Year B Proper 12 WED 2018 The Rip

Year B Proper 12 WEDNESDAY, 1 August, 2018

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA 

“The Rip” 

Collect: O God, the protector of all who trust in you, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: Increase and multiply upon us your mercy; that, with you as our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we lose not the things eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. 

Judges 3:12-30 

Acts 1:1-14 

Matthew 27: 45-54 

This morning I am going to take a different tack. Of all the bizarre (and violent) readings this morning, with evisceration and zombies, there is one detail that has always been a point of fascination.  

Matthew 27:50 Then Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed his last. 51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, and the rocks were split. 

At the moment of Jesus’ death, there was an undoing of the state of being in the worship of God. You see, as the Jewish faith saw it, the Holy City was Holy because of God’s Temple. And the seat, literally, the seat of God was the Ark sitting in the Holy of Holies. 

The Holy of Holies was so “set apart,” so Holy (for that is what it means), that only the High Priest could go in once a year and plead on the people’s behalf. A rope was tied to his leg to drag him out in case he died in the presence of God. Bells were woven onto his garment so the priests could hear if he were still moving.  

Outside the Holy of Holies was the Holy Place, were priests could go. This was the entirety of the Temple. The Temple was surrounded by the Outer Court, where the altar of God stood and it burnt the offerings to God.Now you will still see this arrangement in our architecture. With our altar in the highest and most prominent place, surrounded by a lifted up sanctuary and chancel, which is raised above the nave where all are welcome.  

 

But did you hear that part of the curtain being ripped? And ripped from top to bottom? This detail says so much. And the direction says even more. 

The ripping of the curtain shows there is no longer a separation between God and God’s people. And the direction of the rip, from top to bottom shows that God did the ripping. The earth moved, rocks were broken, all that seemed so solid became undone. As Jesus told the woman at the well, “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4:24  

This is the essence of the message of the curtain, what was seen as set apart is gone, and God is with us, Emmanuel, one of the prophesied names of Jesus. With the death of Jesus, God is broken free from the residing in a time and space.  

When you see this reading, which is coincidental with the week’s collect, it becomes even more beautiful. 

Collect: O God, the protector of all who trust in you, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: Increase and multiply upon us your mercy; that, with you as our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we lose not the things eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. 

Here is the surprise and why it is a big deal. By continuing to see God in a box, it is easy to ignore God in the day in and day out. The Jews did it in their Temple, and we do it just as much in our churches and in our lives. We pray, may we pass through things temporal, but we do not keep our eyes on the Eternal. We pray, that we may lose not the things eternal. By God ripping the curtain, we see the Eternal making its home with us. By God ripping the curtain, we see the Eternal in the Temporal. And why? 

So that we, who seem so temporal, may live and move and have our being in the Eternal. To God Be The Glory! Amen.