Breastplate

Crystal Garden by Orbital Joe

Not to be confused with the rolling kind, living stones might be more like the dancing kind. Peter speaks of Jesus as the Living Stone, and the family of God as living stones. But before I think about these living stones that take part on a cosmic dance, I might back up to think of the colored, shiny kind. This morning as I read about the breastplate of Aaron, two things jumped out at me:

1. The gemstones are engraved with the names of the sons of Israel. (Exodus 28:9Exodus 28:9
English: King James Version (1611) - KJV
9 And thou shalt take two onyx stones, and grave on them the names of the children of Israel:  

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2. The gemstones serve as “stones of remembrance” for the sons of Israel. (Exodus 29:12Exodus 29:12
English: King James Version (1611) - KJV
12 And thou shalt take of the blood of the bullock, and put it upon the horns of the altar with thy finger, and pour all the blood beside the bottom of the altar.  

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This caught my attention because stones as memorials show up again and again in Scripture. After crossing the Jordan, Joshua builds a stone memorial to the event. Stones are used throughout Scripture to mark boundaries, remember key events and record important information (like the 10 Commandments). In other words, stones serve as testimonies. They last from generation to generation and they continually testify to past events, laws, covenants, or people.

Think of stone: precious or otherwise. It is hard. Rain, snow, storm will probably not sweep it away (unless we’re thinking of sandstone or some other soft stone). It is durable. Then at we think about crystal formations within stones, we encounter stones that can refract and reflect light. We engrave everything from life-death notices (gravestones) to laws to images in stone. If something is “written in stone,” we take that to mean it is permanent.

The idea of stones continues to play a role in the New Testament. Jesus tells his hearers that the stones can “cry out,” bearing testimony to his glory. Paul suggests that our life’s work is either made of wood, hay and stubble, or gold, silver and precious stones. Only that which is done in love will endure the fire. The enduring quality as well as the beauty and rarity of stones, silver and gold make them precious. Of course, Peter suggests that one thing is far more precious even than gold–blood.

According to Peter, there is a fire that even gold will not withstand, but the blood of Jesus and our faith in that blood are more precious than gold (1 Peter 1:7, 18-191 Peter 1:7, 18-19
English: King James Version (1611) - KJV
7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: ¹⁸ Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; ¹⁹ But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:  

WP-Bible plugin). This precious life of God in Christ transforms us into “living stones” built into the Living Stone of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:4-51 Peter 2:4-5
English: King James Version (1611) - KJV
4 To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, ⁵ Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. are: or, be ye  

WP-Bible plugin). he links this to our role in the holy priesthood to which we’ve been called. This image of us as living stones in a holy temple of holy priests can then be viewed against another image of the stones: the law. The law written in stone is now written in hearts (living stones).

We bear witness. The testimony of Christ is being revealed in us, and it is to us–not impersonal stones–that God points when he wants to show the “powers” his glory (Ephesians 3:10Ephesians 3:10
English: King James Version (1611) - KJV
10 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,  

WP-Bible plugin). We are living testimonies, bearing witness to the faithfulness of God. In our brokeness, in our frailty, in our weakness, we are being shaped, formed, perfected into a living, precious stones that will reflect the glorious light of Christ throughout the city of God, the New Jerusalem.

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“Truly God is good to Israel,
To such that are pure in heart.
But as for me,
My step had nearly slipped.
For I was envious of the boastful,
When I saw the prosperity of the wicked.”
(Psalm 73:1-2Psalm 73:1-2
English: King James Version (1611) - KJV
73 A Psalm of Asaph. of: or, for ¹ Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart. Truly: or, Yet of...: Heb. clean of heart ² But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped.  

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In his confusion, the psalmist cries out to God. The great high God of Israel seems to turn a blind eye to those who mock his name. The people of God falter while the wicked appear to be exalted.

The psalmist’s anguished question still rings in the hearts of God’s people. From businesses to families to nations, we watch evil people prosper. We see the people who take shortcuts move ahead. And it seems like those who try to walk right often fail.

Then the psalmist beholds the coming judgment, and he realizes that a day of accounting is coming. He rests in the fact that God will make things right.

The Christian Celts anticipated judgment day. In St. Patrick’s Breastplate they pray that they might be clothed “with the power of His descent to pronounce judgment of Doomsday.” In their manuscripts and crosses, Jesus is sometimes depicted at the “dread judge” coming to hold all men accountable for their evil deeds.

During Advent, we actually look to the coming Judgment Day. We expect a righting of wrongs, a day of rectitude. We may look toward this day, like ancient Israel, as a day when we will be proved right and those who opposed us will be exposed as in the wrong. We may expect this as a time when we will finally be vindicated.

As we look toward the coming day of days, we behold a day that came. The great day of woe was realized when the baby born in a manger grew up to be the man who bore the weight of sin and death. Jesus entered into the final judgment. He bore the crushing weight of woe upon himself.

This act of absolute justice strikes to the heart of evil. The cross heals my blinded eyes to see that I am not on the side of the righteous but on the side of the oppressors. While I cried out for justice, my own evil betrayed me as the offender. While I longed for my enemies to be exposed and humiliated and conquered, I was exposed as the one clothed in filthy rags.

Only then can I realize that what appears to be God’s blindness to evil is actually his longsuffering mercy. While some people think the God of the Old Testament is the God of vengeance, they are mistaken. The story actually reveals a God who is longsuffering, who continues to show mercy to evildoers, who withholds judgment again and again and again. Finally when he does bring judgment, He also brings a hope of restoration and redemption.

In the midst of revealing God’s judgment upon the evil in Israel, Zephaniah pictures a God who restores in gentle, lovingkindess.

The Lord your God in your midst,
The Mighty One, will save:
He will rejoice over you with gladness,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing.
(Zephaniah 3:17Zephaniah 3:17
English: King James Version (1611) - KJV
17 The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing. rest: Heb. be silent  

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As I look to the final unveiling of God’s justice, I no longer look with a fist of anger at those who cheated me, betrayed me, hurt me. Rather, I anticipate the complete unveiling of God’s glory with humility, realizing my own failures, my own tendency to hurt and cheat and betray. During this season of Advent, I look toward the end of all things and cry out with the publican, “Lord have mercy.”

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For the last several years, I’ve been leading retreats on Celtic Christianity, focusing primarily on the written texts that survive from the fifth to eighth centuries as well as a little later stuff. We cannot fully see inside their world, and we’re always in danger of substituting our own perceptions for reality (of course that is a danger with all history), there is still value in exploring these ancients poems, prayers, liturgies and more.

In 2005, I started working on a book exploring St. Patrick’s Breastplate. I wrote drafts of the first two chapters, but then my health took a turn for the worse, and I stopped writing. Recently, I decided to pick up the book and start writing again. In order to help jump start myself, I’ve decided to post chapters on scribd. So if anyone is interested, here are links to Chapter One and Chapter Two.

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