SPRING CLEANING Exodus 20:1-17 John 2:13-22 March 8 th, 2015 In the Lectionary texts chosen for this week we are given scripture that is full of

Transcription

1 SPRING CLEANING Exodus 20:1-17 John 2:13-22 March 8 th, 2015 In the Lectionary texts chosen for this week we are given scripture that is full of imagery and dynamism-the giving of the Law in our reading from Exodus, the majesty of the heavens declaring God s praise in Psalm 19, and the passionate confrontation in the temple in John. The theme for today, centered as all the texts are on the gospel reading, is Cleaning House. It s no accident, nor is it ironic, that the Old Testament reading chosen for this day, paired with Jesus cleansing the temple in the gospel, is the story of the giving of the Ten Commandments (Ten Words in Hebrew). Some, throughout Christian history, have tried to place Jesus over against the Ten Commandments and even to some degree, the sum total of the Old Testament and the Jewish people. Some even point to Jesus making worship in the Temple impossible at one of its busiest seasons (Passover) as a sign that Jesus was undoing the law. But wait just a moment! Let s consider together just how closely the gospel story tracks the details of the giving of the law from Exodus. In John the toppling of the temple accompanies the word of Jesus; in Exodus, a veritable explosion of earthly and heavenly fireworks sets the backdrop for the giving of the Law (Exodus 19:16-25). In John, Jesus declares that when people try to destroy this Temple, he will raise it in three days. In Exodus, the coming of the law is on the third day of an extensive process of preparation for the people and the priests (Exodus 19:10,16). As Jesus, Son of God, enters the temple and takes charge from the priests and anyone else who thinks they re in charge: so in Exodus, God makes clear, abundantly clear, that God is in charge of the giving of the law, and priests indeed all the people, are decidedly marginalized. Finally, just as Jesus 1

2 put a stop to sacrifices in the temple, on the day of the giving of the law, there were no sacrifices. The smoke that appeared came from the mountain itself, because the Lord had descended upon it in fire. That fire is described like that of a kiln, intensely hot, an image captured in the disciples remembrances in John of the verse, Zeal for your house will consume me. Jesus himself in this text never says he was opposed to the law. He was cer- tainly massively disrupting the worship life of the temple. But he was doing so not out of a desire to stop worship, but to stop something else: The temple being misused as a market place. Mark s interpretation of this event is different from the stories about it in Mathew, Mark and Luke.They recounted Jesus telling the money changers and all who will hear him to stop making the temple a hideout for thieves and oppressors. There, the message is about religion functioning as a cover for those who would use it to empower themselves and harm others in the name and to some degree with the protection of religion. But in John s Gospel, the message of Jesus as he cleanses the temple is targeted against turning the temple into a marketplace. So then the question might be what does it mean to turn the temple into a marketplace? At one level, it means the perversion of the Ten Words. If the tem- ple is fundamentally about financial transactions and trade, or to put it another way primarily about consumerism, the very first commandments are being seriously violated. The temple, which should point people to the unseen and un-image-able God, instead distracted people from God and redirected their atten- tion, at the very beginning, toward money and sacrificial items. Its layout, with exchange tables at its entrance, replaced the Creator with the creation, the true end of worship with some means we may use in offering it. Nothing would do for Jesus but to make this come to a full stop to call 2

3 attention to it. Nothing would do for him but to make worship impossible until this judgment on what had happened was clearly declared! The Reverend David Sellery puts it a little differently! Jesus is in the temple and he means business!! He s come to proclaim the new covenant, even though he knows it will cost him his life. But Jesus is not a go-along-get-along guy. For openers, he won t preach the good news surrounded by the commercial corruption that permeates the house of the Lord. So he overturns counters, dumps the cash drawers and drives the merchants and their livestock from the temple. It seems straight forward enough, til we realize that once again Jesus is operating on more than one level. The temple that he says will be destroyed and rebuilt is a direct reference to his own approaching sacrificial death and resurrecttion. And indirectly he tells us that if we are to live in the house of the Lord, we consistently are obedient to the Father. In fulfillment of the prophecy Jesus is not consumed with love of the temple s architecture, its construction or even its sanctuary. The Greek word for house, oikus, also means household. And it is for the household of God, his wandering, misguided people that Jesus laments. He calls on his people to turn away from sin, to cleanse themselves to repent. This translation also reinforces Christ s identifying himself as a temple that will be destroyed and rise again in three days. As part of his household, as members of the Body of Christ, we know we will rise with him to eternal life. As kids, hearing this gospel for the first time, we probably identified with the good guy the righteous Jesus. We might have looked down on those bad guys the money changers who were messing-up the temple. But over time we can come to a realization of a deeper meaning. The people that Jesus drove from 3

4 the temple are the very same people he came to save. They are sinners...no different from us especially when we mock him with indifferent lip-service and call it prayer especially when we live self-centered lives and call ourselves Christians. Jesus was not fooled by the fake piety of the money-changers. He saw through them as he sees through us. And yet, even in his anger, he loved them as he loves us. He died for us all: in our sins, in our greed, in our neglect, in our arrogance, in our cruelty. Jesus does not love us for whom we ought to be or for whom we want to be. He loves us as we are in our falls and in our resurrections. He does not drive us out. He gathers us in to live in his love to live for his love. Jesus uses this gospel to tell us that we have a lot of cleaning-up to do. Paul tells us: Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? (1 Cor. 3:16) Lent is set aside for each of us to give our temples a really thorough spring cleaning. Sure, we re spiritually sprucing up all year around. But Lent is reserved for the really heavy-duty job purging the temple that God gave us, rededicating it to his service. Start with a rigorous spiritual inventory. Do we truly accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior? Is he at the center of our life or kind of on the sidelines? Are we in continuous conversation with Jesus or have we silently drifted away? What immediate opportunities do we have to witness to Christ s love? What obstacles are in our way? What weaknesses can we isolate and eliminate? What strengths can we build on? What about our relationships: family, neighbors, coworkers? What are our priorities? How do we spend our time? This isn t a complete list, of course. But it is a good start tackling your own spiritual spring cleaning. So, roll up your sleeves and pitch in. It will make your 4

5 life neater, healthier, happier holier. And don t forget to ask Jesus to lend a hand.. throwing out the guilt, polishing up the joy, making room for love. Spring cleaning with Jesus...that s what Lent is for. Speaking of our own spiritual spring cleaning Pastor Garth Wehrfritz -Hanson tells about the church that went even farther in the spring cleaning of their church it was a 150-year-old house of worship and they had just completed their restoration of the First Community Church. It had its fresh paint and newly-installed multi-coloured stained-glass windows that seemed to glow under the warm April sun. Inside the sanctuary, the old hand-made pews had been carefully refinished and heavily lacquered. Bright red cushions adorned the pews and pulpit furnishings and were matched by thick, wall-to-wall carpeting. New paraments covered the pulpit, lectern and altar, and a large white metal cross had been attached to the high wall behind the new choir pews, just above a magnificent window depicting Christ standing on a hilltop preaching to the multitudes. Pastor John surveyed the sanctuary with great pride as he stood before a shiny lectern and opened the church s first business meeting in the remodeled building. I think our first item of business should be the discussion of brass nameplates for the new windows, said George Hendricks. I agree! Harold Wickenham jumped to his feet. I would like the large one in front, the one with Jesus giving the Sermon on the Mount. No! shouted Harriet Munford, That window is mine! I was chairperson of the stained-glass window committee, and I think I should have first choice! That s ridiculous! Percy Winville stood, waving his arms for attention. 5

6 Nobody has given as much as I have for this restoration. And besides, my greatgreat grandfather was an original founder of this church! I want his name under that window! Please please! begged Pastor John. This is not the way to decide the issue! Anyway, I assumed that the names of all the church s pastors would be placed under that window! I will not stand for this! Henrietta Anvil stepped heavily on Harry Johnson s toes as she struggled out of a pew and positioned herself directly in front of Pastor John. I give more money to this church than Percy Winville, and if anybody gets a name under that window it will She was interrupted by a loud tearing noise as the top of the large, metal cross separated from the wall. The church members watched in shocked silence as the top of the cross fell, swinging down to crash loudly into the massive stainedglass window. The window shattered completely as small pieces of colored glass flew through the air, causing Pastor John and Henrietta Anvil to fall on the floor, scrambling under a front pew for cover. From the safety of their refuge, they stared at the upside-down cross which dangled in the empty space of the window that was once filled by the image of Christ. In today s gospel, we encountered a Jesus who meant business and he was ANGRY!! This was a Jesus whom we likely feel uncomfortable. This Jesus is angry enough to use a whip made of cords to cleanse the temple. When we see Jesus at work, expressing his anger by driving out cattle, sheep, and doves and overturning the tables of the temple money changers; maybe we, like the audience of that day, are rather surprised and even shocked. After all, Jesus was meek and mild, soft-spoken, kind and gentle wasn t he? He was the one who taught us to 6

7 turn the other cheek, and love even our enemies. How could he become so angry and do what he did? This was a holy time of year, it was the Passover; and people in the temple courts were only doing what was required of them to do under Jewish law. They were buying and selling animals for the purpose of offering God a sacrifice in the temple. It was inconvenient for them to bring their own animal sacrifices, as they were pilgrims who traveled some distance to Jerusalem for the Passover. The money changer were necessary because the people couldn t use the Roman money, which had the inscription of the emperor on it. They needed to exchange Roman money for the Jewish shekel, which was used to support the temple priests as well as the maintenance of the temple with a temple tax. Also, could one expect the money changers to do their work without gaining some profit? So, then, the question still remains: WHY WAS JESUS SO ANGRY AND WHY DID HE CLEANSE THE TEMPLE? Let s consider two possible reasons. First of all, Jesus cleansed the temple because the people had lost the original sense of what the temple was for. They had turned it into a marketplace for the convenience of everyone. A religion of Convenience. Now there s no doubt about it, a religion of convenience is attractive to most people, because it does not expect much of them. It is a religion that intends to cater to, to help maintain everyone s comfort level. Its main purpose is to keep the practice of religion easy and fun. A religion of convenience is designed to entertain people. Its central focus is selfish gain, to enhance their own power or reputation---as we learned in the story of First Community Church. The trouble is, a religion of convenience loses sight of our true purpose namely, to love and serve God and neighbor above all else. 7

8 Jesus saw how such a religion of convenience was destroying the true purpose of worship in the temple. A religion so focused on the sacrificial system lost touch with the grace of God. People buying and selling and sacrificing were turned in on themselves. They has forgotten the best of their own tradition, which taught them that God had no delight in sacrifice; if I were to give a burnt offering you would not be pleased. The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. (Ps. 51:16-17) In other words true worship involves living in a loving, respectful relationship with God and with one another. The second reason that Jesus, in his righteous anger cleansed the temple, was that he wanted it to be a place for everyone, Jews and non-jews alike. The area in which the buying and selling took place was the court of the Gentiles. This was the only area of the temple that the Gentiles were allowed to gather, the other areas were for Jews only. A Gentile who entered other areas of the temple forbidden to them did so at the risk of death. So, Jesus could have been motivated to cleanse the temple to make room for the Gentiles. He came to welcome all people into God s family. His prophetic action points ahead into the future at the end of his life, when he would make a new covenant, not based on animal sacrifices; not dependent on one holy building; rather a New Covenant made effective through Christ s suffering, death, and resurrection for all humankind. This is God s way of inviting, welcoming and accepting you, me, and all people into his family. God of all, open our hearts to welcome all kinds of people. Help us invite them to taste and see how good you are. Amen. 8