(Scriptures: Exodus 20:1-17, 1 Corinthians 1:18-25,John 2:13-22)
When I go traveling in urban areas, I often like to visit the large churches and cathedrals in the city. For example, in New York City, St Patrick’s Cathedral is a most impressive place to visit. On a trip to Quebec, I traveled to a small town a short drive from Quebec to visit St. Anne’s cathedral, reputed to be the site of many healings – as you walk in the church, around the entrance are numerous canes and crutches and leg braces left behind by those healed of their infirmities. In these and other cathedrals, the art and architecture are breathtaking, a testament to the faith and sacrifice of those whose humble offerings paid for these wonders – as well as the excellent taste of those who commissioned them to be created. Of course, at many of these houses of worship, on the way out you encounter…..the gift shop. The nature of the items for sale is variable – often, a few are truly beautiful, unique, while most are mass-produced and dreadfully tacky. It’s understandable, especially if one is awed by one’s experience in the cathedral, to want to take along a reminder of that experience. And maintaining these monuments to faith isn’t cheap – it’s not cheap just to maintain our modest house of worship - and the gift shop helps generate funds for maintenance. However, I’ve always found it a little deflating, even a little jarring, to make the transition from the hushed, sacred silence of the Cathedral sanctuary to the bustle of fellow tourists and the ring of the cash register inside the gift shop – and I suspect I’m not alone in this. I can’t help thinking of the Sesame Street song: “One of these things is not like the other; one of these things just doesn’t belong….”
This week’s Gospel readings begin a detour from Mark’s Gospel, which we have been studying, into John’s Gospel, where we will remain for the rest of March. John’s Gospel is very different from the other three Gospels. In the other three Gospels, Jesus is known by his teachings, healings, and other miracles, and – especially in Mark’s Gospel – orders those whom he helps to keep Jesus’ acts a secret. From these actions, the reader is invited to come to their point of belief that Jesus is the Messiah. In John’s Gospel, Jesus is endlessly talking about himself and his relationship to the Father. In a series of “I am” statements – “I am the bread of life; I am the light of the world; I am the good shepherd; I am the true vine; I am the way, the truth, and the life….”- Jesus uses a variety of metaphors to explain his identity and to invite those around him to belief. John’s Gospel also has a very noticeable “us and them” outlook on the world. John is thought to have been the latest of the four Gospels to have been written, and it appears that by the time John’s Gospel was written, the early followers of Jesus had been expelled from the synagogues. John’s Gospel reflects this mutual hostility, often referring to the religious leaders with the loaded phrase, “the Jews”. Given this highly charged language, it’s especially important to keep in mind that the disagreements between Jesus and the Temple leaders was essentially a kind of family feud within Judaism – and we all know how unattractive family feuds can become.
The account of the Jesus throwing the moneychangers out of the Temple occurs in all four Gospels. In the other three Gospels – Matthew, Mark, and Luke – it occurs near the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry, just after Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, right after Palm Sunday, helping to set into motion the plot to have Jesus arrested. In John’s Gospel, it occurs near the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, setting the tone for hostile relations between Jesus and the Temple religious establishment that carry through for the rest of the book.
Why were there moneychangers and sellers of animals in the temple in the first place? Our cathedral gift shops sell trinkets for tourists to take home, but in our Gospel reading, the coins and animals were for worshippers to bring into the Temple as they entered, not to carry home as they left. Of course, we know that at that time, the ceremonies of worship held at the Temple involved animal sacrifice. People came for long distances, often on foot, to celebrate the Passover in Jerusalem – and it would have been quite an ordeal to bring their sacrificial animals along with them. And since the sacrificial animals had to be of the highest quality – God demands our best - you wouldn’t want to drag along one of your own, only to find out at the end of your long journey that it didn’t pass muster. So, as a service to worshippers traveling long distances, the Temple offered animals deemed fitting for sacrifice – for a price, of course. The moneychangers were needed because one had to pay a temple tax of half a shekel. Given that Roman and Greek coins had imagery depicting the emperor as a god, those coins were not acceptable for use in paying the Temple tax – so these were exchanged for the Jewish half-shekel coin that everyone had to pay in support of the Temple.
So there were good, defensible reasons why moneychangers and vendors of animals were part of the Temple economy. Perhaps Jesus’ objection was, in part, that they were actually within the outer courts of the Temple. Previously, they would have been outside the Temple – nearby, but still outside. According to one tradition, it was Caiaphas himself – yes, that Caiaphas – who allowed the merchants to set up shop inside the Temple. It certainly must have been deflating for pious pilgrims who had walked long distances to celebrate the Passover in Jerusalem to come all that long, weary, sweaty distance, only to have to run a gauntlet of vendors on the way into the house of the Lord. One would readily sense not only crass commercialism, but more than a whiff of corruption – these folks, along with the Temple establishment, were profiting from the humble piety of peasants who wanted only to worship the God of their fathers. So Jesus toppled the tables of the vendors and drove them out, saying, stop making my Father’s house a house of commerce, a marketplace. We’re told that the disciples recalled a phrase from Psalm 69, “Zeal for your – that is, God’s - house will consume me.” As I thought about our Gospel reading, it struck me that, in a sense, both Jesus and the vendors were, in different ways, zealous for God’s house. The vendors were zealous to raise funds for the maintenance of the Temple and its hierarchy – and perhaps were a bit overzealous in profiting personally from their location within God’s house. And of course, Jesus was zealous that God’s holiness and the sanctity of God’s house be upheld.
The intersection between faith and commerce has always been problematic. In the words of the Sesame Street song, indeed, one of these things is not like the other. Faith, at its best, leads to generosity and openness of spirit, while commerce often promotes a spirit of greed. In both faith and commerce, our hands are extended – in one case, to give; in the other, perhaps to grab. Several years before composing his 95 theses, while he was still a zealous Roman Catholic, in an attempt to rekindle his faith and get relief for his guilty conscience, Luther made a pilgrimage to Rome. Far from restoring his faith, his experiences in Rome nearly destroyed it. Watching Pope Julius II behaving more like a patron of the arts than like a priest, watching priests living like princes on the offerings of the faithful, seeing the splendor of St Peter’s and knowing it was paid for by the tithes of the pious poor – all this turned Luther’s stomach. And of course, as we know, the sale of indulgences – spiritual tickets out of purgatory, sold to the faithful in order to raise money for St. Peter’s, just sent Luther right over the edge, eventually prompting his break with Rome.
Our Old Testament reading from Exodus gave us the Ten Commandments – and it strikes us as very legalistic, an oppressive list of “thou shalt nots” to be rebelled against. But in reality, the Ten Commandments were given by God to define and safeguard the kind of community his chosen people would be, over and against the surrounding nations. God was defining his chosen people as a community where God would always have first place, whose name would be held sacred and who was beyond the ability of man to capture in graven images. The chosen people, having escaped slavery in Egypt would be a community in which a day of rest was not only permitted, but commanded. The chosen people would be a community in which parents and by extension the elderly would be honored and cared for; where murder, marital infidelity, theft, dishonesty, and envy would be unknown. Of course, we know it didn’t work out quite that way – not for them, not for us – but it’s a vision of how God would have us live together.
Likewise, we are called to be, not just any community, but God’s community, a community in which we seek neither wisdom nor signs, but Christ crucified, still a scandal to the worldly wisdom of our day; in which we have systems and boundaries set in place to define how we are organized and to defend from abuse. May we at Emanuel Church continue to live into God’s vision of what our community of faith will be. Amen.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Promises, Promises!
(Scriptures: Genesis 17:1-8, 15-22, Romans 4:1-25, Mark 8:31-38)
Our readings from Genesis and Romans deal with the word covenant. A covenant is a promise from one party to another. Last week’s reading from Genesis included God’s promise to, or covenant with, Noah and his family and with every creature on earth, that God would never again destroy all life on earth in a flood. This is the first covenant mentioned in Scripture.
Covenants often involve a mutual set of promises between two parties or two persons. Some covenants are quite mundane – for example, in my rental agreement, my landlord covenants to let me live in an apartment and to take care of maintenance, and I covenant to pay my rent timely and not trash the place. If I decide to move, after giving my landlord the stipulated notice, I can find another landlord easily enough, and my landlord can find another tenant easily enough. No harm, no foul. But some covenants are defining moments in our lives. One that may quickly come to mind is the set of promises or the covenant that a couple make to one another at a wedding or ceremony of union – promises to to love, honor, and cherish one another for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, so long as both shall live. Having made this covenant, it is understood that the couple has committed to stand by one another not just when it’s convenient, but through all the good and bad that life may throw at them, and even through the hurt and disappointment that they may inadvertently or intentionally inflict on one another. All that the couple does from that time forward is done in the context of that set of promises.
And even this level of commitment is exceeded by the commitment that God offers in God’s covenant with Abraham and Sarah. When God first appears to Abraham, we’re told that Abraham is 75 years old, that Abraham and Sarah had no children and indeed that Sarah could not have children. God promised Abraham and Sarah many descendents, and a land for their descendents to inhabit. By the time of today’s reading from Genesis, some 25 years have passed. At various points Abraham has despaired that his servant Eleazar of Damascus would be his heir, and at Sarah’s suggestion tried to sort of help God out by sleeping with his servant Hagar, who gave birth to his son Ishmael. And yet God repeatedly reassures Abraham that he and his wife Sarah will give birth to a son who will have many descendents. In today’s reading, God puts a timeline on his promise: the waiting is almost over. By this time next year, Sarah will have a son. In a section from Genesis that was not read, Abraham’s response to this covenant was that he and his male descendents would be circumcised, in a sense literally writing the covenant indelibly into their flesh. So, like a marriage covenant, God’s covenant with Abraham and Sarah and their descendents define who they will be to one another from that time forward. From this time forward they’re stuck with each other. Even though Abraham’s descendents were often unfaithful – the book of Hosea which we studied some months ago compares God’s relationship with God’s people to Hosea’s troubled relationship with a truly awful wife whose behavior he can hardly stand, and yet whom he can’t bring himself to abandon, and as one reads it one wonders “can this marriage be saved” – despite all that, and despite the consequences of the peoples’ unfaithfulness, God didn’t abandon God’s people – God was and is faithful.
In our reading from Paul’s letter to the church at Rome, Paul wrote the early Christian movement, wrote the church – indeed, wrote us - into the covenant as being among those who share the faith of Abraham, among those whom God will not abandon. The future of the early church was at least as precarious as the future of Abraham and Sarah. There were no TV ministries in those days, no megachurches – the early Christian movement consisted of house churches scattered here and there in the Middle East and around the Mediterranean Sea, many of the latter planted by Paul and his followers. As God called an elderly, childless couple to become mother and father of multitudes, God called a tiny number of people, ostracized by synagogue and persecuted by empire – a tiny number of people willing to live by Jesus’ words to take up their cross and follow him, a tiny number of people willing to lose their lives for the sake of Christ and the Gospel - to spread the good news of the Gospel, and in the Book of Acts, even their opponents described them as those who have been turning the world upside down.
As God called Abraham and Sarah, and as God called Paul and the early church, so God calls us, the members of Emanuel United Church of Christ. Like Abraham and Sarah and their descendents, we are defined by God’s covenant with us. Though we inhabit many different identities, wear lots of different hats – parent, child, spouse, partner, employee, customer, citizen, voter, neighbor – our deepest identification is that made at our baptism. By our baptismal covenant with God and the church as we or our sponsors on our behalf vow to renounce the powers of evil, to profess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and to be his disciple, through the covenant of baptism we are defined as children of God, disciples of Christ, members of Christ’s church. In the sacrament of communion in which we will participate in a few minutes, in sharing bread and wine we share in the covenant. Our life together as members of Emanuel United Church of Christ is also defined by covenant – your covenant as members of Emanuel Church to worship and fellowship and minister and do church together, the mutual covenant between us as pastor and congregation, our congregation’s covenant with the United Church of Christ, and the covenant of the United Church of Christ with us.
Paul wrote that God’s covenant with Abraham and Sarah was not for them alone, but for the early Christian churches as well. In the same way, God’s covenant with us in baptism, our life together as Emanuel Church, is not for ourselves alone, but for our neighbors near and far. Like those early house churches, there aren’t a whole lot of us – we gathered here today probably have as many folks as those small gatherings did, though our house is a bit larger than theirs would have been. Like Abraham and Sarah, some of us are getting on in years, have been celebrating our 39th birthday for decades now. But God who called Abraham and Sarah to be father and mother of nations, God who called the early disciples to turn the world upside down, also calls us to spread Good News. In a world that proclaims the reign of tanks and bombs, the reign of wealth, the reign of empire; in a country which proclaims the reign of consumer goods, the reign of stuff - we are to spread the Good News of the Reign of God.
God called Abraham to go from his country and his kindred to a land that God would show him. As a congregation, we, too, are on a journey. As a congregation, we may have to leave what is familiar to go to the place God has called us. We won’t be much of a blessing if our identity as Emanuel church is just to huddle here behind closed doors on Fillmore Street. We are called to be a channel for God’s blessings, not a storage tank.
When we leave here, the good news goes with us, and as the good news goes with us, perhaps others will be attracted to join us in proclaiming good news to others. Through our support of the Bridesburg Council of Churches Food Cupboard and our commitment to Our Church’s Wider Mission, we bring good news to folks in our neighborhood and around the world that we may never meet in person.
I’ll close with an old Sunday School song
“Father Abraham had many sons (and daughters)
How many children had Father Abraham
Well, I am one of them, and so are you
And look what we can do.”
Amen.
Our readings from Genesis and Romans deal with the word covenant. A covenant is a promise from one party to another. Last week’s reading from Genesis included God’s promise to, or covenant with, Noah and his family and with every creature on earth, that God would never again destroy all life on earth in a flood. This is the first covenant mentioned in Scripture.
Covenants often involve a mutual set of promises between two parties or two persons. Some covenants are quite mundane – for example, in my rental agreement, my landlord covenants to let me live in an apartment and to take care of maintenance, and I covenant to pay my rent timely and not trash the place. If I decide to move, after giving my landlord the stipulated notice, I can find another landlord easily enough, and my landlord can find another tenant easily enough. No harm, no foul. But some covenants are defining moments in our lives. One that may quickly come to mind is the set of promises or the covenant that a couple make to one another at a wedding or ceremony of union – promises to to love, honor, and cherish one another for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, so long as both shall live. Having made this covenant, it is understood that the couple has committed to stand by one another not just when it’s convenient, but through all the good and bad that life may throw at them, and even through the hurt and disappointment that they may inadvertently or intentionally inflict on one another. All that the couple does from that time forward is done in the context of that set of promises.
And even this level of commitment is exceeded by the commitment that God offers in God’s covenant with Abraham and Sarah. When God first appears to Abraham, we’re told that Abraham is 75 years old, that Abraham and Sarah had no children and indeed that Sarah could not have children. God promised Abraham and Sarah many descendents, and a land for their descendents to inhabit. By the time of today’s reading from Genesis, some 25 years have passed. At various points Abraham has despaired that his servant Eleazar of Damascus would be his heir, and at Sarah’s suggestion tried to sort of help God out by sleeping with his servant Hagar, who gave birth to his son Ishmael. And yet God repeatedly reassures Abraham that he and his wife Sarah will give birth to a son who will have many descendents. In today’s reading, God puts a timeline on his promise: the waiting is almost over. By this time next year, Sarah will have a son. In a section from Genesis that was not read, Abraham’s response to this covenant was that he and his male descendents would be circumcised, in a sense literally writing the covenant indelibly into their flesh. So, like a marriage covenant, God’s covenant with Abraham and Sarah and their descendents define who they will be to one another from that time forward. From this time forward they’re stuck with each other. Even though Abraham’s descendents were often unfaithful – the book of Hosea which we studied some months ago compares God’s relationship with God’s people to Hosea’s troubled relationship with a truly awful wife whose behavior he can hardly stand, and yet whom he can’t bring himself to abandon, and as one reads it one wonders “can this marriage be saved” – despite all that, and despite the consequences of the peoples’ unfaithfulness, God didn’t abandon God’s people – God was and is faithful.
In our reading from Paul’s letter to the church at Rome, Paul wrote the early Christian movement, wrote the church – indeed, wrote us - into the covenant as being among those who share the faith of Abraham, among those whom God will not abandon. The future of the early church was at least as precarious as the future of Abraham and Sarah. There were no TV ministries in those days, no megachurches – the early Christian movement consisted of house churches scattered here and there in the Middle East and around the Mediterranean Sea, many of the latter planted by Paul and his followers. As God called an elderly, childless couple to become mother and father of multitudes, God called a tiny number of people, ostracized by synagogue and persecuted by empire – a tiny number of people willing to live by Jesus’ words to take up their cross and follow him, a tiny number of people willing to lose their lives for the sake of Christ and the Gospel - to spread the good news of the Gospel, and in the Book of Acts, even their opponents described them as those who have been turning the world upside down.
As God called Abraham and Sarah, and as God called Paul and the early church, so God calls us, the members of Emanuel United Church of Christ. Like Abraham and Sarah and their descendents, we are defined by God’s covenant with us. Though we inhabit many different identities, wear lots of different hats – parent, child, spouse, partner, employee, customer, citizen, voter, neighbor – our deepest identification is that made at our baptism. By our baptismal covenant with God and the church as we or our sponsors on our behalf vow to renounce the powers of evil, to profess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and to be his disciple, through the covenant of baptism we are defined as children of God, disciples of Christ, members of Christ’s church. In the sacrament of communion in which we will participate in a few minutes, in sharing bread and wine we share in the covenant. Our life together as members of Emanuel United Church of Christ is also defined by covenant – your covenant as members of Emanuel Church to worship and fellowship and minister and do church together, the mutual covenant between us as pastor and congregation, our congregation’s covenant with the United Church of Christ, and the covenant of the United Church of Christ with us.
Paul wrote that God’s covenant with Abraham and Sarah was not for them alone, but for the early Christian churches as well. In the same way, God’s covenant with us in baptism, our life together as Emanuel Church, is not for ourselves alone, but for our neighbors near and far. Like those early house churches, there aren’t a whole lot of us – we gathered here today probably have as many folks as those small gatherings did, though our house is a bit larger than theirs would have been. Like Abraham and Sarah, some of us are getting on in years, have been celebrating our 39th birthday for decades now. But God who called Abraham and Sarah to be father and mother of nations, God who called the early disciples to turn the world upside down, also calls us to spread Good News. In a world that proclaims the reign of tanks and bombs, the reign of wealth, the reign of empire; in a country which proclaims the reign of consumer goods, the reign of stuff - we are to spread the Good News of the Reign of God.
God called Abraham to go from his country and his kindred to a land that God would show him. As a congregation, we, too, are on a journey. As a congregation, we may have to leave what is familiar to go to the place God has called us. We won’t be much of a blessing if our identity as Emanuel church is just to huddle here behind closed doors on Fillmore Street. We are called to be a channel for God’s blessings, not a storage tank.
When we leave here, the good news goes with us, and as the good news goes with us, perhaps others will be attracted to join us in proclaiming good news to others. Through our support of the Bridesburg Council of Churches Food Cupboard and our commitment to Our Church’s Wider Mission, we bring good news to folks in our neighborhood and around the world that we may never meet in person.
I’ll close with an old Sunday School song
“Father Abraham had many sons (and daughters)
How many children had Father Abraham
Well, I am one of them, and so are you
And look what we can do.”
Amen.
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