3 Lent, Yr B (2024) The Rev. Karen C. Barfield
3 Lent, Year B (2024) The Rev. Karen C. Barfield
Exodus 20:1-17 St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church
I Cor 1:18-25
John 2:13-22
In the name of the one, holy, and living God:
Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifying Spirit. Amen.
Jesus’ passionate flurry of activity in today’s Gospel reading seems unparalleled;
it’s one of the stories we all remember
and can probably visualize with great detail.
The Passover of the Jews was near.
Jesus enters the Temple at Jerusalem and is overcome with fury.
He makes whips of cords
to drive out the cattle and the sheep,
and he scatters the coins and overturns the tables of the money changers.
We can see it now:
arms raised and flailing,
wielding a stinging whip flying through the air,
tossing tables on their sides,
Jesus disrupts and dismantles the Temple system…
a system put in place to restore right relationship with God.
But… it does not.
The system of sacrifice had taken on its own importance,
such that it was no longer the structure within which to restore relationship with God,
but instead, had become the demand and burden of proper worship.
In the Gospel of John this story takes place at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry…
not at the end as in the Synoptics.
Jesus,
in dismantling the temple system,
is announcing the end of this way of relating to God.
And remember…at the point that John tells his story of the Gospel,
the Temple has already been destroyed.
It is no longer standing.
So, if the Temple is destroyed,
then what does that mean for establishing right relationship with God?
Is it even possible?
Well…Yes!
“Destroy this temple,” Jesus says,
“and in three days I will raise it up.”
What foolishness.
What foolishness indeed!
Jesus was full of foolishness.
In telling this story, the gospel writer is telling his hearers how they are to worship God…
how they are to restore right relationship with God…
now that the Temple is gone.
The Temple is gone,
but Jesus,
the Son of God,
has come…
the Temple is no longer necessary.
Not too long after the telling of this story of the cleansing of the Temple,
John relates the story of Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at the well.
She and Jesus have a long conversation about who Jesus is
and where God will be worshiped.
“Jesus said to her,
‘Woman, believe me,
the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain
nor in Jerusalem…
“the hour is coming,
and is now here,
when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth,
for the Father seeks such as these to worship him.
“God is spirit
and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.’” (Jn 4:21-24)
All of today’s readings are about finding life.
They are about flourishing.
The way we flourish depends upon how we relate to God
And, consequently, how we relate to one another
and even to ourselves.
In today’s reading from Exodus,
we hear God giving what we call “The Ten Commandments.”
The Ten Commandments are not an arbitrary set of rules we have to follow
just to have rules to follow
or to have some fear-mongering structure to keep us in line.
They are a framework for how we love God, ourselves, and the world around us.
God begins this set of instructions with these words:
“I am the Lord your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
out of the house of slavery.” (Ex 20:2)
In other words… “I am the Lord your God who loves you,
and out of my love for you I have brought you out of slavery into freedom,
out of death into life.
“Because I hold you in love,
I am going to give you some ways to maintain that relationship of love:
with me, with yourselves, with others, and with all of creation.”
This morning I want to condense and re-word the 10 commandments.
See if you hear them any differently.
God says:
Keep me first in your mind and your heart so that you don’t lose sight of my love for you.
Honor me by keeping my name sacred.
Remember to rest and to take delight in me and in the gifts of creation.
Honor yourselves and your neighbors by speaking in love and truth
and by not taking what is not yours.
Be satisfied with your gifts.
These “commandments” are intended to guide us in right relationship –
in loving and respectful relationship in which we honor God and all of God’s creation.
Now, by the time of Jesus’ ministry,
a whole system had been put in place to uphold the Law
and to help people who break the Law to find a way back to right relationship with God.
The faithful recited God’s Law and its application day and night
and taught it to their children.
In addition, a sacrificial system was developed so that people could offer the proper sacrifice at the temple and have their relationship with God restored…a right relationship renewed.
Part of this ritual is what we hear about this morning in the Gospel,
but Jesus is doing a new thing.
Note that today’s Gospel begins with similar words to today’s passage from Exodus:
“The Passover of the Jews was near.”
God’s leading of the people out of slavery into freedom,
from death into life,
is remembered here also.
God is the Source of Life:
the whole of creation, the Law, and the Prophets point us to such truth.
Jesus and the cross point us to such truth.
Tell me, Jesus, which is the greatest commandment?
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength
and love your neighbor as yourself.
Tell us, Jesus, what sign can you show us for dismantling our temple system?
“Destroy this temple,
and in three days I will raise it up.”
The temple of Jesus’ body was destroyed on the cross…a sign of Jesus’ love…
showing that love, not violence, will overcome fear and hatred…
that love will overcome the brokenness of this world.
The sign of the cross…which is foolishness to the world
shows forth the way of love.
Out of death will come life,
even when death feels bone-crushingly overwhelming.
New life will rise again.
Our church, our temple as it were, is a beautiful and holy space.
In this space we gather to remind ourselves that:
God creates us in love,
God redeems us in love,
and God sustains us in love.
We remind each other of our story of creation and healing,
and our calling to reconcile the world to God and one another…in love.
The rules,
the structures,
are here to guide and support us on our journey of love and reconciliation.
This world is a mess;
and yet people are finding their voices to speak up and speak out against
places of corruption
and oppression
and discrimination
and violence.
This speaking out is a sign of God’s Kingdom.
It is to this realm of love and justice and reconciliation that we are called,
regardless of our buildings,
or our worship style,
or our form of prayer.
God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom,
and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.
I pray that we may have the courage to live into the foolishness of the cross:
proclaiming that life overcomes death,
that love overcomes hatred,
and that as we die to self,
we allow God’s ever-flowing, ever-expanding love
to flow through us into the world.
AMEN.
