Find this week’s lectionary texts here.
If what Christians believe is true: that God really dwells with us; if heaven and earth have really come together, that changes everything. It changes what we seek, how we live, how we treat the outsider, the foreigner, the oppressed; and how we think about the physical world.
In 1 Kings 8:22-30, 41-43, we see the beauty of a God who has a house “in the neighborhood.” This temple, this emblem reveals God’s desire to fill the earth with his presence. Even where this first temple was limited, Jesus is the new temple, the ultimate place where heaven and earth meet. By the Spirit, Christ lives in us. Each us as signposts, sacraments of God’s presence in the world. In what ways are we as Christians called to live that in our daily lives? In what ways are we to point our world towards the God who dwells with his people?
In Ephesians 6:1-20, Paul tells the Church to “Stand firm.” He uses the word “stand” four times in this section. Stand your ground.
Paul reminds us that we are in a battle, but our “weapons” are not the weapons of this world. Our enemies are tricky and we fight differently. Paul says that we are to “stand against the devil’s schemes.” Other translations call this “the wiles of the devil.” Paul says that our battle is against rulers, authorities, and powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. This evil doesn’t always look like evil. Our weapons are not what you would expect. They are truth, righteousness, faith in Christ and the good news that Jesus is Lord.
And then, at the end, Paul turns to the importance of prayer. “pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” The Christian life is completely centered on prayer.
In John 6:56-59, we are reminded that following Jesus is challenging. It was challenging for his first followers (all but the twelve left him because this was so difficult for them). It requires a complete reorientation of our lives.
Something is different about the world because of Jesus. Christians believe that “God so loved the world” (3:16) and that the world, as Wright says, “is now waiting, like a beautiful crystal glass waiting to be filled with rich wine, for the day when God will flood it completely with his own presence.” The eucharist is a foretaste of that day, an expression of God’s heavenly banquet here and now.
Without the Spirit, our lives are nothing but materialism, prone to follow things which are shallow and destructive. But Jesus is the one who has stepped into our physical world and brought the words of spirit and life. Because of him our entire lives can be filled by the spirit.
May our words echo those of Simon Peter “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”
Looking for more? Check out our subscription options. Our “Deep Dive” this week features more details on the temple in ancient Israel and it’s complicated history as well as quotes from Peter Leithart and N.T. Wright. In the Ephesians text, we an illustration from the Lord of the Rings, a quote from John Chrysostom, an illustration from 101 Dalmatians, and quotes from Richard Foster and Martin Luther King, Jr. In the gospel text, we a story of forgiveness from the Coptic church in Egypt and a quote from Greg Boyd.