Jeremiah 31:31-34
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31The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 32It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the LORD. 33But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the LORD,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.
John 12:20-36a
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20Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. 21They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” 22Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 23Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.
27“Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. 28Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” 29The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” 30Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. 31Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. 32And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die. 34The crowd answered him, “We have heard from the law that the Messiah remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?” 35Jesus said to them, “The light is with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you. If you walk in the darkness, you do not know where you are going. 36While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light.”
Seeing Jesus
For the last few weeks a group has been reading and discussing the book, “Amish Grace.” The authors consider the nature of Amish forgiveness in light of the tragedy of October 2, 2006. On a Monday morning down in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, a non-Amish man, who lived in the area and had regular business dealings with the Amish, walked into a one-room schoolhouse carrying several guns. He sent all of the boys out of the building along with the adults. After nailing shut the doors and lining up the ten girls along one wall, he shot all of them. Five died. The gunman then took his own life as police were breaking into the schoolhouse.
What surprised the world was hearing that the Amish had gone to visit the family of the gunman that evening to tell them they forgave the shooter and to offer grace to his family. The Amish realized that the killer’s widow and children were victims, too. A few days later about forty Amish attended the funeral of the gunman. The Amish continued to keep contact with the gunman’s family, helping his widow with their presence, with food and with money. While there were skeptics and critics, most found the response of the Amish to be amazing and profoundly moving.
Reading this book seems especially relevant in light of recent events. I’m thinking about Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, the American soldier charged with killing 17 Afghan citizens including women and children. I’m thinking about George Zimmerman, the Sanford, Florida man who killed teenager, Trayvon Martin. And I’m thinking of Steven Eldridge, the Penn Yan man who killed 6 Amish in a horrible car accident while under the influence of drugs.
In the case of Steven Eldridge, the Amish have been in communication with him while he has been in jail and they've offered him compassion and solace. But the word heard most frequently in these cases and others is “justice.” And when people speak of “justice,” usually they mean punishment or retribution. The victim or her family has suffered and now someone has to pay for it. Regarding the case in Florida, I’ve even heard someone quote the Old Testament law called “lex talionis” – an eye for an eye. There hasn’t been much talk about forgiveness. That’s not surprising in our world today. The primary message is about judgment and justice. The way to eliminate threats from enemies is to eliminate them violently or make them suffer. Consider any recent movies or video games and the main character that has been wronged finds redemption through violence. I’m not sure many of us can think of alternatives.
We are nearing the end of the Lenten season – Palm Sunday is next Sunday and Easter the Sunday after. During this season we customarily reflect upon the meaning of Christ’s death on the cross for the world, for us. This week’s text from John’s gospel is rich with images and descriptions. A group of Greeks have asked to see Jesus. By the way, that’s probably code for wanting to come to believe. When the request finally reaches Jesus through the disciples, he responds with a lesson that’s directed not just to the Greeks, but to all of us. The climax of his speech comes when Jesus says his crucifixion judges the world. And when Jesus talks about the world here, he is not referring to the world that God created and so loves; he is referring to human institutions and systems.
These systems determine Jesus is a threat and plan to kill him. But Jesus refuses to respond using the same violence as the system. During his trial before Pilate, Jesus responds to one question by saying, “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over” (John 18:36). On the cross Jesus publicly and dramatically judges human institutions and systems by exposing them for what they really are – opponents of God’s purposes; not a way of life, but a way of death. And by exposing them, Jesus takes away their power. This frees us to live fully and freely in the way of Jesus Christ (Charles Campbell – Feasting on the Word – year B, vol. 2).
For the Amish, forgiveness is practiced regularly because it is a part of their culture, part of their understanding of scripture, part of their faith, part of their spirituality. At the core of their faith is following Jesus, and following Jesus means letting go, “uffgevva” in Pennsylvania German, and trusting God in all things.
If you have a chance to read the book, you will discover it’s not easy for the Amish. One of the fathers shared how his son’s nightmare months later about an armed man breaking into their house made him angry. And he realized he had to forgive the shooter all over again. Anger is like an addiction; one has to work at forgiving again and again – days, weeks, months, even years later. The Amish would be the first to admit how often they fail.
It’s important for us to know that forgiveness is not forgetting. Forgiveness does not mean there are no consequences for actions. Forgiveness is not pardon or reconciliation. But forgiveness is freedom: it is about not letting the offender become one’s master. Forgiveness is choosing to overcome our resentment toward the offender, not by denying our right to the resentment, but by trying to offer the wrongdoer compassion, benevolence, and love. Forgiveness is to take the offense seriously, to recognize one’s “moral right to anger,” but to “give up” one’s right to anger and resentment, to “give up” holding a grudge. And it is unconditional. In our discussions about the book, we are finding forgiveness does not require regret on the part of the offender, does not require an apology, does not require that the perpetrator even acknowledge us. No- forgiveness is about, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, our letting go. And that means freedom.
For Christians, forgiveness is possible because of Christ’s death on the cross – a sign of God’s new unconditional covenant with us. For freedom Christ has set us free. Choosing to forgive is one way to “hate (or turn away from) our life in this world” and refuse to give in to institutions and systems. It’s choosing a way that brings life and bears fruit.
A few years ago a movie came out that is set in a small village in France during the Lenten season. The village is ruled by a mayor, descended from a long line of mayors, who considers that his role is to maintain order and tranquility in their peaceful village. This includes “mentoring” the young priest assigned to the church, and making sure the townspeople are living proper, Godly lives. The mayor, of course, is the model Christian citizen, refusing even to drink tea during Lent, but only hot water with a very thin slice of lemon.
Into this seemingly ordered world a single woman with a child comes and opens of all things a chocolate shop. It is bad enough she is selling something that people are supposed to give up during Lent. But her shop becomes a safe haven for all those whose lives are not neat and orderly, who don’t fit in, who feel stifled. The mayor, sensing in the chocolate shop owner a threat to the tranquility of the village, works secretly to undermine her business and her reputation among the villagers. Isn’t that what institutions and systems do? For the mayor it’s all about rules and order; nothing else matters.
The mayor tries a number of tactics to drive the chocolate shop owner out of the town, and each time they are thwarted by one of her allies in the town. Finally, during holy week, the mayor breaks into the chocolate shop in the middle of the night and begins destroying a beautiful display the owner created using her secret recipe chocolate. Chocolate is flying everywhere, and one small sliver lands on the mayor’s lower lip which he is instinctively licks. Then it’s all over for him.
He is driven now by an insatiable urge to eat her chocolate. After consuming huge amounts of it he collapses and falls asleep fully visible amongst the now half-eaten display in the front window of the store. Just as the sun begins to rise, the priest walks by the window and sees the mayor fast asleep. Together, he and the shop owner whom he has awoken, quietly and privately care for the mayor. They quickly move him out of the display window, so he will not be seen by the other villagers. The incident is never mentioned again or used against him, and the mayor in gratitude for her discretion gains a new respect for the shop owner who has shown him a loving heart. Of course in the movies everything wraps up neatly and love conquers all. But we all know real life is rather messy.
I don’t know how the cases of the soldier and the Florida man will turn out, but I pray forgiveness will work its way into each situation. Christ’s life and death on the cross show us a better way, a nonviolent way. Probably only God can truly remember our sin no more. But perhaps our forgiving is a way of witnessing to the love of God – a love that lifted up Christ from the cross. And through our lives as children of light, God can help others who wish to see Jesus.
Monday, March 26, 2012
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Fourth Sunday in Lent
Tables & Temples – Part 1
This morning you will be hearing two versions, two testimonies, of an event usually titled, “Jesus Cleanses the Temple.” One version comes from the gospel according to Mark, the other from the gospel according to John. This story is told in all four gospels so there is some confidence it is based on an actual event. But each gospel writer has shaped the story a little differently from the others. Each has interpreted what happened that day so that it has meaning to their congregation – not unlike what we do every week preparing the sermon.
We begin with Mark’s testimony found in chapter 11 starting with verse 15 and found on page 824 in the pew bible. Before I read, let me set the scene. The previous day, Jesus came into Jerusalem riding a colt while his disciples waved palm branches and shouted “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” We celebrate that event every year on Palm Sunday. And we repeat the disciples’ words every time we celebrate the Lord’s Supper. In Mark’s gospel the scene is rather muted. After entering the city, Jesus goes into the temple, looks around, and then leaves for the nearby town of Bethany. The next day, Jesus returns and the scene is rather more dramatic. Listen now for the word of God:
Mark 11:15-18 (p. 824)
15Then they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves; 16and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple.17He was teaching and saying, “Is it not written,
‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’?
But you have made it a den of robbers.”
18And when the chief priests and the scribes heard it, they kept looking for a way to kill him; for they were afraid of him, because the whole crowd was spellbound by his teaching.
The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
There are many reasons this story makes pastors and elders uncomfortable. After all, we sell tickets for the youth fundraising dinners and fall harvest dinners. Our attic sale runs three days and winds up on Sunday after worship. We sell fair trade coffee. I think we try to be fair and reasonable. We’re not a den of robbers.
But I wonder if Jesus came today would he create a similar scene? Would he complain we focus too much on the “business” of this congregation and not enough on worship and prayer? Do we talk too much about financial matters and not enough about spiritual matters? Do we worry so much about pews and carpeting and fundraising that poorer folks in our community don’t feel welcome? It’s easy for preachers to use this text to make church leaders feel guilty. But it’s just as easy to argue that much of what we call business is necessary for our continued presence and ministry here in Hector & Lodi.
The people working in the temple were just doing what was required by the law and necessary. They sold animals and birds for sacrifices. They exchanged Roman coins for temple money. All this was done so Jews could enter the temple and worship God. Read Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy and you will find commandments explaining all this. Without offering a sacrifice and paying the temple tax, pilgrims could not enter the temple. The problem according to Mark is this had turned into big business, corrupt business. The ones selling the animals and birds, and those exchanging money had a monopoly and took advantage of pilgrims who traveled long distances. The business of the temple was getting in the way of worship and prayer.
I imagine the crowds were excited as Jesus overturned the tables and drove out the merchants. Most couldn’t afford to buy an animal, the price of admission. Now they could enter the gates with singing and the courts with praise. No obstacles. No distractions. No prerequisites. No hindrances to approaching God.
Mark provides additional commentary on the event of Jesus cleansing the temple by placing it in the middle of a peculiar story about Jesus cursing a fig tree. Before coming to the temple, Jesus is hungry and spies a fig tree. Upon closer inspection, he finds no fruit on the tree. No wonder, it’s not fig season. Nevertheless, he curses the tree for not bearing fruit. The next day, after Jesus’ temple-cleansing act, the disciples walk past the same fig tree and it has now withered. It’s a symbolic reminder of the dangerous power of the institution and business of religion to get in the way of our Spirit-led work – a power that keeps us from bearing fruit so we wither and die.
The story of Jesus cleansing the temple begs several questions of us. As a congregation, what tables do we need to overturn, what obstacles do we need to remove, that get in the way of worship and prayer? What distracts us from our Spirit-focused work, from bearing fruit, and from intimacy with God and each other? As individual believers, we need to ask ourselves another question. What blocks or distracts us from loving God with all our heart and soul and might?
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Tables & Temples – Part 2
We turn now to John’s version of Jesus cleansing the temple. The other gospels, including Mark, place this story near the end of Jesus’ ministry, at the beginning of Holy Week. His disrupting the business of the temple and stirring up the crowds is considered a major reason the religious authorities plot his execution. They are afraid of Rome’s reaction which is bound to be harsh. “Better…to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed.”
John, on the other hand, puts this story at the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. He has just been to a wedding in Cana and changed the water into exceptional wine. Only no one but his disciples knows what Jesus did. That rather private act is followed by a most public one. John’s testimony can be found in chapter 2 starting with verse 13 and found on page 863 in the pew bible. Listen for the word of God.
John 2:13-22 (p. 863)
13The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. 15Making a whip of cords, 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. 16He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” 17His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” 18The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?”19Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21But he was speaking of the temple of his body. 22After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.
The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
If Mark’s version described a wild scene, John’s seems to up the ante. Jesus doesn’t just drive out the merchants, now he’s got a whip. I’ve seen paintings of this story: Tables are overturning, coins and birds are flying through the air, cages are crashing and animals are running amok. Merchants are cowering in fear or running for their lives. And there in the middle is Jesus, armed and angry. More than one sermon has been preached on this text about anger as an appropriate response when we see injustice – appropriate as long as it turns into loving action for healing.
But I’m not sure railing against injustice is the point in John’s version of this story. Jesus doesn’t complain that the merchants are turning the temple into a den of robbers. There’s no charge of corruption. Instead, Jesus complains they are turning the temple into a marketplace – an emporium, in Greek. That hits a little closer to home and maybe makes us feel more uncomfortable. At a church I used to attend, one of the elders always vigorously fought any attempts to sell things there on Sunday. He insisted we keep the Sabbath day holy. He worried we were turning the church into a marketplace.
It seems John has described a scene similar to Mark’s only intensified in effect and message. More warnings about the ways this world hinders our relationship with God and with one another. More of the same … except John adds something new to the end of the story. Those who have come to Jerusalem, to the temple, to celebrate the Passover ask for a sign. A sign! As if overturning the tables and using a whip to drive out the animals wasn’t enough! And Jesus, the prophet, gives them a prophecy. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” And because everyone is baffled by what Jesus has just said, the gospel writer turns to his audience as an aside. “But he was speaking of the temple of his body.” Ah, he was talking about his death and resurrection! But there is more here, and the more is a promise of good news.
I mentioned before that pilgrims to the temple needed to present various animals for sacrificial offerings. They really couldn’t bring these animals with them on their long journey so they had to buy them at the temple. And for the faithful people of Israel, the Temple itself was as sign: a covenantal sign, of the promise of God’s eternal presence. But now that Jesus has come, the temple and its sacrificial system have become obsolete, according to John. The Word that was in the beginning, that was with God, and that was God, has become flesh and dwelt among us. Before, you had to go to the temple to encounter God. Now God is present in Jesus, the new temple. And after Jesus' resurrection and ascension, God is present everywhere to believers through the Holy Spirit. Sacrificial offerings were for reconciliation with God. But in Jesus Christ, God reaches out to us in reconciliation and love.
Today we meet in church buildings – we need to meet somewhere. But there is a danger our church buildings can become the new “temples.” Many people think the only place we encounter God is that one hour on Sunday morning when we gather here to worship. But this place can’t contain God anymore than the temple in Jerusalem could. And sometimes these “temples” can become an obstacle to our worship and prayer because concern and care for them can sometimes consume so much of our energy and resources.
So if we can encounter God everywhere through the Holy Spirit, why come to church? Don’t some of us experience God in nature? Couldn’t we encounter God on the golf course or fishing or hiking? Well, yes, to some extent. But if you read the testimony of all the gospel writers you will discover it’s not a “me and Jesus” going it alone scenario. It’s about a relationship with Jesus rooted in community. It's about a relationship with Christ that puts us in a new community. That’s why we can sing “I am the Church. You are the church. We are the church together” (Avery & Marsh). Christ is present whenever two or three or more are gathered in his name.
We gather to worship the disrupting God who cannot be contained in buildings, but is present and still acting in the world. This "new community gathers to worship in church so we can hear God's Word proclaimed in a way that helps us see and experience God in all of life" (David Lose). As Presbyterians, we understand that we need each other, because we believe the holy work of discernment happens best in community. We know we listen best when we listen as a people. We are the church together because if we decide, alone, what God is saying, we are probably going to get it wrong. In our fellowship we can share our experiences and help one another learn to see God everywhere, at work, at home, where we relax, or volunteer our time.
I ended Mark’s version of this event with some questions for us to ponder, so let me ask a few more for us to consider as we leave this place. Where outside of church do we see God at work? How might God be calling us to participate in that work? How does our life here prepare us for our work—as believers and saints, as the church—out in the world? I hope that you will think about that this week, but that you will also share these observations with one another, the community of faith.
This morning you will be hearing two versions, two testimonies, of an event usually titled, “Jesus Cleanses the Temple.” One version comes from the gospel according to Mark, the other from the gospel according to John. This story is told in all four gospels so there is some confidence it is based on an actual event. But each gospel writer has shaped the story a little differently from the others. Each has interpreted what happened that day so that it has meaning to their congregation – not unlike what we do every week preparing the sermon.
We begin with Mark’s testimony found in chapter 11 starting with verse 15 and found on page 824 in the pew bible. Before I read, let me set the scene. The previous day, Jesus came into Jerusalem riding a colt while his disciples waved palm branches and shouted “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” We celebrate that event every year on Palm Sunday. And we repeat the disciples’ words every time we celebrate the Lord’s Supper. In Mark’s gospel the scene is rather muted. After entering the city, Jesus goes into the temple, looks around, and then leaves for the nearby town of Bethany. The next day, Jesus returns and the scene is rather more dramatic. Listen now for the word of God:
Mark 11:15-18 (p. 824)
15Then they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves; 16and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple.17He was teaching and saying, “Is it not written,
‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’?
But you have made it a den of robbers.”
18And when the chief priests and the scribes heard it, they kept looking for a way to kill him; for they were afraid of him, because the whole crowd was spellbound by his teaching.
The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
There are many reasons this story makes pastors and elders uncomfortable. After all, we sell tickets for the youth fundraising dinners and fall harvest dinners. Our attic sale runs three days and winds up on Sunday after worship. We sell fair trade coffee. I think we try to be fair and reasonable. We’re not a den of robbers.
But I wonder if Jesus came today would he create a similar scene? Would he complain we focus too much on the “business” of this congregation and not enough on worship and prayer? Do we talk too much about financial matters and not enough about spiritual matters? Do we worry so much about pews and carpeting and fundraising that poorer folks in our community don’t feel welcome? It’s easy for preachers to use this text to make church leaders feel guilty. But it’s just as easy to argue that much of what we call business is necessary for our continued presence and ministry here in Hector & Lodi.
The people working in the temple were just doing what was required by the law and necessary. They sold animals and birds for sacrifices. They exchanged Roman coins for temple money. All this was done so Jews could enter the temple and worship God. Read Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy and you will find commandments explaining all this. Without offering a sacrifice and paying the temple tax, pilgrims could not enter the temple. The problem according to Mark is this had turned into big business, corrupt business. The ones selling the animals and birds, and those exchanging money had a monopoly and took advantage of pilgrims who traveled long distances. The business of the temple was getting in the way of worship and prayer.
I imagine the crowds were excited as Jesus overturned the tables and drove out the merchants. Most couldn’t afford to buy an animal, the price of admission. Now they could enter the gates with singing and the courts with praise. No obstacles. No distractions. No prerequisites. No hindrances to approaching God.
Mark provides additional commentary on the event of Jesus cleansing the temple by placing it in the middle of a peculiar story about Jesus cursing a fig tree. Before coming to the temple, Jesus is hungry and spies a fig tree. Upon closer inspection, he finds no fruit on the tree. No wonder, it’s not fig season. Nevertheless, he curses the tree for not bearing fruit. The next day, after Jesus’ temple-cleansing act, the disciples walk past the same fig tree and it has now withered. It’s a symbolic reminder of the dangerous power of the institution and business of religion to get in the way of our Spirit-led work – a power that keeps us from bearing fruit so we wither and die.
The story of Jesus cleansing the temple begs several questions of us. As a congregation, what tables do we need to overturn, what obstacles do we need to remove, that get in the way of worship and prayer? What distracts us from our Spirit-focused work, from bearing fruit, and from intimacy with God and each other? As individual believers, we need to ask ourselves another question. What blocks or distracts us from loving God with all our heart and soul and might?
--------------------------
Tables & Temples – Part 2
We turn now to John’s version of Jesus cleansing the temple. The other gospels, including Mark, place this story near the end of Jesus’ ministry, at the beginning of Holy Week. His disrupting the business of the temple and stirring up the crowds is considered a major reason the religious authorities plot his execution. They are afraid of Rome’s reaction which is bound to be harsh. “Better…to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed.”
John, on the other hand, puts this story at the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. He has just been to a wedding in Cana and changed the water into exceptional wine. Only no one but his disciples knows what Jesus did. That rather private act is followed by a most public one. John’s testimony can be found in chapter 2 starting with verse 13 and found on page 863 in the pew bible. Listen for the word of God.
John 2:13-22 (p. 863)
13The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. 15Making a whip of cords, 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. 16He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” 17His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” 18The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?”19Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21But he was speaking of the temple of his body. 22After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.
The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
If Mark’s version described a wild scene, John’s seems to up the ante. Jesus doesn’t just drive out the merchants, now he’s got a whip. I’ve seen paintings of this story: Tables are overturning, coins and birds are flying through the air, cages are crashing and animals are running amok. Merchants are cowering in fear or running for their lives. And there in the middle is Jesus, armed and angry. More than one sermon has been preached on this text about anger as an appropriate response when we see injustice – appropriate as long as it turns into loving action for healing.
But I’m not sure railing against injustice is the point in John’s version of this story. Jesus doesn’t complain that the merchants are turning the temple into a den of robbers. There’s no charge of corruption. Instead, Jesus complains they are turning the temple into a marketplace – an emporium, in Greek. That hits a little closer to home and maybe makes us feel more uncomfortable. At a church I used to attend, one of the elders always vigorously fought any attempts to sell things there on Sunday. He insisted we keep the Sabbath day holy. He worried we were turning the church into a marketplace.
It seems John has described a scene similar to Mark’s only intensified in effect and message. More warnings about the ways this world hinders our relationship with God and with one another. More of the same … except John adds something new to the end of the story. Those who have come to Jerusalem, to the temple, to celebrate the Passover ask for a sign. A sign! As if overturning the tables and using a whip to drive out the animals wasn’t enough! And Jesus, the prophet, gives them a prophecy. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” And because everyone is baffled by what Jesus has just said, the gospel writer turns to his audience as an aside. “But he was speaking of the temple of his body.” Ah, he was talking about his death and resurrection! But there is more here, and the more is a promise of good news.
I mentioned before that pilgrims to the temple needed to present various animals for sacrificial offerings. They really couldn’t bring these animals with them on their long journey so they had to buy them at the temple. And for the faithful people of Israel, the Temple itself was as sign: a covenantal sign, of the promise of God’s eternal presence. But now that Jesus has come, the temple and its sacrificial system have become obsolete, according to John. The Word that was in the beginning, that was with God, and that was God, has become flesh and dwelt among us. Before, you had to go to the temple to encounter God. Now God is present in Jesus, the new temple. And after Jesus' resurrection and ascension, God is present everywhere to believers through the Holy Spirit. Sacrificial offerings were for reconciliation with God. But in Jesus Christ, God reaches out to us in reconciliation and love.
Today we meet in church buildings – we need to meet somewhere. But there is a danger our church buildings can become the new “temples.” Many people think the only place we encounter God is that one hour on Sunday morning when we gather here to worship. But this place can’t contain God anymore than the temple in Jerusalem could. And sometimes these “temples” can become an obstacle to our worship and prayer because concern and care for them can sometimes consume so much of our energy and resources.
So if we can encounter God everywhere through the Holy Spirit, why come to church? Don’t some of us experience God in nature? Couldn’t we encounter God on the golf course or fishing or hiking? Well, yes, to some extent. But if you read the testimony of all the gospel writers you will discover it’s not a “me and Jesus” going it alone scenario. It’s about a relationship with Jesus rooted in community. It's about a relationship with Christ that puts us in a new community. That’s why we can sing “I am the Church. You are the church. We are the church together” (Avery & Marsh). Christ is present whenever two or three or more are gathered in his name.
We gather to worship the disrupting God who cannot be contained in buildings, but is present and still acting in the world. This "new community gathers to worship in church so we can hear God's Word proclaimed in a way that helps us see and experience God in all of life" (David Lose). As Presbyterians, we understand that we need each other, because we believe the holy work of discernment happens best in community. We know we listen best when we listen as a people. We are the church together because if we decide, alone, what God is saying, we are probably going to get it wrong. In our fellowship we can share our experiences and help one another learn to see God everywhere, at work, at home, where we relax, or volunteer our time.
I ended Mark’s version of this event with some questions for us to ponder, so let me ask a few more for us to consider as we leave this place. Where outside of church do we see God at work? How might God be calling us to participate in that work? How does our life here prepare us for our work—as believers and saints, as the church—out in the world? I hope that you will think about that this week, but that you will also share these observations with one another, the community of faith.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Third Sunday in Lent
Exodus 20:1-17 (p.58)
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1Then God spoke all these words:2I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery;3you shall have no other gods before me.4You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.5You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me,6but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.7You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.8Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.9Six days you shall labor and do all your work.10But the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns.11For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.
12Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.13You shall not murder.14You shall not commit adultery.15You shall not steal.16You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.17You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
1 Corinthians 1:18-25 (p.926)
-----------------------------
18For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” 20Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. 22For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, 23but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.
Foolish Words
We call them the Ten Commandments. Jews call then the Ten Words. But no matter what you call them, they are a central teaching that Jews and Christians share. So important are the Ten Commandments, we hang them on plaques in our houses. We post them on our church walls. Some towns down south put them in front of their courthouses though not without controversy. There’s even a depiction of Moses and the Ten Commandments in the US Supreme Court building, though not in any place that gives them special prominence.
There was a time when we could recite the Ten Commandments from memory. We taught them to our children. In confirmation class, they would explore them further as part of studying the catechism. Today, I’m not sure how many of us could list the Ten Commandments, let alone in order. I won’t quiz you, but do you know where else one can find the full Ten Commandments besides Exodus? If this were Jeopardy, the correct response would be “What is Deuteronomy?” By the way, that book’s name means second law – kind of a hint.
It may surprise you that there are slight differences between the two lists of commandments. In Exodus, the reason given for observing the Sabbath day is because God created the heavens and the earth in six days, then rested on the seventh. In Deuteronomy, the reason given is that in Egypt they were slaves brutally treated and without any rest. Now freed by God, they are to take a day of rest and to offer Sabbath to their servants and even their animals.
It may also surprise you to learn there are three different schemes for numbering the commandments. Jews tend to follow one method, Catholics and Lutherans a second, and the rest of us Protestants a third. Upon hearing of a movement to post the Ten Commandments in a courthouse, a rabbi asked “Which Ten?”
Regardless of numbering, all agree they are divided into two tables. One set of commandments describe how we are to live before God. The other set describe how we are to live with others. And both sets are connected. When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment is, he answered: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. And the second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself.” You cannot love God without also loving the neighbor. And you cannot really love one’s neighbor unless that love is rooted in the love of God. Love is the key.
We tend to see the Ten Commandments as a list of “Thou shalt nots.” Perhaps in thinking about them, we have an image of God wagging a finger at us, taking all the fun out of life. And frankly, in describing the three uses of the law, John Calvin said one of those uses was as a bridle to restrain us. He did understand the law to have a civic function. Perhaps that’s the reason some in this country insist on posting them in our courthouses as the answer to America’s problems. But Calvin considered the law as a restraint to be the least important use of the law. Better is the law as a mirror – by showing us how we are to live before God and with our neighbor, the law reveals some of the ways our lives are not what they are supposed to be. The law functions to turn us back to God as our only help and hope. But Calvin said the most important use of the law is as a lamp. They guide us as we travel in our life before God and with our neighbors.
The Ten Commandments aren’t just about ethics and moral living. You can’t really understand what they are about without remembering the history of Israel and their covenantal relationship with God. God didn’t tell the people enslaved by Egypt “Follow these laws and then I’ll free you.” God freed the people first, brought them to Mount Sinai, and then gave them the law.
The law is first of all a gift from God to a people chosen by God. By following this law, the people of Israel were set apart from all the religions and cultures around them. The law also reveals something about the nature of God. Walter Brueggemann writes, “These commands might be taken not as a series of rules but as a proclamation in God’s own mouth of who God is and how God shall be ‘practiced’ by this community of liberated slaves.” The law describes the practices of those in covenant with God. The law calls the people to live all aspects of their life before God, not just the time they are in worship. And it calls the people to live in a way that reflects love and care for their neighbor. The law is about the community of faith. But we also discover following the law is the way to life. When we teach this as a Sunday school lesson, we call it “The 10 Best Ways to Live” - to live with God, and to live with each other.
When I (Nancy) was a teacher with Head Start, we had classroom rules. We had them posted on the wall, and because my children could not yet read, we had them in picture form—pictures of how to line up, how to wash your hands. We practiced how to ask a friend to play, how to take turns on the playground, how to ask for more mashed potatoes at lunch, how to say thank you when being given something. We had rules—about how to live together. And I was passionate about those rules, because I was passionate about those children, and their families, and their future success. It gave order to their life, and to our common life. I knew that if they could learn those rules, internalize those rules, those principles, and learn how to live as a community, those children would be on their way to a good future. (In a way this wasn’t just about learning to live ethically, but about a covenant. I had a covenant with these children and with their families. I was passionately committed to their future and to a way of living that was life-giving.)
The Ten Commandments give us the shape, order a life lived out of gratitude – gratitude for the gift of life, and redemption, and freedom that we receive from God in Christ. In some churches, the Law, or a summary of the Law, is recited by the congregation AFTER the assurance of pardon as a way to say, “with the help of God and as a forgiven people, this is how we will live.” The Westminster Catechism, written in Scotland in 1647, and part of the PCUSA’s Constitution, expands on the 10 commandments. The Law is not just a list of “thou shalt nots” but is an exploration of all the ways we are to live, positively, as God’s people. For instance, in the portion about “Thou Shalt not bear false witness”, we read that we are called to “a charitable esteem of our neighbors, loving, desiring and rejoicing in their good name, freely acknowledging their gifts and graces, and studying and practicing those things that are true honest, lovely and of good report”. (BOC 7.254)
What is remarkable about the Ten Commandments is how well they have stood against the test of time. Perhaps one summer we may preach a sermon series on the Ten Commandments, one per week. For now, consider how radical and foolish they are compared to the wisdom of the world:
1. The world says “You are your own boss. Do whatever you want to do whenever you feel like it.” God says “Serve only the one true God” (not yourself or other people or things).
2. The world says “Decide who and what is important to you. Pay attention only to those people and things.” God says “Make no idols to serve.”
3. The world says “It does not matter when or how you say God’s name. You can use it to swear or cuss or to get what you want (as in “God is on my side” statements).” God says “Do not speak God’s name lightly or for you own purposes.”
4. The world says “It doesn’t matter if you worship with God’s people on Sunday. If there are other things you’d rather do, go do them.” God says “Keep the Sabbath holy to rest and remember the gifts of creation.”
5. The world says “Parents don’t get it. Ignore them whenever you can.” God says “Honor your father and mother.”
6. The world says “Kill whatever or whoever gets in your way. The strongest live longest.” God says “Do not kill.”
7. The world says “Don’t worry about your family. Think only about yourself and what you want.” God says “Be faithful in your marriage.”
8. The world says “Finders keepers! Toddler’s Rule of possession: I see it, I want it, it’s mine! If you want it, figure out how to get it.” God says “Do not steal.”
9. The world says “Lie if you have to get out of trouble. Lie to get what you want. Lie to make yourself look good – even if it makes someone else look bad.” God says “Do not lie.”
10. The world says “The one who dies with most toys wins. The world is full of wonderful things. Get your share.” God says “Do not even want what others have.”
Following the law of God may seem foolish, even burdensome. But following the law is a joy for in the law we gain a sense of life in God’s kingdom, and a revelation of who God is. And for Christians the story does not end there. The fulfillment of the law and the fullest revelation of God is Jesus Christ. If you want to know what it means to love God with all your heart and soul and might, look to Jesus’ obedience and prayer life. If you want to know what it means to love your neighbor as yourself, look to Jesus’ ministry, suffering, and death on the cross. Pretty foolish.
But that is the God revealed in the law, the God revealed in Jesus Christ. We worship a God who brings us out of slavery, to freedom. A God who travels with us through the wilderness of our lives, a God who loves us enough to give us ways to act out being God’s own people, and a God who comes to us, and dwells with us, a God who went to the cross, to death- for us and for the world. We serve a foolish God. We worship a God who loves us and wants us to have life and to have it abundantly.
So I have to ask you, and ask myself: what shape will your love, your passionate love for God, and for God’s creation, take? In this Lenten time, as we prepare for Easter, and the gift of new life in Christ, what form will your life of gratitude, and freedom, and obedience, take? How will we act, and how will we order our lives as the people of God, who have already received such this gift?
(The “World’s Ten Words” are from http://worshipingwithchildren.blogspot.com/ and “God’s Ten Words are adapted from “Young Children and Worship” by Stewart & Berryman)
---------------------
1Then God spoke all these words:2I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery;3you shall have no other gods before me.4You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.5You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me,6but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.7You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.8Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.9Six days you shall labor and do all your work.10But the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns.11For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.
12Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.13You shall not murder.14You shall not commit adultery.15You shall not steal.16You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.17You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
1 Corinthians 1:18-25 (p.926)
-----------------------------
18For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” 20Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. 22For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, 23but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.
Foolish Words
We call them the Ten Commandments. Jews call then the Ten Words. But no matter what you call them, they are a central teaching that Jews and Christians share. So important are the Ten Commandments, we hang them on plaques in our houses. We post them on our church walls. Some towns down south put them in front of their courthouses though not without controversy. There’s even a depiction of Moses and the Ten Commandments in the US Supreme Court building, though not in any place that gives them special prominence.
There was a time when we could recite the Ten Commandments from memory. We taught them to our children. In confirmation class, they would explore them further as part of studying the catechism. Today, I’m not sure how many of us could list the Ten Commandments, let alone in order. I won’t quiz you, but do you know where else one can find the full Ten Commandments besides Exodus? If this were Jeopardy, the correct response would be “What is Deuteronomy?” By the way, that book’s name means second law – kind of a hint.
It may surprise you that there are slight differences between the two lists of commandments. In Exodus, the reason given for observing the Sabbath day is because God created the heavens and the earth in six days, then rested on the seventh. In Deuteronomy, the reason given is that in Egypt they were slaves brutally treated and without any rest. Now freed by God, they are to take a day of rest and to offer Sabbath to their servants and even their animals.
It may also surprise you to learn there are three different schemes for numbering the commandments. Jews tend to follow one method, Catholics and Lutherans a second, and the rest of us Protestants a third. Upon hearing of a movement to post the Ten Commandments in a courthouse, a rabbi asked “Which Ten?”
Regardless of numbering, all agree they are divided into two tables. One set of commandments describe how we are to live before God. The other set describe how we are to live with others. And both sets are connected. When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment is, he answered: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. And the second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself.” You cannot love God without also loving the neighbor. And you cannot really love one’s neighbor unless that love is rooted in the love of God. Love is the key.
We tend to see the Ten Commandments as a list of “Thou shalt nots.” Perhaps in thinking about them, we have an image of God wagging a finger at us, taking all the fun out of life. And frankly, in describing the three uses of the law, John Calvin said one of those uses was as a bridle to restrain us. He did understand the law to have a civic function. Perhaps that’s the reason some in this country insist on posting them in our courthouses as the answer to America’s problems. But Calvin considered the law as a restraint to be the least important use of the law. Better is the law as a mirror – by showing us how we are to live before God and with our neighbor, the law reveals some of the ways our lives are not what they are supposed to be. The law functions to turn us back to God as our only help and hope. But Calvin said the most important use of the law is as a lamp. They guide us as we travel in our life before God and with our neighbors.
The Ten Commandments aren’t just about ethics and moral living. You can’t really understand what they are about without remembering the history of Israel and their covenantal relationship with God. God didn’t tell the people enslaved by Egypt “Follow these laws and then I’ll free you.” God freed the people first, brought them to Mount Sinai, and then gave them the law.
The law is first of all a gift from God to a people chosen by God. By following this law, the people of Israel were set apart from all the religions and cultures around them. The law also reveals something about the nature of God. Walter Brueggemann writes, “These commands might be taken not as a series of rules but as a proclamation in God’s own mouth of who God is and how God shall be ‘practiced’ by this community of liberated slaves.” The law describes the practices of those in covenant with God. The law calls the people to live all aspects of their life before God, not just the time they are in worship. And it calls the people to live in a way that reflects love and care for their neighbor. The law is about the community of faith. But we also discover following the law is the way to life. When we teach this as a Sunday school lesson, we call it “The 10 Best Ways to Live” - to live with God, and to live with each other.
When I (Nancy) was a teacher with Head Start, we had classroom rules. We had them posted on the wall, and because my children could not yet read, we had them in picture form—pictures of how to line up, how to wash your hands. We practiced how to ask a friend to play, how to take turns on the playground, how to ask for more mashed potatoes at lunch, how to say thank you when being given something. We had rules—about how to live together. And I was passionate about those rules, because I was passionate about those children, and their families, and their future success. It gave order to their life, and to our common life. I knew that if they could learn those rules, internalize those rules, those principles, and learn how to live as a community, those children would be on their way to a good future. (In a way this wasn’t just about learning to live ethically, but about a covenant. I had a covenant with these children and with their families. I was passionately committed to their future and to a way of living that was life-giving.)
The Ten Commandments give us the shape, order a life lived out of gratitude – gratitude for the gift of life, and redemption, and freedom that we receive from God in Christ. In some churches, the Law, or a summary of the Law, is recited by the congregation AFTER the assurance of pardon as a way to say, “with the help of God and as a forgiven people, this is how we will live.” The Westminster Catechism, written in Scotland in 1647, and part of the PCUSA’s Constitution, expands on the 10 commandments. The Law is not just a list of “thou shalt nots” but is an exploration of all the ways we are to live, positively, as God’s people. For instance, in the portion about “Thou Shalt not bear false witness”, we read that we are called to “a charitable esteem of our neighbors, loving, desiring and rejoicing in their good name, freely acknowledging their gifts and graces, and studying and practicing those things that are true honest, lovely and of good report”. (BOC 7.254)
What is remarkable about the Ten Commandments is how well they have stood against the test of time. Perhaps one summer we may preach a sermon series on the Ten Commandments, one per week. For now, consider how radical and foolish they are compared to the wisdom of the world:
1. The world says “You are your own boss. Do whatever you want to do whenever you feel like it.” God says “Serve only the one true God” (not yourself or other people or things).
2. The world says “Decide who and what is important to you. Pay attention only to those people and things.” God says “Make no idols to serve.”
3. The world says “It does not matter when or how you say God’s name. You can use it to swear or cuss or to get what you want (as in “God is on my side” statements).” God says “Do not speak God’s name lightly or for you own purposes.”
4. The world says “It doesn’t matter if you worship with God’s people on Sunday. If there are other things you’d rather do, go do them.” God says “Keep the Sabbath holy to rest and remember the gifts of creation.”
5. The world says “Parents don’t get it. Ignore them whenever you can.” God says “Honor your father and mother.”
6. The world says “Kill whatever or whoever gets in your way. The strongest live longest.” God says “Do not kill.”
7. The world says “Don’t worry about your family. Think only about yourself and what you want.” God says “Be faithful in your marriage.”
8. The world says “Finders keepers! Toddler’s Rule of possession: I see it, I want it, it’s mine! If you want it, figure out how to get it.” God says “Do not steal.”
9. The world says “Lie if you have to get out of trouble. Lie to get what you want. Lie to make yourself look good – even if it makes someone else look bad.” God says “Do not lie.”
10. The world says “The one who dies with most toys wins. The world is full of wonderful things. Get your share.” God says “Do not even want what others have.”
Following the law of God may seem foolish, even burdensome. But following the law is a joy for in the law we gain a sense of life in God’s kingdom, and a revelation of who God is. And for Christians the story does not end there. The fulfillment of the law and the fullest revelation of God is Jesus Christ. If you want to know what it means to love God with all your heart and soul and might, look to Jesus’ obedience and prayer life. If you want to know what it means to love your neighbor as yourself, look to Jesus’ ministry, suffering, and death on the cross. Pretty foolish.
But that is the God revealed in the law, the God revealed in Jesus Christ. We worship a God who brings us out of slavery, to freedom. A God who travels with us through the wilderness of our lives, a God who loves us enough to give us ways to act out being God’s own people, and a God who comes to us, and dwells with us, a God who went to the cross, to death- for us and for the world. We serve a foolish God. We worship a God who loves us and wants us to have life and to have it abundantly.
So I have to ask you, and ask myself: what shape will your love, your passionate love for God, and for God’s creation, take? In this Lenten time, as we prepare for Easter, and the gift of new life in Christ, what form will your life of gratitude, and freedom, and obedience, take? How will we act, and how will we order our lives as the people of God, who have already received such this gift?
(The “World’s Ten Words” are from http://worshipingwithchildren.blogspot.com/ and “God’s Ten Words are adapted from “Young Children and Worship” by Stewart & Berryman)
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Second Sunday in Lent
Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
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1When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless.2And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.”3Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him,
4“As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations.5No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations.6I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you.
7I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.
15God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.16I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”
Mark 8:27 – 9:1
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27Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”28And they answered him, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”29He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.”30And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.
31Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.32He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.33But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
34He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.35For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.36For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?37Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?38Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” 1And he said to them, “Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.”
Loss and Gain
It’s a wonder there is a church today and that people still want to become members of it. Jesus tells his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life… will save it.” Imagine if we put that on the sign out front. Come and join us – as we deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and lose our lives for the gospel. Good news! I’m thinking not too many would decide to worship here this morning…or any morning. Yes, it’s a wonder to me that any of Jesus’ disciples continued on the journey with him.
In fact, that almost didn’t happen. Peter, spokesman for the rest of the disciples, has a Spirit-given revelation: “Jesus, you are the Christ, the Messiah, the anointed one. You are the one Israel has been waiting for.” And it’s true. For hundreds of years, Israel has been waiting for the Messiah who will drive out the Romans and return the land back to the people of God. The Messiah is a hero, a conqueror, a king. That’s what was in the disciples’ minds, and how fortunate they are to be part of Jesus’ entourage. After all, some of the spoils of victory have to fall their way.
“Then [Jesus] began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.” Huh!? No way, Jesus! I doubt the disciples even heard that last bit about rising again. Their minds probably went blank after hearing the suffering and death part. Can you picture Peter putting his arm around Jesus shoulder to have a heart-to-heart talk? “C’mon, let’s turn this show around and head back to Capernaum. You could heal hundreds, feed thousands, and teach us some more of those riddles you call parables. Let’s go back home.”
The disciples didn’t sign on for this. The only thing Jesus mentioned when he called them was about fishing for people. I’m sure they had grown to admire, even love, the man they were following. How hard to hear what was ahead for him. How hard to hear that the one you care about is going to suffer and die. And there was probably a little bit of self-worry in the mix. If Jesus is going to be killed, what will it mean for all of the disciples who have been following him? How tempting to avoid the tough road ahead.
There lie the two questions Christians have struggled with from the beginning. Who is Jesus Christ, the person at the center of our faith? And what does the answer mean for those who follow Jesus? That is, who is a disciple of Jesus Christ?
According to Mark, it’s not about labels or descriptions. Yes, Jesus is the Messiah, the anointed one. But you can’t understand what a Messiah is unless you see what he does, where he’s headed. It’s about actions, and Jesus actions, his teaching, his healing, his feeding, his questioning and defying the status quo, will lead to the cross. The challenge to Jesus’ followers today is that we have watered down what it means to be his disciples. Bearing crosses and losing our lives sounds a lot tougher than what we expect. It’s not what we signed up for. Maybe it’s more than we’re willing to do.
But we must also be careful not to misunderstand what Jesus is saying, either. Cross-bearing is not to be confused with patient suffering or perseverance in the face of adversity. This is not a call to playing the victim, to putting up with abuse, to suffering because it’s good for the soul. The key to understanding what Jesus is saying here is "for the sake of the gospel," and Jesus is the exemplary model. Cross-bearing is what happens when you risk suffering and shame while continuing Jesus’ ministry for the sake of others.
One can certainly think of role models in history like those who hid Jews from the Nazis during World War 2, or who worked for civil rights in 50’s and 60’s in this country. But one can look to events just last week at Chardon High School in Ohio where one student brought a gun to school and opened fire killing three other students. Hearing gunshots, assistant football coach Frank Hall located and chased the gunman from the school probably saving student lives. These are obviously extreme and more literal expressions of Jesus’ call to his disciples.
Most of us will not face giving our own precious life for the sake of another, but we do have opportunities every day to choose between putting ourselves first in acts of self-preservation, and choosing life-giving acts for others. Cross-bearing is also what happens when you love another and are willing to put their needs ahead of your own, to make sacrifices for the sake of the other, for the sake of the Gospel.
When the Hector youth meet in fellowship hall, Nancy & I sometimes put a few questions on poster paper for them to think about and respond. Last Sunday, one of the questions was, “Do you believe there is more contentment in making money or giving it away? Why?” And every one of them answered, “Giving it away.” Sometimes I think our youth are smarted than us adults – we could learn much from them.
Jesus tells his disciples, us, quite openly and boldly. The going is going to be rough. The way includes pain and suffering and leads to death. But we know the ending. Jesus life openly and boldly reveals God’s love for us, a radical love of healing and feeding, of forgiveness and reconciliation that goes to through the cross to resurrection and new life. That’s God’s promise to us. It’s not unlike the promise God made to Abraham and Sarah: new life. And we don’t have to wait until we die. New life begins the moment we choose to let our old way of thinking and living die, when we choose to follow Jesus. “The way to gain lies through loss, and the way to life lies through death. The demand for sacrifice is the invitation to blessing.” Good news.
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1When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless.2And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.”3Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him,
4“As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations.5No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations.6I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you.
7I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.
15God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.16I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”
Mark 8:27 – 9:1
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27Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”28And they answered him, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”29He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.”30And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.
31Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.32He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.33But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
34He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.35For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.36For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?37Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?38Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” 1And he said to them, “Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.”
Loss and Gain
It’s a wonder there is a church today and that people still want to become members of it. Jesus tells his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life… will save it.” Imagine if we put that on the sign out front. Come and join us – as we deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and lose our lives for the gospel. Good news! I’m thinking not too many would decide to worship here this morning…or any morning. Yes, it’s a wonder to me that any of Jesus’ disciples continued on the journey with him.
In fact, that almost didn’t happen. Peter, spokesman for the rest of the disciples, has a Spirit-given revelation: “Jesus, you are the Christ, the Messiah, the anointed one. You are the one Israel has been waiting for.” And it’s true. For hundreds of years, Israel has been waiting for the Messiah who will drive out the Romans and return the land back to the people of God. The Messiah is a hero, a conqueror, a king. That’s what was in the disciples’ minds, and how fortunate they are to be part of Jesus’ entourage. After all, some of the spoils of victory have to fall their way.
“Then [Jesus] began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.” Huh!? No way, Jesus! I doubt the disciples even heard that last bit about rising again. Their minds probably went blank after hearing the suffering and death part. Can you picture Peter putting his arm around Jesus shoulder to have a heart-to-heart talk? “C’mon, let’s turn this show around and head back to Capernaum. You could heal hundreds, feed thousands, and teach us some more of those riddles you call parables. Let’s go back home.”
The disciples didn’t sign on for this. The only thing Jesus mentioned when he called them was about fishing for people. I’m sure they had grown to admire, even love, the man they were following. How hard to hear what was ahead for him. How hard to hear that the one you care about is going to suffer and die. And there was probably a little bit of self-worry in the mix. If Jesus is going to be killed, what will it mean for all of the disciples who have been following him? How tempting to avoid the tough road ahead.
There lie the two questions Christians have struggled with from the beginning. Who is Jesus Christ, the person at the center of our faith? And what does the answer mean for those who follow Jesus? That is, who is a disciple of Jesus Christ?
According to Mark, it’s not about labels or descriptions. Yes, Jesus is the Messiah, the anointed one. But you can’t understand what a Messiah is unless you see what he does, where he’s headed. It’s about actions, and Jesus actions, his teaching, his healing, his feeding, his questioning and defying the status quo, will lead to the cross. The challenge to Jesus’ followers today is that we have watered down what it means to be his disciples. Bearing crosses and losing our lives sounds a lot tougher than what we expect. It’s not what we signed up for. Maybe it’s more than we’re willing to do.
But we must also be careful not to misunderstand what Jesus is saying, either. Cross-bearing is not to be confused with patient suffering or perseverance in the face of adversity. This is not a call to playing the victim, to putting up with abuse, to suffering because it’s good for the soul. The key to understanding what Jesus is saying here is "for the sake of the gospel," and Jesus is the exemplary model. Cross-bearing is what happens when you risk suffering and shame while continuing Jesus’ ministry for the sake of others.
One can certainly think of role models in history like those who hid Jews from the Nazis during World War 2, or who worked for civil rights in 50’s and 60’s in this country. But one can look to events just last week at Chardon High School in Ohio where one student brought a gun to school and opened fire killing three other students. Hearing gunshots, assistant football coach Frank Hall located and chased the gunman from the school probably saving student lives. These are obviously extreme and more literal expressions of Jesus’ call to his disciples.
Most of us will not face giving our own precious life for the sake of another, but we do have opportunities every day to choose between putting ourselves first in acts of self-preservation, and choosing life-giving acts for others. Cross-bearing is also what happens when you love another and are willing to put their needs ahead of your own, to make sacrifices for the sake of the other, for the sake of the Gospel.
When the Hector youth meet in fellowship hall, Nancy & I sometimes put a few questions on poster paper for them to think about and respond. Last Sunday, one of the questions was, “Do you believe there is more contentment in making money or giving it away? Why?” And every one of them answered, “Giving it away.” Sometimes I think our youth are smarted than us adults – we could learn much from them.
Jesus tells his disciples, us, quite openly and boldly. The going is going to be rough. The way includes pain and suffering and leads to death. But we know the ending. Jesus life openly and boldly reveals God’s love for us, a radical love of healing and feeding, of forgiveness and reconciliation that goes to through the cross to resurrection and new life. That’s God’s promise to us. It’s not unlike the promise God made to Abraham and Sarah: new life. And we don’t have to wait until we die. New life begins the moment we choose to let our old way of thinking and living die, when we choose to follow Jesus. “The way to gain lies through loss, and the way to life lies through death. The demand for sacrifice is the invitation to blessing.” Good news.
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