IntroductionOne of my favourite sayings is St Augustine's "our hearts are restless O God, until they find their rest in you". St Augustine, it seems to me, hit on one of the key facets of human existence - our need for God. Augustine realised that being made in God's image we need to worship God and commune with God in order to be whole. If we don't do these things we become dissatisfied and restless.
Anthropologists who study human societies show that all human societies have had religious beliefs and practices. It seems that, regardless of the type of belief and practice, there is something within us which drives us to worship and to seek out spirituality.
In the Bible we see the gradual development of the ideas around worship in both the Jewish people and, much later, the Church. In the early parts of the Bible the writers understood that in humanity's innocence we communed with God as with a friend. They express this through the Garden of Eden story where Adam and Eve meet with God as with a friend. After the Fall, however, worship becomes a bit more difficult; a barrier seemed to exist between God and humanity.
The earliest worshippers of God understood God to dwell in the high mountains - possibly because they were often surrounded in mist and had dramatic storms and weather systems around them. Also, once humanity became conscious of its sin, it was easier to imagine a sinless holy God at some distance from us. We don't know how the Jewish people worshipped when they were slaves in Egypt, but once they were freed, forms of worship which were more liturgical and structured became the norm.
Worship involves sacrifice
The Jews realised they were separated from God by their sinfulness and evolved forms of worship to try and appease God and atone for their sins. Moses placed the stone tablets on which were chiselled the 10 commandments into a casket called the Ark of the Covenant. This was placed in a holy place in the middle of a moveable worship area called a tabernacle. Animals were sacrificed each morning and evening; people would offer animals to be sacrificed in order to atone for their sins. One of the tribes, Levi, was set aside to be the priests who were responsible for the offering of sacrifices. Once a year the chief priest would offer a sacrifice on behalf of the whole people of Israel. On this day early the chief priest would be allowed to go into the most holy part of the tabernacle, and later the Temple, in order to sprinkle blood on the lid of the Ark of the Covenant. This spilling of blood was offered in atonement for sin and to try and break the barrier between God and humanity.
Again the Jewish people's understanding of sacrifice and worship is not unusual. All the ancient societies realised that worship involved sacrifice. Roman and Greek religious practice always involved the sacrifice of an animal - sometimes the entrails were examined in order to try and foretell the history. Sometimes people washed themselves in the blood of the sacrificed animal. Sometimes worship was less elaborate and wine would simply be poured on the ground as an offering to the gods. The Jewish people were also expected to give the first fruits of their crops to the Temple as an offering to God and to support the priests who worked there.
Worship now still involves sacrifice in a variety of ways. We are still encouraged to give of our money as gifts of God to further the work of the Church - though we tend not to want gifts of corn, wine, or fruit! We give of our time - an increasingly precious commodity in our hectic world - in order to be here and we give of our gifts and skills as we seek to honour God in our everyday lives. Worship still involves elements of sacrifice. If worship doesn't cost us something then we get very little out of it.
Sacred Space
Last week Philip talked about Jesus' cleansing of the Temple as being a lesson in the importance of having spaces which are sacred to us. The Jewish people believed the Temple to be the holiest place on earth; God's very presence was thought to dwell in the Holy of Holies - originally symbolised by the Ark of the Covenant as shown on the model on the screen. To keep this place holy a veil, or curtain, separated this space from other parts of the inner most building of the Temple. And, as I have said this Holy of Holies could only be accessed once a year. The Jewish people realised that God's holiness was so awesome that sinful humanity cannot abide God's presence.
Sacrifice and Sacred Space
The Jewish people realised that there was a gulf between a holy and perfect God and an unholy and imperfect humanity. They sort to bridge this gap through sacrifice. By giving to God the most valuable animals, in the form of sacrifice, and of giving the first fruits of their crops, they could show their contrition for their sins and draw close to God again.
By the time of Jesus this was a highly evolved liturgical business. One could buy the sacrificial animals in the Temple, hand them over to the priests who would sacrifice them for you and you would understand yourself to be forgiven.
Throughout his ministry, however, Jesus seems to pour scorn on the clergy of his day who controlled access to God. He was critical of their hypocrisy, as we saw last week he was not happy with how the Temple was being used, and he said very harsh things about the clerical leaders. These acts certainly marked him out as an enemy of the establishment and contributed towards his eventual death.
Jesus' Death on the Cross and the Temple
Today's reading makes some interesting links between Jesus' death on the cross and the Temple. We are, rightly, caught up with the horror of the occasion. We know of the unfair trial, the betrayal by his friend, and the mockery of the crowds. We read that the priests - those who are supposed to lead people to God are amongst those who are hurling abuse at Jesus as he hangs on the cross dying. We are struck by the fact that Jesus looses sight of God and feels himself forsaken. We are not sure if they offer him wine vinegar to help him or to prolong his agony - if he drinks it he will stay alive for a bit longer and keep the crowd amused.
But sometimes we miss the supernatural signs that follow Jesus' death in Matthew's Gospel. There was an earthquake at his death - and there is something similar at his resurrection which rolled the stone over the tomb away. The tombs are opened at his death just as his own tomb is opened at his resurrection. There are witnesses to his death just as there are witnesses to his resurrection and Mary Magdalene and another women are present at both. There is an interesting symmetry in Matthew's account of Jesus' death and resurrection.
But as we think of worship, and where God dwells, and the barriers that existed between God and humanity, there is one thing in Matthew's account of Jesus' death which is key. The veil which separated off the Holy of Holies was torn in two - possibly as a result of the earthquake. This would have happened at the time of the evening sacrifice.
Lots of meanings have been suggested for this tearing of the veil. Some commentators point out that it would symbolise the absence of God in the Temple. As Jesus died, so God's presence left the Temple and there was no need to have the veil there. Most commentators, however, make the link between the sacrifices that happened in the Temple and the sacrifice of Jesus.
Jesus' death was the sacrifice par excellence to God in atonement for human sin. The animals purchased in the Temple had to be perfect, and without any blemish. Jesus offered himself as a sacrifice without any stain of sin upon him. Such a sacrifice, of a sinless person offering himself without reserve, forever took the place of those animals being sacrificed each morning and evening. Such a sacrifice finally removed the gulf between God and humanity as a human had offered himself to be the bridge (the literal meaning of the word priest) between God and humankind. The veil was no longer needed.
Worship and Sacrifice Now
The breaking down of this barrier between God and humanity means that now people can worship God anywhere without needing to offer animal sacrifices. Now our offerings are sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving, of our money and skills as well as of our time. The sense of God dwelling in a special holy place has been expanded, now we realise that God dwells within us - a theme that John will look at next week. As a child I was taught to look for God under every crucifix in church in the little locked safe - called a tabernacle - where the consecrated wafers are kept; there is a tabernacle here in the side chapel which we share with St Chrysostom's. As a child I learned the importance of sacred spaces, of sensing God in certain place and buildings. As I grew older I realised that whilst God may be especially present in certain places, it is foolish to try and pin God down. The veil has been torn in two, and God's presence can be felt anywhere and everywhere. The barrier has gone.
Humanity is hard wired to worship. We need to worship in order to be whole, to stop our hearts being restless as St Augustine realised many years ago. Worship still involves sacrifice, but now the sacrifice is to teach and remind us that there is something and someone greater than us in our lives. We can approach God confident of forgiveness because of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. There is no barrier on God's side between us and Him - Jesus has made a bridge of himself between us and God. The barriers that may exist now are of our own making, due to our fear or our refusal to offer ourselves as living sacrifices to God. But now we are welcomed into the courts of the King so that we may worship and be whole.
This sermon was first preached in the Metropolitan Community Church of Manchester. Click here for further information.