Reflections...

A sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on Sunday 8 March 2015, Third Sunday in Lent, by the Rev. Dr. John LeMond. The scripture readings that day were Exodus 20:1-17; 1 Corinthians 1:18-25; John 2:13-22.

Jesus, the man of peace

Non-violent Jesus

Love your enemy Jesus

Pray for those who persecute you Jesus

That is usually the way we think of Jesus

But we see something very different here.

In the passage from John,

Jesus is not peaceful

Jesus is violent.

Jesus comes into the Temple area

And he sees that there are many people buying and selling

And immediately he makes a whip and begins to chase them out.

He beats both people and animals

He turns over the money tables

He shouts at people to get out of the Temple

Why?

What caused Jesus seemingly to act against his character

Or at least against the character that we suppose him to have?

The Bible says that it was his zeal for God’s house

His passion for God!

But this seems strange.

This was not the first time Jesus had visited the Temple

And each time he came to the Temple people were doing business there.

The Temple depended upon these sellers of sacrificial animals

And many people in the community depended upon this marketplace to make a living

It was a mutually helpful relationship

It was a practical compromise

A compromise between the business of the Temple,

And the business of the world.

But this time was different for Jesus

This time he could not accept this compromise

And so he drove all of them out…violently.

There occasionally come times in our own life when this happens

Times when we can no longer live with the compromises of our life

Compromises that for so long have seemed necessary and reasonable

We come to the realization that something must change

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The incident at the Temple is bracketed by two important verses:

John says in introducing this passage:

“The Passover was near, and he went up to Jerusalem.”

And the very last words of this passage are:

“After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered this.”

What we have in between these two verses

Is Jesus coming face to face…with end of his life…

And his response to this fact

Caused him to make a whip

And to violently attack those who were buying and selling

In doing this, strange as it may seem…

Jesus is preparing for his approaching death…

And…for what he predicted would be his resurrection.

This was a crucial moment in Jesus' life.

As he approached the Temple with his disciples

He realized that he could no longer accept

This unhealthy relationship between the Temple and the world.

And so he “cleansed” the Temple, passionately.

Those who were there that day were shocked:

And they asked him, “What sign can you show us, Jesus, for dong this?”

In other words, “Why did you do this?”

And Jesus had an answer.

What the people standing there wanted was a concrete answer.

"I was temporarily insane."

"I was having a bad day."

"I'm frustrated because my disciples don't understand me!"

Instead, his answer was:

 “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will build it up.”

It wasn’t much of an answer, really.

It certainly wouldn't have been an acceptable excuse

For all the damage Jesus had caused.

The people must have thought

“What are you talking about?”

“You really are crazy, aren't you!”

But as usual Jesus was using abstractions rather than concrete responses.

In fact, John tells us: the temple he was referring to

Was not the great Temple in Jerusalem.

He was talking about himself, his own body.

About his upcoming death and resurrection.

In fact, Jesus had just given his disciples

And all who were there that day given us

A parable; a dramatic parable.

His parables are more usually spoken parables

But here the disciples have been given a parable of action

God’s true temple, Jesus says, is not the one made of stones

God's true temple is the person

The true person that each of us is.

This temple is at the heart of each of us.

We are used to seeing ourselves as simply those who acknowledge God

A God who exists outside of ourselves

In heaven or even in a great temple made of stone.

Yes…ok…there is a God.

I acknowledge that.

And I come faithfully to the Temple with my animal sacrifices

I come to the church with my offerings

I appease God with my prayers:

I satisfy God's commands with my behavior

I hope to please God by what I do and say.

Now…let me get on with the work, the chores, the tasks of my everyday life.

But now Jesus walks in with a whip made of chords

And turns over the tables of our offerings, our prayers, our actions

He drives out the notion

That we can somehow appease or satisfy God with these sacrifices

The sacrifice that God seeks is neither bought nor sold

It is the sacrifice of one’s entire being that God wants.

As the prophet Hosea says:

God does not desire sacrifice purchased either inside or outside the temple

“But steadfast love and the knowledge of God.” (Hosea 6:6)

Look at your own hearts, Jesus tells his disciples

Jesus says, look at the confusion and disorder here in the great Temple

And then look your own heart.

The time for cleansing has come!

Jesus is calls not for devotion to God

But to the knowledge of God

The prophet Micah had long ago proclaimed the will of God (Micah 6:8)

What does the Lord require of you?

To walk humbly with your God.

To know your God

To recognize that God

Is not one from whom we are separated

Not one from whom we can be separated.

God is not a God who lives out there,

In a temple or in a church!

Not one who is elsewhere

But who is one with us!

Who is the very heart of who we are

The very center of our existence.

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But the people do not understand Jesus.

They shout at him, “But by what sign do you do this violent thing?”

That’s when Jesus tells them: Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.

Only later do the disciples realize that he was speaking of the temple of his body

Only later do they realize that he was speaking not only of himself

He was also speaking of all those who choose to listen to his words.

Friends, he says, look at your life…

Like me, you are coming to the end of your life.

The time has come to reconsider who you are.

The time has come for the cleansing of the temple of your heart

In fact, the time has come to die to the old self

And this is not something we want to hear.

Because we are comfortable with our life the way it is

We are comfortable with God being out there somewhere

But Jesus dramatically challenges us with the parable of the Temple cleansing

Listen, he says:

God does not need your sacrifices, your gifts, your offerings

Whether large or small.

Because they are unnecessary.

God already accepts you completely,

And this will not change.

God has already come near to you

As near as the beat of your heart,

And this will not change.

Paul, in the passage from 1 Corinthians, perhaps remembers this event

And recalls, “There are those who demands signs.”

But our response, Paul says, is Jesus Christ…and him crucified

God among us; God with us; God within us.

We prefer to live our lives in comfortable and familiar ways.

The Temple and its sellers are, for us,

Just the way we expect life to be

But Jesus looked, and saw something different

The time for compromise

Has given way to the time for devotion.

Let me show you how, he said.

Cleanse the temple of your heart.

Cleanse the temple of your heart: from any need to please God

Through prayers or offerings

Cleanse the temple of your heart: from any need to influence God

Through action or speech

Cleanse your heart

And you will find God, already there

Already embracing you.

Cleanse the temple of your heart,

And there, you will find God

Who has already found you.

Amen.