“When religion gets real”: a sermon for the FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST (13 JULY 2025)

 

     A religious world.  Did Jesus come to establish a new religion?  Is Christianity simply one religion among others, a species of the genus “religion”?  The ancient world was indeed choked full of temples, much like the modern world is replete with churches, synagogues, mosques, and various places of worship.  The ancient gods were believed to “inhabit” their temples in some way; the image of the god(dess) in question symbolized the divinity’s having taken up residence in its “home” (naturally, the last step in the construction of a temple was the installation of the god’s statue in a conspicuous place within the shrine).  Interestingly, the Ancient Near Eastern writer who penned the book of Genesis tells the story of the creation of the cosmos in such a way that would have been immediately recognizable to an ancient architect – Genesis 1 describes the creation of the world in terms of the construction of a temple!  What is created on the sixth day?  Of course, human beings who are made in the image of the Creator (cf. Gn. 1.26-31)!  This is a fascinating vision of what humans are – intriguingly, the ancient Israelites were not supposed to fabricate any images of Yahweh in the form of animals or humans (cf. Ex. 20.1-6).  The invisible God of Abraham was to be “seen” in his image-bearing creatures, and in no other way.

     God with us.  Not content to remain “in heaven” (cf. Eccl. 5.2), Yahweh – the invisible God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – desired to dwell among his people, that his presence – mediated by a pillar of cloud/fire – would be part of the daily life of the Israelites.  To that end, Yahweh instructed Moses to construct a “tabernacle” (a large tent) that the Israelites could transport during their 40-year journey through the wilderness.^[1]  As it says in the book of Exodus:

“…at…the tent of meeting… I will meet with you, to speak to you there. I will meet with the Israelites there, and it shall be sanctified by my glory…I will dwell among the Israelites, and I will be their God. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them...” (Exodus 29.42-46).

Whenever the Israelites made camp, the tabernacle would be erected in the center, and the 12 tribes would encamp on all four sides of Yahweh’s portable shrine.  Yahweh’s “glory” was said to both dwell upon and fill the tabernacle.  At the end of Exodus, after many chapters describing the construction of the Tabernacle, we are given a depiction of the divine glory:

“Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled upon it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.” (Exodus 40.34-35).

Once the Israelites settled in Canaan, the tabernacle was set up at Shiloh, and once Shiloh had been destroyed by the Philistines (cf. 1 Sam. 1—6), the ark of the covenant was kept in a private home until David brought it to Jerusalem (cf. 2 Sam. 6).  Upon the construction of the Jerusalem temple by Solomon, the ark was installed in its rightful place – behind the veil in the Holy of Holies (cf. 1 Kings 8).  The Jerusalem Temple would be the central (and only authorized) Israelite shrine for the worship of Yahweh, until it was destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 B.C.^[2]

     A new Tabernacle.  Tabernacles and glory, all an expression of Yahweh’s desire to dwell among his people.  These themes from the book of Exodus come rushing together in the opening chapter of John’s Gospel, as John declares:

“And the Word became flesh and lived (i.e. “tabernacled”) among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth…The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.” (John 1.14-18).

For John, Jesus is the living tabernacle, the Tabernacle-become-human, the living embodiment of the divine glory.  Another theme connected to the wilderness Tabernacle is the Holy Spirit.  In the book of Numbers, chapter 11, we have the story of Moses appointing 70 elders to help him govern the people:

“So Moses…gathered seventy elders, and placed them all around the tent. Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders; and when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied… (Moses:)“Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!” (Numbers 11.24-29).

Here, the Tabernacle is shown to be the place where people receive the Spirit of God.  Interestingly, in John’s Gospel, in the story of his baptism by his cousin John, Jesus is said to be the one who “baptizes with the Holy Spirit”:

“…the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’” (John 1.32-33).

John the Baptist also said: “He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure.” (Jn. 3.34)

     The Spirit-giving God of joy dwells among his people.  Tabernacles, temples, glory and the Holy Spirit.  These themes dominate the first chapters of John’s Gospel.  John chapter 2 opens with Jesus, his family and his disciples being invited to a wedding in the Galilean village of Cana.  What better way to demonstrate the joy brought about by the Word of God dwelling among the people of God?  And yet, there is a problem…the wine – the “life” of the party – runs out!  Jesus orders 6 large jars used for purification rituals to be filled with water, which, when served, turns out to be wine.  With copious amounts of wine, the joyous celebrations can continue.  As Jesus says elsewhere, “the wedding guests cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them” (cf. Mk. 2.18-22; Jn. 3.27-29).  Jesus is bringing the life-giving Spirit of God to the people of God – this is symbolized by the “life-giving” wine at Cana.  “In this way”, John tells us, “Jesus revealed his glory” (Jn. 2.11).

     New Temple.  The next thing to happen in John chapter 2 is Jesus going to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover.  It is at this early point of his narrative that John places the “cleansing of the Temple”, an event that the other Evangelists describe as occurring during Holy Week.  It makes theological sense for John to place this incident here, however, since he is showing how Jesus – the living presence of Yahweh – is displacing the entire system of worship that the people of God had developed over many centuries (cf. Jn. 1.29, 36: “Lamb of God”) – in the hope of final salvation.  Now, John is saying, the time has come for hopes to become reality.  Jesus’ response to the Temple guardians’ question as to what right he has to perform these scandalous actions in the Temple is telling.  “Destroy this Temple and in three days I will raise it up again” (2.19-21).  Jesus identifies himself as the true Temple, the place where the glory of Yahweh dwells and in so doing, he implicitly condemns and delegitimizes the second temple of Jerusalem, which has been undergoing renovations for 46 years.

     Speaking of Temples.  In John chapter 4, we find Jesus in an unlikely place – sitting beside a well outside Sychar, a village of Samaria.  While the story of “the woman at the well” is often told as yet another example of Jesus associating with people with bad reputations, I’m going to approach this story from a different angle.  I propose that to read it simply as “Jesus showing compassion to a marginalized person” is to domesticate the story so as to make it easier for us to grasp its meaning.  Yes, this anonymous Samaritan woman has had 5 husbands, but that is no guarantee of her lack of moral scruples.  It was notoriously easy for a husband to divorce his wife in the ancient world, and it may well be the case that (at least some of) these divorces had been the result, not of “bad behaviour” on the woman’s part, but simply the capricious whims of her (ex-)husbands.  Be that as it may, I want to draw our attention to the conversation that Jesus has with the woman on the subject of worship.  Once Jesus reveals his detailed knowledge of her “marital history”, the woman says:

“…Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” (John 4.19-20).

The Samaritans had built a Temple of their own on Mt. Gerizim, which had always been considered by the Jerusalem authorities to be an affront to authentic Judaism.  So, which temple is the right one – Gerizim or Zion?  Once again, we are talking about temples.  John seems to be preoccupied with this theme.  What Jesus says in response to the woman’s remark consists of the secret of genuine worship.  What is most striking is that Jesus reveals this “secret” in this least likely of places.

     Nor in Jerusalem.  John chapter 3 began with a Pharisee named Nicodemus paying Jesus a night-time visit – perhaps in response to Jesus’ dramatic actions in the Temple (cf. Jn. 2.23-25).  Certainly, it would have made more sense for Jesus to have a discussion about worship in Jerusalem, with a highly-respected member of the Sanhedrin, indeed, with one considered to be a “Teacher of Israel”?  But no, Jesus chooses to converse about genuine worship in a small village of Samaria, with an anonymous, low-status woman who, from the perspective of Jerusalem, was a heretic.  Why?  Jesus had told Nicodemus, that venerable religious authority, that he had to be “born again” in order to participate in the kingdom of God, i.e. the new world that God was creating through Jesus and the Spirit.  In other words, Jesus was telling Nicodemus that, experienced and learned as he was, he had to “start over” in life, he had to unlearn many things before he could grasp the shocking new reality that God was unveiling in his Son.  Rather, Jesus goes to Samaria and sits down by Jacob’s well.  Along comes someone who is “thirsty” for a life that will satisfy.  When Jesus offers the woman water that will quench her thirst eternally, we realize that Jesus is no longer speaking of water, but rather of the Holy Spirit (cf. Jn. 7.37-39).  Jesus responds to the woman’s remark about where one should worship thus:

“Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem…the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him.” (John 4.21-23).

Jesus seems to link the reception of the Spirit (which can only happen after his “glorification”, i.e. his crucifixion: cf. 7.39; 20.22) with the ability to truly worship God.  “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (Jn. 4.24).  Since Jesus is the one who baptizes in the Spirit, the one who is the Truth (Jn. 14.6) and the true Temple/Tabernacle, Jesus seems to be saying that true worship is not possible apart from him, he who is now the place where heaven and earth meet (cf. Jn. 1.51).  Jesus offers the woman – and us – true, abundant life (cf. Jn. 10.10).  Indeed, he invites us to participate in the very life of the Godhead, to be embraced by the love that unites Father, Son and Spirit.

     No, Jesus did not come to establish a new religion.  Rather, Jesus came as the reality toward which all religion points, but cannot provide.  Jesus’ invitation still stands: “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’” (Jn. 7.37-38).  Amen.

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[1] Cf. Ex. chapters 25—40 (instructions for the construction of the tabernacle); Ex. 33.7-11; Lev. 26.11-13; Numbers 1.50-53; 2.17.

[2] The ark of the covenant (cf. Ex. 25; Rev. 11.19) is presumed to have been confiscated by the Babylonians.  There is no evidence of it after the final deportation of Judahites to Babylon in the early 6^th century B.C.  The second Jerusalem temple was built in 515 B.C. and would eventually be destroyed by the Romans in the year AD 70.