Sunday of the Canaanite Woman
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 6:16-7:1
Nutshell
Oops!
Ancient Israel, much like us, had a robust religious system, complete with a temple, offerings of incense, sacrifices, and daily prayers. This system included a class of priests and helpers. And, like us, they placed their full trust in this system.
However, ancient Israel faced a problem: God didn’t desire their sacrifices. In fact, God despised them.
Ugh!
According to the prophets, God did not request sacrifices; rather, he asked that the people follow his instructions, which Jesus summed up as loving God and neighbor.
Instead of obeying God, they became wicked and used the temple system as a way of trying to appease God. For this, God—yes, God himself—destroyed the whole thing.
Aha!
When Christ came, people expected him to renew the temple system, but instead of rebuilding the temple, he became the temple. In his resurrection, he sent his Spirit so that we, when assembled as the Church, also become the temple.
Whee!
Because of this, God’s teaching is now inscribed on our hearts (instead of tablets of stone), and we walk in his instruction. We become God’s children, and God forgives our iniquity, remembering our sin no more.
Yeah!
As a result, Paul says we should “…purify ourselves from every pollution of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in fear of God.” In other words, we now live in the assurance of God’s grace and the enjoyment of his Kingdom.
Full Text
Oops!
I’ve been preparing for my Theology Uncapped talk, which takes place in April (by the way, registration is now open—click here), and there’s one book in particular that I’ve been rereading. I wanted to reread it not only because it’s by an Orthodox author, but it also does a very good job of engaging scripture. The author has a good grasp of the Greek of the New Testament and of the world-view of the first-century evangelists.
As I’ve been working my way through this book, one thing in particular has really struck me: The New Testament world of Jesus and his disciples is much different than our own. And, the gospel message—the Good News of Jesus Christ—is much more radical than we’ve come to realize!
The gospel, in many ways, is supposed to make us uncomfortable. It’s suppose to challenge the way we live, especially in a fallen world. It pokes fun at our human-made philosophies and institutions that often ignore the sort of justice that God calls us to live by. The gospel is supposed to shake us up a bit, get us to rethink how we live, so that we have a change of heart and turn towards the path Christ has laid out before us.
In some ways, the gospel has been too radical. So much so that many preachers and biblical teachers have toned down Jesus’s message. Harsh sayings have become symbolic and metaphorical. And, since we read things in translation, English words have been chosen that soften the blow.
Let’s take the temple and the temple system as our example.
Ancient Israel, much like us, had a robust religious system, complete with a temple, offerings of incense, sacrifices, and daily prayers. This system included a class of priests and helpers. And, like us, they placed their full trust in this system.
I bet, when you think about the temple and the sacrificial system, you think of it positively. Solomon, often called the wisest king, built it, and it was the place where the presence of God resided.
When we read about it being destroyed, we feel sad. “What a pity!” we think. And, if I were to ask you, “Who destroyed the temple?” I’m sure you’d reply it was the Babylonians and that awful Nebuchadnezzar.
Ugh!
But, here’s the radical part. Here’s where it gets shocking. The Babylonians were just a tool used to destroy the temple at someone else’s request. Whose request? God’s! That’s right, according to the prophets, it was God himself who destroyed his own temple!
But why? Why would God destroy his own house?
The prophets have a lot to say on the matter. They paint a grim picture of ancient Israel. According to Isaiah (1:21-23), Jerusalem had become a whore and full of murderers. The leadership was a den of thieves and the people functioned by bribes. And, what about the orphans and the widows? Well, no one cared about them.
But, it gets even worse. God declares that he didn’t want sacrifices to begin with!
In Amos (5:21-22), God declares:
“I absolutely despise your festivals! I get no pleasure from your religious assemblies. Even if you offer me burnt and grain offerings, I will not be satisfied; I will not look with favor on your peace offerings of fattened calves.”
In Jeremiah (7:22-24), God tells the people,
“For in the day that I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to them or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. But this command I gave them, ‘Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and walk only in the way that I command you, so that it may be well with you.’ Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but, in the stubbornness of their evil will, they walked in their own counsels, and looked backward rather than forward.”
It’s clear that where God’s priorities are. He’s about how we live our lives, rather than buildings of wood and stone, or even religious observances.
Aha!
By Jesus’s day, you’d think that the Judeans would have gotten the message. After all, they read the same prophets I’m reading today. Yet, they had rebuilt the temple system. And, they looked forward to a Messiah, a christ, who would free them from Roman rule and reëstablish rule as it had been at the time God had destroyed them.
So, the stage is set, a confrontation between Jesus and the Judean leaders, between Christ and the temple system. Now, as fans of the prophets, we’re ready to cheer Jesus as he confronts and tears down that temple system. We’re delighted when he says he will destroy the temple in three days. We’re jumping with joy when he overturns the tables in the courtyard of the temple. And, when he speaks about his own body being the temple, a smile comes to our face.
But, wait a minute! Jesus also says that he’ll rebuild the temple. And, Paul, no stranger to Jesus’s teachings, also seems to be pro-temple …
The trick is that God, the prophets, Jesus, and Paul are all anti-temple, when that temple is made of stones. The temple they seek, the temple they affirm, however, is a temple that’s the Body of Christ—a temple of living flesh.
Whee!
When we are assembled here around the Lord’s table, then we are the temple of the living God, we don’t have to make buildings the center of our faith.
I remember, in August of 2014, just a year and half into my tenure in my first parish, our roof collapsed. In the end, we had to knock the entire building down, and, as a community, we were left homeless.
Now, in ordinary circumstances, it would have been easy to be devastated by this. How could we be a church without a building? How could we go about ministries? Where would we make our home-base?
It would have been easy to give in to hopelessness and see this as the end. But, then I thought about it. Perhaps, our church building was our version of the Jerusalem temple. Perhaps, it’s destruction was actually good for us, good for our community. And, it was.
For me, it caused me to turn towards scripture and see what God asks of us. It caused me to remember that the Church, with a capital C, is not a building, but the gathered community. I remembered that being a Christian is not about where you worship, but how you put your faith into practice.
It reminded me of God promise found in the prophets: God’s teaching is now inscribed on our hearts (instead of tablets of stone), and, because of this, we can walk in his instruction.
Yeah!
All of this came together in Paul’s words to us today. He began by saying,
“What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God. … Therefore come out from [the idols and temples], and be separate from them … “
So, when we hear about Notre Dame in Parish burning down, it doesn’t both us.
When we hear about Hagia Sophia or the Chora Church, both in modern day Istanbul, being turned into mosques, we remember that the temple is built not of stone, but of flesh and blood.
Today Paul also said, we should
“…purify ourselves from every pollution of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in fear of God.”
A building can’t purify itself, but we can. We purify ourselves by heeding what God has taught us. By listening to his voice about justice, mercy, and love. By looking after one another and creating community, a community centered around Christ and the table he prepares for us every Sunday.
This, brothers and sisters, is how God forgives our sins, and this is makes us God’s children.
Amen.