When Israel was first given the Tabernacle, it was designed to reinforce the inherent paradox of the fallen human condition: God wants to dwell with his people on earth, but we cannot abide his holy presence without being consumed by it. The coming of God in the man Jesus is the resolution of this paradox, the glory of God dwelling fully in a human body. As the Tabernacle is the locus of God’s personal presence on earth, the sign and means of Israel’s purification by the proximity of God’s Spirit, and the seat of his just rule though his covenant people. So Jesus, fulfilling all these things in his own person, is said to be the restored Temple of God on earth. But now, by the power of Christ’s divinity, that Temple can extend over the whole earth, and the Spirit can dwell in all God’s people.

Key Text(s): John 2:13-22, John 14-17
Office Texts: Psalm 48 and 84; 1 Kings 8:1-21; John 15

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A major element of Jesus’ public ministry was teaching. He instructed crowds. He instructed his disciples privately. He instructed the religious leaders provocatively. His teaching wasn’t like any others’. Even the crowds noticed that he taught not like their scribes, but as one who had authority. Jesus claimed for himself a divine authority over the Law, providing not merely his own but the interpretation of it, straight from the Law’s original author. By his teaching, he provided his disciples the definitive interpretation of the Hebrew Scriptures in light of his own life, ministry, and passion. His hermeneutical method, consistent with many facets of Jewish scriptural commentary of the period, became the basis for the consistent apostolic pattern of reading of the Old Testament.

Key Text: Matthew 5-7
Office Texts: Psalm 119:1-32; Leviticus 19:1-18; Matthew 5

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At this point in the story, we have seen how Israel’s redeemer will be a personification of ideal Israel, living out their national history in his own life. In the coming weeks, we will see how Jesus not only recapitulates key moments and personalities of Israel’s history, but surpasses and fulfills them. As the Exodus was the defining moment of Israel’s national life, so too does Jesus demonstrate divine provision in the wilderness as a sign of a far greater Exodus that Jesus brings about: delivery from the slavery of sin and death.

Key Text(s): Mark 6:30-52 and John 6:22-71
Office Texts: Psalm 78; Numbers 27:12-23; Mark 6:30-52

The below file is an audio recording of the devotional study Fr. Adam led for the Hillsdale College InterVarsity Spring Break Mission Team on Monday night, March 5, when Holy Trinity Parish hosted them for dinner, worship, and teaching.

​The focus text for the study is Amos chapters 3 through 5.

Audio File:

Cover Art:

"Woe Unto You, Scribes and Pharisees" by James Tissot, 188601894, opaque watercolor over graphite on gray wove paper, Brooklyn Museum, New York