Readings: 1 Kings 8:1-7, 9-13; Psalm 132; Mark 6:53-56
Ten days ago we
heard about David’s plan to build a house for the Lord, a suitable dwelling for
the Ark of the Covenant. But through the prophet Nathan, David learned that he
would not be the one to build a temple for the Lord. In the first place, it was
the Lord who was constructing a house for David, not the other way round. The
dynasty of David, his royal house, would last forever and the temple in
Jerusalem, when it did come to be built, was constructed by Solomon, David’s son.
The Books of the
Kings open with an account of the death of David and the succession of Solomon.
He asked for wisdom above all other gifts, enabling him to rule in such a way
that peace broke out and the kingdom rested from warfare. It was now time to build
the Temple and Solomon gathered the best craftsmen and artists to work on this
great building which was to be the place of the presence of God. It was to
house the Ark of the Covenant, the Tent of Meeting, the tablets of stone
containing the Ten Commandments, and the other treasures that sealed the
covenant between the Lord and the people of Israel.
The Temple was
to be the place of prayer, the meeting place between the people and God. It was
to be the place of sacrifice and the centre in which the great liturgies of
Israel were celebrated. We have been hearing about the planning and building
the Temple, and today’s reading tells us about the liturgy during which the
Temple was dedicated. The first great act of this liturgy was to bring the Ark
of the Covenant from Mount Zion, the City of David, to the Temple and to
enthrone it in the Holy of Holies, under the protecting wings of the Cherubim.
Inside the Ark are the stones containing the Ten Commandments, at once the
revelation of God’s wisdom for his people and the contract of their
relationship with God. As the Ark is placed in its new dwelling the dark cloud
in which God dwells came to settle around it, filling the Holy of Holies. This
mysterious cloud both revealed and hid the presence of the Lord. It was the
sign that the glory of God had come to dwell in the midst of God’s people.
There is a
paradox at the heart of faith which is at once strong and certain in its grasp
of truth, and at the same time obscure and mysterious. Faith, as Saint Paul
says, means ‘seeing in a glass darkly’. This paradox is expressed very
powerfully by the dark cloud in which God dwells. The presence of God is
certain – who could doubt the presence of a dark cloud? But the nature of God,
what that cloud contains, the ‘face’ of God, remains hidden. No one can see God
and live, the Bible tells us, and in another text ‘truly you are a God who
hides yourself’.
And yet this
hidden God revealed himself to Moses and to David. At least he revealed his
will for his people which gives us some understanding of what God himself is
like. We are to be righteous as God is righteous and holy as God is holy. The
‘shekinah’, which was the clouded space above the Ark and between the Cherubim
was regarded as the holiest place in creation. But it was simply an empty
space: the people could be sure that God was there even though God’s glory was
revealed simply as a dark cloud.
By contrast
today’s gospel reading tells us that people ‘recognised Jesus immediately’ and
flocked to him for healing. Many New Testament texts teach us that Jesus is the
‘new Temple’, the new place of the presence of God, the new meeting place
between God and the people. At the moment of Jesus’ death the curtain in the
Temple was torn in two. What does it mean? That holiest place is opened up to
our gaze. The cloud disperses to reveal the face of God. And what do we see? We
see Jesus, the human face of God. We see Jesus dying on the cross, the
definitive revelation of God’s love. We see the blood poured out and the Spirit
breathed forth, by which a new and everlasting covenant is established with
humanity.
The only Son,
who comes to us from the Father’s heart, has now revealed God to us. This Son
of David establishes in his own blood the Kingdom that will last forever.
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