of the Lamb. WE are washed clean by the pure water of Baptism.
Because of God's gracious and loving acts, WE are able to draw near.
WE can hold fast the confession of our hope for the resurrection. WE
can stimulate each other to love and good deeds.
Our God is so good to us.
Amen
May the peace of God which passes all human understanding keeps your
hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen
S.D.G.