John
2:13-22
This familiar story from the
Gospel of John creates great images in our mind: Jesus on a rampage in the
temple courtyard, tossing aside tables and money and freeing animals from their
cages; sheep running loose in the courtyard; money changers struggling to scoop
up coins before others could steal it.
Jesus enters the temple and
looks around. He sees an outdoor market in progress, with some vendors exchanging
foreign money into temple money. The temple money is then used to purchase
animals for sacrifice from other vendors. Merchants of other goods – perhaps bread
and tunics and pottery -- take advantage of the opportunity and set up their
own materials for purchase.
The atmosphere is not one of
reverence, but of commercialism. The vendors try to make as much money as they
can at the seasonal festivals, just as merchants today hope to make a lot of
money during holiday sales. Jesus is angry that people are making money from
the worship of God.
Jesus then makes a strange
claim. If you destroy this temple, in three days I will raise it up again. We
all know how long it takes to build anything -- the permits themselves take
forever! -- so this statement would puzzle us, too.
That is, until we realize that Jesus
is saying that his body is the temple. For the Jews, this is blasphemy! It sets
the tone for the rest of the Gospel, and for Jesus’ life and ministry.
From this day on, Jesus will
refer to the intimate relationship between God the Father and himself as one
being. Since Jesus is the temple of God, and the incarnation of God,
God-with-skin-on, there is no need for a building to contain God. The physical
temple can be torn down, because God, like Elvis, has left the building.
We as a congregation need a
building; we need a place to worship and teach and from which to serve the people
of our community. We may call this building God’s house, but it is not the only
place where God resides. God resides in the churches up and down the street,
and in towns and cities around the world. But God does not just reside in
buildings; God also resides in the world around us, and God’s Spirit resides
within each of us. It is we who take God to our neighbors.
We do that in lots of ways: we
offer a hug and a tissue and a prayer to someone in distress. We bring food and
personal items for the food pantry; we give extra so those in need can get
basic dental work. We teach children more than how to read and do math; we
teach them they are loved and valued. We offer rides and shopping and other
help to those who can no longer do it for themselves.
We have buildings and land so they
can be used for God’s purposes in our community. We make quilts and fill
shoeboxes here. We have parties here. We have Vacation Bible School here this
summer.
Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts meet
here on week nights, and gather here before camping events. We used to have an
AA group meet here; I would love to have them back again. We are hoping to clear
the woods enough to put in a prayer path through them, for the whole community
to use. We work to find ways to take Jesus to the community inside and outside
of the buildings.
We are not the only ones who do
this. A couple of weeks ago, members of one of the churches in the area were
standing at the corners of Deltona and Citrus Springs Blvd. They had signs
displaying the church name near each group of members. Since it’s a 4-way stop
it was easy for them to offer a bottle of water to the people in each vehicle.
No strings attached – just a bottle of water offered by some other Christians
in the area.
Yesterday, as I sat in my
recliner working on this message, the doorbell rang. It was two women from the
Jehovah’s Witnesses. They introduced themselves, invited me to an event about
Jesus, and left a flyer about the event. I said thank you, accepted the flyer,
and the women left.
These are simple, essentially
non-intrusive ways to take Jesus to the people. There was no preaching, no
insistence I agree to anything. It was simply a bottle of water on one case,
and an invitation in another. I was free to accept them or not. They did get my
attention, and if I weren’t already involved in a church, I might have followed
up on their invitations.
Other invitations have been
more intentional. I have told before the story of how I became involved in
church. I went to worship once in a while, maybe six or eight times a year.
Three different women on three different occasions invited me to a circle meeting.
The invitation that worked was the one that explained what happened and what
was in it for me if I went. “We’re a group of young mothers that get together
to talk about issues that concern us. We have a babysitter so we can enjoy our
time together. And, I’ll pick you up.”
This invitation reached out to
me, essentially from the community since I rarely went to worship, and pulled
me in. Once I entered the circle, I knew I had found a place to be and grow.
Jesus – God-with-skin-on – resides
here in our buildings when we come to worship and pray and study and play, and travels
with us wherever we go, because Jesus is with us through the Holy Spirit.
Where will you take Jesus this
week? To whom will you introduce him? It doesn’t take much, you know.
Will you take him home, so you
can pray with him each day, perhaps with a cup of coffee and a donut?
Will you take him to the
grocery store, where you can help a young mother put the groceries on the belt
while she manages the toddler?
Will you offer to pay for a
tooth filling for a poor person?
Will you be more intentional
about sharing Jesus and invite someone to worship or study or play here?
Will you pray that God will
show you the person Jesus wants to meet with next?
Please pray with me. Jesus, you
are our movable temple, our resurrected Lord. Help us take you with us,
wherever we go. We invite you to reach out to others through us, through our
actions, and our words, and our very lives which are also your holy temple. Amen
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