IT IS NECESSARY TO CONSTANTLY CRITIQUE OUR SYMBOLS…
.Jeremiah re his competitors in AD 586 - “You say, ‘The Temple!, The Temple!…Peace! Peace!’”
John the Baptist to the Pharisees: “Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor…’
It is said that a horse is wary of the figure of a human because its eyes magnify objects in their vision…so a small person can easily frighten the animal, because what the horse sees is out of perspective.
It is easy for us to react inappropriately, often defensively, to justifiable causes for concern.
1. Sacred cows can lose their sacredness and lead us away from the truly sacred
At the time when mark wrote this gospel, the temple had recently been restored - a project began almost a century earlier under Herod the Great. And it was a beautiful building!
Jesus’ disciples say, “Look! Such stones, such buildings!”
What Jesus has done here is to destroy the legitmacy of the temple system. This is no small matter for a people whose whole world of values centred on the temple and its life and worship. How could one believe if all of this symbolism and ritual were to be stripped away?
Jesus rejected the temple state, and the system which exploited the poor
….offers a vision of the end of the temple-based world, and the dawn of a new world in which the powers of domination have been toppled.
Question: have you a ‘sacred cow’, something which may have been a source of spiritual life to you in the past, but which has turned into a source of depletion for you?
What are you going to do about it?
Alternatives to the sacred cow
The Jews rebelled against the Romans in the 60’AD s. In Ad 69, Vespasian turned back from Jerusalem when the city seemed certain to fall to his military might. After a one year lull, in which many jews thought that they had been saved from the Roman onslaught by the power of the almighty, Titus was sent by Vespasian to finish the campaign. Jerusalem suffered a 5-month siege in ad 70, then fell, was sacked, and the temple burned to the ground.
Jesus, speaking before this horror, spoke of impending chaos and agony, and used phrases like ‘rumours of wars’, ‘wars’, ‘earthquakes’, ‘famines’, ‘kingdom shall rise against kingdom’; and of people crying out about new messiahs who will deliver and lead to a new era of peace.
But Jesus says, “Don’t be alarmed! These things must happen!” He refers to the “beginning of sufferings”, an image from the OT prophets, a phrase used in the sense of “the pain of childbirth”.
Don’t be distracted by people who are frightened by what they see.
Abandon the defense of unhelpful religious practices (abandon the ‘defense of the temple’)
Watch!
Why Worship?
Let me read to you a description of God's reaction to a worship service held some years ago. It is recorded in the first chapter of Isaiah, Verses 12 through 17. There God says:
When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts?
Stop bringing meaningless offerings! their incense is detestable to me.
New Moons, Sabbaths, and convocations I cannot bear your evil assemblies.
Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates,
They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.
When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you,
even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen.
Your hands are full of blood; wash and make yourselves clean.
Take your evil deeds out of my sight!
Stop doing wrong, learn to do right!
Seek justice, encourage the oppressed.
Defend the cause of the fatherless,
plead the case of the widow. (Isa 1:12‑17 NIV)
Clearly there are two forms of worship. From the Christian point of view there is true worship and there is false. The worship of all the peoples on earth fall into these two categories.
True worship is to attribute worth to a real Being, one who is truly there and who is truly worthy. Dr. Francis Schaeffer wrote a book called The God Who Is There to make the point that, although God is invisible to our eyes, he is actually there. The function ofbelievers is to learn what God is like and to acknowledge him ‑‑ to ascribe worth to him, to reflect upon the value, beauty, and character of God. This is true worship.
False worship, on the other hand, is to attribute worth to an illusion which is not really there, or which is not worthy. It is not worthy of worship because it is merely imaginary. In the ancient world, false worship usually took the form of bowing before idols or images. People created representations of gods, usually in the form of a human being or animal. Then they ascribed worth to it and regarded it as extremely valuable in their lives. They thought the god either helped them in causing their crops to grow or it protected them from some danger or evil. Thus they ascribed great worth to speechless images and idols. Sometimes they worshipped deceitful spirits.
In our modern world, people still worship. Either they worship the one true God, or often they worship some idealized view of themselves. It is amazing how many millions of people worship themselves. You may be familiar with the bold words of the poem Invictus:
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
That is the worship of self. Sometimes worship is expressed in bowing down to or looking to some projected exaggeration of a living person. We know how easily many make idols of actors and actresses, rock stars, and athletes. They imagine what they are like, and then ascribe worth to that purely imaginary image. It then becomes a driving force in their lives.
It is apparent from this that worship is continually happening. It underlies every action and attitude we manifest. It colours all our life and goes far beyond a couple of hours on Sunday morning. Worship touches us all the time. Everything we do springs from our concept of what is important and valuable to us.
When true worship occurs, life becomes vital, real, exciting, daring, and adventurous. It is felt to be eminently worthwhile.
Does worship motivate me to take practical steps to help others? Do I feel stimulated, motivated, to do something about the woman down the block who has no one to help her with her shopping? To help that young teenager in our neighbourhood who is causing so many problems? Could I talk to him, not to bawl him out but to be a friend? Whatever the need may be, am I motivated to meet it?
One helpful question to ask myself after worship is “Do I now love more: Love the Lord more, and love others more?”
Ross Kingham, Tuggeranong 2010 |
© 2009 Tuggeranong Uniting Church. All Rights Reserved.
