First reading Exodus 20:1-17
Psalm Psalm 19
Second reading 1 Corinthians 1:18-25
Gospel John 2:13-22
God either has a strange sense of humor or he is trying to get me to understand something that I continue to miss. Here I am retired and the Gospel reading that gets me into trouble the most often is here for me to preach.
I like to think that I have a passion for all that the church could be and am always frustrated by the fact that we refuse to take the chance to become. Annie Dillard writes that we should enter the church with awe and fear. What if God wakes up and offers us a chance to become? I mean, think about it. We have the same spirit within us that Jesus did. That same spirit that broke Jesus out of the grave! And our young people find us boring.
Well, Jesus is around 33 years old at the time of this reading. It is said he was 12 years old when Joseph and Mary lost him and later found him sitting in the temple talking with the elders. So 20 years have passed. Has this beloved place of his youth changed this much? It is certainly possible, considering the focus of the Chief Priest and other leaders. Their focus is wealth and survival in a conquered society. Perhaps this has riled his heart. Or broken his heart.
Jesus knew that in 40 years the temple building would be gone. He knew that people would no longer need all the “stuff” that went along with the building. Jesus knew that “ a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” (John 4)
Is Jesus worried about the temple building or about the worship in “spirit and truth?”
I am convinced, at this point in my life, that Jesus came to show us how to live, how to be human. Who better to show us what we were meant to be than the creator? And it is the Spirit of the Creator that resides in Jesus. (and in us.)
So how do I incorporate this scene into how I should live? Or more immediate for me, how do I preach it?
If I attempt to weave in the other readings I hear that we are to love the Lord our God above all other gods. And I hear Paul tells us that the message of Christ is not about wisdom and signs but about the death on a cross. What is death on a cross but letting go of all the adiaphora? And Jesus calls us to prayer, to focus and communication with the Father. With God.
How do I preach this stuff without being stoned or having to retire? And in some ways, retirement, or giving up what I held so dear, held more wisdom than I might have thought.
You see, in my freedom I can speak. And yet freedom holds responsibility. Ok I am rambling. I have been here with you all for several years. I love you and I feel loved in return. And so I feel it is important to be honest.
No, I am not going to tell you to close your doors. Instead I want to tell you how I feel. It is no secret that as things stand today, you will inevitably close the doors of this church. And it will certainly be holy completion for a mission this church has faithfully continued within the community. Ok, that is the proverbial elephant in the room.
But I also know, love, and believe in the small church, the house church. Christianity was founded on these small gatherings. I see the heart of those who gather here.
So where does that leave me? It leaves me with questions. Are you growing spiritually or are you stagnating? Are you growing in love and forgiveness of the world as Jesus showed us? Are you worshiping in spirit and truth or through rote repetition? What is it that Jesus would say needs to be driven out or changed? Are you willing to let go of all that you are holding on to so that there can be resurrection? Is that not the wisdom of the cross?
Jesus came in and went crazy because there were all these people, so very very close to God in his temple, and they were completely missing it. All they saw was what seemed important to them in the worldly life rather than what is important in the Spiritual life. (Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you.)
As I wondered about these things I also became very aware that it is not for me to determine what it is Jesus wants to change for you in your spirituality. Instead, it is for me to call you to a place of being honest with yourselves and with God.
If I were your pastor I might feel more of an obligation to point out things. But instead of your pastor, I am your friend. And as your friend, my heart calls to you to listen closely to what the spirit within you needs.
God is to be the only god. What other god thwarts us in our spiritual journey?
Resurrection only comes from the foolishness of death. What are we clinging to that must die so our Spirits can live and thrive?
God’s temple is to be a house of prayer. What worldly things clutter our temples?
I’ll end with a reading from 1 Corinthians 3:
Paul writes: 16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.
18 Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become “fools” so that you may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”[a]; 20 and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.”[b] 21 So then, no more boasting about human leaders! All things are yours, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas[c] or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, 23 and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.