Lectionary Readings: Exodus 20:1-17 Psalm 19 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 John 2:13-22
The heavens are telling the glory of God, so we join our songs of praise with al of creation. we praise and adore
A couple of years ago, one of my churches decided to have a spring-clean of the entire, very large building. On the appointed day and army of volunteers came armed with feather dusters and polish, mop and bucket, broom and dust pan. Yet none of them turned up with a whip! When Jesus came to the temple he decided it was looking just a little mucky, and promptly set about spring cleaning; and according to St John’s Gospel, made a whip out of cords to drive out all the offenders. One of the best paintings I have ever seen on the Purification of the Temple was by Jacopo Bassano, 1570; it is a scene of absolute mayhem.
The story is one of a few told by all four gospel writers (Matthew 21:12-17, Mark 11:15-19, and Luke 19:45-48) of how Jesus entered the temple and overturned tables, quoting two great Old Testament prophets. From Isaiah 56:7, we hear: ‘my house shall be called a house of prayer’ and from Jeremiah 7:11: ‘you have made it a den of robbers.’ Needless to say, this action intensifies the desire among Jewish leaders to silence Jesus, indeed to destroy him (Mark 11:18; Luke 19:47). John puts it right at the beginning of his gospel. It is as if to remind us that the great God of wonders is revealed in the signs that Jesus performed: – like the water into wine at the wedding in Cana, where the joy of the kingdom of God is seen bursting through dry ritualistic expressions of faith.
The Gift of the Commandments
So why did the Temple need such a powerful spring clean? Well, it seemed so far away from what piety should have looked like. So, to discover what faith should have looked like, we need to return to the gift of the Ten Commandments (– yes! I did say gift!)
For the covenant people of God, all those centuries ago the commandments spoke of the grace of God. They served as a reminder that the world is divided into the poor and the rich, those who long for freedom, and those who have freedom but don’t know what to do with it; those who long for God to come and bring justice, and those who fear that God just might do such a thing. And in the book of Exodus comes a reminder that God reaches out to those for whom freedom is a dream, and to those who sense that freedom is becoming a curse. So the Ten Commandments are a gift to those who have been set free, showing them how they can keep their freedom. They are not an assault course, a barrier to be overcome in order to gain freedom. Freedom is a gift from God, not something that can be earned by years of striving. The commandments are not a prison in which God places people, nor are they a straitjacket to prevent them from getting above themselves. God has done what Israel could not do for itself – God gave the freedom in the crossing of the Red Sea. And God gave gives the people a second gift – the means of keeping that freedom. It is a process of revelation, where the people begin to catch sight of who God is, and the nature of the freedom given.
As a child I learned the commandments in verse form, which is a really useful aide memoire:
You shall have no gods but Me;
before no idol bend the knee.
Take not the name of God in vain;
nor dare the Sabbath Day profane.
Give both your parents honour due.
Take heed that you no murder do.
Abstain from words and deeds unclean;
steal not, though you are poor and mean.
Tell not a wilful lie, nor love it.
What is your neighbour’s do not covet.
The Ten Commandments fall neatly into two halves with the first 4 telling us about our relationship with God and the last 6 about our relationship with other people. So, they are correctly summarised when quoting Scripture Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:29-31
Temple spring cleaning naturally centres mostly around the first half of the commandments, which is about our relationship with God. It would not be unreasonable then, to follow St Paul’s analogy of the temple when writing to the church at Corinth, and describing individual believers as God’s temple:
16Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? 17If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple. (1 Corinthians 3:16)
Loving God
We are the temple of the living God. This is a tremendous thought and privilege, so let’s look at what might sometimes prevent us from loving the Lord our God with all our heart and mind and strength.
According to the commandments there are four alternatives to worshipping God.
- Worship a different God.
There is no elaboration here, because none is needed : the choice is yours. But the reminder for the ancient Israelites was that this God had brought them out of Egypt, this God was their deliverer. And the reminder for us today runs along parallel lines: this is the God from whom grace flows richly and freely.
2. Make an idol.
This was really easy to spot in the wilderness a great shiny golden calf glittering in the sunlight – Moses was feared to have deserted his people so they made the infamous golden calf and worshipped it. But how do you spot an idol today? I sometimes think that it is probably like spotting an eclipse. We know that to look at the full moon is to observe a very large object. But it is also possible to wriggle into another position and discover the whole moon can be hidden behind a building or indeed a leaf. I think an idol may well be the much small object that obscures our view of God, the thing that distracts us from serving the God revealed to us in Jesus Christ.
3. Worship an idol
And when we worship something much smaller than God, we lose our freedom and return to slavery. People unwittingly worship all sorts of amazing things; pop bands, cars and other belongings, work, socialising, even church. It is clear that from the list I chose, many things are good in their own right, but mostly they are simply objects, or means to an end.
4. Trivialise God.
Whilst much is frequently said about blasphemy on this third commandment, the real crux of the matter is that ‘taking the name of God in vain’ has much more to do with our treatment of God. For the Israelites and many other societies, your name actually tells people about your character. Some names in the English language still do this, and I guess some of you know the meaning of you name.
But implicit in the divine name are characters of holiness, justice, righteousness, loving kindness and peace (I could go on, but I guess that is enough for now!) So we shouldn’t ruin the character of God : our words and deeds should reflect God’s good name. It is a little bit like those school trips which always with the admonition for appropriate behaviour … to uphold the honour of the school’s good name.
It seems to me that much of modern society and particularly the media are determined to trivialise God in this sense, by demeaning the divine character and reducing God to a parody.
Should Christians sit by and say nothing?
Temple Cleaning
I think it was in this sense that Jesus could no longer sit by and say nothing about the temple. It wasn’t so much that the traders were in the temple – for they performed a valid function supplying the means for sacrifice.
The spring clean that Jesus performed achieved a much more important task: it dealt with people ruining God’s good character – There were frequent issues concerning overcharging or selling less than perfect goods; the whole thing had become corrupt and was one big rip-off.
Secondly, it was carried out in a part of the temple where Gentiles were permitted, they couldn’t go any further in, there was an ‘us’ and a ‘them’ and with all the noise, the crowding and the smell, who could truly find God’s presence there?
How does this relate to the image of mortal human beings being the temple of God, the place of the indwelling Holy Spirit; our own temple spring-clean? Where do we truly experience God, what crowds God out of our lives? In other words, what do we allow to become idols and thereby rob God of time and worship?
Perhaps Lent is the perfect opportunity to examine the rituals and practices in our own lives – both secular and sacred – to keep those that are life giving and lead to God and remove those that are not.
When we turn away from you, Lord forgive. When we forget just how much you have done for us, Lord forgive. When we allow other things to take your place in our lives, Lord forgive. When our words and deeds cause pain to our neighbours, Lord forgive. We our careless use of resources impacts the lives of others, Lord forgive. In your power and your wisdom, dear Lord, forgive. Amen
Earlier this week, I watched a news item concerning the resilience of the children of the Yemen as they sit amongst the rubble of their former school and continued to hold classes. And I saw the release of nearly 300 abducted Nigerian school girls. So as our own children begin to return to lessons in the class room, our prayers are for children everywhere.
Lord, when you called a child to stand among your disciples, you invited us to reflect on who is truly important. So, for children who can't wait to get back to school, and those who fear it, we pray a blessing. For children who sit in the rubble with little of the comforts of life, we pray for wisdom to grow in grace. For children, used as pawns, by those who cannot see their true value, we pray for security. Gracious God, your care for the weak and vulnerable, is astounding. Help us to reach out and find ways of sharing that great love with our neighbours here and far away. We ask this in Christ's name. Amen
Worship at home 