 In the Gospel of Luke, we have, as Dr. Hahn pointed out last night, a unique Gospel. All of the Gospels have their own special focus, their own special emphasis, and this has been recognized in church tradition in various ways. One way that this is actually illustrated is oftentimes the Gospels are associated with those four living creatures that we read about in Ezekiel in the Book of Revelation. Matthew is associated with the man because, of course, his Gospel begins with the genealogy of Jesus, emphasizing his humanity. Mark's Gospel is associated with the lion because it begins out in the wilderness. John's Gospel, of course, starts with that soaring prologue, which takes us into the inner life of the Trinity, and so because it soars to the heights of contemplation, it is associated with the eagle. Luke's Gospel is associated with the ox, and the reason Luke's Gospel has been typically associated with this image is because the Gospel of Luke has a special focus on the temple, on the Jerusalem temple. Where it begins, at the beginning of the Gospel, we read about how the angel Gabriel appears to Zechariah, and then, of course, at the end of the Gospel, we have the apostles returning to Jerusalem to the temple to praise God for all that has happened, all that they witnessed in the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. Why is Luke so focused on this important city? Well, first let me illustrate some of the ways this motif makes itself apparent in this third Gospel. And I have a handout. I hope everybody has a copy. If you need a copy of the handout, would you please raise your hand and then that way if any of our staff members could pass out the handout to those who somehow eluded you at the door, I'd appreciate it. We see that in the Gospel of Luke, again, as I mentioned, the story begins in the temple. Zechariah the priest is there serving when the angel appears to him, and then we have the Holy Family go not once but twice to Jerusalem in the first couple of chapters. We have, of course, all five of the joyful mysteries of the rosary there at the beginning of the Gospel of Luke. And the fourth joyful mystery is the presentation of the child Jesus in the temple. And in the fifth joyful mystery, the end of Luke's prologue, is the finding of Jesus teaching in the temple after Mary and Joseph had been searching for him for three days. And there where they find Jesus in the temple, he explains that they shouldn't have sought for him because they should have known that he was in, quote, unquote, my father's house. So very important emphasis on the temple there. Jesus recognizes the temple as my father's house. And then we see Jesus's temptations in the wilderness in Luke chapter four. And when Jesus goes out into the wilderness, he's tested three times just as he is in the Gospel of Matthew. Only in the Gospel of Luke, we notice something interesting. Luke has changed the order of the temptations. And so the climax of the sequence appears where? Well, warehouse in the Jerusalem temple where the devil takes Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple. And then we see, of course, that Jesus begins in the story to turn his attention toward Jerusalem in chapter nine. We read Jesus, quote, unquote, set his face to go to Jerusalem. And scholars recognize this section beginning in the Gospel of Luke chapter nine, this travel motif where again and again we hear about Jesus's destination being Jerusalem. When he finally gets there, we find that Jesus is teaching it daily in the temple. And then, of course, the story climaxes with the death and resurrection of Jesus in Jerusalem. And even there, we have a special Jerusalem focus. There are no resurrection appearances in Galilee and the other Gospels, Jesus's disciples are told, he will go before you, you will see him again in Galilee. But that's not found in the Gospel of Luke. Luke really wants to emphasize the appearances in Jerusalem. And so he appears to the twelve, he appears to the disciples who are leaving Jerusalem. And then the Gospel ends with the apostles coming back to Jerusalem after the ascension. Why all this focus on Jerusalem? Last night, Dr. Hahn, or was it two days ago, he talked about the fact that it seems pretty obvious that Luke is that figure who was the companion of Paul. And when you read Paul's letters, you see that there are all sorts of dynamics that Paul is addressing and is concerned with. You probably know that there are many Jewish Christians or many people who maybe we would recognize as heretics today, who were concerned that Paul maybe didn't have an appropriate appreciation for the Torah and for the law of Moses. And it seems in Paul's letters that he's going out of his way to show concern for that issue and also to bring a collection to the poor in Jerusalem. So we see that maybe this motif of Jerusalem in Luke may be informed by this concern that Luke has that Paul and other Christians have abandoned the Holy City and haven't fully appreciated the significance of that. There are obviously going to be differences between the various Gospels. So when we read Luke, we see lots of other things that contrast with the other synoptics. For example, Mark's Gospel has a very different style than Luke's Gospel. This is just an aside. But Mark's Gospel, virtually every line, almost every other line begins with the word and. And Jesus went out. And Jesus went into the wilderness. And Jesus almost every sentence begins with the word and. It's a very simple form of Greek. It sounds a lot like my four-year-old son. Four-year-old boys begin almost every sentence with the word and. I have five children. We have another one on the way. And I've noticed that there are some real differences between boys and girls. This is going to be surprising in our culture today. I understand that. I'm from California, so I have to keep reminding people. But anyway, there are some real differences. Boys, you know, they fall asleep a lot differently than girls. I have a little girl, Molly, and at night I put her in her bed. And she just sort of fades off into sleep. My boys, it's a battle. It's a wrestle. They're wrestling with sleep. They don't want to go to sleep. And my little kid, my little boys, as they lie in their bed, everything is and. And daddy, I had a great day. Yay! We went outside. And daddy, Matthew was playing on the swings. And there was a bug. And I found it. And it was so cute. And then I ate it. And it was gross. That's how little boys fall asleep. All right. And, and, and, and, and, and. And every time they do that, I think to myself, you sound just like Mark. Luke's Gospel is a far more simple Gospel. And another thing that Mark really wants to emphasize is urgency. And so Mark's favorite word is immediately. Mark's favorite term. He uses it so frequently that oftentimes English translations now just take it out. In Greek it's the word you thus. And I think I know why Mark's Gospel is, is like that. Who was Mark according to tradition, which I think we have every reason to believe. You can read my friend Grant Petrie's new book, The Case for Jesus, where he argues for the authenticity of the titles of the Gospels. Mark was the secretary of Peter. And where was Peter preaching the Gospel? In Rome. That's right. And Romans, they weren't interested in long genealogies like Matthew. They weren't interested in long dialogues, in long speeches. They were like 21st century American males. We don't want a lot of drama. We don't want a lot of backstory. We just want to see stuff get blowed up. You know the chick flicks from the guy films, right? And in Rome people were going to gladiatorial matches. And I think Mark was concerned that his audience didn't have a very good attention span. So when I read the Gospel of Mark, I almost get the sense that it's reflecting Peter's preaching in Rome, where he's trying to get into the Gospel and every time he gets two sentences into a story, he sees his audience sort of drift off. Sort of like my millennial students. And so Mark's Gospels focus on this theme of immediate, focus on themes that would capture your attention. Jesus is an exorcist, right? It's like Peter and Mark are concerned that any second that his audience is going to trail off on him. So you get the sense of urgency we read in Mark's Gospel. In those days Jesus came from Nazareth, of Galilee, and was baptized by John and Jordan. When he came up out of the water immediately, he saw the heavens opened and the Spirit descending like a dove, and a voice came from heaven, that aren't my beloved son with the I'm well pleased. The Spirit immediately drove him into the wilderness and he was tested in the wilderness 40 days and for 40 nights. And we go on to read just a little bit further about him passing by the Sea of Galilee and seeing Simon and Andrew casting a net into the sea. And Jesus said to them, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And immediately they left their nets and they followed him. And then he sees James, he sees James the son of Zebedee and John his brother who were in the boat, meaning their nets. And immediately he called to them. And he went into the Capernaum and immediately on the Sabbath, he entered. They were all astonished because he taught them with authority. And immediately there was a man with an unclean spirit. It's like exorcism guys, pay attention, this is really cool, right? And on and on and immediately he left the synagogue and he entered in the house of Simon and Simon's mother-in-law comes and so on and so forth. And immediately they told him of her. Okay, I get the point. Luke's Gospel begins with this reference to Theophilus. Actually, it's not just Theophilus, it's most excellent Theophilus, which is really interesting. Some people say Theophilus just means, you know, friend of God, it's a generic term. I don't think so because when you read the book of Acts, which Luke also wrote, we know that Luke addresses rulers, civil authorities, with that term most excellent. So when Paul gives a speech to Felix, it's most excellent Felix. When he gives a speech to Festus, it's most excellent Festus. So who could this Theophilus figure be? He's not some ordinary, anonymous Christian. He's got to be some civil figure and I think it's rather significant as Dr. Hahn pointed out last night that we actually know that there was a guy who was a civil authority in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus. His name was Theophilus and he was the high priest. So Luke's Gospel, I think, makes a lot of sense. When you read it in light of these priestly themes, in light of Jerusalem, perhaps even recognizing Theophilus as a priestly figure, it seems that what Luke is doing is, again, speaking to the needs of his particular audience who might be concerned. Has Paul, has Luke abandoned Jerusalem? Are they unaware of the significance of Jerusalem? No, they're not unaware. And in fact, for Luke, the significance of Jerusalem and the significance of everything else is bound up with who they understand Jesus to be. Who is Jesus according to Luke's Gospel? He is the son of David. David, of course, was the figure who conquered Jerusalem. It was David who made Jerusalem special. Right? If you go to Jerusalem, you're not going to see the star of Moses. You're going to see the star of David because it was David that conquered the city in 2 Samuel 5. It was David that made Jerusalem special. And so, as one New Testament scholar Joseph Fitzmeyer points out, the overarching geographical perspective in Luke acts can be seen in the author's preoccupation with Jerusalem as the city of destiny for Jesus and the pivot for the salvation of mankind. Luke establishes a special relationship between Jesus' person and ministry and that of David's, that city of David's throne. And so, Jerusalem, the temple, and David are all of a piece. And any of you who have taken our Bible studies that the St. Paul Center puts together, like Genesis to Jesus, know that David was the one who first expressed an interest in building the temple. And the Davidic covenant was sworn to David because of his desire to build the temple. We read about that in 2 Samuel 7. The king, David, said that, Nathan the prophet, see now I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent. David's saying, this isn't right. I have this amazing house, but the ark dwells in a tent. He wants to build a temple. And Nathan at first tells him, well go and do what's in your heart, but then an oracle comes to him and he shares it with David. Nathan said to the king, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. You wanted to build God a house? No, God's gonna build you a house. And he will raise up your offspring after you who shall come forth from your body and I will establish his kingdom. I'm gonna build you a house. I'm gonna build you a royal dynasty through a son. And that son is going to build me a house, a temple. He shall build a house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father and he shall be my son. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established for 500 years. Oh wait, that's not what it says. Just making sure you're paying attention. Your kingdom, your throne will last forever. Now of course we know what happens. The Davidic dynasty falls. The Jerusalem temple is destroyed. And what emerges in the prophets is a hope for the restoration of that Davidic covenant. And we see witness of the importance of those hopes right there in the Annunciation in Luke chapter 1. The angel of the Lord appears to Mary and says, do not be afraid Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and he will be called the son of the most high. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom there will be no end. In this announcement we have the fulfillment of what was long hoped for in the prophets. Yes, God would send a son. God would send another Davidic king, a Messiah to come in the future, to fulfill all of the hopes. And at that time God would not only send a Davidic king, but as David's son Solomon built a temple, the true son of David would come and build a new temple. And so Jerusalem remained a central point of focus for Jews. Next year in Jerusalem the Jews would announce and still do to this day. Looking forward to the day when God would re-gather his people in that city and why is that city so important? On the one hand because it's the city of David's throne, on the other hand because it is the site of the most sacred building, the most sacred place in all of ancient Israel's life, which is the temple. And so in the prophets we find something interesting. We find the hope for the restoration of the kingdom. We find the hope for the coming Messiah closely linked with this idea of a new temple. When I was at Fuller doing my PhD I was really excited to write a dissertation on Jesus as the son of David. And so I was in a number of doctoral seminars where I would present papers sort of working towards that theme. And there was another guy in my seminars who would often agree with me and he and I would sort of be on the same side of various debates about what Jesus was all about and we would both emphasize the importance of David and the Davidic covenant and the importance of the restoration of the temple. And one day he came up to me after class and he said, you know, I'm so amazed that you are a Catholic and yet you believe in the importance of the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem. I was like, excuse me, what was that? Up until this point he and I had always been allies in our seminars. And now I was realizing why. He thought that I was arguing that Jesus was the son of David, that the temple, the hopes for the restoration of the temple for a new temple were important because I believed, as he did, that the Jerusalem temple had to be rebuilt. And it was a big deal to him that we rebuild the temple so that once again Jesus can return. And he would point out various passages in the prophets, the same passages that I would turn to. For example, in the book of Isaiah, we have a very important passage in Isaiah 55. Incline your ear and come to me. Hear that your soul may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant. My steadfast, sure love for David. And by the way, the language there of steadfast, sure love is the word that's the theme of this conference, mercy. In the Hebrew it's chesed. God is going to show his mercy. How? By fulfilling his promise to David. God shows us his mercy by being true to his word. And he had sworn to David a kingdom that would last forever. And so the hope was that there would be in the future age an everlasting covenant. And what would be that everlasting covenant? The covenant with David. Isaiah doesn't call it a new covenant, but many scholars think that that may very well be what's implied here. I will make an everlasting covenant, a future covenant with everyone, and that is associated with the fulfillment of my promises to David. But Isaiah goes on to the next chapter to not just talk about the son of David, but also talks about the restoration of the temple. In the future age, when God saves his people, there will be a new temple, and it will be unlike anything that the Israelites had known. We read in Isaiah 56, for thus says the Lord, to the eunuchs who keep my Sabbath. And you know what a eunuch is. It's typically a castrated man. In the ancient world, men would be castrated sometimes if they had been conquered by other peoples. And that way, they could be trusted to take care of the king's wives, right? So that was the point of that. So eunuchs were often the prisoners of war, and Isaiah is talking to an Israel that's been taken off into exile. The problem is in the Old Testament, actually in the law of Moses and the Levitical law code, if you're a eunuch, you can't serve as a priest. You can't serve and minister in the temple. But Isaiah is announcing something momentous. To the eunuch who keeps my Sabbath, who choose the things that please me, and hold fast to my covenant. What covenant? Most likely he's talking about that eschatological covenant, that new covenant he referred to in the previous chapter, to those in the new covenant. I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters. What is a name better than a son and a daughter? Who's greater in a house than the sons and the daughters? The father, right? So here we see priestly language. The eunuchs will be priests. He says, I will give them an everlasting name which shall not be cut off. Sorry, there's a pun there. That's Isaiah's humor. And the foreigners who joined himself to the Lord, even the foreigners will minister. That's a really interesting word because it's the word that's used for priests. Saying that foreigners will be priests. Wait, I thought only Levites could be priests. And the Dead Sea Scrolls, there's a copy of this passage and they actually take out the word, serat. And scholars say, well, they probably took it out and have references to this in the footnote. They probably took it out. Why? Because it was just too shocking. Gentiles will be priests in this new temple. To love the name of the Lord and to be a servant, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it and holds fast to my covenant, these I will bring to my holy mountain, what mountain? Zion. And I will make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar until my friend would point out, look it, right here there's going to be a new temple with new sacrifices and new priests for my house shall be, will be called a house of prayer for all peoples. And this hope for a new temple is found in many other prophets, like in the book of Zechariah, where we discover that, excuse me, in the future day when the Messiah comes, there will not be a traitor in the house. There will be no merchants selling in the temple, in this new temple. In fact, no one puts all these hopes together probably better than the prophet Jeremiah. In the book of Jeremiah, we find in chapter 30 through 33, a section that scholars call the Book of Comfort, where Jeremiah is talking about what will happen in the future day. Of course, he announces the coming of the Messiah. But he uses some interesting language to describe the son of David. He says, but they shall serve the Lord, their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up for them. The father saw in that, a reference to the resurrection, of course. Their prince shall be one of themselves. Their ruler shall come forth from their midst. I will make him draw near, Karav, and he shall approach Nagash, me. Now, those two words, Karav and Nagash, those are the terms that are used for the priests. So here we see the idea that the Davidic Messiah is not just going to be a king, but he's also going to be a priest. We go on to read in the next chapter about how God will then bring about a new covenant. Behold the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant. The same idea that Isaiah talked about, but here Jeremiah uses this specific phrase, new covenant. I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers, when I took them by the hand, to bring them out of the land of Egypt. My covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord, but this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days. I will put my law within them. I will write it upon their hearts, and then Jeremiah says that God announces he will forgive their sins. So the new covenant is associated with what? Divine mercy. Of course God will forgive us our sins, and it's also associated with a very important idea that we're going to see Luke picks up, a new exodus. It's not going to be like the first exodus though, where God brought his people out of the land of Egypt. No, the new covenant is going to involve God bringing about similar liberation, but we're not specifically told here where God is going to lead his people out of. There's going to be a new covenant, and this new covenant will be associated with what? Liberation from sin? Absolutely. Put that in the back of your mind. We're going to come back to this theme when we get to the Gospel of Luke. How is the new exodus fulfilled in Jesus? Luke is going to talk about this. And then finally Jeremiah in this section talks about how in the new age, when there is this priestly Messiah, this Davidic Son, and this new covenant, those who are redeemed will come, and they will offer sacrifices. Now my friend at Fuller loved this passage because he would point to it and say, see, there has to be a temple with new sacrifices. We're going to resurrect the temple cult in the future age. We see in Jeremiah 33, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, there shall be heard again the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness and the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride and the voices of those who sing. So there was mourning, but there will now be joy. There was exile, but now there will be a new exodus and redemption. And what will they do? They will sing, quote, thank offerings. It's a particular kind of sacrifice we read about in Leviticus 7. There were all kinds of different offerings. There was the sin offering, which is what you offered if you committed some kind of purity infraction. There was the guilt offering, which is what you offered when you committed some, oftentimes other kind of infraction. If you owed someone money, you would pay them back. There was the peace offering, which is what you bring your wife when you forget your anniversary. I'm just kidding. That's not the peace offering. The peace offering was something that you would offer just to thank the Lord. Just voluntarily. There were different kinds of peace offerings, but one of them was the thank offering. And this is what Isaiah says is going to be offered in the New Temple. He doesn't talk about sin offerings. He doesn't talk about the guilt offering. He doesn't talk about any of the other sacrifices, the olah, the burnt offering. Instead, he says, they will bring Thanksgiving sacrifices, the thank offering. The Hebrew word for the term is the todah. To the house of the Lord. So there's going to be a new temple and there are going to be sacrifices. And what are they going to sing? Jeremiah says, give thanks to the Lord of hosts for the Lord is good for his steadfast love, has said, for his mercy endures forever. And so what is Jeremiah announcing? In the future day, God is going to bring about a new Messiah, son of David, a priest, king. He's going to establish a new covenant after delivering us and a new exodus liberating us from our sins, forgiving us of our sins. And we are going to respond to this amazing mercy with Thanksgiving sacrifices, which will be offered in a new temple and in which we will sing about God's mercy. And actually, that first line there, give thanks to the Lord of hosts for he is good for his steadfast love endures forever. That's Psalm 18, verse 1. It's a very important Psalm for our talk. We're going to come back to it in a minute. Now the rabbis recognized this passage in Jeremiah as significant. They don't bring the sin offering. They don't bring the guilt offering. They don't bring any of the other kinds of sacrifices. They bring the thank offering. And so the rabbis said, and this is from the Pesicto Rabbati, they said, in time to come, all offerings will come to an end. But the Thanksgiving sacrifice, the Thanksgiving offering will never come to an end. So there will be a new temple and there will be a new sacrifice and it will be some kind of Thanksgiving sacrifice in which we praise God for his amazing mercy. And so we get to the Gospel of Luke and we see all of this emphasis on the importance of Jerusalem. Jesus goes up to the temple as a little boy. Jesus describes it as my father's house. Jesus sets his face to go to Jerusalem. Jesus is teaching in the temple daily. And then all of a sudden we get whiplash. All of a sudden we're going along and we think, okay, we know what's going to happen. Jesus is going to restore the city of Jerusalem. He's going to sanctify the temple and everyone's going to return there in worship. But Jesus does something utterly shocking when he gets to Jerusalem. We read in Luke 19, he entered the temple and he began to drive out those who sold. Oh my goodness, this is it. What did Zechariah say? There will be no merchant in the temple. Jesus is driving out the merchants any moment now. The shocking of the glory cloud of the Lord is going to descend. Just like Solomon consecrated the temple God's presence was made known in the temple. Jesus drives out the merchants and now we're going to have a new temple. That's what my friend might have thought. But Jesus does something rather remarkable. First he says, it is written. My house shall be called a house of prayer. Isaiah 56. Jesus says it is written. There will be an eschatological temple. There will be a new temple. And then he says, but you have made it a den of robbers. A den of thieves lacedy in Greek. It's the same term that's used for Barabbas. Barabbas is one of the robbers. Jesus is identifying the corrupt priestly establishment as a robber. And where does that come from? Jeremiah chapter 7 verse 11 where Jeremiah is announcing the destruction of the Jerusalem temple by the Babylonians. Jeremiah saw it coming. So Jesus does something rather remarkable. Like so many of the other prophets. He talks about a new temple. But Jesus also talks like Isaiah and Jeremiah of what? The destruction of the temple. But here's what's interesting. Jesus says that this temple the temple that John tells us they've been building for 46 years this temple is going to be destroyed. Yeah, there will be a future temple but it's not going to be this one. It's a remarkable statement. And as we keep reading Luke's gospel we see other things that are a bit surprising. In the story of the transfiguration in Luke we read Jesus goes up to the mountain and of course you know what happens behold we read in Luke 9 30 this is on your handout under the Exodus from Jerusalem. We read in Luke 9 30 behold two men talked with Jesus Moses and Elijah who appeared in glory and they spoke of Jesus's departure. Now the Greek word that's used there is his Exodus. Jesus is about to accomplish an Exodus. From where? Well from Egypt. That's where you leave. This sinful wicked city that's been opposing God of Israel. No, he's not leaving out of Egypt. They spoke of his departure which he was to accomplish at Jerusalem. What is going on here? Jesus is now going to accomplish a new Exodus but Jerusalem is the city that Jesus is making his Exodus at. Jerusalem he's identified the earthly Jerusalem the city of David the holy city this Matthew calls it is like Egypt? Wait I can't be wait a minute Jesus I think that's not right. They don't know what they're talking about right Jesus? Moses and Elijah they don't understand you're going to restore the temple right here in Jerusalem are you not? No in fact he makes it very clear at the end of the gospel has Jesus do what? After his resurrection Luke says then he led them out in the Greek term there is Exago it's a verb of Exodus. He leads them out of Jerusalem as far as Bethany. Jesus's last act before his ascension is to bring the disciples out of Jerusalem and lifting up his hands he blessed them this sounds a lot like Sirach 50 with the high priests the people raises his hand Jesus is the high priest Jesus is the priestly Messiah that Jeremiah announces and when he blessed them he parted from them and he was carried up into heaven so Jesus makes his Exodus into the true promised land but the true promised land is not the land of Palestine it is the heavenly Jerusalem in fact there's a tradition that Luke was the one who helped Paul write Hebrews this is a tradition in the fathers and it's debated by different fathers but it's very interesting because in the book of Hebrews we read about how Jesus is the true high priest and he goes into the heavenly Jerusalem it's the same idea you find here in Luke's gospel Jesus is the high priest and he's entering into the true Jerusalem the Exodus is from the earthly to the heavenly and when we keep reading Luke's work in the book of Acts we read this amazing speech given by Stephen the first martyr my favorite chapter in the book of Acts it's so packed it's so amazing it's so filled with content in fact Dr. Hahn mentioned I wrote about it in a letter in spirit article in fact this talk is based on another letter in spirit article called Servitude article I look at this speech by Stephen and there in this speech by Stephen the first martyr does something interesting before his death he says it was Solomon who built a house for God but then he says yet the most high does not dwell in houses quote unquote made with hands that's a disturbing statement because the phrase made with hands is a term that's typically used in the Old Testament idols the Jerusalem temple has become what an idol my grandfather had a great saying he used to teach it to us when we were growing up good better best never let it rest so the good is the better and the better is the best it's always stayed with me the good is good until it becomes the enemy of something better the better becomes an evil when you choose it over a greater good and what had happened was Jesus had come to announce something greater than the temple is here as we read in Matthew's Gospel what is that well I'm running out of time so if you turn with me to page 3 let me do this quickly in Luke chapter 20 we read the famous story of the parable of the vineyard and in the story we read about a man who planted a vineyard he led it out to tenants and went into another country for a long time and when the time had come he sent a servant to the tenants and he sends these servants to get the fruit and the servants are clearly an image of the prophets who God sends to his people Isaiah 5 uses this image in reference to the people of God this image of the vineyard only was understood not just to be talking about the people of God but the temple in fact on the temple of Jerusalem there was this giant vine it was prominent everyone could see it when you first come to the temple and the Dead Sea Scrolls and other places interpret this passage in Isaiah 5 is referring to the temple and so scholars see here not just an image of Israel but the tenants are those that God has put over what the temple the priestly leaders of Jerusalem and God sends his prophets to them but they treat them shamefully and so the owner says what shall I do I will send my beloved son it may be that they respect him and you know what happened they kill him and then Jesus says what happens at the end of the parable he says what then is that what then is this that is written the very stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner what is Jesus saying well who is the son who is rejected it's him he is the stone rejected by the builders and that is an illusion to guess what Psalm 118 the same passage we saw cited in Jeremiah Psalm 118 oh give thanks to the Lord for he is good for his mercy is steadfast love and dears forever the stone which the builders rejected the head of the corner what are they building well it's not a library it's not a temple this is the Lord's doing it is marvelous in our eyes save us we beseech thee oh Lord we beseech thee oh Lord oh Lord we beseech thee give us success blessed be he who enters in the name of the Lord we bless you from the house of the Lord what are they building it's the house we can say a lot more about the Psalm and Jewish hopes but the basic idea here that I want to get across is that Jesus identifies himself with the stone that the builders reject that's ultimately used to form the temple Jesus is identifying himself as the head of the corner of yes this Jerusalem temple is here and yes that prophets are right there will be a future temple in this building the new temple is Jesus's body amen but notice this Jesus is not the entirety the body the personal body of Jesus is not simply the temple he is the corner stone he's the head of the corner and so what does that mean well there's more to the temple than just the person of Jesus what is the rest of the temple it's the church that's Peter chapter 2 where Peter quotes Psalm 118 and he talks about how all believers are stones that are built into this temple and so in Luke 21 Jesus announces with no ambiguity that the temple of Jerusalem will be destroyed so what does he do in the next chapter he reveals the worship of the new temple he took bread and when he had given to da he gave thanks he broke it and he gave it to them saying this is my body which is given for you do this in remembrance of me and likewise the cup after supper saying this cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood what does Jesus do he establishes the sacrifice of the cross here in the upper room but he associates it with the language of the to da the thanksgiving sacrifice Jesus establishes the new temple he brings about a new covenant he brings about the new thanksgiving sacrifice which we have in the Eucharist the catechism of the Catholic Church says the Eucharist is a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Father Eucharist means first of all thanksgiving and Joseph Ratzinger says the Lord's Supper is the to da the thanksgiving sacrifice of the risen one what does all of this have to do with mercy God has such mercy upon us he loves us so much that he's not only going to free us from our sins he's going to bring us out of the earthly he's going to bring us out of everything that we know what does St. Paul say I has not seen ear has not heard nor has it even occurred to the mind of man what God has in store for those who love him the prophets announced a restoration and my friend at Fuller was excited to see what God would bring about a new temple a new sacrifice a new form of worship but he was selling God short because God didn't want to just give us an earthly form of worship even though we sin even though we turn away from the Lord he wants something even greater he wants to give us something we can't even conceive of entry into his body where we become part of the new temple and so all of our sufferings and everything that we do now has even further value than we ever could have imagined because what we are doing in the Eucharist is we are now participating in the sacrifice of Christ himself we enter into the sacrifice of the new temple we are the living stones built into that temple and so all of our sacrifices all of our sufferings all of our pain we are able to unite with Christ we are not just forgiven of sin we are able to be transformed so that we can be and share in that new worship now in the Old Testament in Jesus' day many people were missing the true temple because they were stuck on the earthly and you know what that can even happen to us in the new covenant we can be stuck on earthly things even holy things even sacred things can be obstacles to the best to the greatest good which is Christ himself we have to be careful not to become like the Jewish leaders of Jesus' day who overemphasize the importance of the temple somebody would say that's heresy how can you overemphasize the importance of the temple itself well that's exactly what they did they made it an idol because it stood in the way of Christ and yet all of us can fall guilty of that as well we can make an idol of our Bible study you know I'm guilty of this I love studying Scripture I could immerse myself in studying Scripture all day I'm sorry honey what was that the baby had another diaper I'm sorry I've got the gospel of Luke here what is needed oh I need to spend some time in prayer yes I need to do my holy hour but you know I really have to prepare for class tonight we can find all sorts of ways of making earthly things our own liturgy can be an obstacle sometimes we can focus on the earthly on the visible I remember when I was a little kid I was really into the tactile my mom tells me when I was a little kid I would bring a little cross this metal cross to mass and when the priest would walk up down the aisle I would follow the cross and I guess one day I was filled with the spirit or some kind of enthusiasm and when the priest got to the altar in jubilation I took it through the cross at the altar and I hit this bald man in the back of the head I was probably a little bit distracting for him the earthly reality of the cross it's sacred but became a distraction to the heavenly and this even went on later on in life when I learned more about the beauty of the mass and the rubrics of the mass and I started to learn how important it is to follow the rubrics of the mass and I remember I became consumed with watching all the little parts of the mass and soon I started to recognize that sometimes the priests in Los Angeles for example where I lived weren't always following all of the rubrics wait I don't think you're supposed to do that I don't are we supposed to say that? I don't remember that and I became consumed with this are we going to follow all the rubrics or not and I remember one time I went to mass at my uncle's parish he was a holy priest and was my spiritual advisor and I went into confession I confessed bless me father for I have sinned you know I did this oh by the way before I finished I just want to let you know at mass earlier you forgot to do this middle of my confession and he said okay and I said oh yeah here are my other sins sorry for these and for all my sins and he said okay he said I'm sorry that I didn't do that right at mass he said let me ask you something what was the first reading about I don't remember how about the second reading I think it was from Peter yeah that's right do you remember what it was about I don't how about the gospel yeah I think it was something about yeah I don't remember that I said you were so consumed with that first thing I did when I first got at the altar and I wasn't following the rubrics correctly at the preface at the opening prayer I said the wrong opening prayer you missed everything else in the mass because you were consumed by that he said I think you're overly concerned with the earthly signs we can do the same thing we can become so distracted by the earthly signs even the sacred that we forget the supernatural mysteries that we are called into God has something greater for us than we could ever imagine entry into that heavenly Jerusalem let us not scorn that mercy spurn that mercy and cling to earthly things even good things and make them our idols