ALL SAINTS MARGARET STREET
Sermon preached by Fr. Gerald Beauchamp at High Mass on the Second Sunday before Advent, 15th November 2009
Readings: Daniel 12. 1-3; Hebrews 10. 11-14 & 19-25; Mark 13. 1-8
Fr Martin Jarrett-Kerr was a member of the Community of the Resurrection (one of the Mirfield Fathers). He was also a noted literary critic. He was passionate about fiction. He usually had at least one novel poking out of a cassock pocket. In the silence after lessons at Morning and Evening Prayer he could be seen getting through another couple of paragraphs before the canticle. On one occasion he was asked if he'd read a certain novel to which he replied: 'No, I've never read it but I've certainly reviewed it.'
I'd like to begin by talking about a new film that I haven't seen and have no intention of seeing either. Last Thursday, the latest doomsday blockbuster 2012 hit the cinemas. It's the usual load of old tosh. The calendar of the Mayan people in South America runs out on 21 December 2012. A secret organization has realised this and constructs great ships in caves beneath the Himalayas. These are to save who and what they can when the deluge strikes. They are futuristic Noah's Arks.
As the date approaches there's an increase in seismic activity. Great cities fall like dominoes: Los Angeles is swallowed up in an enormous chasm and Washington DC is overwhelmed by a giant tsunami. The Vatican implodes. (Rumours that this scene was sponsored by Lambeth Palace are unproven.) Wearisomely, a few people make it to safety no doubt to re-found human society once things have calmed down. Let's hope that that's not an excuse for a sequel: 2012 -2.
What's of interest is the enduring fascination with Armageddon. It has a hold on the imagination. Just now there does seem to be something of a fin de siècle in the air. Such a mood is in the bible but by and large it's a minority sport. This morning's first reading was from the Book of Daniel, the most apocalyptic book in the Old Testament. Daniel is the latest of the books written in the Hebrew Scriptures and now dated to around 164BC.
This was a period of major shifts of power in the Ancient Middle East. You can read more of the gory details in the first two Books of Maccabees. Jews were placed in an impossible position: assimilate to Greek culture or die. Rebellion was in the air. There was growing talk about a possible coming kingdom, a renewed temple, a cleaned-up priesthood, Messiahs and resurrections of the dead.
By the time of Jesus a century and a half later these speculations had become commonplace. In this morning's gospel Jesus predicts the destruction of the temple. Later, on the Mount of Olives the inner circle (Peter, James, John and Andrew) quiz Jesus about a possible timetable. What will be the signs? Jesus fails to give a direct answer. Instead, he offers generalities: wars, rumours of wars, earthquakes and famines. Let's face it Jesus would never have made it as a Hollywood scriptwriter. There's no detail; no nitty-gritty. Wars and natural disasters occur in every age.
This should give us pause for thought. What's he up to? What he was up to is spelt out by the Letter to the Hebrews. Admittedly, Hebrews needs a bit of deciphering itself. The thought-world of this strange letter is the sacrificial priesthood of the Old Testament: the priest in his temple.
Temples, shrines and churches have a significance way beyond the bricks and mortar. This church with its rich decoration and imagery seeks to transport us into heaven. It gives us a vision of glory. It is an earnest of what's to come. The liturgy aims to have a timelessness about it. One of things that I do before this mass is that I take my watch off. It'll take as long as it takes because it's not about time but eternity.
In recent years the Cambridge theologian Margaret Barker has written about temple theology and its relationship to the early church. She describes the Temple as a microcosm of creation. Day 1 of creation is symbolised by the empty space at the heart of the Holy of Holies. This represents the Unity beyond time and matter. This is the world of the angels and the Kingdom of God. God's covenant (his relationship with us) holds together the visible and the invisible in one system.
Because of the fracture of the covenant occasioned by sin and disobedience on our part there has to be a mechanism of repair and restoration. This was the sacrificial cult. But for the Israelites unlike their neighbours sacrifice was not something undertaken by humans to appease and propitiate a hostile deity. No, the Israelite priest putting on the robes and making an offering was 'dressing up as God'. It is God who renews the covenant and heals creation.
But the system wasn't working. Why? Because the priesthood had become corrupt. The priests had lost touch with the fundamental experience of 'nothingness' that their vocation required. They had become a priestly class feeding off their people instead of being a servant class dedicated to meeting the needs of their people. What was required was not more vain repetition but a genuine once-and-for-all experience of a priestly nothingness plain for all to see.
For the early Christians and for Christians of every age this is what Jesus does. He is the great high priest who is reduced to nothingness on the cross, a cross high and publicly lifted up. The Holy of Holies and the mountaintop are one. No wonder the imitation shattered in the presence of the reality. The veil of the temple was torn in two. All of us now may enter the temple not made by human hands. As Hebrews so poetically puts it
Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way which he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. (10. 19-22)
Our new state is summed up in one word: 'faithfulness'. As Hebrews says Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful (v 23). God in Christ is faithful. So we in Christ are to be faithful. Christians are called to faithfulness not forecasting. Endless speculation undermines the quality of our lives. Too much apocalyptic rots the soul.
If we think that the end of the world is just around the corner then there's no incentive to conserve creation, no impetus to strive for carbon-neutral living. If we think that everything not only started with a Big Bang but is about to end with one too, then the temptation to put another firework on the blaze becomes irresistible. Most of us have an inner Jeremy Clarkson. That's all a far cry for the invitation of Hebrews to stir up one another to love and good works (v 24).
Fr Jarrett-Kerr's quip about not reading a book but certainly having reviewed it is a cautionary tale for our times. Undiluted apocalyptic encourages lazy thinking and thoughtless action. Most of us will still be here in 2012. The question is: What would we have done by then to make it a better world?