Hoodosh Eetho Sermon (11/11/7) - delivered to St. Thomas (Mascher) - Philadelphia

Hoodosh Eetho Sermon (11/11/7) - delivered to St. Thomas (Mascher) - Philadelphia (Street Theologian)

In the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen + + +

Esteemed Johnachen, Reverend Deacon, my brothers and sisters in Christ…First of all, I’d like to say how humbled I am in your presence to be given this chance to share my thoughts with you this morning. I am grateful to Johnachen and this parish for giving me my first opportunity to speak here in Philadelphia. I pray that you’ll be able to find my words edifying despite my own weakness and inability.

Today is what is referred to in Syriac as Hoodosh Eetho; the Sunday set apart for the dedication of the Church.

Whereas last Sunday, Koodos Eetho, we were all called upon for purification; on this day the Church along with each and every one of us is called upon for dedication.

Almost parenthetically, the first line in today’s Gospel reading states quite simply “Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter.”

For the Jews of that age, the Feast of Dedication commemorated how the Temple, the most Holy and revered place of worship, had been re-dedicated to the God of Israel after having been desecrated by the pagans as recorded by the Book of First Maccabees.

For a thousand years, the glorious Temple which King Solomon first built, which was destroyed after the Jews had strayed from the Lord’s precepts and which was then rebuilt again when they returned from Babylon; this Temple stood as the central focal point of the Jewish world and was set apart and dedicated for the Jews to make their offerings unto God. Yet, how boldly did our Lord Jesus Christ say “Destroy this Temple and in three days I will raise it up?”

For even though the Temple was glorious, even though the Temple was beautiful, and even though sacrifices were offered, the Temple was incomplete. For this reason St. Stephen declares in the face of his martyrdom:

48 Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet,
49 Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?
50 Hath not my hand made all these things?

The building itself was incomplete, in the sense that God, Who is infinitely transcendent and Who is infinitely filling all things, does not abide by the conventions of man’s thought. Man may set apart places to worship God, but Sovereign God dwells above and beyond any particular location where we may dwell. Jesus Christ tells the Samaritan woman, “Believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father.”

The worship in the Temple was also incomplete. In the Temple, the blood of animals was offered by the High Priest once a year in the Holiest of Holies for the atonement of all of God’s people. The blood of animals could give ritual cleansing, but certainly could not give real substantial cleansing and purification of men’s souls. We read today, in Paul’s Epistle to the Hebrew’s:

“ 13 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:
14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”

Why was the Temple, and the worship taking place within it incomplete? I’d like to submit to you that this Temple in Jerusalem was a type, a foreshadowing of The Church, the Body of Christ. As fallen people, like ourselves, the Jews of the Old Testament, who, of all the peoples of the ancient world, were the only ones chosen to receive the revelation of God; were given the precepts of the Lord, but consistently turned their hearts away from the Lord. They rejected their prophets and periodically turned to the worship of false gods. Though God had made them His chosen people, time and time again, God’s people would make their offerings unto the Lord without the humility and brokenness of heart that God prizes more than any sacrifice.
Thus the Psalmist writes:

“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.”

A direct parallel exists between the Temple of Jerusalem and the Church which is the body of Christ. The Temple, the ancient core of the Jewish Tradition, was destroyed forever in the early days of the Church. But the Church, that mysterious body, will never perish, as Christ promises that the “gates of Hell shall never prevail against it.”

All that was incomplete in the Old Testament became filled by Christ in the New Covenant. Christ, the true High Priest, offered his own body and blood for the atonement and renewal of man into his innermost being. Thus, the blood offerings made in the Temple were no longer necessary as they had always been the shadow of things to come.

In remembering how for our Old Testament forefathers celebrated the Feast of Dedication to recommit the Temple to God, how shall we commit The Holy Church, the fulfillment of the Temple, back to God?

Indeed, the Death and Resurrection of Christ fulfilled and completed all that was being anticipated in the Temple. The one true offering for our sins was offered up on the Cross at Calvary. That is completed.

The Church is complete, but the people in the Church are incomplete. The Church, like the Temple, is still filled with fallen people. Moreover, since the Church is the body of Christ, vivified by the Holy Spirit, more is expected of us Christians. In considering this, are we dedicated to God when we come together as a Church?

Consider our Worship. Every Sunday, do we have an elaborate ritual, or do we have a true sacrament offered up with our hearts souls and minds? God does not delight in burnt offerings, so we do not give it. Instead we offer up Christ as we were commanded as the true realization of the Cross in our midsts. Do we understand this in our hearts?

Do we understand our liturgies? Do we realize the gravity of partaking in the body and blood of Christ. If we do not, have we submitted ourselves to Christ and the Church that He established?
Let us return to the Gospel passage given. Christ says:

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.’

To be in the Church; to be truly dedicated to Christ requires us to be as sheep. We must give ourselves completely to Christ as sheep to a shepherd. We surrender ourselves in our entire being to Christ.

To Him belongs praise, thanksgiving, honor, now and always forever and ever, Amen.