“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?
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