Day 93 — How To Build A Cathedral
Our devotionals are a little different this week, written from the perspective of the character in the Bible passage. This practice of ‘Adoration’ helps us to ‘sit’ in the Scripture and use our imagination to take us into the story in a new way – towards a place of adoration of Jesus. You can read the passages in your Bible first to find the original context and trust that the Spirit is with you as you read and reflect today.
Mark 12: 41–44
“She, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”
“Wow, just look at the size of those stones, how beautifully designed and crafted they are; it’s so impressive. God must be flattered to have this temple built in his honour!” To be fair, some of the lads had never seen it before, their first trip to David’s City. It had been fifty years since old Herod had started the renovation work. Still not finished but it was very dazzling. The Lord’s response was a bit of a shock. He hardly seemed to take any notice at all. “I tell you what, it won’t be long and not one of these stones will still be standing.” Gulp.
The Great temple had first been built in King David’s era, his son, in fact, more than a millennium ago. It had its ups and downs, pillaged by the Egyptians, almost destroyed at the exile by the Chaldeans, rebuilt with permission from the Persians, fought over (Greeks v Egyptians), desecrated, re-consecrated after the civil war, desecrated again by the Romans and then, well, Herod. But everyone knew that ‘The Glory’ had never returned. For all the ‘wow’ factor, nothing could replace the actual ‘Presence’ the scriptures described. His saying that did not sound promising either!
What did grip him, brought a tear to his eye and an urgency to his voice was what he’d spotted at the treasury box just before. He’d just been warning us about the Law experts, piling the pressure on the poor, “gobbling up widows’ houses” when we watched an older woman, “a widow”, he said, queueing behind the aristos, head down, checking that no-one was watching as she dropped just a couple of pennies in the box, then shuffling off as quick as she could. Invisible, she hoped.
But he’d seen. He called us all back. He wanted to mark this, to honour her, to teach us from it, to lay down another of his foundation principles for a temple he’d told us he was going to build. This kind of giving, full and willing, not showy, mandatory or partial; this kind of giving, he said, was an echo of his own mission, the reason he’d actually brought us to Jerusalem. It would see the Glory of the Presence return to the Temple of his Body.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, though you were rich, yet for our sake became poor, so that through your poverty we might become rich. You loved us to the end. You loved me and gave yourself for me.
I see that you’re not impressed with outward things and adore you for exalting the lowly and being good news to the poor. I want to keep exploring ways to live out my gratitude and worship. Amen.
Brian Eccleshall