Community Church Sermons
February 12, 2006
Mark 1:40-45
Picture in your mind, if you will, the Temple in Jerusalem. Imagine that we are in the Temple this morning.
It is a massive and impressive structure, like a great walled city. The focal point is a palace-like structure called the Holy Place. We might think of it as being located over here, behind the front wall of our sanctuary. Inside the Holy Place is the Holy of Holies. It is a room where the presence of God resides. No one can enter the Holy of Holies except for the High Priest, and then on only one day during the year – Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. On that Day the High Priest enters into the inner sanctum in which, we are told, there is no light, but for the glory of God. The High Priest enters the Holy of Holies to pray for the forgiveness of the people of Israel, and – if everything goes right – he will come out alive. If things don’t go well, legend tells us, there was a rope attached to his ankle so that his body could be pulled out of the Holy of Holies.
Outside the Holy of Holies is a courtyard like our chancel here in which is located the altar of sacrifice. It is constructed of stone and stands about 45-feet wide, 45-feet deep, and 22 feet high. Can you picture it here in the place of our altar? This courtyard around the altar is called the court of the priests and no laypeople are allowed. So, if there are any laypeople in the chancel today….get out while you have the chance! Only kidding!
Beyond the courtyard of the priests is the court of Israel – corresponding in some sense with where you are sitting in the sanctuary. This is where the ordinary folks come to carry out the rituals of Temple worship - but not ALL the ordinary folks. This court is for men only. Sorry about that, but those are the rules laid out in the Holy Word of God.
The women will have to go out to the court of the women, which might correspond to our Narthex or thereabouts. Women are never permitted to come any closer.
So do you get the picture? Only the High Priest can enter the Holy of Holies. Only the clergy can come into the court of the priests. Only laymen are permitted in the court of Israel. And the women have to stay out in the Narthex!!
So let’s take a little poll. How many of us here today would qualify to go into the Holy of Holies? None of us! Because we have no high priests here, with the possible exception of Bob Puckett! Who would get to be in the courtyard of the priests where the altar is? Yes, just the few of us wearing robes. How many of you would get to be out there in the courtyard of Israel where you are sitting today? Exactly, just the men. And how many of you would be stuck out in the Narthex? Right, all the women. And while you’re out there, if you wouldn’t mind making some coffee….
Doesn’t seem fair, does it?
Well, let me add one more twist. In truth, not even Bob Puckett would be allowed into the Holy of Holies. And none of us clergy would be allowed here in the courtyard of the priests. And not one of you men would be permitted in the court of Israel. And not one of you women would be able to enter the court of the women out there in the Narthex…even to make the coffee.
Do you know why?
Because we are not Jewish. At least I don’t think any of us here today are Jewish. If you are, you’d pretty much have the place to yourself!
Because, you see, we are Gentiles – non-Jews. And Gentiles – at least those who worshipped the God of Israel – were allowed only to go into a specially designated part of the Temple complex called the court of the Gentiles. It would pretty much be located out there in the parking lot, although still inside the walls of the Temple area. And we Gentiles could not come any closer. There were signs posted in the court of the Gentiles warning us that going any further into the Temple would be punishable by death.
So you and I are not permitted to enter the Holy of Holies, or mingle with the priests making the sacrifices, or sing the songs of Israel with the men, or even associate with the women in the court set aside for them. We are out in the cold parking lot where we cannot pollute either the women, the men, the priests, or especially God with the unfortunate impurity of our having been born Gentiles.
And even then, some of us would not be allowed even into the courtyard of the Gentiles!
Has anyone here eaten pork chops lately? Or maybe a nice ham and cheese sandwich? Or lobster, or shrimp, or any other kind of shellfish? Many foods that we enjoy would disqualify us from entering the Temple today.
So would making love with your spouse last night, or having a menstrual cycle, or giving birth to a baby. If you had a baby girl, you would be twice as unclean as if you had a baby boy.
Have you violated the Sabbath by driving to the Temple today, or tried to help a fellow motorist out of a ditch? Did you wash in the prescribed manner both before and after breakfast? You didn’t mix meat and milk, did you?
These would all be violations of the Law and render you an abomination to the Lord. The word “abomination” means “unclean.” Unclean people were not allowed into the presence of God, or into the court of priests, or the court of men, or the court of women, or even the court of us Gentiles way out there in the Cooper Communities parking lot.
And even then, there were some people SO unclean that they were not only prohibited from going anywhere near the Temple, but were not even allowed to enter the cities and towns of Israel.
These were people like the lepers.
To suffer with any of the many skin conditions that fell into the category of leprosy was to be handed a non-negotiable sentence of social and religious ostracism. Leprosy was considered not only to be a contagious illness, but – even worse – the direct punishment of God for evil deeds or evil thoughts. Lepers were removed from their families, forced to live outside the cities, unable to gain employment, sometimes required to wear a bell around their neck, and to shout, “Unclean! Unclean!” to warn others of their presence.
Lepers were kept a long, long, long ways away from that Holy of Holies, and the court of the priests, and the court of the men, and the court of the women, and the court of the Gentiles, and the walls of the Temple, and even the cities and towns of the people of God.
Which brings us to today’s Scripture lesson from Mark 1.
Jesus is somewhere “out there.” A leper comes and asks for cleansing. Jesus touches him, and the man is made clean. Jesus then tells the former leper to not tell anyone. But the fellow can’t contain himself. He is so happy that he blurts the news of his cleansing to everyone he meets.
You know, sometimes when we read Bible passages we do not pay enough attention to the details of the story. Sometimes we miss the most important points. This little story is surely a beautiful testimony to the love and power of God in Jesus.
But even more important than the story are the words that follow:
“…as a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly, but stayed outside in the lonely places. And they came to him from every quarter.”
Let me ask you two questions: first, why do you suppose Jesus could no longer openly enter the cities and towns?; and second, who are they who come to Jesus from every quarter?
Some interpreters say the reason Jesus could no longer enter the cities and towns was because he was too popular – surrounded by adoring fans! But I don’t think that’s right. I don’t believe that’s the reason. In the context of this passage, Jesus could no longer go into the cities not because he was POPULAR, but because he had TOUCHED AN UNCLEAN MAN! And in the eyes of the Law, that made Jesus unclean. And unclean people – like the leper Jesus touched – were not permitted to go into the towns, or the cities, or inside the Temple walls, or into the court of the Gentiles, or the court of the women, or the court of the men, or the court of the priests, or into the Holy of Holies where God Himself resided.
“…he could no longer enter a town openly, but stayed outside in the lonely places.”
“And they came
to him from every quarter.”
Who do you think THEY are?
Right! The lepers. Tax collectors. Prostitutes. Sinners. Demon-possessed men and women.
The UNCLEAN OF EVERY KIND!!!!!!
And they came to Jesus because in him they found what they could never find in the Temple with its many courts. They found the embrace of a God who loved them, and claimed them as His own children – regardless of what the Temple said.
“Why Church?” That’s the question we’re asking in our February sermon series. “Why Church?”
Why does the church matter? Why should you or I bother with the church? Why should our commitment to the Church of Jesus Christ be a top priority in our lives?
Well, here’s today’s answer to that question, “Why Church?”
Because the world has more than enough Temples! The world has more than enough religious institutions that exist primarily to figure out clever ways to divide people one from the other, and to exclude some of God’s children from the love and healing of God.
The world has enough Temples with their Holies of Holies – that only SOME are allowed to enter, and their courts of priests – that only SOME are allowed to enter, and their courts of men - that only SOME are allowed to enter, and their courts of women – that only SOME are allowed to enter, and their courts of Gentiles – that only SOME are allowed enter, and their great big outside walls designed to keep EVERYBODY ELSE OUT!
The world has enough Temples. You can turn on cable TV and see them in action 24-hours a day – you can drive around town and see them on most every street corner with great big crosses on top – or travel around and see them in every region throughout the land – and in every nation – and every religion. Oh, the world has more than enough Temples. We don’t NEED any more Temples!
What we NEED is more Christ.
“…he could no longer enter a town openly, but stayed outside in the lonely places.”
“And they came
to him from every quarter.”
The Church is the continuing presence of Christ in the world. It is our mission not to hide in our carefully segregated religious courtyards, but to go out to the lonely places where they are – the ones everybody else writes off – the ones everybody else rejects – the ones everybody else identifies as not qualifying for the love of God – the ones the religious people reject as unclean.
And the job of the Church – like Jesus that day – is to touch the outcasts of our world with God’s amazing grace, and to welcome them with loving arms into the family of God.
And so the question that lies behind the question, “Why Church?” is this question: “What kind of a congregation do you want US to be?”
Do you want us to be a Temple? Or do you want us to be like Christ?
And if your answer is, “like Christ,” what are you willing to do to make it so?
What are you willing to do to make it so?