We trace the Story—our story—from its beginnings in
the Hebrew scriptures, through its climax in the memories of the
early church as reflected in the gospels, and then on to what
sense the first Christians made of the connections between the
two as reflected in St. Paul’s letters.
At each step along the way, as inheritors of that Story, we
participate today by reflecting on what it says to us corporately
as that continuing community of faith, or as individual members
of the continuing community. Scripture cannot fully be grasped
either as a historical or literary enterprise. It speaks, as one
scripture student said, "from faith to faith."
July 17
The Holy Temple
Psalm 89:20-37;2 Samuel 7:1-14a;Ephesians 2:11-22;Mark 6:30-34,
53-56
"Destroy this temple," Jesus said, "and in
three days, I will raise it up." The Jewish worshipers were
amazed, as the evangelist John reports it. "This temple has
been under construction for 46 years," they said, "and
will you raise it up in three days?" (John 2:19-20).
The language of metaphor and poetry always confuses those who
are bound by the language of fact and prose. It isn’t a
matter of one being right and the other wrong. Those very terms
belong to an understanding of reality that always has to have the
other reality explained, and so the evangelist explains Jesus
"was speaking of the temple of his body."
Our scriptures this week lead us to meditate on that temple.
David assumes God wants what David wants. He feels
uncomfortable living in a house of cedar while God still lives in
a tent. Nathan the prophet agrees with David’s wish to
change the situation, but that night the Lord sends Nathan a
different message. "I’ve lived in a tent all these
years," God said. "Have I ever given anybody the idea I
was dissatisfied with the arrangement?"
David’s job is to solidify God’s work, to give
God’s people a safe and secure place. When that is
accomplished, then God will see about God’s house, which
will be the work of David’s son.
Mark shows us the work of David’s greater Son. He heals
the sick; he feeds the 5,000; he walks on the water. He is the
new thing in the world that makes a difference in the world. This
is the test of worship.
Ephesians differs from the other letters ascribed to Paul in
that it does not deal with the trials and tribulations of one
little community of faith, but lifts up a vision of what all the
communities, the church, should be. Some believe it was a cover
letter for a collection of the individual letters.
This week’s passage stresses the unity of Jews and
Gentiles. In Christ, "those who were far off have been
brought near by the blood of Christ. He is our peace, having
broken down the dividing wall, the hostility between us. Jew and
Gentile are citizens with the saints and also members of the
household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and
prophets, with Christ himself as the cornerstone."
In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a
holy temple in the Lord, a dwelling place for God.
VERNA J. DOZIER is an educator and lay theologian in
Washington, D.C. She is the author of The Dream of God: A
Call to Return (Cowley Publications) and The Authority of
the Laity (The Alban Institute).
