This past week I visited my hometown in Fairport, NY to see my family. One of the places that I wanted to see was my childhood home. My childhood home is rather modest. It’s a small ranch with just three tiny bedrooms, one bathroom, and contains only about nine hundred square feet of living space. The house was built in the 1950’s and was a “starter home” for our family. When we first moved in, the house was empty and in disrepair. The trees were overgrown, there was “jungle” in the back yard and all the rooms needed painting. I seem to remember that there were even mice in the basement. Later on, my parents moved into a much nicer, larger home using the equity they acquired in this house.
After I graduated from business school, our then small family (we only had two children at the time) purchased our first home. Like my parent’s home it was small and needed work. We had three tiny bedrooms, a small kitchen, and we put in a lot of sweat equity to fix up the house. Rooms were painted, the kitchen floor was ripped up, the bathroom was entirely redone, and the old roof was replaced. This too was our starter home.
Our “starter home” was important for my family, both growing up as a child, and for my own family as a parent. Here we established our family traditions and we learned to get along with one another. Owning a home meant that each family member needed to assume more responsibilities to maintain and improve the house. Starter homes are important because they teach young families about responsibility. Since starter homes are rather humble and are relatively utilitarian, they also give families a goal – to move on up and upgrade to either a larger home or the near perfect “dream house.” Savvy young couples understand that if they make some key improvements to their starter home they will be able to build equity that can be transferred to a new house when they upgrade. Building equity in a home, especially a “fixer-upper” takes time, money, labor, and sound judgment. Perhaps many of you have shared my experience.
By now, I’m sure that all of you understand the topic of my sermon. Today we’re going to talk about real estate: homes in particular. Our epistle reading from the Book of Hebrews 9:1-7 talks about a special home, it was God’s home under the Old Covenant. Now God’s home or tabernacle under the first covenant was special. How special was it? Well, if we look at our bibles we can see that just two chapters are devoted to the creation story, whereas some fifty chapters focus on His tabernacle.
The original tabernacle was constructed as temporary place of worship according to very specific plans passed on from God to Moses. In today’s epistle the main focus is on the temporary nature of the “earthly sanctuary,” which today is replaced by God’s heavenly sanctuary. The ancient tabernacle was a man-made copy of the heavenly sanctuary shown to Moses. The tabernacle had regulations that described the priest’s responsibilities and services and there were detailed instructions about its construction.
Here are some specifics about the tabernacle. First, it was portable and the Jews would carry the tabernacle as they traveled from place to place. Now, I’m not saying that God’s first home was a mobile home. It was a home that was mobile. I also want to make a clarification. God really didn’t live in the tabernacle. He really doesn’t live anywhere, however, the tabernacle served as His meeting place with His people. The tabernacle was a House of the Lord, just as we call our Cathedral a house of the Lord.
The tabernacle consisted of two rooms, the outer room and the Holy of Holies. It was largely constructed from skins and was the essence of impermanence. The courtyard contained a single gate and located in the outer court was a bronze altar and a bronze, washing basin. Also inside the outer room were a solid-gold lamp stand, a table, and the sacred bread called the Bread of the Presence. Veils covered the entrances to both the outer and inner holy places and a gold censer of incense stood before the entrance into the Holy of Holies.
Inside the Holy of Holies was the Ark of the Covenant. I’m sure that you remember the Ark of the Covenant from the movie, The Raiders of the Lost Ark. Three articles were kept in the Ark of the Covenant: a golden urn filled with manna as a reminder of God’s provision in the wilderness, Aaron’s rod which had budded, and the tablets containing the Ten Commandments. The ark was made of acacia wood overlaid with gold. Two gold cherubim angels were placed on the lid of the ark and they were to guard the presence of Jehovah. The lid that the angels overshadowed was called the mercy seat. God met man between the wings of the angels, on the mercy seat.
Access to the Holy of Holies was strictly limited. Only on the Day of Atonement (commonly known as Yom Kippur) could the high priest enter the Holy of Holies and his access was rigidly restricted. On this special day the high priest would purchase a bullock with his own money and make a sacrifice. After collecting the blood as it drained off, he would carry the blood into the Holy of Holies where he would sprinkle it on the mercy seat. This would symbolize an offering for his sins and those of the other priests. Next, he would return outside where there would be two goats tied up. Lots were cast to choose these goats. The goat designated for the Lord was sacrificed and the blood was collected in a small bowl. This blood too was sprinkled on the mercy seat for the sins of God’s people. When the high priest came out of the Holy of Holies, he laid his hands on the second goat, symbolically placing the sins of the people on the goat’s head. That goat was taken far out into the wilderness and turned loose, to be lost and never return. The second goat was called the scapegoat.
What was the significance of these rituals and the two goats? The first goat represented the satisfaction of God’s justice, that somehow the sins of Israel were covered until the next Day of Atonement. The second goat represented the satisfaction of man’s conscience. It symbolized that the nation’s sins were being carried away, never to return.
Why is this history lesson important? What is its significance? How does this relate to us today? First, the primary emphasis is that the early Jewish worship rituals were temporary. God’s original tabernacle was a temporary, mobile tent that was only intended to serve His people for a limited time. Originally, God intended under the Old Covenant that His people would embrace His laws and learn to love Him with respect and obedience. He hoped that His people would build upon His covenant and improve their lives. Just as we fix up a new home to build equity, it was God’s intent that His people would fix up their lives to build eternal equity with Him. Unfortunately, God’s people strayed from His commandments. Later on when they recognized their sin and returned to Him their relationship became impersonal and ritualistic. A testament to this is the behavior demonstrated by the Pharisees in Jesus’ time. They embraced the legality of “the Law,” not the “spirit” of the Law.
Today, Jesus Christ’s coming gives us a New Covenant with God where we have direct access to God the Father. No longer do we need a high priest as our intermediary. No longer do we have to wait a full year to make atonement for our sins. No longer do we have to make blood sacrifices to God. No longer do we have a temporary, earthly sanctuary for God. Instead, our Lord Jesus Christ gives us direct access to the Father and He will be our advocate when we are called to judgment. Our new sanctuary is heaven and it is accessible to all people who accept and believe in the Gospel that Jesus Christ came to save sinners like us. Heaven is the perfect sanctuary because it is made with heavenly materials. It does not bring us into the symbolic presence of God, but here we encounter God directly. Heaven is our true home, our true calling, and our entire purpose.
When I began my sermon today, I spoke of “starter homes” that I lived in during the course of my life. Through those houses my family was able to build equity and to upgrade to a higher quality of living. God’s original tabernacle was replaced by a heavenly home for all His people. His more perfect home is His plan for His people. He too wants us to build spiritual equity so that we can upgrade our standard of living to reside in His heavenly Kingdom. In His heavenly house many mansions are created so that we can live eternity in His Presence.
There is another type of home where God’s Spirit lives. This place is inside of each one of us. Let me explain. My friends, at baptism each one of us received the Holy Spirit and He lives inside each of us. In other words, we became God’s dwelling place or home. The question that faces each one of us is what type of home are we building for God’s Spirit? Are our bodies and souls “temples of the Living God,” or are they broken down shacks of sin? Luke 17:21 tells us that, “the Kingdom of God is within you” and our challenge is to form within us the very graces found in God’s Kingdom. St. Maximos the Confessor builds on the point and writes, in “the Kingdom of God, the Father is present in all believers in potentiality; it is present in those (who)…have attained the life of the Spirit alone and are able to say, ‘I no longer live, but Christ lives in me’ (Galatians 2:20).” In other words, St. Maximos is saying that we all have the potential to have the Kingdom of God within us if we allow our will to be united with God’s will.
How do we build this Kingdom of God within us? First, it’s important to know that the Kingdom of God is not something physical that we can see on earth, but a way of life that leads to heaven. The Kingdom within us is blend of humility and a gentleness of heart where our intellect moves incessantly towards God. St. Peter of Damaskos writes about its construction. First, we need to build our inner home with the clay of humility, binding the stones of virtue to one another. Next, the roof of love should be put into place. St. Peter adds that a special doorkeeper that is armed with the sword of the Spirit (or the Word of God) must protect the house of the soul. This doorkeeper is important because he repels and drives back anything that is contrary to God’s purpose. Pleasures of the flesh, the acquisition of material wealth, and vainglory are the temptations that drive us away from God’s purpose. To combat these temptations we must have a firm understanding of God’s word. Scripture allows us to drive back temptation, avoid sin, and devote ourselves to virtue and Christian service.
As I wrap up my sermon, I want to bring up an observation about material wealth. It’s been said that real estate is where the real money is. Likewise, in the spiritual world, the real estate of the soul is where salvation is found. We are all temples of God and His Kingdom can reside in each of us. My question is what kind of home are we building for the Lord? Does God want to live there?
Looking back, in our Christian youth, we lacked the resources to effectively build anything other than a “starter home” for the Holy Spirit to dwell in. Fortunately, as we mature in the faith we can acquire equity in God’s Kingdom through partaking of the sacraments, spiritual discipline, the study of scripture, heavenly meditation, the acquisition of virtue, and the practice of good works. This way we can transform the temporal, starter home of our bodies into a sacrifice more acceptable to our God. My friends, each of us have the potential to be saints. Each of us can transform our earthly bodies into something beautiful. Each of us can become holy people. Each of us can live as true children of the Living God.
It all comes down to this: in the end, if we let our lives to be guided by the Holy Spirit and chose to accept all the Spirit’s suggested improvements to our soul, we will be able exchange our “starter home” dwelling place for God into access into His Heavenly Kingdom that has been prepared for us before all time. So, how about it? Shouldn’t we get started on some spiritual home improvement projects today? Amen.
