In our scripture readings for Solomon Sunday, Solomon brings the ark of the covenant to its permanent home, the most holy place of the brand-new, glorious, temple in the city of David, Jerusalem. The temple will be the dwelling-place of God's name, the focus of the people of Israel, the point of contact with God for festivals and prayers and sacrifices. But as God warns Solomon, the temple hinges on the covenant, and if the people of Israel are unfaithful and disobedient, God will cast the temple out of his sight, and it will become a heap of ruins. That is, until God establishes a NEW covenant with his people, a covenant based on grace, through the blood of Jesus Christ....
Every once in while, about one time in seven, a couple will come to me for marriage, who wants to do more than just choose their wedding vow from a dusty, old hymnal. They want to write their OWN vows, in their own style, telling their own story. “That's fine,” I tell them, “but since you are entering a covenant, your vows must indicate the promise you are making to each other. And while you are free to publicly promise to take out the garbage, or raise six children, or build a mansion, the promise that your COVENANT of marriage is based on is the promise of sexual fidelity. You MUST state in your vows, the promise to be FAITHFUL to each other, or I can't sign your marriage certificate.”
The covenant God made with the Israelites on Mount Horeb, as documented on tablets of stone, was not all that different from a marriage. Instead of sexual fidelity, God required a promise of spiritual fidelity, right there on page 1, paragraph 1, of the Ten Commandments - “You shall have no other gods before me.” In return, God promised to hear, protect, sustain, and prosper his people Israel – to be faithful to them as their God. In fact, this covenant was similar enough to a marriage that it was referred to like a marriage by the prophets, for example, in Jeremiah chapter 2 where thus says the Lord: “I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.”
And instead of a wedding ring, the Israelites carried around with them on their travels, the ark of the covenant – an ornate box to hold those stone tablets of the Ten Commandments, as well as some other objects reminding them of God's past faithfulness. This ark was the heart of the tabernacle, God's mobile temple while Israel was wandering in the wilderness. And this ark was the heart, located in the most holy place, of the permanent temple Solomon was chosen to build for God in Jerusalem. To Solomon, God promised, “I have consecrated this temple that you have built, and put my name there for ever; my eyes and my heart will be there for all time.” The people could count on God to be faithful under the covenant - to hear them, protect them, sustain them, and prosper them – to abide with them, as long as the temple stood.
But if Israel BROKE the covenant, all bets were off! If Israel started disobeying and serving other gods, the jealous God who wrote the First Commandment would abandon the temple, and would allow it to be destroyed, much to everyone's astonishment. God would initiate a separation for the purposes of divorce, for reasons of spiritual infidelity. And over the next four weeks, we will hear some of the many warnings God gave the people through the prophets, that the destruction of the temple was no empty threat.
There is a sense of comfort in being married to God – a sense that is enjoyed by orthodox Jews today. Under the covenant delivered by Moses, God and his people are equal partners, each with their own responsibilities – and for the people, those responsibilities are what Jesus summarized as ‘“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind,” and “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” Those responsibilities are what the apostle Paul and what Martin Luther called “the law.” If you held up your end of the covenant, you should DESERVE all the blessings that God provides. You should DESERVE to look down upon those who are sinning and perishing. You should DESERVE eternal life. That...sounds like justice to us, and so it has its appeal. It's the default opinion of those outside the church – be a “good person,” and you earn the reward.
But there's a problem! A problem Martin Luther wrestled with early in his ministry. How can I tell if I have loved the Lord my God with ALL my heart, soul, and mind? How can I tell if I have loved my neighbour as well as I have loved MYSELF? How much is enough? How perfect is perfect? The letter of the covenant is not fulfillable by God's people, then or now, so divorce for reasons of spiritual infidelity is inevitable. The temple is doomed.
When Jesus was being interrogated by the chief priests prior to his crucifixion, two witnesses came forward with an accusation that led to a charge of blasphemy deserving death: “This Jesus fellow said, 'I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days.' And at the moment Jesus died on the cross, the curtain of the temple that separated the most holy place, the curtain that protected the ark of the covenant, was torn in two from top to bottom. With his life of service and his sacrificial death, Jesus became the first human being to FULFIL the law, a covenant that not even Solomon in his wisdom could fulfil. And with his resurrection three days later, Jesus SUPERSEDED the covenant delivered by Moses with a NEW covenant, initiated with his blood. No longer would God and his people operate under a covenant like spouses – now they would operate under a covenant like parent and child. And the temple of this new covenant will be Jesus himself, risen and present in the lives of his believers, the focus of the church, and the point of contact with God for worship and prayer and reconciliation.
We are now God's agents for this new covenant, living under it, and offering it to the people around us. And what are the promises that are made in this covenant? God promises to adopt us as his children, and to provide for us and love us as our heavenly Father, correcting us when we mess up, and forgiving us when we come to our senses. And we, in turn, promise to place our trust in Jesus, receiving his sacrifice on our behalf as a gift, and growing into the fullness of Jesus as the embodiment of our Father's will. This new covenant is uncomfortable, because it will not let us boast, for we must receive it as a little child. But the new covenant will also...not let us fail.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your great love, shown to us through your Son Jesus. Make us effective agents for your covenant, in Jesus name, amen.