3rd Sunday in Lent
Exodus 20:11-17
Psalm 19
1 Corinthians 1:18-25
John 2:13-22
Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
grace and peace to you from the one who is our center. Amen
A few years ago you might remember,
there was a cleaning and organizing craze
spurred on by the organizational guru Marie Kondo.
She was of the minimalist school
and was famous for teaching people
to sift through their belongings pausing with each thing to ask,
“does this bring me joy?”
If the answer was ‘yes’ you were allowed to keep it,
if not you were to get rid of that item.
I had a friend at the time
who when about to move in the spring
decided to apply this system to her belongings,
which she did to apparent great success,
until the fall came,
and with the fall came cooler weather,
and my friend realized that she no longer had any sweaters
- they had not sparked joy in her during her cleaning spree
and therefore she had gotten rid of them!
The promise of fewer belongings had been fulfilled
but too late she discovered the flaw
in the literal application of the system,
there are somethings that we need
that don’t necessarily spark joy,
and while one might have thought a little common sense
would have caught that
that’s the problem with systems,
if we forget the intent behind them
and just move to literal application
there are often unintended consequences.
Systems and rules are very helpful,
but it’s important to keep the purpose of them in mind,
when that gets lost
it might be time to try something new to get back to the heart of the matter,
and this can be difficult
and very disruptive
because it takes time to refocus,
to learn new ways of doing things,
of recentering ourselves.
This is what we hear about in our readings for today,
stories of cleaning house if you will,
intended to return God to the center of people’s lives,
and these cleanings kick off wilderness times,
times of transition and growth
that while good feel unsettled.
This Lent we are spending time
with stories of wilderness wandering and coming home
On Ash Wednesday
we heard God call us home to the heart of God
through the transforming of our own hearts.
In the first week of Lent
we heard about how transitions in life
are often marked by water
which reminds us of how inextricably intertwined life and death are
and that our God is the God of the living and the dead.
Last week we heard about
how it is never too late to start a new journey with God
because God is the one acting in the world
who calls us to participate in the actions of God
through trusting in the promises of God.
this week we hear about how wilderness times
often begin with change from old ways of living
to new ways of living,
especially those intended to return God to the center of life.
We start off hearing God
giving the covenant of the law
in the form of the ten commandments
to the Israelites in the wilderness.
After living for generations as slaves in Egypt
God has set them free,
God has thrown out the old system of slavery,
but God also knows that they will need to learn
how to live as free people with one another,
and so God institutes the system of the law,
each one meant to teach them an aspect of living in free relationship
with God and one another.
How do they live with God?
not by making idols or taking the name of God in vain
but in worshiping only God,
especially on the sabbath.
Family relationships are important,
attend to them,
respect the lives, property, and reputation
of others in your community.
This is how you will live peacefully with your God and your community.
These ten cover pretty much everything very broadly
but people like specific rules
so the next ten chapters in Exodus
hold even more specific instructions
from God to Moses for the people,
naturally this takes some time
for God to communicate to Moses,
and while the people witnessed the first part
Moses then disappears into a cloud on the mountain
and after a while
the people demonstrate just how much they need these new rules
and time to learn them
because they give up on Moses
and revert to idol worship
just like they grew up with in good old Egypt,
they take the gold they brought with them,
melt it down
and make the image of a calf
declare it god and hold a festival to worship it
and of course this displeases God
and it takes a bit to repair that relationship
but the covenant is renewed
and the people continue on in the desert
learning to live with God and one another.
and it will take at least a generation
before God deems them ready to move into the promised land,
structural systematic change like this takes time,
but it is worth the journey
and even then life will not be perfect,
reading the history of the people of Israel
there are times when the law helps the people remain centered on God
and there are times when they fall away,
and God always calls them back to God
usually through the gift of the law.
Now by the time we get to Jesus
The law and its practice at the temple
have become a thing unto its own,
yes the temple is considered the center of God’s presence on earth
and so it is reasonable
that there be systems and mechanisms in place to worship God there,
but it has also become a place
where power is built up
and money is made
- ostensibly in the service of God yes-
but with very real benefits to the humans who run things-
so it is very easy to see how the various actions and transactions
become more prominent than the God they are supposed to serve.
And into this all comes Jesus,
the word made flesh,
the one with authority from God
because he is one with God
and John, writing his gospel
knowing who Jesus is and what he has done
(died and risen three days later)
wants to show his readers
that Jesus is the new center of God’s presence on earth,
So John tells how Jesus’ first actions beyond calling disciples
are to turn water into wine at the wedding at Cana,
demonstrating the grace and abundant life he brings,
and from there go to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover
and upon seeing the temple system at work
Jesus demonstrates there is a new authority in town
by literally driving the old ways out of the temple,
the people selling animals for sacrifice,
and the money changers
making sure the people could pay the temple tax in the proper coinage,
and sure some of them were probably making a little extra on the side
but for Jesus in John
it’s not about abuses to the system
but the system itself.[1]
This is Jesus’ way of saying “God has left the building”
And of course having made worship at the temple
virtually impossible by his actions
Jesus is called to account for himself,
and his response:
“Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
and of course he’s not speaking about the stone edifice
but the temple of his body,
which the leaders,
threatened by the way Jesus’ new life
challenges to the existing system,
will go on to destroy,
and as Jesus promises he will rise again in three days
and bid his followers to tell others
about the new center of God.
and there will be times when the people remain centered on God
and there will be times when they fall away,
and God will always call them,
us,
back to God and the gospel of Jesus Christ.
God in Christ is the center,
when we lose sight of that,
when the systems that had previously helped us keep God as center
become more interested in protecting the status quo
than pointing to God,
Jesus, shows us that it may be time to clean house,
to enter a time of wilderness
where we learn once again
how to live in relationship with God and one another
with God at the center.
And yes this will be difficult
and will take time,
and there will be some things that are necessary
but do not spark joy,
and God will be with us,
teaching and encouraging us along the way,
the center of our lives. Amen
[1] The New Interpreter’s Bible Vol. IX. “John 2:13-22”. Abingdon Press. Nashville, TN. 1995. 541-545