Advent 6 of 10:

They stored the defiled stones…

until a prophet should come

                                       and tell what to do with them.                    

(First Maccabees 4: 41-46)

One hundred sixty seven years before the birth of Christ; the Syrian king, Antiochus Epiphany, transgressed the Jerusalem Temple and claimed it as his own. He sacrificed pigs on the altar of burnt offerings. For the next three and a half years, sacrifices were offered to Zeus, the king of the Greek gods. Four books of the Maccabees tell the story of the upheaval and the Jewish revolt that sought to cleanse and restore the temple after “the Gentiles had defiled it.” Hanukah celebrates the retaking of the temple and dedicating it to God—that place where God would have dealings with his people.

Yet, they couldn’t help but wonder about those years Antiochus desecrated the temple: “They deliberated what to do about the altar of burnt offering, which had been profaned. …So they tore down the altar, and stored the stones in a convenient place on the temple hill until a prophet should come to tell what to do with them” (1Macc 4:41-46). The cleansing of the temple awaits “a prophet” —”The Prophet,” who alone can cleanse and renew sacred space. This is an Advent longing, that God will create new, undefiled, sacred space to be with his people—to be Emmanuel, “God with us.” It will be a surprise how Jesus cleanses the temple and how he renews the temple.

I can't help but wonder about that pile of stones set off to the side of the temple mount. Folks must have wondered, “What’s that pile of stones doing over there on the edge of the mount?” And those who knew the story would retell how the stones got there and how they were waiting for the One who alone could cleanse such defilement.