Easter
5-A
20 April AD 2008
1 Peter 2:2-10
We are the living stones used by God to build his church, and
our lives are the sacred space in which the divine liturgy is
performed.
Last week
we were sheep, this Sunday it would appear that we are rocks;
"living stones" Peter calls us. With sheep we get a
shepherd, Jesus. With rocks we get a cornerstone, Jesus. Sheep
become a flock. With rocks God the Holy Spirit builds us into
a temple. In it we serve as priests and we have a great high priest-Jesus.
Did you get all that?
There is
in the Bible a continuing story of stones which reaches its culmination,
I think, in this morning's reading from 1 Peter 2. This list is
not exhaustive.
" Going all the way back to Genesis 4, Able sets up an altar
to offer sacrificial gifts to God. Coming out the ark, Noah does
the same.
" Jacob set up a stone as a memorial to the encounter he
had with God at Bethel. He did it again after his father-in-law
chased him all way back to Canaan.
" Israel was put to work making bricks, building blocks for
pharaoh's Egypt.
" Moses brought forth water from a stone several times during
Israel's trek through the wilderness. (See 1 Cor. 10!)
" In the wilderness stones were gathered together for an
altar, over which blood was poured, uniting Israel in a familial
covenant with God.
" And as they crossed the Jordan Israel gathered stones from
the riverbed and erected an altar on the west bank, commemorating
their entrance into the Promised Land.
" I count three instances from the Old Testament in which
God is said to be "the rock of salvation," 2 Samuel
22:3. Psalm 18:2 and 42:9. There are more.
" In the New Testament Jesus would distribute rocks to the
righteous who will be the first to cast stones at sinners.
" And on Easter morning, our attention is drawn to that rock
which failed to keep Jesus in his prison.
1 Peter lists
six types of rock: precious stones, living stones, a rejected
stone, a cornerstone, a stumbling stone, and finally the rock.
The Bible's language of stone is seldom explored and appreciated.
Scripture invites us this morning to reflect on how we are used
by God as the building material for his kingdom. As stone, some
of us are old and brittle, others are young, strong and shiny.
Some are huge, others tiny and oddly shaped - there is room and
a purpose for everyone. But there is one stone (rock) that (who)
is indispensable. He is the cornerstone Jesus Christ, and
from him all the others take their direction.
You are living
stones built into God's spiritual house (1 Pe 2:5). At first I
thought I would talk to you about how your differences are used
by God in all the parts of God's spiritual house. The larger and
stronger among us become the foundation blocks. The massive foundation
stones from Solomon's temple are still visible in the Wailing
Wall. The smaller stones fill in the gaps. There are those among
us who are more delicate and colorful, but that doesn't rule out
your inclusion. You might be used for decorative purposes. My
point, we glorify and serve God in different ways, according to
the gifts God has given us; but he uses us all. That was my first
thought.
But not only
are we God's sanctuary, his "house." We are called to
serve in God's holy place. (The Bible and I are guilty of mixing
our metaphors; any illustration is bound to fall apart when pushed
too far.) Still in 1 Corinthians 6, St. Paul teaches us that we
are temples of the Holy Spirit: what we do in the flesh with our
bodies, matters to God. The good works we perform, the words we
speak, the very prayers we utter for those in need matter-they
matter just as much as the things we "leave undone"
and for which we also repent.
Along those
lines this morning's reading suggests that we are priests; our
bodies then are the sacred precincts in which we serve. Baptized,
our bodies in Christ are holy ground. As priests daily life become
our liturgy -our service to God. The Sunday liturgy is our teacher,
showing us a pattern for our life of service. In our daily work
we offer "spiritual sacrifices" of praise to God.
" The Catechism suggests that when we rise in the morning
we make the sign of the cross, consecrating ourselves to his service.
" Because we are priests we pray; the Catechism reminds us
not only to recite our Lord's Prayer, but to thank him for his
protection through the night, and ask for the protection of the
angels through out the day.
" We conclude by offering all we do to God in the hope of
pleasing him.
Did you ever
consider the prayer many of us recite at meal time has Eucharistic
overtones? The day's work culminates at the family table. Gathered
together from our various activities and service, we commend it
all to God reciting: "Come Lord Jesus be our guest and let
Thy gifts to us be blest." When I married I had to learn
a second stanza to that prayer, "And may our souls by Thee
be fed, forever, on Thy living bread."
Our dinner
tables are not the Lord's Supper. Yet our table grace makes the
family
table is an altar of sorts; it is a sacred place around which
we gathers. There the day's work is offered up for examination,
reflection and even comment. Life is shared at the dinner table-sometimes
even confessions are heard there. In an ideal world this is when
the family priest takes out the Bible and reads a portion. For
scripture is the voice of our Father in heaven speaking to his
family.
Together,
we the members of Prince of Peace are the temple of God in a sense
far more profound than even this building. But individually we
are priests offering daily service to our Lord and God, showing
forth in our lives and in our sweat, the love of Christ himself.
He is the ideal great high priest, whose service involved dying
for his people-purifying you and preparing you for heaven.
You know our government is getting ready for the next census.
It's only a year and a half away. According to NPR they are going
to spend forty dollars a person to ask you questions about your
household. The last time my daughters became part of four or five
year study on violence in schools.
But you know,
there is a part of me, the devilish part, that when it asks for
my race wants to answer "chosen and royal." That's what
I take away from this morning's encounter with God. I am not here
by accident; I am not just a Tax Payer ID Number, a citizen who
requires services. No I am, as you are too, part of the economy
and plan of God. We are his chosen race, members of the royal
priest-hood of believers. We are that holy nation, God's possession
in Christ. We are called to proclaim the wonderful deeds the One
who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once we
were nobodies, today, by virtue of Christ's death and resurrection
we are God's people. (1 Peter 2:9-10)
Prince of Peace Lutheran Church
Hamburg, NJ 07419
|
