Posts Tagged ‘Romans 6:12-23’

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Romans 6:12-23

The Collect for today – the prayer with which we began this morning’s liturgy – makes a reference, as a metaphor, to the Temple in Jerusalem.  And it’s a shocking metaphor.  It should be shocking.  The prayer is “that we be made a holy temple.”  That’s a reference to the Temple, no longer in Jerusalem.  The Temple – its foundation and cornerstone – is being re-created and joined together within you: within your person, within your soul and body.  You embody the Temple.  Now that’s a stretch of the imagination.

In Jesus’ day, Jerusalem was a city built on a hill, as we read in the Psalms.[i]  Within the walls of Jerusalem, the Temple Mount sat on the highest place: a huge structure of massive stonework – nearly 500,000 square feet in area[ii] – with crenelated walls, stunning archways and gates, and architectural demarcations to keep everyone in the place to which they belonged.  Inside the great encompassing outer wall was the Court of the Gentiles, and then, further within, were walled sanctuaries of increasing separation. At the very center was the Tabernacle, the innermost sanctuary being the Holy of Holies. Within the Holy of Holies sat the Ark of the Covenant containing the Ten Commandments given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai.  Only the Chief Priest would access this most inner sanctuary.  Read More