Both Haggai and the Sadducees confuse a holy project and calling for their final and ultimate callings. The Judeans rightly rebuild the temple with urgency and devotion. Likewise, the Sadducees devote themselves to encouraging others to care for the earthly needs of others and the stability of the community. And while both projects are worthwhile, they miss the larger vision to which God is calling all of us.
There is no doubt that God calls us and meets us in our different projects, jobs, ministries, communities, roles, and passions. But these callings are all temporary and provisional. Do not mistake as eternal what God has only called us to for a season! Jesus's invitation to the Sadducees is his invitation to us: to see the even grander and eternal calling to be like Jesus and to spend eternity with him. Far from rejecting the importance of our jobs, ministries, and projects, these readings from Haggai and Luke invite us to appreciate each of our unique callings as holy (yet provisional) temples God calls us to and uses to shape us. They are means of grace but not the end goal.
