Sermons from St. Paul’s Episcopal Church

Year B Proper 11
Deacon Richard Buhrer
Breaking Down Walls

 “They begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.”

The fringes that are mentioned here and in some other passages from the Gospels (like the story of the woman with the hemorrhage) refer to a distinctive element in the clothing of devout Jewish males. In the book of Numbers[1], we read: “The Lord said to Moses: Speak to the Israelites, and tell them to make fringes on the corners of their garments throughout their generations and to put a blue cord on the fringe at each corner. You have the fringe so that, when you see it, you will remember all the commandments of the Lord and do them, and not follow the lust of your own heart and your own eyes. So you shall remember and do all my commandments, and you shall be holy to your God. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the Lord your God.” And in the book of Deuteronomy[2], we also read: “You shall make tassels on the four corners of the cloak with which you cover yourself.”

The Rabbis taught that this commandment to wear fringes and tassels, called tzitzit in Hebrew, will remind observant Jews to keep all the other commandments There are complex symbols embedded into the custom: there are 16 strings used, four on each corner, and each corner has ten knots, which equals 26, which is the numerical value of the unpronounceable Name of God that denotes kindness. The Torah requires that on any four-cornered garment (of a certain minumum size) worn by a man during the day..

One Jewish web site[3] put it this way: “The Commandment of Tzitzit is unlike most other Commandments, in that it involves something that surrounds us. When we wear tzitzis around our torsos, holiness surrounds us from head to toe.” When a Jewish man is prepared for burial, the tzitzit on a prayer shawl are deliberately damaged to render the garment unclean and then it is wrapped around the body, so that he goes to his grave surrounded by the holiness of God.

So the whole point of wearing these fringes and tassels in the Torah, is to remind the Jewish man of what sets him apart from the rest of the world. So the people in the Gospel were focusing on a garment that set Jesus apart from the rest of the world as an observant Jewish man.

In the times of Paul and Jesus (as well as in our own time) being set apart was a very important part of being an observant Jewish person. Most of the Book of Leviticus articulates what scholars have come to call the “Holiness Code:” the laws of holiness that preserved and promoted the “separateness” of Jews from the rest of humankind, the laws that built the wall separating Jews from Gentiles.

The temple that the immediate son of David (King Solomon) built, was also a study in walls. Immediately inside the outside wall at the gate of the temple was the court of the gentiles, where anyone of any nationality could go to honor the God of Israel. There was also a separate court for Jewish women because God forbid that women should enter the temple. Further inside, finally in view of the temple proper, was the court of Israel, where Jewish men who had been properly circumcised could go. About halfway down the court of Israel was a row of waist high columns that designated the court of the Levites. Beyond this wall no one could go who was not a member of the tribe of Levi and properly vested in white linen. Beyond this was a building with two rooms. The outer room called the Holy Place was a place where the sons of Aaron went to offer incense and the blood of sacrifices to God. At the back of the holy place was a heavy curtain that separated off the inner room, the Holy of Holies, in which was stored the arc of the covenant and into which only the High Priest would go and that only once a year on the Day of Atonement. He actually went in with a rope tied to one of his ankles, so that should God strike him dead, they could get his body of the temple without violating the holiness of the inner sanctum.

Our sanctuary here is modeled on the Temple in Jerusalem. The narthex corresponds to the court of the Israelites. In the early church, people who were preparing for Baptism, could only go into the narthex. The nave corresponds to the Holy Place: all of us are priests of the New Covenant; all of us have the right to wear the long white robe that the clergy and servers wear during the Eucharist. It is modeled on the vestments of Jewish priests in the Temple. This area up here separated by the communion rail and elevated above the level of the nave corresponds to the Holy of Holies. But this pattern of church architecture was not established until after the church became established under the Roman Emperor Constantine.

Against all this, the temple that the ultimate son of David built, Our Lord Jesus Christ, Blessed be He, is a place without walls. Of course, we in our flesh and blood reality are the Temple of the Lord. And among us, no walls are allowed. St. Paul in his letter to the Ephesians[4] makes this abundantly clear: “For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, 16and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it.”[5]

And all hostility must be put to death among us. All of the walls that we erect among ourselves: clergy versus laity, straight versus gay, cradle Episcopalians versus converts, black versus white, old versus young, rich versus poor, middle class, versus upper class, anything versus anything. We are, moreover called by our baptismal vows to work to eradicate these distinctions in the world around us: We answered yes to these questions: Will you see and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself? Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.

Do you want to know the most annoying thing about all of this? We are even called to love and cherish the people who disagree with us even on the issue of inclusion. The Anglican Mission in America, the Archbishop of Nigeria, the Bishop of Pittsburgh, dioceses of Dallas/Fort Worth and Central Florida, the people in the parishes that have divorced the diocese, all of them: people who see themselves as faithful Christians in practicing exclusion, terrorists, guerillas, homophobes, bigots, racists, sexists, people plagued by fear, and anger and hatred, all of them. We are called by the Lord Christ, who taught us in his living and dying to love and cherish all of our neighbors. The sign outside of our church reads, “The Episcopal Church welcomes you.” There are no footnotes displayed on that sign that say “except….”

“So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.[6]”