Thoughts that drive me to Jesus, and to His cross!

19 “But you must follow me and obey the laws and commands I have given you. You must not serve or worship other gods. 20 If you do, I will take the Israelites out of my land, the land I have given them, and I will leave this Temple that I have made holy. All the nations will make fun of it and speak evil about it. 21 This Temple is honored now, but then, everyone who passes by will be shocked. They will ask, ‘Why did the LORD do this terrible thing to this land and this Temple?’ 22 People will answer, ‘This happened because they left the LORD, the God of their ancestors, the God who brought them out of Egypt. They decided to follow other gods and worshiped and served them, so he brought all this disaster on them.’ ” 2 Chronicles 7:19-22 NCV

That to which your heart clings and entrusts itself is, I say, really your God.
4 The purpose of this commandment, therefore, is to require true faith and confidence of the heart, and these fly straight to the one true God and cling to him alone.

Is it too presumptuous to interpret this extraordinarily scintillating image of suffering “outside the city” in the spiritual context of the basic liturgical rule laid down in Matthew 5:23–24, according to which the Christian, before bringing his gift to the altar, must go first to be reconciled with anyone who has anything against him? Does the Cross erected outside the city not also mean that in Christ God is under way to his unreconciled children, to whom he draws near with a love that does not wait for the other—the guilty one!—to take the first step?

ALL hail! King of mercy. Hail! Thou Who art the life, the joy and the hope of our souls. We miserable children of Eve cry unto Thee. We long for Thee, sorrowful and weeping in this vale of tears. Hail, therefore, O Lord Christ! Thou Who dost intercede for us with God, turn Thine eyes, beaming with mercy, upon us, and show Thyself unto us, Thou blessed Son of God and of Mary, when the days of our misery shall have passed, O gracious gentle, sweet, and lovely Jesus Christ. Amen.

Yet Luther does not replace one tyranny for another; his argument for a return to the biblical understanding of the sacraments is moderated by a consideration of traditions and external practices in relation to their effects on the individual conscience and faith.

The dedication of Solomon’s temple is an amazing discourse, and Solomon’s prayer forms the basis of much of my understanding of our need for the sacraments, those tangible moments where grace overwhelms our reason and strength. In all of my readings this morning, it seems to be the focus, starting with God’s response to the prayer of Solomon.

It is not a nice response, as it prophetically indicates that people will have various idols to deal and to which they will trust their future, and their emotional stability. This is idolatry, whether it is praying to or worshipping an image an artist painted, sculpted or cast, or whether it is chasing after money, sex, fame, even health. Whatever we think will bring us peace, cause the end of anxiety and stress—they are idols.

Following such idols, leads us to a dark place, away from God. In the Old Testament that was “outside the camp,” away from the community of God established by Him, that He and His people could walk and live together. What we call church – not the buildings, but the meeting as His community together–our idolatry removes us from that….our sin drives us out into the wilderness. Eventually, we thirst for God, for a way to come home,

Pope Benedict’s point about Jesus dying outside the temple – outside the city of God hits hard. He dies outside the camp, where all the sinners are. Jews, Romans, everyone passed by that hill, where he was crucified. It is there we find the King of mercy, who came out to the sinners. He came out of heaven for us, He died, outside the city of God, theplace where God put His name for us, to show us His mercy, the mercy we need to cling too, and we need to cry out for, the mercy shown by Jesus, as Loehe says, the Son of God and the son of Mary.

This is why the sacraments are so needed in our time. The comfort of take those broken by sin, and seeing them cleansed in baptism, the comfort shown as the pastor/priest announces on Christ’s behalf that you are forgiven, the comfort of the Body and Blood of the Lord, given and shed for the forgiveness of sin, all tangible moments where God comes to us! We aren’t holy enough, we are perfect, we are broken, and God transforms us. Not magically, not because of an incantation or vain repitition of words, but because this is how and what God promised. What He makes known throughout scripture.

Such and incredible comfort!

I would dare walk into someone’s home uninvited, just barging in, but we walk into God’s presence, we find home there, because of what occurs in as the Holy Spirit points to our being united with Christ’s death and resurrection.

We are his, we belong in the city of God, in the Holy of Holies where He dwells. For He went outside to get us, and bring us home. AMEN!

Martin Luther, “The Large Catechism: The First Commandment.”  Tappert, Theodore G., editor. The Book of Concord the Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Mühlenberg Press, 1959, p. 365

Ratzinger, Joseph. Co-Workers of the Truth: Meditations for Every Day of the Year. Edited by Irene Grassl, Translated by Mary Frances McCarthy and Lothar Krauth, Ignatius Press, 1992, p. 173.

Lœhe, William. Seed-Grains of Prayer: A Manual for Evangelical Christians. Translated by H. A. Weller, Wartburg Publishing House, 1914, p. 355.

Herrmann, Erik H. “The Babylonian Captivity of the Church.” Church and Sacraments, edited by Hans J. Hillerbrand et al., vol. 3, Fortress Press, 1520, pp. 9–10.