Letting Go of God’s Gifts

One

The Destruction of the Temple Foretold

One day, while Jesus was leaving the temple, his disciples pointed out to him the temple’s beauty, the elegance and impressiveness of the structure, and the stones that had been used to decorate it. It was a glorious temple, both in the days of Solomon and in the days of Herod. It was a monumental sign of the Jewish identity, and apart from religion and their sacred writings, was the greatest cultural achievement the Chosen people could boast.

But the Lord responds to their enthusiasm with a dire prediction. He says, “Do you see all these wonderful things? I tell you, the day is coming when not one stone will be left on another; they will all be thrown down.”

Why does the Lord rain on their parade? Why does He have to dampen their enthusiasm about their beautiful temple? 

Because even though the temple was a good thing, it was not the greatest thing. And the Jews needed to be ready to let go of what is lesser to receive something even greater.

Two

What the Jews Prized

The Jews, who were the custodians of the one, true religion, they were the people who worshipped the One, True God, they had a lot of good things to celebrate. They had their temple, they had the Mosaic law and their ritual, they had their land, and their nation, even though it was under foreign rule, was still intact.

These were gifts from God. The Lord God had sanctified their temple, He had given them the Mosaic law, He led them out of slavery twice, once from Egypt and then from Babylon, and made them into a nation with their own land. But all those things were supposed to be geared towards the ultimate goal of life, transforming union with God, being filled by God through Jesus Christ.

All those good things were supposed to be pathways to a relationship with God, not substitutes for a relationship with God.

Yet when God came, He was rejected by His own people. He was rejected because He had not come to liberate their land or their nation from Rome. He had not come to make their ethnicity dominant over the world. He came to give them Himself. He came to share His divinity with them and make them heirs to a kingdom that would never end. And those Jews who rejected Jesus would see their temple destroyed, their nation dissolved, and their land lost.

Three

God gives us so many good things: Life and education and professions, businesses and achievements, a spouse, family, kids, and grandkids, intelligence, physical strength, and beauty…and more comforts and pleasures than we can name.  But – and here is the precise problem - we build our identity, our self-worth, our happiness, and security on these. But God wants to give you so much more! He wants to give you Himself. 

God wants to flood his divine life into you and make you literally like him, forever. And then He will refashion your human body, to be a glorified body and remake the whole universe so that it will be a new heaven and new earth, and that glorious kingdom with you being like and living like God – will never ever end. 

But we can only receive all of this if we are willing to let go of clinging to the lesser things, to receive the greatest thing. 

So the more God wants to give, the more he empties you to fill you with himself. 

St. John of the Cross writes, “The immense blessings of God can only enter and fit into an empty and solitary heart.”

Our danger, like that of the Jews at the time of Jesus, is to be more attached to God’s gifts than we are to God. 

That is the whole point of Advent! Take stock. What do you want? I mean what do you really want most? Do we want God more than anything? Or will we cling to the lesser things and miss being filled by God? 

Four

God takes them all away only to give better things.

Think of all the worldly gifts you have now. And realize that they will all be taken away.

As you get older, you will lose your Capacity for bodily pleasure, your looks, the nimbleness and flexibility of your mind, your influence and reputation with other people, and finally, you’ll lose your capacity even to move your body.

That’s okay, because there is only one reason God takes things away, and that is to give us greater gifts.

Yes, He was going to take the Temple away from the Jews forever, but He was giving the world something greater. 

The body of Jesus is the Temple of God. And when you receive the Body of Jesus at Mass you become the Temple of God. And He will take away some of the goods of this life. But only to prepare us for the supreme joy of transforming union with God and heaven.

The key thing is not to cling to the temporary goods and lose the eternal ones. We don’t want to spend all our time mourning over what is lesser when we could be celebrating what is greater.

Five

Not fearing for the future but looking to the supreme good

The way to not fear loss in the future, the way to not become too attached to the things we know we can’t hold on to, the only way to do this is to cultivate a desire for God.

We have just a little bit of Advent left. Let’s use it to increase our desire, our longing for Jesus.

How do we do that?

Whenever God gives us some delightful, earthly good, we can say to the Lord, “Thank you! This is wonderful. I’ll really enjoy this.  But it isn’t You and it won’t satisfy me. It won’t last forever. So please give me Yourself.”

As December gets more busy and noisy, rededicate yourself to spending time with Jesus in prayer. Prayer is the most immediate way to have contact with God. Holidays are the time when spiritual practices drop off. Don’t let that be you.

The more eager we are to possess Jesus completely, the less we’ll worry about letting go of things down here. 

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