Loving God, you have opened the way for us to come to you through your Son, Jesus Christ.  Renew us by your Spirit and fill us with your love, that the way for others might be opened through us; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

    If you were to read only the section of Hebrews that we heard today, and not the rest of the letter, you might be hard pressed to understand what the writer is talking about.  As we have heard over the past few weeks, the writer is comparing some of the practices in Judaism to the way of Jesus.  He talks about Jesus as our great high priest and about why there was a need for a new and better covenant.  And then in today’s reading, we get into the earthly and the heavenly sanctuaries.

    What is a sanctuary, by the way?... [a holy or sacred place; the most sacred place within a holy place (like where the main altar is or the Holy of Holies); a place of refuge / asylum]  As the writer of Hebrews describes the sanctuary associated with the old covenant (or Old Testament), what we hear is a description of the tent that was used in the wilderness for worship.  Eventually, of course, this tent becomes the Temple that was built in Jerusalem.

    One of the illustrations that we look at in confirmation shows the Jerusalem Temple as it was at the time of Jesus.  One of the biggest features of this Temple was all of the restrictions on who could enter!  First off, there was no such thing as handicapped accessible.  If you couldn’t climb the stairs, or if you happened to be blind or lame or had a disease that made you unclean, you simply weren’t allowed.  Then, surrounding the Temple itself was a low fence beyond which Gentiles were not allowed to go.  As you entered the Temple, you entered the court of the women, and the women couldn’t go beyond that.  Further inside was the court of the men, and then beyond that the Holy Place where only the priests could go.  And then, in the innermost part of the Temple was the Holy of Holies, where only the high priest could enter, and only once a year.

    Because of all of these rules about who had access to the presence of God, the gospel writers include an astounding detail about what happened when Jesus breathed his last on the cross.  “The curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom” (Mk. 15:38).  This is the enormous heavy curtain that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Temple.  The way into the sanctuary had been opened, and it was God who did the opening.

    Given how the way into the presence of God has been opened, I find it interesting that there are still Christian churches that have restricted areas where only the priests can go.  Especially in many Orthodox churches there is a screen, often decorated with icons and with gold, that separates most of the sanctuary from the high altar.  Only the priests are allowed behind that screen – in the most holy place.

    However, you might recall that last week we heard about something called the priesthood of all believers that was taught by Martin Luther.  In his estimation, we don’t need priests to go to God on our behalf because we have Jesus.  In other words, he emphasized how the way has been opened for us to approach God in prayer and to enter the presence of God.  We have this privilege because of Jesus, our high priest, who has brought down the barriers that once stood between us and God.

    I remember hearing about a discussion that took place in this church quite a few years ago.  The issue at hand was whether the altar rail should be closed or open in order to serve Communion.  There was at least one well-respected member who felt that to close it was like setting up a barrier to God.  And so since that time, the way has been left open.

    There is no question that in most churches the altar is treated as the most holy place – the place where Christ is truly present in the meal of bread and wine.  There is also a strong tradition in many churches that only holy people can be near this holy place.  In fact, there are probably still Lutherans who believe that only the pastor should serve communion.

    However, if we truly are the priesthood of all believers, then any person who believes in Jesus Christ has every right to be here.  At the same time, it is baptism that makes us saints, not ordination.  God comes to us in water and the Spirit and makes us holy.  You are part of the communion of saints!  We may not always live like saints, but God has forgiven us and made us holy by grace through faith.

    Along the same lines, did you happen to notice what we were singing in our first song today?...  “Lord prepare me to be a sanctuary, pure and holy, tried and true...”  The presence of God is not limited to temples and churches.  Because of Jesus, the Spirit of God lives within us, making us living, breathing sanctuaries.  The reading from Hebrews today talks about purifying “our conscience from dead works to worship the living God” (Heb. 9:14).  It is our conscience that becomes the inner sanctuary where the saving work of Jesus takes effect.

    You would have been right if you were thinking earlier that there are many baptized people who aren’t particularly saintly.  God gives baptism as a gift, and we are free to accept that gift or to reject it.  God is happy to purify our conscience and to make us holy, but not without our consent.  A purified conscience turns away from sin and towards the living God.  In other words, we turn away from our self-serving and self-centered ways and towards the way of love - love for God and love for those around us.

    We give thanks today for the way in which Jesus broke down the barriers, not only between us and God, but between us and other people.  It struck me this week that when we hear about Jesus teaching in the Temple, we hear about places like Solomon’s Portico (or porch) – a place on the Temple grounds where everybody could go.  We also hear about Jesus welcoming the blind and the lame in the Temple and defending children who were shouting out God’s praises there (Mt. 21:14-16).

    Having thus been set free not only to enter the presence of God but to take the presence of God with us, let us not set up those same old barriers that Jesus worked so hard to tear down.  Instead, let’s worship the living God in all that we do, praying that God might work through us in order to open the way for others, through Jesus Christ our Saviour.  Amen.

Pentecost 14 (NL summer)                        Hebrews 9:1-14
August 30, 2015
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church
Pastor Lynne Hutchison

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