Sunday Homily - October 17, 2019 - Buildings and Souls

The Second Coming of the Lord Icon

I.

There are some buildings in the world
 that are so iconic,
  that you actually know their names
   by just seeing their silhouette.

If you ever travel to Paris, France,
 and you look across the horizon,
  you will see a weirdly shaped pointy structure in the distance
   that seems to reach up to heaven.

And your reaction is probably not going to be,
 "Huh, what a weird tower!"
  No, you will almost certainly say,
   "Ah, its the Eiffel Tower!"

Or, if you go to Washington D.C.,
 and you are walking between the marble white buildings
  when, all of a sudden, in front of you rises a huge obelisk
   that looks like a giant railroad spike reaching up to the clouds,
    you will probably not say,
     "Huh, what a weird pointy building!"
      No, you will almost certainly say,
       "Oh, neat! Its the Washington Monument!"

I mean,
 I remember the first time I went to New York City when I was maybe 11 or 12.
  We were approaching the city from a distance,
   with the busy roads already populated by a sea of yellow taxi cabs,
    I looked up to the skyline and as clear as day,
     there was a huge skyscraper with a tall spire on top of it.
      And without skipping a beat,
       and having never been to New York before,
        I immediately knew,
         "Oh, cool. That's the Empire State Building."

This same thing also happens to buildings designed for Christian worship.

While we may not ever travel to Rome,
 many of us in this room would likely be able to recognize
  the giant beautiful courtyard of St. Peter's Basilica,
   the place where the Popes of Rome have historically resided.

For you who love them some British Isles
 who love them some Downton Abbey
  or enjoy the mystery series called "Fr. Brown" on PBS,
   you will unmistakably be able to place the beautiful churches
    dotted around the English countrysides and cityscapes,
     such as Ely Cathedral in Ely,
      or St. Paul's Cathedral in London.

And some of these churches have been standing
 for longer than 1000 years!
  Some of those buildings have been places of worship
   for almost 3 times longer than the United States of America
    has even existed!
     The Washington Monument and the Empire State Building
      are babies in comparison to the long lives of these beautiful places
       who worship Jesus Christ as Lord until the day he comes again.

II.

There are also some buildings that are so central to a people's identity
 that its own existence is treated as a literal sign of God's favor and grace
  present in glory and majesty.

And one of those buildings was the Temple in Jerusalem.

The Temple in Jerusalem
 is so important to the Jewish people
  because it is a central symbol of their story as a people.

How did this happen?
 Well, let's tell the story of the Temple.

Travel with me way way back in time
 to ancient Egypt.

When the children of Israel were subjugated in horrible slavery,
 God raised up Moses to go and be the conduit of God's deliverance.
 [Exodus 4]

Once they were freed from Egypt
 by God's working of signs and wonders
  demonstrating the power of the Most High God,
   then the Israelites were led to the Mountain of God,
    where Moses received the Law.
     [Exodus 24:12-18]

And in the Law that Moses received,
 God commanded that a building dedicated to worship and prayer
  be made for God to descend and to live in
   to be with the people that he saved!
    Which, by the way, isn't it mind-boggling that the Lord Most High
     who cannot be contained even in the vastness of space and time,
      CHOOSES to dwell in this little tent with the people he loves?

And a tent it was!
 It was called the Tent of Meeting,
  which contained many precious items dedicated to God
   and in worship of the Lord who loved the people of Israel.

When the Israelites finally settled in the Land of Promise,
 and when the monarchy was established,
  King David voiced a deep desire to build a house for the Lord.
   [2 Samuel 7]

And the Lord allowed David's son, Solomon,
 to build the First Temple of the Lord,
  which, for hundreds of years, stood as one of the most incredible buildings
   of the Ancient Near East.
    [1 Kings 6]

This great Temple was the site of worship of the Lord Most High
 for many generations.

And yet, the Temple, even for all its glory and achievement
 was not necessarily the sign that the people of Israel
  wouldn't have any more hardship.

In fact,
 the Temple at Jerusalem,
  often called Solomon's Temple,
   gets demolished by the invading forces of the Babylonians
    and King Nebuchadnezzar
     who take the people of Israel into captivity once again.
      [2 Kings 24-25]

Hundreds of years later,
 as the Babylonians fell to the Persians,
  then the Persians fell to the Greeks,
   and the Greeks fell to the Romans,
    we find ourselves at the time of Jesus Christ's Incarnation,
     with the Temple having been rebuilt by none other than Herod,
      yes, that Herod that had all the babies in Jerusalem killed in an attempt to kill Jesus
       when the Wise Men observed the Kingly Star rising in the East.
       [Matthew

This Second Temple, or Herod's Temple,
 was the temple that Jesus and the disciples were walking outside
  when our Gospel account occurs this morning.

Can you sense how important that the Temple is to the Israelites?
 The worship in the Tent of Meeting, the Tabernacle in the Wilderness.
  The time when Solomon finally builds the Temple to the Lord
   and the people of Israel worship at this site for generations!
    Then, it is destroyed and the Israelites are taken into captivity,
     and finally Herod rebuilds this symbol of Jewish identity as the chosen and loved of God!

There is so much importance in this building as a symbol of the Jewish people themselves
 that the disciples start talking to Jesus,
  "Jesus, look at the Temple!
    Isn't it so beautiful?
     God truly is with us!"

But Jesus has a very different view of the Temple, doesn't he?

Jesus responds soberly and with no small amount of warning:
 "As for these things that you see,
  the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another;
   all will be thrown down."
    [Luke 25:5-7 NRSV]

And, of course, the disciples are wanting to know when this will happen!
 The Temple? Destroyed again? What are you saying, Jesus?

And Jesus tells them pretty plainly:
 Nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom,
  but this is what has to happen.
   However, even before the Temple is gone,
    the disciples will endure persecutions for Jesus's sake.
     But, even though hardship and deadly peril are involved,
      the disciples, even though they will lose their lives,
       they will have gained the resurrection of Christ their Lord.

And guess what happens soon thereafter?
 Jesus gets arrested and put on trial,
  and one of the charges against him was when he said
   that the Temple will be destroyed!
    Jesus then gets crucified,
     but rises from the dead,
      and commissions the disciples to spread the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

And the disciples actually go and do what Jesus said to do!
 Many of the disciples met their end in execution.
  Many suffered greatly for the sake of the Gospel.
   But in their suffering and in their sacrifice,
    we even today have come to believe in Jesus Christ.

And in A.D. 70, only 40 years after Jesus's resurrection and ascension into heaven,
 the Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans
  who put down a revolt in Jerusalem,
   and the only thing that remains to modern day
    is the Western Wall of that Second Temple,
     commonly called the Wailing Wall.
      [https://www.touristisrael.com/western-wall/15946/]

III.

When we look at beautiful or amazing buildings,
 like the Eiffel Tower,
  the Washington Monument,
   the Empire State Building,
    St. Peter's Basilica,
     Cathedrals in the world,
      or even here at Trinity Parish Church,
       with the beauty of the stained glass and the ritual beauty of our worship,
        it is good to remember that our Lord Jesus makes it very clear:
       
Jesus didn't come to save buildings:
 he came to save souls!

The places of worship that we have in our Episcopal Church
 are places where the beauty of holiness truly changes lives.
  But we should always remember that the reason why the beauty of our buildings
   change people's lives
    is because Jesus is among us in the Blessed Sacrament
     and because Jesus is who come to worship,
      and because Jesus is the one who has saved us from sin and death forever.

Nothing is more important,
 and, frankly, nothing is better news
  than the fact that Jesus has destroyed our ultimate mortal enemies,
   sin and death,
    and has given us the hope of that heavenly kingdom that is coming
     in the reign of Christ in perfect peace and justice.

And wherever we meet,
 whether it be in a beautiful place with dedicated gifts to God
  such as our church,
   or whether we meet in houses together and say our prayers together,
    the most important thing that happens in both of those cases
     is that the people whom Christ has come to redeem
      are praying and worshiping under the name that has saved us all:
       Jesus Christ our Lord.

What if we were to share that hope that we have
 with just one person this week?

What if we share this hope that we have in Christ,
 that hope that saves souls,
  even in the face of wars, rumors of wars,
   and nation rising against nation?

What if we find one person who needs someone to show them Jesus Christ's love
 and we let that be us?

I'll tell you what will happen:
 we will be actually participating in the life and work of Jesus Christ
  in the following of Jesus out into the places where people need Jesus
   and bringing them that saving faith in what Jesus has done for them.

Buildings, no matter how beautiful or meaningful,
 will come and go.
  But souls will last forever.

So introduce someone to Jesus this week.
 You will find its the most important thing you do.

In the name of the +Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.