Ordinary time 32 at Saint Mark Church in Norman, OK
November 9, 2008
Ezekiel 47:1-2,8-9,12 + Psalm 46 + 1 Corinthians 3:9-11,16-17 + John 2:13-22
In John’s Gospel, the first of seven signs has just been revealed at Cana’s wedding feast, and the verses we proclaim today come as a simple reflection on the sign we have just been given. As the water is replaced by wine, now we see the Temple and its worship being replaced by Jesus. He is the center. He replaces the water with himself and the temple with his presence. It is an important thing to see as the western church celebrates this Feast today with the memory of our most ancient church’s dedication in Rome.
Yet this is never about Constantine’s gift Basilica on the Lateran Hill. It is not about the Cathedral of Rome no matter how lovely it is today and how significant it is with its history and it great baptistry. That building standing today has been in ruins more than once. The fact that the Pope now lives across the river on the Vatican hill rather than at this historical place of beginnings is a reminder that it was once uninhabitable. This feast is about Christ Jesus and His enduring presence among us, and the first name of this building that gives reason for this celebration every November 9 was first named: Church of the Savior.
Every civilization has certain places that it sets apart as holy. Mountains, Trees, Stones, and Water were especially respected and often times became a meeting place with the gods. They were the starting point or the goal of pilgrims, and as such they became places of worship. Mountains in particular were the favorite locale for cultic rites. Psychologically they were closer to the sky and a ladder to the divine. Often stones were piled high on mountains to reach even higher than the terrain would allow. In time these would evolve into tombs, temples, and shrines. These were often oriented to face the rising sun.
For more than a thousand years, the most sacred place of Judaism was the Temple on the mount that is Jerusalem. But it’s destruction by hostile invaders brought about a more spiritual worship, a religion of the heart which some prophets encouraged with a caution against excessive attachment to a temple of stone suggesting that poor and contrite hearts were a better dwelling place for God. For the first followers of Christ it became clear that Jesus was the new temple where one would encounter God, and once his death and resurrection were experienced through Pentecost, they began to see themselves, as Paul suggests, as the new temple built on the foundation or the corner stone of Christ.
It is a good reminder for us today in this beautiful church that this building is here because we are here, not the other way around. In fact, if there is someone here because of the building, this Feast comes as a challenge and a contradiction to that thinking. It is Christ the Savior that must draw us together, not bricks made by human hands. This place, like the Church of the Lateran is a gift, a gift we make to God. It can and it will come down someday, but the faith we celebrate, nurture, and share in this place does not. In this place we bear witness to the power of that faith to give life and hope, to give light and voice the faith we share. This is the goal of our pilgrimage through the past week. We come to this church like pilgrims, and like so many other sacred and holy places, it reaches high toward the sky, and as you enter, you face the east looking for risen and coming light.
This is a place of covenant; of feasting; of proclaiming. It is place of sacrifice; a meeting place where God is revealed in sacrament, song, and service. Water flows here at the entrance. Look at it. Touch it.
See the three sources that flow from the font and collect in the pool below. Be reminded of the Trinity and the power of those names. The prophet’s promise is fulfilled in this place and among us.
Our churches are for us a mirror that reminds us who we are. The world says we are consumers flashing a constant stream of icons to remind us of this and make us want more. The church reminds us of our deepest identity, a people of diversity who become one in Christ Jesus and in whom dwells the Spirit of the Living God. It reminds us that we are not alone, but in here are surrounded by statues and icons to remind us as Paul says: that “we are fellow citizens with the saints”. This day we celebrate what we have become in Christ: a prophetic people, a priestly people, a holy people.