Christ the temple
You within the veil have entered,
Robed in flesh, our great high priest. William Chatterton Dix
Read John 2:13—22
For me as a common worshipper, what would I have come to the temple to do? It would have been a focus for my life with God, a place to reverence and to declare his holiness. I’d have known I needed something done for me, a sacrifice made, a life given, a high priest to represent me. Here I’d have said thanks for the events and gifts of life that really touched me. I’d have prayed. I’d have met others. It would have been the gathering place, from different parts and varied countries, the old dear ones who still hadn’t died this year, and the babies born since the last, up for the festivals that celebrated who we were and whose we were. We’d re-live God’s deliverance from slavery, the wilderness days, the fruit of the land. We’d camp out. We’d live it again, all God’s story over the centuries. We’d make it our own. There’d be laughter and eating and the sheer privilege of being. Now the temple has been destroyed. Yet I have lost none of that: I have it all in Christ Jesus. I, who was an outsider to it all, have it all as an insider through him.
Lord Jesus Christ, you are the very temple of God. You are the holy one. You are the offering made, the life given to bring me into God’s presence.[1] You are the high priest who offers it, and who opens up the new and living way.[2] You are my prayer to the Father.[3] You are the blessing. You are the communion, the meeting place with others, the heart of my community, the way my life is bigger than my own, the shared story and the story teller and the one who gathers me to others from all places, and who brings us together to the Father.
[1] Matthew 16:27—28
[2] Hebrews 5:1—10; 10:11-22
[3] Hebrews 7:25