When God returns to His Temple, all of His people will be gathered around and the Temple itself will go by a new name: “Yahweh is there.”
Here, at the end of Peter’s preaching in the beginning of Acts, we see the little flock there at the Temple thriving under the message and ministry of Jesus. What a sweet picture of the Church in its earliest stages. We should not be surprised by the connection to the Temple between Acts and Luke. It is not incidental and it is not a coincidence. Just take a quick glance over to the Gospel of Luke and you will find that Jesus was first presented as a newborn at the Temple (2:22-38) and not much later in Luke Jesus amazes the teachers at the Temple with His teaching as a twelve-year-old boy (2:41-50). Jesus prepares the Temple for the return of the Messiah later in Luke (19:45-48) going on to say that the Temple must be destroyed (21:5-9) and raised again. Finally, it is no coincidence that the very last verse of the Gospel of Luke has the disciples “continually in the Temple blessing God” (24:53). You see, there is something going on here and it reminds me of the book of Ezekiel. But first, we need to look at shepherds in Ezekiel to make a full connection for our readings this Sunday.
If you remember, in Ezekiel 34 God condemns the shepherds of Israel because they would not tend the flock. Now, this is not only just referring to the “pastors/shepherds” of the religious life of Israel but also as an indictment on the kings and rulers who were often called “shepherds” as well. So, what is the connection to the Temple? Well, because of the sin and idolatry of Israel’s “shepherds,” God actually leaves the Temple in Ezekiel 11:1-25 and will not come back until the old is gone and the new Temple has come through the work of the Messiah in Ezekiel 40:1-48:35. When God returns to His Temple, all of His people will be gathered around and the Temple itself will go by a new name: “Yahweh is there.” Or, as the angel told the son of David in the Gospel of Matthew, Joseph, in a prophetic vision, that the Christ child would be named Jesus for He shall be called Immanuel/God with us.
Therefore, is it any wonder that we see the early Church gathered like flock at the Temple? If they were a student of Ezekiel, it would be no surprise. But the connection with the Temple is only part of it. There is another connection our Gospel lesson from John 10:1-10 makes that is very much in line with Ezekiel. In John 10, you have an excellent teaching of Jesus on what it means for Him to be the “Good Shepherd” (10:6). He is the Good Shepherd who leads the flock from death to life through His death and resurrection. In Ezekiel, it is prophesied that, in the end times, David will be THE shepherd over Israel (37:2-28) and God will set His temple in their midst forever, being their God and they will be His people, so that all the nations (Acts 2 in Pentecost) will know the Lord is with them (Ezekiel 37:24-28). The restored/resurrected Shepherd and the new/resurrected Temple are inseparable. They unmistakably point to God’s power to restore and save.
The restored/resurrected Shepherd and the new/resurrected Temple are inseparable. They unmistakably point to God’s power to restore and save.
What a powerful image to connect the promise given in Ezekiel to the people of God in the early Church and to us who are a part of the same flock and still practice what they did then here and now through Word and Sacrament ministry. A sermon that would use these two images may want to utilize the Multiple Image Structure.
“This sermon structure uses two or more images in the sermon to signal movement or development to the hearers during the course of the sermon. Each image is associated with a particular thought or experience for the hearers, and the sermon moves from one section to another by moving from one image to another.
In working with more than one image, the preacher needs to determine how the images hold together as a set of images. Do they have a thematic or stylistic coherence? Working with images that are too widely varied in style or subject matter can create confusion for the hearers, as the images work to break apart the sermon rather than hold the experience together as one intentional meditation upon God’s Word.
Also, the preacher will want a coherent movement between images during the sermon. That is, as the preacher moves from one image to another, there should be a logical or experiential appropriateness to such movement. This could involve movement within a metaphorical field (from parched desert to a seasonal stream to an ever-flowing river and a tree of life), typological movement (from the bronze snake in the wilderness to the Son of God lifted up on the cross), a dynamic reversal (from the stone of stumbling to the rock of ages), the development of a theme (the Word becoming flesh to offer us a living Word), or the contextualization of God’s mission (the rule of the risen Christ is manifest among His people today).
Finally, as the preacher integrates the images into the sermon, he can choose to work inductively leading from an image to the statement of an idea (that connects to the text, to the theological confession, to evangelical proclamation, or to the lives of the hearers) or deductively, beginning first with a statement of the idea and then entering into the image as a way of developing it for the hearers. A variety of inductive and deductive movements can generate a continuing interest in the flow of the sermon.”[1]
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Craft of Preaching-Check out 1517’s resources on Acts 2:42-47.
Concordia Theology-Various helps from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, MO to assist you in preaching Acts 2:42-47.
Lectionary Kick-Start-Check out this fantastic podcast from Craft of Preaching authors Peter Nafzger and David Schmitt as they dig into the texts for this Sunday!
The Pastor’s Workshop-Check out all the great preaching resources from our friends at the Pastor’s Workshop!
[1] https://concordiatheology.org/sermon-structs/dynamic/imagistic-structures/multiple-image/
