Rivers, Trees & Temples

October 9th, 2014 - Andrew Sawatsky

Reflections on: Ezekiel 47: 1-2, 8-9, 12 / John 2: 13-22 / 1 Corinthians 3: 9-11, 16-17

Rivers, Trees & Temples

Whoever put together our Sunday missal must have seen connections between the Psalms, Old and New Testament, and Epistle readings that they picked. When we read scripture we can often find new things in familiar texts when we let one part of scripture speak to another.

In the Ezekiel scripture, fresh water trickles out from what is presumably God's house and flows down into land of Israel and into the world at large. When we look at the scriptures in depth we discover more connections. Verses three to seven, which we did not hear, describe just how quickly the trickle of water transforms into a considerable river. 1000 cubits (less than .5 of a kilometer) east of the house, the water was ankle deep. Another 1000 cubits and it was knee deep. Yet another 1000 cubits and it was waist deep. And after a final 1000 cubits it had become a river that could not be crossed on foot. In fact the river becomes so powerful that even the Dead Sea is predicted to become fresh and full of fish.  The waters of this river are so incredibly powerful that the trees along its banks produce fruit every month and their leaves can be used for healing.  The river makes the land more than just abundant.  The land becomes a place of abundance and healing.

So, what does this water represent?  If the house, from which the river originates, is the house of God, then the river could be God’s love (which Craig did a most excellent homily on last week), it could be God’s grace, it could be God’s peace, and it could be God’s Holy Spirit.  It is probably safe to assume that the river is all these things and more.  God’s love, God’s grace, God’s peace and God’s Holy Spirit.  Let us add one more thing that the river might represent.  God’s Son, Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God-With-Us. 

 And if the river represents all these things, perhaps the trees that bloom every month represent us.  An interesting thought.  We, so often, think of ourselves on a journey towards being Christ-like, or towards God, or towards Heaven.  But in this analogy, and possibly in God’s reality, the essence of God’s love for us, is actually coming towards us.  God’s love, grace and peace, God’s Holy Spirit, and God’s Son are all coming closer and closer to us.  Coming closer in order that we may produce fruit for food and leaves for healing every month, which interestingly, is not how we see the rest of God’s Creation work.  The trees outside are clearly not producing fruit and leaves, and won’t be for some time.  That is not to say that we are separate from Creation, but rather, as Paul would say, that we are called to be partners with God in the redeeming of all Creation.  Some of the waters of God are absorbed into the land, and in turn are absorbed into the trees.  Without those waters, the trees would have no shape, no structure, no life.  The same goes for us.

So now we come to the John scripture.  Jesus, sometimes called the Living Water, comes into the temple.  The temple which many Israelite leaders, over many generations, have taken the time and used their resources to build and rebuild after times of destruction.  The temple, which God, through the prophets, had said He did not need.  God seemed to be saying that He was happy with His tent.  A tent that was less presumptuous, required less time, talents, and treasures to erect, and was more movable and accessible to God’s people.

Specifically, he enters the Court of the Gentiles, which currently does not have any room for the gentiles to worship.  The space has been taken over by moneychangers and those selling sacrificial animals.  After taking the time and energy to fashion a whip from ropes, Jesus chases them all out, including the animals being sold for sacrifice.  This is no impromptu fit of passion.  He took the time to make a whip.  I wonder how long that took? 

It is interesting to note, that he did not chase the doves, or upend their cages.  He took care to tell the doves keepers to take the cages with them.  Doves were the cheapest of sacrifices.  This is what the poor would buy for their sacrifices.  Being the lowliest of sacrificial animals it is the symbol that God sent when Jesus was baptized in the River Jordan.

The Living Water, Jesus Christ, cleanses the temple to bring new life.  Now there is room for the gentiles, and the only sacrifice now present, is God-With-Us, Emmanuel. 

When questioned on whose authority he had to chase people and sacrifices from the temple, Jesus responded with, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”  His questioners thought he meant the building they were standing in.  As if God would be more present in bricks and mortar than in the heart of God’s Son.  God is constantly in the act of coming towards us, like the river from Ezekiel.  A mere building no matter how majestic and beautiful cannot contain God.  God is not still and static.  God flows like a river.  Constantly on the move.  Constantly eroding.  Constantly building up.  Constantly offering the Waters of Life, to make all things new.

This brings us to the Corinthians reading.  Paul says something that can be found in most of his letters.  This is one of the big ideas that Paul seems to think is worth repeating to many people.  Paul says, “For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.”  He later goes on to say, “Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?  If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy them, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.”  You are all temples.  You are all holy.

The temple is not some place we go to on certain days to be closer to God.  We are the temples of God.  Like the trees of Ezekiel, the river of God, is constantly passing by, being absorbed by us, and giving us shape, giving us structure, giving us life.

In our communion service we hear the words, “Remember me.”  Those words do not just mean; have gratitude for me, or think of me, or have a quietly profound moment.  Those words, “Remember me,” mean so much more.  They mean, remember what I have done, remember that I call you to do likewise, remember to grow and mature into the full stature of who I am, remember that you too are God’s temples and that I am the only sacrifice that really matters.

If we remember more fully and completely, that we are temples of God, that the Spirit of God dwells within us and is in our very breath, what will that look like?  As we grow more and more into being Christ-like, who will we become?  As we drink deeply from the Living Water, what will we do?  As we bend towards the Light of Christ, what light will we shine?  As we reflect God’s glory with our fruit for food and leaves for healing, what resistance will we meet?

I’ll end with a very slightly modified sonnet by Malcolm Guite as a prayer from us to God.

Cleansing the Temple

 Come to your Temple here with liberation

And overturn these tables of exchange

Restore in us our lost imagination

Begin in us for good, the pure change.

Come as you came, an infant with your mother,

That innocence may cleanse and claim this ground

Come as you came, a boy who sought his father

With questions asked and certain answers found,

Come as you came this day, a man in anger

Unleash the lash that drives a pathway through

Face down for us the fear the shame the danger

Teach us again to whom our love is due.

Break down in us the barricades of death

And tear the veil in two with your last breath.

Amen.