St. John’s Episcopal Church
Tallahassee, FL
Hebrews 9:24-28 Mark 12:38-44
Let’s go ahead and state the facts
right up front.
It has been quite a week, hasn’t it?
If you did not know it before,
you certainly know it now:
that we live in a world in which
things fluctuate and surprise us;
we live in a world
of constant change
and upheaval;
we live in a world in which
people win and people lose . . .
and the stakes feel so high . . .
and we don’t always know
what to hold onto . . .
and where so many people
wish it could all just go back
to the way things used to be.
I am speaking, of course . . .
about the state of college football . . .
particularly those teams
that make their home
in the great state of Florida.
Even Miami
has something to be sad about today.
* * *
But in all seriousness,
I know some other things
went on this week as well—
things of local, national, and global importance—
and many of you are still trying to process
what it all means.
I know that it is serious.
I know that some of you may feel a sense of relief,
and some of you may feel a sense of despair,
and some of you are just somewhere in the middle
because God knows you have enough challenges of your own to handle
without all of this other intrigue.
So I’m going to do
the only thing I ever know to do.
When people come to my office
to talk about things like this
(or, really, any kind of hardships)
I usually say,
“Well, just so you know,
you came to a priest—
not a politician
or a professor
or a therapist—
so just know that I’m going to give you
a priest’s answer.”
So, I’m going to have us
read our scriptures
and take our Communion
and spend some much needed time in prayer
with God and with one another.
And I’m going to tell you three things.
- As Christians, we have a Great High Priest, and that matters.
- As Christians, we have a different worldview, and that matters.
- As Christians, we hold things loosely, and that matters.
* * *
As Christians, we have a Great High Priest.
Over the last many weeks,
our New Testament readings
have been tracking along
from the letter to the Hebrews.
We’ve not really preached on those readings,
but if you’ve paid any attention,
you may have picked up
on some key words and phrases.
Throughout all of Hebrews,
there is this idea
that Jesus is the Great High Priest.
Several weeks ago,
we heard one of the most famous passages about that:
“Therefore, since we have
a great high priest
who has ascended into heaven,
Jesus the Son of God,
let us hold firmly
to the faith we profess.”
And today we hear,
“Christ did not enter a sanctuary
made by human hands,
a mere copy of the true one,
but he entered into heaven itself,
now to appear in the presence of God
on our behalf.”
You see, in ancient Judaism,
the idea was that
we needed an intermediary.
We needed someone
to be a “go-between” for us,
to stand up for us
and to take on
all our troubles,
all our problems,
and all our sins,
and to go be the one
to make things right.
This was accomplished
by the high priest every year,
who would go into the Holy of Holies—
the innermost part
of the innermost Temple
where only he was allowed to go—
and he would make sacrifices
on our behalf
before God.
But, you see, with Jesus,
all of that went away.
Because Jesus, it turns out,
is our Great High Priest.
Jesus came
not just to make an annual sacrifice
in the earthly temple
over and over and over.
Instead,
Jesus became the sacrifice—
sacrificed himself for the sake of love
on the hard wood of the cross—
and then entered not into
the earthly Holy of Holies
made by human hands,
but into the true Holy of Holies—
the heavenly realm of God—
and put all our sin to rest
once and for all.
See, we humans are always looking
for the right person
to be a “go-between” for us,
to stand up for us
and to take on
all our troubles,
all our problems,
and all our sins,
and to go be the one
to make things right.
And I’m not saying
that earthly leaders don’t matter.
They do.
But if all our hope
and all our fear
and all our faith
is bound up
in the power and promise
of one finite individual
and what they can do
with us,
for us,
and to us,
then we Christians
are doing it wrong.
Earthly leaders come and go.
Some of them do some good along the way,
and some of them do plenty of damage.
But listen to me, Christians.
Your perspective is a larger one,
and no mansion on earth
is the Holy of Holies.
Be careful who you put all your hope in.
We already have a Great High Priest,
and that matters more than you know.
* * *
So if Jesus is our Great High Priest,
then what does that mean for how we should believe?
Well, as Christians,
we have a different worldview,
and that matters.
It is easy to doom scroll
through social media
and online news.
It is easy to take on
all the anxiety
and all the anger
and all the fear
of the entire state,
the nation,
and the world.
But I read recently
where someone said,
“You know, I don’t think
we were truly meant
to be able to know all things.
God is the only one
who can handle
all that knowledge.”
We have a Great High Priest
who has already taken on
all the burdens
of all the world,
and we aren’t him.
So be careful what you saturate your heart and mind with.
It can be so tempting
to continue to go to those online places
where you know people have
the same thoughts as you
and consume all you can.
There’s an odd comfort in consuming podcasts
made by people on your side.
Who confirm what you already think.
Or scrolling through Facebook and Instagram,
where you have muted everybody
who thinks otherwise
and who you cannot believe
would think that way at all.
Shoot, it’s also deliciously satisfying
to tune into those places
where you know people think differently
and you can have the angry satisfaction
of raging quietly against then.
But as Palmer Proctor used to say
of holding grudges and seeking revenge,
“Be careful. It’ll eat you alive.”
In other words, it’ll consume you.
I’m telling you,
there is a better option.
There is a place where you can go
where not everyone believes
exactly the same thing,
but they are bound together
by something higher.
A place where people come together
to confirm for, with, and to one another
over and over
the things they believe the most . . .
the things that they hold most dear . . .
the things that give actual life.
A place where you can consume
something different . . .
something tangible . . .
A place where you can literally consume grace.
That place is here.
(Sorry, you came to a priest,
so I’m giving you a priest’s answer.)
When this old world
starts to getting you down
and people are just to much
for you to face,
my advice
is to come on home.
Come on home to Jesus.
Literally, my advice
is to come to church.
To saturate yourself with loving community.
To be in a place where we still believe
that we can be together,
despite differences.
Where we kneel down
across from one another
side by side
despite whatever differences we have
and open our hands
and receive of our Great High Priest,
the Lamb of God,
and consume
grace
upon grace
upon grace.
Even if we were the last ones on earth to still believe that,
we’re going to believe it and practice it
‘til our dying day,
and we’re going to do it together.
“You are what you eat,”
and “you become like those
with whom you surround yourself.”
In other words,
we Christians,
we have a different worldview,
and that matters.
* * *
So if that is how we believe,
then how should we behave?
Well, as Christians,
we hold things loosely,
and that matters.
When Jesus sat in the temple,
he warned his disciples
about those in long fancy robes
who held power with a death grip.
But then he pointed
to a poor widow,
who gave two small coins—
everything she had.
She opened her hand.
She gave all she had.
She held it loosely.
A couple Sundays ago,
a man we had never seen before
sat in the front pew.
He looked like he was down on his luck—
maybe homeless.
When the offertory plate came around,
he reached into his pocket,
pulled out a fistful of coins,
and dropped them in.
Then he looked the usher in the eye
and said,
“I’m sorry. It’s all I have.”
Later, we learned
he had recently lost his spouse.
He, too, was a widower.
That day,
he was an icon
of true Christian values.
He held nothing back.
He held it all loosely.
And listen,
I know it’s stewardship season,
but at this point I’m not even talking about money.
I’m talking about power.
Because we have a Great High Priest,
we hold power loosely.
Our power as Christians
was never in politics,
but in the Prince of Peace.
That does not mean
we stick our heads in the sand.
It does not mean
we avoid the work of justice and compassion.
But our fight is different.
We stick up for those who have no power,
because we follow One
who gave it all away.
He gives justice to the oppressed,
and food to the hungry.
He sets the prisoners free,
and opens the eyes of the blind.
He lifts up those who are bowed down.
He loves the righteous.
He cares for the stranger.
He sustains the orphan and widow,
and frustrates the way of the wicked.
We Christians hold things loosely—
especially the powers of this world—
because our true power
is the power of actual love,
and actual hope,
and actual grace.
And that matters.
* * *
I know it has been a tough week.
As Christians, we have a Great High Priest, and that matters.
As Christians, we have a different worldview, and that matters.
As Christians, we hold things loosely, and that matters.
And as Christians,
we are here together today,
and that matters.
Amen.