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The
Third Sunday In Lent
Readings:
Exodus 20:1-17; Psalm 19:7-14; 1 Corinthians 1:22-25; John 2:13-22 “The message
of the cross is foolishness,” says Paul.
The very thought of the cross as a symbol of Christian faith
confronted the values of Paul’s worldview.
The claim of the Christian church was unthinkable to the Jews.
They were waiting for the Messiah.
They certainly did not recognize it embodied in the life of
Christ. They expected a figure of power, one who would free them from
the tyranny of Rome. They
were looking for a king riding on a horse, not Christ hanging on a
cross. The Greeks too
had expectations about God. They
loved oratory and rhetoric. For
them, God was a concept, not someone with whom you had a personal
relationship. They
approached God through the rational, through the philosophical.
So Christ, and particularly the cross made no sense to them. Even for us, as
far removed as we are from the horror of crucifixion, the cross is
foolishness. Power and
authority are the way of our world. No matter how you dress it up, coat it in gold,
make it a work of art, turn it into jewellery, it is foolishness… but
it is God’s foolishness. Jesus’ action
in the temple is a fine example of God’s foolishness.
Imagine the scene! With the approach of Passover, Jesus went up
to Jerusalem to the temple. The
outer court of the temple was a huge area, big enough to house a few
football stadiums. In this outer court were crowds of people, all vying to
change their money into the currency acceptable in the temple.
Once changed, they went off to purchase birds or animals for
sacrifice. The area was
usually closely guarded by soldiers. It was business
as usual as Jesus entered the temple.
What a commotion ensued when he took action! He made a whip of
cords and used it to drive out the animals.
He poured out the coins of the moneychangers, overturning tables
in the process. The scene was one of total chaos. What was he thinking! The very anger of Jesus in doing what
he did! What was his objection? In
this challenge of the status quo, is he protesting a system that places
intermediaries between the people and God? It seems likely
that his action expressed disapproval of what the temple had become.
Jesus knew the law. He
lived the commandments. As
a Jew he understood that the commandments were about not doing violence
to loyalties. He knew they
were about building good relationships with other people and with God.
They were about ending injustice in society. Where we accept the commandments as the basis of Western
moral conduct, for the Hebrew people and for Jesus it was about creating
relationships that did not exploit.
God had freed them from slavery in Egypt.
God gave them the freedom to figure out how the rules applied to
their daily lives. God
provided the promise of how they could turn around their previous life
and live as God’s chosen people. Seeing exploitation, taking place
within the religious institution must have offended Jesus at his roots.
Is he hoping to bring about a single-handed reformation of the temple?
Whatever the reason, his was a deliberate and passionate act of
protest that was bound to lead to trouble. It was not a
wise thing to do. Why did he not write a letter to the authorities, or talk
quietly to a few of the people in private.
The fact is, Jesus was thinking from God’s point of view. He was making God’s point as clearly as he could.
Making that point, foolish thought it may seem, was worth getting
into trouble. What foolishness
it is to buy into the nonsense that Jesus, the son of a carpenter turned
preacher could do any good. Yet
that is what we believe as Christians. What foolishness
it is to believe that a God of love reigns over this fractured,
violence-ridden world of ours. Yet it is at the heart of what we believe. What foolishness
it is to think that God cares about starving millions, the deprived, the
poor, the downtrodden, the victims of society.
Yet that is what we proclaim as Christians. What foolishness
it is to insist that we have a personal relationship with God, that God
is in our midst caring for us, that God is personally concerned about
each of us. Yet that is
what keeps us going through all the difficult patches of life. And if we really
do believe in the saving act of Christ, then the real foolishness is
that we are not acting on it, that we are not working to transform our
world. The suffering Jesus
dying on the cross turns the tables on power.
The cross becomes a symbol of love broken and poured out for all.
We become bread for a hungry world. There is much we
could learn from Jesus and his table turning tactics, for there are many
injustices at work in our society. There is much we could learn about
living passionately. Are we
passionate enough to challenge the systems of the Church and the world?
Are we passionate enough to become advocates for the poor and for
those in need? Are we passionate enough to speak out wherever there is
injustice? Are we
passionate enough to challenge a world where war is condoned because it
is economically practical? Lent
is surely an appropriate time to take a good look at ourselves, at our
motives. It should happen
for each of us on a personal level.
Lent is a time, first of all to test our own lives.
What barriers and stumbling blocks to a close relationship with
God have we allowed to enter our lives?
How are we living out our covenant with God? It should happen
on a corporate level. What
marketplaces do we make of the church of God?
What abuses are made in God’s name? And when we have
examined our motives, then we need to do something to change them, to
turn the tables on them. I believe passionately that armed with our Christian faith we
can change the world. Our
prayers make a difference. They
can bring about healing to this fractured world.
They can change our hardened hearts and help us to live as
brothers and sisters. What are the
issues we live with daily here in Mississauga for which you have a
passion? Is it related to
youth? We know that this
part of the GTA has a higher percentage of young people than any other.
Youth violence is not relegated to the City of Toronto.
It happens where young people gather.
Here in Meadowvale we have lost children to the violence of the
streets. Drugs are bought and sold on our doorstep.
How do we support groups like the DAM who work with troubled
youth? How do we keep our
young people safe? Or maybe your
passion is for children who live in poverty in the midst of wealth.
That too is present in our fair city.
It is more hidden than in many places.
Our poor are working poor, people working multiple part time jobs
at minimum wage to support their families.
Our government gives families money for their children and then
takes it back in the form of claw backs.
How can we become advocates for the poor?
Isn’t that what the gospel calls us to be? Is your passion
homelessness? Once again here it is more hidden. But lack of affordable housing is more and more an issue in
our city. It takes seven
years of waiting to get into subsidized housing.
That kind of statistic means slum landlords and substandard
housing. The cross is
foolishness. But it is
God’s foolishness. During
this Lenten season let us embrace its foolishness.
Let us take up the cross and follow Jesus.
Let our faith make a real difference in our lives.
Amen.
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