Home Away from Home

Seeing our earthly temples prepare us for the heavenly

05/02/2023

Jn 10:22-30 The feast of the Dedication was taking place in Jerusalem. It was winter. And Jesus walked about in the temple area on the Portico of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, "How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly." Jesus answered them, "I told you and you do not believe. The works I do in my Father's name testify to me. But you do not believe, because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can take them out of the Father's hand. The Father and I are one."

One of the chief treasures we have in this parish is this magnificent Gothic church built in 1901. This past Saturday I celebrated the baptism of Harper Hanna, the daughter of Kathleen and Griffin Hanna. I celebrated Kathleen and Griffin’s wedding several years ago. And whenever I do the baptism of a baby of a couple that I married, I call that “service after the sale.”

Actually, this is the second service after the sale for the Hanna’s because I baptized their older daughter Sloan a couple of years ago. Harper’s grandmother complimented me on our stunningly beautiful church, and it was very humbling for me as the pastor. I cannot think of any priest who would not want to be pastor of Immaculate Conception, and exercise his priestly ministry within these walls.

Why is having an ornate, towering, traditional church so important? Well, because it should feel like our home away from home. That is, our true home is heaven, and every time we step foot inside these walls, we should feel transported to heaven. That is why the stained glass windows display images of the saints (who are in heaven). There are statues of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus (who are in heaven). There are statues of angels (who are in heaven). And finally there is the Tabernacle with Jesus himself truly present.

This weekend we will celebrate our annual Spring Festival, and not only Catholics but the entire River Valley community will stand in the shadow of this church, and that, too, is a foretaste of heaven. We read in Rv 7:9, “After this I had a vision of a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb.” And some of those people will not be standing, they will be riding steel horses. In other words, even if all those people do not exactly gather within these walls, at least they have come close, and they have drawn near to heaven. This church should remind them of their home away from home.

In the gospel today we learn that Jesus also loved to go to the great Temple in Jerusalem. We read: “The feast of the Dedication was taking place in Jerusalem. It was winter. And Jesus walked about in the temple area on the Portico of Solomon.” One thing we should remember about the Temple in Jerusalem in Jesus’ day is that it was not only a monolithic building but also had a larger “temple area” with other buildings, a courtyard, gates, and covered porticos. That is exactly how we have a church but also a parking lot, other offices, and entrances and exits off the property.

But the tragic thing about the Temple in Jerusalem is that it was utterly destroyed in the year 70 A.D. when the Roman general Titus marched in with the Tenth Roman Legion and leveled it, leaving only the West Wall of the temple area, also known as the Wailing Wall. Can you imagine how traumatic it would feel if someone marched in and leveled this beautiful church, and there was only one wall left standing? We, too, would wail and cry.

But that decisive and defining event in Jewish history in 70 A.D. was also charged with symbolic value. How so? That destruction was also a reminder that these earthly temples are merely our home away from home. That is, these edifices no matter how enormous or elegant will ultimately not endure. They are here to make us long for our heavenly home. Someday, all earthly temples will be destroyed, even this one. But don’t be sad; it will have served its purpose.

In the book of Revelation, St. John describes the heavenly Jerusalem, but also a heavenly temple in that celestial city. It is a curious temple. John writes in Rv 21:22, “I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God almighty and the Lamb.” In Revelation there are many role reversals. The Lamb becomes the Shepherd who leads (Rv 7:17), the blood does not cause stains, it causes cleaning (Rv 7:14), the night is as bright as the day (Rv 22:5).

So, too, with the temple: on earth, we are God’s temple because he resides in us, but in heaven God becomes our temple, because we will reside in him. Our true and eternal home is the heart of God. And that is why this temple is only our home away from home.

Praised be Jesus Christ!