Jesus Evicts ‘Business-as-usual’

by Pat Lee

(Based on John 2:13-22; 1Corinthians1:18-25)

John, in this Gospel, records the event we’ve just heard after the wedding at Cana, where Jesus turned the water into wine, and just before Passover. But Matthew, Mark and Luke record the same event as happening closer to the crucifixion, apparently the final public act of Jesus in these three Gospels, and the ‘last straw’ for the authorities in making the decision to kill Jesus.
However, the final decision to kill Jesus in John’s gospel comes after the raising of Lazarus from death, so there seems to be a difference of opinion about the timing of these events. We are not told which is right … but they do confirm that the clearing of the temple happened, and when is not important in this reflection.

I make no apology for using an extract from a reflection (written by a Michael K. Marsh), because I think he sees more in this event than most of us have thought about before.

The author writes, “What do you think of the table-turning, animal-driving, whip-carrying Jesus? What do you imagine set him off that day? And what do we do with this story?
There was a time when I heard this story as being mostly about anger. Jesus got angry. I get angry. So it’s ok to get angry if you’re angry about the right thing. Maybe, but I think there is more to this story than that. I wonder if what we see Jesus doing might not be an expression of his deepest compassion for life, for the temple, for you and  for me.
There was a time when I thought Jesus was upset about the animals and the money changers being in the temple. Maybe, but again I think there is more to this story than that. I don’t think Jesus was surprised by the animals and the money changers. He grew up as a faithful Jew going to the temple. He didn’t show up this day and say, ‘Wow! There are animals and money changers in here. I didn’t know that. This is wrong.’
The animals and the money changers had always been there. ‘Business as usual’ meant changing Roman coins to temple coins, purchasing an animal, and offering a sacrifice. I think the ‘business as usual’ is the issue. The animals and the money changers are not the problem. They are the symptom that something else is going on.

“I think that Jesus went to the temple that day for one purpose and one intention: to throw out and overturn business-as-usual.
There are times when we need the tables of our lives overturned and the animals thrown out. It’s just so easy to fall into the trap of business as usual.

“Haven’t there been times in your life that business as usual was leaving you spiritually bankrupt, or you were just keeping on keeping on but nothing was changing? Business as usual can happen in friendships, marriages, parenting, work, or church.
There are many reasons and ways in which we fall into business as usual. There’s one thing, however, that I keep coming back to. Forgetfulness. Business as usual is born of forgetfulness.
It happens every time we forget the original beauty of creation, when we forget the God-given dignity of humanity, ours and others, when we forget that we have been created in the image and likeness of God, when we forget that after creation ‘God saw everything that he had made was very good,’ when we forget the grace and possibilities bestowed upon us at our baptisms, when we forget that ‘the Word became flesh and lived among us’, and when we forget that we have all received grace upon grace.

“When we forget that we are the temple of God, the very residence of God, life can easily become a series of transactions. Relationships and intimacy are lost. Priorities get rearranged. Making a living replaces living a life, and the life we have becomes a marketplace rather than a place for meeting the holy in ourselves and one another.

“That’s what Jesus is overturning and driving out of the temple. Here’s why I say that. When the authorities ask for a sign from Jesus for what he is doing he says, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’” [End of Marsh’s excerpt.]

The authorities don’t understand. They are thinking of a stone and mortar temple, but Jesus is talking about a flesh and blood temple, the temple of human life, his life. ‘In three days’ makes us think of what happened ‘on the third day’, the resurrection, a new life, a new beginning, a rebirth.
We have the benefit of knowing from God’s word that this story is prophetic, and came true, but the disciples didn’t know that at the time this event was happening.

The authorities, who were considered to be the wise ones of the time, were confused by Jesus’s words. The reading in 1 Cor 1:18 says, “For it is written: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” And that is exactly what Jesus did when the authorities asked him for a sign.
The disciples didn’t understand either, at first. It wasn’t until after the resurrection that they remembered what he had told them would happen, when he had said the words, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” Then they believed the Scripture, and the words that Jesus had spoken.

Do you believe the words that Jesus spoke?

 Last week we looked at the story of the transfiguration. God spoke from the cloud saying, “This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to him.”
We need to believe the Scriptures ourselves, and listen to what Jesus is saying to us.

He Came Down

by Joan Fanshawe

(Based on Mark 9:2-9; Gen 17:1-7, 15-16)

In the 21st Century, when we like to think there’s a scientific explanation for everything, it’s hard to even imagine the fantastical experience recounted in today’s Gospel reading, let alone incorporate it into our faith experience. For the followers of Jesus, familiar as they would have been with their Jewish history, this also was not at all a commonplace experience, but extremely significant, relating to mountain top experiences recorded in their Scriptures about both Elijah and Moses.
Like Peter, I would have been terrified and wouldn’t have known what to say. In his amazement at the scene before him Peter babbles about building a shelter for each one. Most commentators come down hard on that, which seems a bit harsh, but in Mark’s gospel there are several instances where the disciples are mentioned as ‘not getting it’. Rather like us too, and we have the benefit of hindsight.   For myself, 2000 years later, I hardly know what to say now about this extraordinary mountain top scenario, where in the midst of a swirling cloud the words ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!’ are spoken. The same words heard at the time Jesus was baptised by John are heard again.

When we met for our Lent reflection last Wednesday, we read this Gospel passage, sat with it, heard it again, then, using a process called Lectio Divina ….. each one of us in turn spoke a word or a phrase that had stood out for us in the reading.
The words that came up included “He did not know what to say”, “This is my son, the Beloved”, “only Jesus”, “up a high mountain”, and “listen to him”. After we had heard the verses read again, we gave thanks for God’s presence with us made known through Jesus who ‘came back down’.

This story, like so many stories in the gospels, is easier to describe than to explain and I’m not going to analyse it – but after reading several commentaries I’m happy to share these thoughts which are prompted by the final verse:
“As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.”

I found David Lose, a senior Lutheran pastor in America, was also wrestling with this Transfiguration passage along with how to explain the Creed to his young confirmation class. What David thinks is so significant about this little verse, and so easy to overlook, is simply that it reports that after all of what occurred on the mountaintop … Jesus came back down. Down to where the rest of the disciples are, down to where we are, down to the challenges of life ‘here below’, down to the problems and discomforts and discouragements that are part and parcel of our life in this world.

Down … to his crucifixion.

Jesus orders them not to tell anyone “until after the Son of Man has risen from the dead”. Resurrection, of course, is a hopeful note. However, it does not just imply, but pretty much necessitates, death!

Jesus came down. Only Jesus. The beloved son – listen to him.

David Lose continues: “This is also the heart of the Christian faith. God in Christ came down to be with us and for us, to take on our human life, that we might not simply exist, but flourish, not simply have life, but have it abundantly.
“That we might understand that the God who created and still sustains the vast cosmos, not only knows that we exist, but cares. Cares about our ups and downs, cares about our hopes and disappointments, cares about our dreams and despair, cares about all the things we care about, promising to be with us, to walk alongside us, to never, ever let us go, and in time to redeem us and bring us into the company of saints.”

“This is my Son the Beloved – listen to him” – this message is for us today as well.

Jesus came back down that mountain to continue telling and demonstrating his message of God’s care for all people, and like Abraham, another extraordinary story … we can have faith that even in the long view, in all the ups and downs of life, God is with us.

Let us pray:
Jesus said, ‘You ought always to pray and not to faint.’
So we do not pray for easy lives;
we pray to be stronger women and men.
And we do not pray for tasks equal to our powers,
but for power equal to our tasks.
Then, the doing of our work will be no miracle –
we will be the miracle.
Then every day, whatever that day brings,
may we wonder at ourselves, and the richness of life
which has come to us by the grace of God.

Amen.

(Prayer written by Julia Esquivel)

The Joys of Lent

by Barry Pollard

(Based on Mark 1:9-15; Ps 25:1-9; 1 Pet 3:18-22)

On Lent, one source explained that, “Lent is typically observed with solemnity and preparation for commemorating Jesus’s death and resurrection at Easter. From Ash Wednesday until Easter Sunday, it has been customary to fast or abstain from something. Much like how we prepare for significant events in our personal lives, such as weddings or birthdays, Lent calls for us to ready our minds and hearts to remember the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.”

If you have come from a background like mine, you might have already started some sort of Lenten fast. It was traditionally a time, growing up in the Catholic Church, when we ‘gave up’ something for Lent. I think my Mum’s perennial was biscuits and cakes. As kids we seemed always to be in a Lenten fast, as these were always in strict and limited supply!

From a child’s perspective, Lent fasting was a bit like ‘Offer it up for the Holy Souls’. It always sounded like an important and lofty thing to do. But we really had no grasp of what any of it was all about. And now, I have to admit to confusion as I read the explanations and machinations to make Lent into a ‘thing’.

I get it that Easter is coming but I have difficulty with prolonged periods of sombreness and people walking around with set faces. As Christians we know the joy of a risen Christ. Resurrection Sunday is a most joyous occasion. Scripture and our reflective Good Friday service bring home starkly the harsh reality of the crucifixion of Jesus, making that resurrection joy even more joyous! So much joy! So much joy!

“Lent calls for us to ready our minds and hearts to remember the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.”
I am sure that we are ready.

So, based on our Lenten readings, I have chosen to make the focus ‘the takeaways’ that might bring us, and others, foretastes of that Easter joy throughout Lent. I would like to steer us away from maudlin behaviour and sad faces. Lent can be just as meaningful with a positive outlook!

Let’s begin . . .

Today’s Gospel is a three-parter for me. I consider Mark’s style focussed and concise. Seven verses cover the baptism of Jesus, a forty day wilderness experience and a trip to Galilee to announce the start of his public ministry. Short as it is, it contains some very important waypoints for us.

Part One:
At the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River, the Holy Spirit splits the heavens to descend like a dove and hover above Him. And then Father God speaks directly to Jesus to tell Him he is a dearly loved Son who brings his Father great joy!
Comparing this brief account to that from Matthew’s Gospel, missing are the conversations between John the Baptist and Jesus, the scene-setting narrative. Mark gives us the bare facts.

Not many of us can remember our own baptisms but most of us have witnessed those of children, siblings and extended church family. I’d like to think that at our baptisms, God announced to the heavenly realms the same message: that each of us is acknowledged as one of God’s children, and that each of us is dearly loved, and we each bring joy to the Father. What a great start to our faith walk. What reassurance that surely must be.

Of course, I am not trying to mislead you that you are on par with Jesus, up there with him, but we know that we are given right standing with God through him. I do think that God is thrilled to have us join his Kingdom and endeavour to live Christ-like lives. Thrilled to the point of adoption!

And be reminded: Jesus, who knew no sin, stood in the Jordan River to show that he, like us, is called to repent and turn to God, to “carry out all that God requires”, according to Matthew’s version.

Part Two:
Following his baptism, according to Mark, Jesus was compelled by the Holy Spirit to go into the wilderness. Here he was tempted by Satan and in danger from wild animals. But holy angels took care of him. Are you wondering what he was tempted with? Are you wondering what animals threatened him? Do you ever wonder if the angels were those little fat baby ones favoured by the artists of old, or the three metre tall giants who lift crashed trucks off righteous mechanics?

See, short and direct as Mark is, he actually packs a lot in by leaving a lot out! It gets you thinking, trying to figure out the gaps. So Jesus was in the wilderness for forty days. And this event brought about Lent. The forty day period was considered preparation for the public ministry of Jesus – the real hard work.

“Lent calls for us to ready our minds and hearts to remember the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.” Recall if you will Matthew’s account of the wilderness period. Do you remember that in the desert wilderness, Jesus was confronting things that tested his mind and heart? But he wasn’t alone. He had the company of angels who cared for him and he had Scripture to use as a defence against Satan’s attacks.

Our minds and hearts can be readied in similar fashion – keeping holy company and absorbing the Word. Not a maudlin occupation or outcome, but surely a joyous one.

Part Three:
“The time promised by God has come at last!” Jesus announced. “The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!”

We have read about good news in various forms in the Old Testament but Isaiah’s prophesies are where we start to get a clearer understanding of what the good news is. So when Jesus makes the announcements recorded in Mark, he is indeed talking about himself! He will be bringing the Kingdom of God. It is about to be publicly released, and he has told those listening what they must do to be involved – repent of their sins and believe in Him.

The brevity of Mark’s telling gives opportunity to really dwell upon what was said and its implications. And here I think is one of the key points to trying to live a Christ-like life.

How long can you stay in a local club without paying your subscription? Not long I bet. To belong you have commitments and obligations. Most of the time, they are not onerous. They are just part and parcel of what you do. Fulfil the rules and you get to enjoy the experience. Well I reckon this is what Jesus was saying: If you want to be part of the Kingdom of God you need to get right-minded and believe in the cause – Jesus!

Because God knows our character, these pronouncements, getting right-minded and believing in the cause, are applicable for all time. Because we are human we will always face sin; therefore we will always need to be repenting. Because we face the pressures of the world constantly, our beliefs can waver. We will always need to be rebuilding our belief. Both require self-examination and re-alignment. But as long as we do it, we’re Kingdom members.

Theologians have summed up Mark’s Gospel as announcing Jesus as the Messiah and the Son of God, whose death and resurrection paid the penalty for our sins and achieved victory over Satan, sin and death. And today’s Gospel attests to most of that. Jesus is our saviour and redeemer. Praise God!

The reading from Peter’s letter adds to the argument: Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring us safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit. Peter explains that the water of baptism is a symbol of the cleansing going on within us when we repent. By standing in the water of the Jordan, a very public place, the baptised were proclaiming their allegiance to God. It is effective, Peter says, because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We get baptised once in the mainstream churches. (I did read about one group called the Manaeans who practise repeated immersions for purification.) Baptism for us, then, usually takes place in our infancy and so to a large extent the impact and significance is lost on us. I think there is a good case for holding back until we reach a stage of real engagement and understanding. Weren’t we so impressed with Lyndsay’s grandson Will standing up at the age of sixteen to be baptised. But, because we have only one baptism, our on-going prayers of confession and absolution in our services take on a heavier meaning. In a public place, we are proclaiming our allegiance to God again. These prayers need to be given our full attention so that they are genuine acts of repentance, our getting right again with God.

I see the Psalm reading today as a perfect place to conclude. We have been reflecting on adopting a different approach to Lent. I have been encouraging you to look past just readying ”our minds and hearts to remember the life, death and resurrection of Jesus”, towards a conscious attention to the joy that this brings. The Psalm is a joyful prayer of acknowledgment of a wonderful, supportive and loving God.

It makes a great personal prayer:

Lord, I give my life to you.
I trust in you, God, and will never be disgraced.
Show me the right path, Lord; point out the road for me to follow.
Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are my saviour.
I put my hope in you always.
I know your compassion and unfailing love.
You do not remember the rebellious sins of my youth, you are merciful.
Remember me always in the light of your unfailing love, Lord.

Amen

What a wonderful reassurance then, that I am a child of the Most High. Because, you know, in my humanness (my weakness) I still have issues and incidents that come to mind readily throughout a day causing doubt and dissonance – the stuff the Evil One thrives on! Is anyone here any different?

Can you see that repentance is such a powerful protection against this?

I read in my devotional this morning, based on Hosea 14, that:

Our repentance enables God to move into our lives with might and power.
The first thing that happens is that our waywardness is healed. The compulsive desire we have to go astray and do our own thing is checked and brought under His control. The second effect is that our lives become spiritually refreshed. ‘I will be like the dew to Israel’ God promises. Our roots go down further into the soil of God’s love, giving us a deeper foundation and greater stability. The third result is that our lives gain an attractiveness that was not there before. People sense we love them for their own sake, not for what they can do for us. The fourth consequence of repentance is that our new way of living encourages people to want to ‘dwell in our shade’. They like to be near us for they become aware that in our company they are being ministered to – not manipulated.

I started my reflection with a few thoughts about Lent and what it usually brings to mind. At last Wednesday’s service to mark Lent’s beginning, the excerpts chosen impressed me. Of all points, this stood out for me:
Commentator, Dan Clendenin wrote:
“I love Lent. It’s an entirely positive exercise, and believers are the ultimate optimists. Lent reminds me that I don’t need to be stuck in old ways of thinking and acting. Change and renewal are possible. I can wipe the mud off my glasses. Hit the reset button. I don’t need to wait for old age to magically impart a new perspective on what matters most and why.”

And, acknowledging the start of Lent, he went on, “So, as I kneel at the altar on Ash Wednesday, I’m grateful for the priest to rub the ashes on. Rub them on hard.”

Like Dan, let’s enthusiastically hit our reset buttons and focus on what matters most and why!

For this is what I came to do

by Joan Fanshawe

(Based on Mark 1:29-39; Isa 40:21-31; Ps 147)

The excerpt of ancient poetic and eloquent prophesy from the Isaiah reading is centuries, no thousands of years old – most likely addressed to the exhausted exiles in Babylon. Extolling God’s power with a message of comfort about God’s future for those who wait upon the Lord. Words of comfort through the ages to this day.

And the psalm – might be many years older. Hard to know and discover. It seems that when we look back into these ancient times we do tend to run them off the tongue much closer together than real time.
“God our creator and ongoing sustainer”, we’re told in this song of praise, “takes no pleasure in the strength of a horse or in human might but delights in those who fear him (or wait upon him) and trust in his unfailing love.” It is one of five such songs at the end of the book of Psalms, songs to be sung not just as personal praise and worship but as a means of inspiration to go out and share the message of God’s care for his people – the chosen race, Israel.

Each of today’s passages reveal something of the divine image, something of who God is – before, during and after Jesus’s earthly life.

How do we see God? What words would we use, here, today?

For many years now I’ve been receiving emails from Jim Taylor, a Canadian writer, editor and columnist in Kelowna, British Columbia – he sends out his weekly newspaper columns (Sharp and Soft Edges) as a blog to a wide range of people who have joined his emailing list. Often it’s a commentary on things of national or local interest, including musing on everyday happenings in his life in Kelowna where he’s a committed member of a United church congregation.
Jim, whose parents were missionaries in India through his childhood, is a life-long Christian.
Like many of us, his faith journey in the last third of his life has brought him to a different way of seeing and experiencing God in his life and he comments on that too.

People respond to the blog and last year a friend suggested that as an exercise he write down on one page what he now believed about God and on another page write down all the things he used to believe, or perhaps just took for granted, about God . Afterwards a few readers wrote in and asked why he didn’t say anything about Jesus. His response was simple – the exercise wasn’t about Jesus.

However their question kept nagging at him, so out came the sheets of paper again. Regards his current belief about God – that piece of paper contained just two words: “God is.”
The Jesus page has a few more words but before I share those let’s look at the Gospel passage and the epistle for today.

Last week’s Gospel story continues as we rejoin Jesus on the first day of his public ministry. He and the disciples leave the synagogue and go to the house of Simon Peter and Andrew, where on arrival they learn that Peter’s mother-in-law is in bed with a fever. When Jesus is told, he goes to her, takes her by the hand and lifts her up. Mark continues that “the fever left her and she began to serve them.”
Here I had to suppress a sigh of exasperation – the woman is healed so that the guys can be attended to?

Of course, I soon had to get over myself and accept that Mark writes at a time when women were invisible and infrequently named, but she is healed and this is demonstrated in that she resumes her role, doing what she would usually be doing when well.

What might be overlooked in the sparse story, that it would have been very much out of normal cultural practice for a man to touch a woman, take her hand and ‘lift her up’ as Jesus did.

Jesus went on to cross many cultural boundaries – causing outrage and infuriating the Jewish religious law keepers – leading eventually, of course, to his being turned over for trial and crucifixion.

Jesus begins his ministry as he intends to continue through healing and setting people free to enable them to live a full life.

One commentator noted the involvement of community in bringing the sick and troubled to Jesus and we hear that they did this on that evening after the Sabbath was over. To hear that the whole city gathered around the door is no doubt exaggeration but makes a mind boggling point. Imagine!

Before light the next morning Jesus sought a quiet place for a time of prayer. This is another point to take note of – we hear that Jesus regularly withdraws for prayer and contemplation. After being found by Peter, he then sets off for the neighbouring towns to continue preaching and healing. “For this is what I came to do,” he says when the disciples tell him that everyone is looking for him.

Through him, many hearing his teaching and seeing his acts of compassion come to know God in a new way. Some will follow him and walk with him all the way to the cross. (Three days later the first few will begin to understand what seemed like an end, was really just another beginning, God would continue to be revealed.)

Some years later Paul was writing to the churches in Corinth about what his experiences of God’s revelation in Jesus have taught him. He declares a faithful God who calls each of us to be a servant to others, to share that compassionate love – even with people of different cultures and backgrounds to our own. He is passionate in his approach, explaining that he has become “all things to all people – in order to share the Gospel and its blessings.” This is our Christian calling also, to do our best to respond and follow the example of love that God has revealed to us since before time began. It requires commitment, contemplation and prayer, sacrifice of our ego, stepping out of our comfort zone, the support of community … more we could name. The reward is the joy of God’s grace and promise to those who ‘wait upon the Lord’.

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases – new every morning.

Jim’s belief about Jesus? “Jesus shows me what God is like.” 

Thoughts from Pastor Steve Garnaas-Holmes:

You needn’t save the world.
It might just be a fever 
someone has, of flesh or heart,
a little thing.

The world around you
cries out for healing.
Possibly someone near you.

Take their hand.
Lift them up.
Receive their gifts.

This torn world is mended
one stitch
at a time.