God’s imperatives? - Chris Nicol, Cathedral Reader

Exodus 20:1-8, Psalm 19:7-11, John 2: 12-25

If you ever take a walk around the lanes and streets of Old Portsmouth near where the Still & West and Spice Island pubs are you might see an oblong shaped case attached to some of the door posts. They known as Mezuzahs and the people who live there are likely to be Jewish. Inside the Mezuzahs will be a piece of parchment inscribed with the verses that form part of the Shema prayer. It’s the most important prayer in Judaism, ‘Here O Israel, The Lord is our God, The Lord is One’. The origins can be found in Chapter 6 in the book of Deuteronomy and their purpose is to remind the believer of the central affirmation of Judaism that there is one God.  It’s also instructed of The Commandments to be, ‘Written upon your heart, you shall teach them to your children, talk about them at home or when you’re out, think about them when you rise and when you sleep. Bind them on your hands, between your eyes and write them on the door posts of your house’.

One of my favourite lessons when teaching RE was when the pupils got dressed up in different religious clothing and got into role play. When Judaism came around on the syllabus out came the Jewish Prayer shawl called a ‘Tallit’, (Can I have a willing volunteer?) Before worship the Tallit would be placed over their shoulders and lifted up over their heads. When you bring the shawl up over your head its quite private so you can have a one-to -one with God.  For some the recipient would imagine the Talit as God’s arms of love wrapped around them. On the head would be a skull-cap called a ‘Kippah’, worn as a sign of respect and for some a belief that God is watching. Tied around their left arm (because it’s closest to the heart) seven times, around their wrists seven times and their middle finger seven times and tied around their forehead would be two long leather straps with leather boxes attached known as ‘Teffilin’,or ‘Teffilot’, each containing passages from the Torah the holy book, or verses from the Shema. The intention is to learn the verses by heart and always have them on your mind, then apply them to life and to the community.

The Commandments and the Shema are all part of the Law and are deeply etched into the psyche and memory of the Jewish people. We heard the choir sing how the Psalmist in contemplation of God’s Law led him to confess his sins and pray that his words and meditation may be acceptable to God. The Ten Commandments are most probably the most influential religious and moral instructions given in the history of Judaism and Christianity.  They give us an ethical framework for our lives and to put it simply they are there to make society run smoothly. For Judaism, keeping the Law is a major expression of keeping the Covenant demands with God, that special promise between God and His people.

So it might help us understand why there are so many strange types of rules and rituals to help people remember their religious teachings and behave in certain ways so as to bring God’s imperatives into their lives.  And here in our cathedral church we do the same. We recite the doctrines held to be true each Sunday such as the Creed. We re-enact the Last Supper as we participate in the Eucharist with the bread and wine. We mark our foreheads with ashes at the beginning of Lent and we take part in the solemn event of Good Friday and the joyful expression of Easter Sunday. And some of us even wear strange clothes, such as cassocks and surplices to reflect our faith and symbolise servanthood.

 Rituals and rules are embedded in our practice of faith and provide a structure for our spiritual lives. Rituals can also be multi-sensory, engaging all our senses -the liturgical language, the chanting of psalms the use of incense, the colours, the silence, the sharing of peace all can be described as a liturgical drama. Even when our minds are tired and our feelings are empty or when we might be feeling uninspired, rituals can give us that structure to keep on going as they lead us into God’s truths and to a peace and union with Him.  But in fulfilling these acts of worship we must be careful that they are not just an exercise to earn God’s approval or receive a heavenly brownie point. Rituals, rules and doctrines are important and have their place, but God’s love for us is irrespective of whether we recite doctrines or participate in rituals.

Throughout the gospels many of Jesus’ confrontations with the religious authorities was because they were more interested in the outer forms of religious rituals and practice and neglected the more important matters of love, justice, mercy and truth. On many occasions the religious authorities required certain sacrifices from people to earn God’s approval and that really riled Jesus. We heard this morning how Jesus exercised a righteous anger towards those who had turned his Father’s House, the Temple in Jerusalem, into a place described by the gospel writers as a ‘den of thieves’.

But what really fuelled Jesus’ anger was that ordinary people had to sacrifice to be right with the priesthood and the temple and therefore right with God. They sacrificed oxen and sheep but the poor could only afford to sacrifice doves. Jesus’ parents had to do the same when they brought him as an infant to the Temple. The Judaism of the Temple, the beating heart of Jerusalem, was in fact not taking care of the poor as its teachings professed, in fact as one commentator has written, they were stealing from the poor, making them give even the little they had to feel right with God.

Righteous anger can be justified when we see or experience injustice of any kind. Because we love, we get angry, and when what we love is harmed or threatened, anger prompts us to action. Jesus’ love for the Temple, His Father’s house, had prompted him to respond. The Temple was the place where Israel’s God Yahweh had promised to live in the midst of his people. When confronted by the authorities for clearing the Temple, Jesus speaks very cryptically and prophetically about his death and resurrection using the metaphor of the Temple’s destruction as a sign of his own death and that Jesus himself will replace the Temple in so far that believers can gain access to God by entering into a living relationship with the Father through Him.

In this season of Lent we can stop and take stock and reflect on Jesus’ journey from the wilderness of the desert to the Temple in Jerusalem. We can bring ourselves to Him and identify in his humanity, in his frustrations and even his righteous anger. It’s a journey that requires surrender in the sense that we let go of our control buttons and allow him to lay bare our true selves, to show us our own deserts, our own wildernesses, our own isolation, and to discover in him a love that enfolds our very soul. This is the true Lent, identifying ourselves with him and in him and through him. Amen.