Let’s start in the beginning. Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth…” One the sixth day God created people, pronounced it better than good, declaring it was very good. On the seventh day, God rested. It was the first Sabbath, when man and woman could be in communion with God. In the beginning we were holy and able to be in the presence of God. From the beginning Scripture makes clear that the entire cosmos and all that is in it was created for humanity’s Sabbath communion with God. 

Then we sinned – ….and no longer holy or in the presence of God. In a way, one can look at the entire story of the Bible as telling the story of God working in and through human history to teach us how to be holy so that we can again be in the presence of God in that eternal Sabbath rest.  In other words, God wants to be close to us, but we always seem to have different plans.

In the Book of Exodus you have this exciting story of Moses, Pharaoh, plagues, escape through the Red Sea, temporary safety at Mt. Sinai, and then… thud. Suddenly we have 8 chapters of details about how to construct two things: the Ark of the Covenant and this very large, but portable tent referred to as the Tent of Meeting. Throughout this part of the Old Testament there are two terms used to describe the Tent: mishkan, the dwelling place of God and ohel mo’ed, the meeting tent for God with the people – same tent, two different descriptions.

The Tent (sometimes referred to as the Tabernacle) journey with the people for 40 years – all the while filled with the spirit, the glory of God. God wanted to remain close, calling us to holiness. All the while we always seem to have different plans. The wilderness, into the Promised land, the Tent, always the dwelling place of God, and sometimes the meeting tent for God with the people – more than 400 years.

Why do I tell you this? This is why King David wants to build a house, a temple for God, the mishkan always and a place where the people can come to work on holiness and be in the presence of God. The Temple is eventually built in Jerusalem – and as usual, we have different plans. But God has long-range plans for how the people can be in the presence of God.

In the still of one night, far from the throne rooms of the king, the Angel Gabriel announced that Mary will be the one to bring the Son of God into the world, into the flesh and blood presence among men. While the Church has traditionally referred to Mary as the Ark of the New Covenant, it seems to me, she is for those nine months the mishkan and meeting tent. The one through whom “…the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us…” In Greek, it literally says “made his tent among us.”

In the person of Jesus Christ we have true God and true man, we have the mishkan, the dwelling place of God so to speak, and ohel mo’ed, the meeting tent for God with the people.  The One in whom we find our Sabbath rest.

Scripture is this ongoing story of God longing to be in our presence and like all those in love, hoping we long to be in His presence with the full depth of our passion. In the account of the Annunciation, Mary is the one asked to put all her plans aside to be holy and in the most intimate of ways, let God be present to her in the person of Jesus: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.”  The first yes. The “yes” that makes our “yes” possible.

This day, you are here in the mishkan, God dwells here in the Eucharist. You are here seeking holiness and to be in the intimate presence of God – most especially when you come to receive the Eucharist.  The Eucharist that calls you to continued holiness and in the most wonderful way, in the presence of God, to be transformed, to become that portable mishkan, temple made of living stones wherein God dwells.

May your “Amen” echo Mary’s words:  “May it be done to me according to your word.”

Let the Word of God come to you in the extraordinary story of life like King David; in the very ordinary days like Mary quietly raising her son.  Let the Eucharist renew and nourish you that in you and in your life, you are the new tent, where others encounter the Spirit of God

May the miskan of God be built within our lives.

Amen

Image credit: The Annunciation, Leonardo da Vinci, Uffizi Gallery Florence | PD