A Tale of [cleansing] Three Temples

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, * O LORD, my strength and my redeemer” (Psalm 19:14)

Welcome to the third Sunday of Lent.  Whereas last Sunday, our focus was on what it means to be a follower of Jesus, today our focus turns to what it means to be the church of Jesus – that is, expectations of how we are to be a community of faith in Christ’s name.

The reading from Exodus highlights how we are to be a people of God.  We have ten commandments given to Moses to give to the chosen people to guide them in their relationship with God and with each other. Essentially, as is re-stated in Deuteronomy 6:5, the people of God are to put honoring God first on our priority list, followed closely by what is re-stated in Leviticus 19:18, that we are to honor each other – respecting our ancestral wisdom about how to behave, avoiding covetous obsessions and harmful actions.

You might recall Jesus repeating this Jewish wisdom when asked which commandments are the greatest.  Jesus repeats the summaries from Deuteronomy and Leviticus saying, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and will all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matt 22:35-40)

So, there we have it, right?  That’s how we’re to be the church.  Just follow the ten commandments.  That sounds good… but in action it’s even more challenging.  Being the church of Christ – embodying Christ’s mission ourselves – requires us to apply this wisdom to our complex cotemporary living in a way that can be, frankly, foolish.

The church as a ship of fools was an idea even back in Paul’s day.  In the excerpt we heard this morning from his letter to the Corinthians, Paul is saying that to really follow the way of Christ will appear foolish to others, particularly those who focus on rational wisdom of the day.  Paul reminds them that our resurrected ‘church’ is founded more on the humble ‘way of the cross’ than on a prestigious convention of a crown… a path focused on the redemption of all, especially the weak and lowly, through a revolutionary processes of surrender, suffering, and sacrifice even unto death.

To be a faithful church of Christ, we not only focus on God first with everything we are and have, we are not only rigorous in our avoidance of harm toward others, but we are to be boldly foolish in letting go of things that might otherwise provide prestige and power but actually separate us from each other, focusing not on winning by getting things right, but on redeeming each other through loving so deeply, that it sometimes appears just plain wrong.

And now we stand in the Temple court with Jesus in the Gospel excerpt we’ve heard this morning (John 2:13-22), looking around us at this ‘house of God’ and asking, what wisdom is being followed here? 

This scene is rendered in all the Gospels.  In Mark, Matthew, and Luke, this moment is toward the end of Jesus’s earthly ministry and becomes the final provocation that mobilizes the establishment against him.  Interestingly, in John’s telling, this scene occurs at the beginning of Jesus’s adult ministry and serves as the second of many signs that people grapple with as they try to understand who Jesus is --  this event is disturbing to them, but not the ‘final straw’ in John’s telling as it is in the other Gospels.  But I digress…

On one level, what we see going on in the Temple court is perfectly reasonable.  Pilgrims from all over have come here to worship God, who is thought to reside here in the holiest of holy places, and out of respect, they must offer certain types of prescribed sacrifices.  In keeping with ancient customs, the animals they offer must be without blemish.  Because it’s hard keep your animal unblemished while traveling long-distances through harsh terrain, the temple authorities offer the convenience of simply buying unblemished animals here on-sight – no need to cart your own over long distances.  Of course, any money brought into the temple must not contain graven images, like that of the emperor who was presented as a god.  No problem, here in the temple court, we have exchange booths (like we see in international airports today) where you can trade your local coins for the temple-approved coins. 

Oh, by the way, now that you’re here with your money and sense of devotion, can I interest you in this religious trinket or this crafty momento of your time here in Jerusalem? 

What?  You’re not one of the chosen people, but you’ve come here anyway to seeking God?  No worries, although you can’t be admitted to the most revered places in this house, you can still enjoy your time here in this outer court – despite all the noise and mess, we encourage you can find a quiet corner in which to pray.

Yes, on one level, everything going on here is reasonable, given the conventions of the day.  Ok, so some of the merchants might be more focused on turning a profit than on turning people on to what it means to follow God.  Ok, so some of the exchange rates might be a bit unfair – we’re not meaning to exploit, we’re just trying to look out for ourselves while giving you some of what you need to find your own way here.  Look, we’ve been doing it this way for a long time and it seems to work for the leaders of our temple as well as for the Roman Empire.

As one commentator observed, “more than likely, all involved had simply settled into comfortable behaviors that enabled them to meet institutional goals, turning a blind eye to the unsavory possibilities of corruption inherent in changing money.” (Paul S. Shupe, Pastor, Lake Edge United Church of Christ, Madison, WI)

And another commentator has written, the temple/church can gradually be “…taken over by buyers and sellers, consumers and marketers who know how to fill the pews and meet the capital campaign goals…. The ways of the world invade the church gradually, subtly, never intentionally, always in service of the church and its mission.  Soon the church is full of cattle and sheep and turtledoves and money changers….” (W. Hulitt Gloer, Preaching Professor, Truett Seminary at Baylor, Waco, TX)

And here we stand with Jesus, in God’s house, the temple, the ‘church’, a place which should be focused on amplifying the application of the greatest commandments and a place where we all people are welcome and can find peace and well as inspiration. 

It wasn’t traditional Jewish wisdom and piety that now raised Jesus’s blood pressure – it was the commercial conveniences, personal profits, and rule-based distractions that had been allowed, even encouraged, in the name of God. 

Jesus snaps.  “Making a whip of cords [NOTE: only John mentions this whip – vivid image], he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, "Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!"” (John 2:15-16).

Does this thrust of righteous rage from our Lord make us a bit un-easy?  It should.

Who and what would Jesus target with his whip of cords if he came into our temples today?

As another pastor wrote, this morning’s Gospel passage “pushes us to imagine Jesus entering our own sanctuaries, overturning our own cherished rationalizations and driving us out in the name of God… it is important for us to tolerate and explore through prayer, preparation, and preaching [this Lent] the queasy anxiety of seeing Jesus with the whip of cords in his hands and hearing him with the righteous judgments of God on his lips – knowing that he speaks for us, yes, and with us, but also to us and even against us.” (Paul S. Shupe, Pastor, Lake Edge United Church of Christ, Madison, WI)

Consider our churches.  How have we aligned any our gathering places more with societal status and privilege rather than sacrifice and service? What traditions and expectations have evolved over time to serve seemingly good purposes that, perhaps with Christ’s eye, are actually getting in the way of people encountering God and each other more deeply and authentically here?  Are we radically welcoming everyone, particularly the newcomer, so that they feel drawn closer to intimacy with God, not awkward or out of place because they don’t know all the rules? What might Jesus have us overturn in order to make this place more hospitable for the pilgrim, more focused on the greatest commandments?

Consider ourselves as temples of Holy Spirit (“know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit dwells in you” 1 Cor 3:16).  What corruptions would Jesus have us drive out of here (pointing to the heart and head) in order to make more room for compassion that might drive us to greater sacrificial love for each other?

AMEN.

Way of the Cross: Stations 5, 6, and 7

Homily notes: The Rev. Michael S. Bell for Lenten chapel service on 7 March 2012 at Bishop Seabury Academy (Lawrence, KS) 

What’s the difference “absolute historical accuracy” and “truth-telling” when it comes to stories that inspire and move you?  Though we don’t have much historical evidence of the factual accuracy of the stories represented in these images, they nonetheless tell us about truth.   These stories have endured for hundreds of years in our traditional telling of the Way of the Cross.  And, people from all over the world, when visiting Jerusalem today, will walk the Way of the Cross in remembrance of these images.  Why do you imagine we tell these stories over and over?  What truth do you think they represent?  

·         There’s no reference in the Bible about Jesus falling a second time, much less a first or a third time.  We easily imagine, however, given all that he had been through and the weight of the timber used for the cross, that Jesus may have fallen several times as he made his way along the road.

·         There’s no reference in the Bible about a woman coming up to wipe the bloody and sweaty face of Jesus as he carried his cross to his own execution.   We can easily imagine, however, given all the good news that he had spread and all the people that he had helped and healed, that someone had enough compassion for Jesus to risk approaching him amid the Roman soldiers to at the very least wipe some of the blood and salty/stingy sweat from his face as he passed by.  Tradition calls names this woman Veronica, which is derived from Latin words meaning true icon/image.

·         And, we know very little about Simon of Cyrene except that he was a father and that ‘of Cyrene’ means that he was from the northern territory of Africa, i.e., perhaps a foreigner/visitor in Jerusalem who perhaps didn’t have the same the skin color, ethnic identity, religious etc. as Jesus – Simon might have been Jewish, he might not have been; he might have just visiting his children, he might have been a migrant worker, who knows…  We don’t know precisely what compelled Simon to lift the cross, but we can imagine that to Jesus, this man was an unfamiliar face from the crowd who showed up just in time to lift some of the burden from Jesus even if only briefly.

·         Jesus had a family – we’re told he had sisters and brothers.  Yet, in this walk with Jesus, we don’t hear about them coming to help.  Jesus had close friends and followers (the apostles and disciples).  Yet, we don’t see any of them coming to his aid on this painful journey.  In fact, out of fear of being hurt themselves, they’ve run away from this scene.

·         Jesus knows what it’s like to feel abandoned, to not have the strength to go on, and the humiliation of falling vulnerable in front of others.  And, Jesus knows what it’s like to receive kindness from strangers.

·         The people we remember so vividly in today’s stations are ‘strangers’ who stepped out of the crowd to walk with someone struggling, shouldering the cross for him for bit and offering a moment of relief and dignity.

What do you do when you know others might need your help? 

If you had fallen, were out of strength, and unable to move on, how’d you feel if help came, not from one of your family or friends, but from a compassionate stranger?

Have you ever felt like there was no way to go on by yourself – the burden was too heavy / you were too tired?  Did someone come along and lift you up?  Have you thanked them?

Have you ever seen someone carrying something heavy (literally or figuratively) or being picked-on?  Were you bold enough to stand in and help/defend them, or at least compassionate enough to offer them comfort?

Who do you know that might feel alone right now? 
What help can you offer, even if only for a little while, so they’ll know they’re not alone?

PRAYER: Jesus, as we walk the Way of the Cross, through the humiliation and pain of your Passion, in these images of your own vulnerability and humanity, with an eye toward your ultimate victory, help us find strength and courage to face our own struggles.  Help us to see more clearly how to express love for our neighbors, particularly when they suffer, and even when it’s risky to do so; and how to accept kindness from strangers, even when we’re weary.   AMEN.

Comfort & Challenge: living up to and into God's love requires sacrifice

Welcome to the second Sunday of Lent.  How’s Lenten journey so far? 

We’re deep into it today.  Our lessons, though containing some ultimately comforting hope, are also presenting us with the promise of challenges in our walk with Christ.

Comfort and challenge – a good combo on which to cogitate this Lent in our walk with Christ.

Comfort: God has promised to be faithful to us, even when times get tough. We are known by name and beloved by our creator.  We inherit this promise not “through the law (by following all the rules most perfectly) but through the righteousness of [our] faith”, as our ancestors Abraham and Sarah did (Rom 4:13-14, 16).  God sent is love to us in the very tangible form of Christ Jesus and has gifted us his Holy Spirit – comforting, indeed.

Challenge: While there is great freedom in being beloved of God and inheriting his Spirit, living up to this love and into this inheritance requires sacrifice on our part.  It’s risky and costly to graciously seek and consistently share culture-challenging charitable love with others as Christ has done with us.  Furthermore, God’s Word made flesh, Jesus, has shown us and told us that when we set our mind more on our will than on divine will (more on our sense of how things should be rather than God’s desire), we inhibit the holy mission, risk forfeiting our life, and head toward shame.

Let’s look a bit closer at some of our lessons for today and then consider what the Spirit might be leading us to re-consider during our Lenten journey this year.

Abraham & Sarah

As Paul is suggesting in the excerpt from his letter to the Romans that we’ve heard this morning (Rom 4:13-25), faith and trust are most fundamental to our right relationship with God. Well before Moses encountered God on the mountaintop and delivered ‘law’ to us (traditions meant to support and encourage our faithful living), we have the story of God’s outreach to Abraham and Sarah, the actions they faithfully take in respond to God’s call, and God’s promise to redeem us all through their legacy. 

Before Abraham and Sarah, God sought to turn us from self-centered ways and return to divine righteousness as a family.  God attempted a re-boot through the great flood and the call of Noah to restore better order.  Alas, as faithful as he was initially, Noah fell off the wagon.

Then along comes Abraham.  We’re not really clear why Abraham, a decedent of Noah, is chosen, but perhaps there’s a lesson in that.  God seems to be less interested in Abraham’s past story and more concerned about the strength of his faith and the trust that both he and his wife have in God’s intentions… and what that will mean for the future generations that they shall parent.

God calls Abraham and Sarah to leave behind the comforts of the life they have known – to uproot their identity in the current context;  to sacrifice their senses of safety, security, protection, and prosperity - and to venture forth into something new – a new place that will be blessed and greater than where they’ve been.  Initially, despite their faithful sacrifices and trusting follow, they endure many hardships (e.g., famine and war).  Furthermore, try as they might to fulfill what God has said they shall do (fruitfully procreate), they can’t beget a child of their own (Sarah is barren). 

Abraham and Sarah weren’t perfect (as Paul’s rendering might suggest) and this couple had their moments of doubt (e.g., Abraham initially falls on his face laughing at the notion that they’ll be parents in the old age) and sometimes acted according to their own will first (e.g., perhaps weary of waiting on God to act, they take it upon themselves to create a child by Abraham impregnating Sarah’s slave, Hagar)… but more often than not they were faithful and trusting in God’s comforting promise, despite their circumstantial challenges.  Because of this, God appears again to refresh the promise to bring forth a multitude of nations from this faithful and trusting couple, blessing them with their own child and new names to seal the deal.  

"Abraham Sarah and Yitzhak" by Yorah Raanan

To the end, they remain faithful and trusting in God, even though their circumstances seem more challenging than comforting most of the time. E.g., Abraham is even shows God that he’s willing to sacrifice their beloved son Isaac if it be God’s will.

Today, three of our great religious traditions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) consider themselves ‘Abrahamic’, considering themselves ancestors of this faithful couple through whom God’s comforting promise was fulfilled.

In the story and legacy of Abraham and Sarah we can find deep comfort in the enduring nature of God’s commitment to us that is based on faith and trust.  And, we can also see/hear that God hadn’t promised that we’ll never endure hardship and suffering.  What we’re to trust in is that God remains committed to our well-being every step of the way and will redeem even the seemingly most barren of circumstances if we will just remain faithful to seeking God’s will more than our own. 

The story of Abraham and Sarah is compelling… and, I’m even more drawn to the character of Peter and how his story embodies these elements of promise, comfort and challenge.

Peter

Don’t cha just love Simon Peter?  Here’s a regular ole fisherman who gets pulled into this whole story by his brother and then eventually ends up on a mountaintop witnessing the Transfiguration of our Lord and becoming one of the primary leaders of the early church. 

Peter is both the disciple of little faith (when he calls out to Jesus for help while trying to walk on water, Matt 14:28-31) and then later he’s the sturdy rock (petros) upon which Jesus says the church will be established (Matt 16:13-20). 

Peter is first to proclaim Jesus as the Messiah (Mark 8:29 - just prior to what we’re hearing this morning) as well as later the first to publicly deny (three times, no less!) knowing Jesus after the going gets tough (when Jesus is taken into custody before his trail and execution).

This morning we’re hearing what happened right after Peter’s proclamation of Jesus as the Messiah.  Following Peter’s bold proclamation that Jesus is the messiah, Jesus reveals more about the suffering that he must endure in this role.  In another bold move, albeit misguided, Peter then pulls Jesus aside and “rebukes” him (that’s right – rebukes, like what Jesus has been doing to demons). Faithful Peter is also fearful Peter when confronted with the implications of what following a suffering servant messiah will mean.   

We might imagine Peter saying something like “hey J.C., that’s not the type of messiah we’ve been hoping for… suffering as the Son of Man isn’t what we want… there’s another way to do this…”  Or, as one commentator imagined Peter saying, “Suffering, rejection, and death are not on the agenda.  Prestige, power, and dominion are the agenda.  It’s David’s throne we’re after, ruling the nations with power and might.  We signed on for a crown, not a cross!” (W. Hulitt Gloer, PhD - Professor of Preaching, Truett Seminary at Baylor University)

Peter’s instinct is to avoid this way if possible and find another way to enjoy all the benefits of the kingdom without having to endure the Passion.  I can relate to that… can’t you?  And while I might not dare to boldly rebuke Jesus as Peter did, I’m sometimes pretty good at passive aggressively avoiding Christ.  What about you?

Rather than comforting Peter and alleviate his fears and concerns, Jesus challenges this trusted disciple and promises all listeners that there will be more challenges ahead in their walk with this messiah.  

Get Thee Behind Me, Satan.  James Tissot,  1886-96 (Brooklyn Museum)

First, Jesus rebukes Peter publicly , “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things by on human things.”  Jesus wants it made very clear that this mission will be inhibited if mortal pride or fear overshadows divine will and eternal hope.

Then, turning to the others who have now gathered around them, Jesus goes on to challenge everyone by saying that order to inherit all that the messiah promises and become heirs to God’s kingdom, they too must surrender, sacrifice, and suffer for the sake of the ultimate good news. 

Here are two other renderings of what Jesus says to them (to us):

(from The Message) Calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, "Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat; I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to saving yourself, your true self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? What could you ever trade your soul for? If any of you are embarrassed over me and the way I'm leading you when you get around your fickle and unfocused friends, know that you'll be an even greater embarrassment to the Son of Man when he arrives in all the splendor of God, his Father, with an army of the holy angels."

(from a sermon by The Rev. Rickey Del Edwards, March 19, 2000) "If anyone would come after me, let them sacrifice themselves and take up their choices and follow me. For whoever would hide their choices will be lost, and who ever would witness to their choices for my sake and the sake of others will live. For what does it gain to hide behind idols of prosperity, health, leisure and comfort and loose one’s life. For whoever is ashamed of me and my words, I will be ashamed of them when I come with the holy angels."

After the great hopes and joys that people have built up following this miracle-working messiah, now they’re hearing him say that he will be rejected, will suffer, and will be killed… and that they, too, must carry the cross to be his true follower. 

As Brother David Vryhof of the Society of Saint John the Evangelist says, “It’s no wonder that Jesus’ family [and followers] was concerned about him. By his actions he was showing that principles which most people value above everything else – security, safety, and a good reputation in the eyes of others – meant nothing to him. How countercultural is that?”

Concluding thoughts / questions:

This Lenten season reminds us that if we’re honest with ourselves, we find ourselves living somewhere between the comforting glory of the resurrection promise of eternal life and the challenging realities of what we must surrender and endure in order to follow God’s incarnate Word in this life.

We spend so much of our contemporary lives trying to avoid and dull our own discomfort that we too often neglect the visceral memory that God’s passionate love for us through Christ involved sacrifice and suffering to relieve the deeper pains of this world.

Good news…

No matter how off-track we can find ourselves, we are already forgiven and beloved (that is comforting).  And, this penitent season of Lent offers 40 days of grace-filled opportunity to live up to the love and into the expectations of God’s Word.

We’re invited in these forty days of Lent to re-consider both the comforting promises of our covenant with God, as well as the challenging propositions of what it means to truly follow Christ – what it will require of us body, mind, and heart.

Before yearning to celebrate the comforts of Easter, we are invited for these forty days to embrace the challenges of self-sacrifice and what needs to be put to death on the cross.

How are you challenging yourself during this Lent? 

What are we each willing to sacrifice for the promise of new life together?

What do you need to surrender in order to walk the way of the cross with Christ? 

AMEN.