Sunday
03/08/15 Freeville/Homer Ave UMC’s
Sermon Title:
“Don’t make my Father’s house a place of business”
Old Testament Lesson:
Exodus 20:1-17
New Testament
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:18-25
Gospel Lesson:
John 2:13-22
Friends, brothers and
sisters, welcome once again on this the Third Sunday in this the season of Holy
Lent, and this our Girl Scout Sunday. In this Season of Lent, we walk with
Christ for 40-days, as he heads ever closer to the cross. The cross upon which,
he will give up his life for us all. Yet while he will die on Good Friday, and while
he will be laid in the tomb, he will be risen on Easter morning.
This Sunday is also our annual Girl Scout Sunday in the
United Methodist Church. On this Sunday, we have the opportunity and the privilege
of honoring all Girl Scouts, and all Girl Scout leaders, both past and present.
Through this organization, many giving adults, help teach our young women
values, ethics, leadership skills, and morals, to lead a good, Godly, and just
life. They also sell some really good cookies to, if you haven’t put your order
in yet for this year!
This
morning though, I want to talk first about anger. Anger is one of our many
human emotions that we feel, like joy, and fear. A definition of anger that I
found from the Merriam-Webster online dictionary says that anger is: 1. “a
strong feeling of being upset or annoyed because of something wrong or bad: the
feeling that makes someone want to hurt other people, to shout, etc.: the
feeling of being angry,” 2. “a strong feeling of displeasure and usually of
antagonism,” and 3. “rage.”
How
many people here have ever felt angry? How many people have felt angry at some
point this week even?
Anger
is an emotion that we all feel sometimes, and for some us, we feel this emotion
more often than others. What do we do with our anger though? Further, is anger
a sin?
In
the book of James it says in 1:19: “You must
understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick
to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger;” (James 1:19, NRSV).
This morning in the gospel of John, Jesus approaches the
temple in Jerusalem with his disciples. As Jesus approaches the temple, he sees
what is going on, and he gets angry. Jesus gets angry. Is anger a sin though? Surely
anger can lead to us sinning, to us seeking vengeance, but is it always a sin?
Well
before we evaluate this situation of Jesus making a whip out of cords, driving out
all of the animals at the temple, and flipping over the tables of the money
changers, let’s first look at some of the historical facts.
Well,
it would seem that based upon the details of Jesus being at the temple in this
story in the gospel of John, and the other three gospels, that Jesus and his
disciples entered Jerusalem during the annual Jewish Passover holiday.
What
some of us might not know though, is that Jewish males that were over twenty
years of age were required during the Jewish holiday of Passover to pay what
was called a “Temple Tax.” This was done because it says in the Book of Exodus
30:13, “This is what each one who is registered
shall give: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel
is twenty gerahs), half a shekel as an offering to the Lord.” (Exodus 30:13).
In addition to this fact, one of my Bible commentary sources
said that this payment had to be made in the exact amount of a half-shekel,
meaning you could give a larger coin and get change from a money changer. In
getting this change though, the money changers at the temple charged a premium
to convert full-shekels into half-shekels. Further, if folks were paying in
foreign currency, then they often got charged even more. In this way, if one
had Roman currency with the picture of Caesar on it, well that was foreign
money of the empire that controlled Israel. As a result, only Jewish or Israeli
currency was allowed in the temple, and it had to be exactly a half-shekel.
In addition to this, my Bible commentary source also said
that only flawless and perfect looking animals could be sacrificed by the high
priests in ritual sacrifice to God. Of course these animals at the temple, were
sold at a premium, and some experts think historically that these animal sellers
and traders were very much connected to the families of the high priests. In
this way, the high priests and the animal traders and sellers, all made a good
profit on these animals during the Jewish Passover.
So these are the facts, and Jesus with his disciples, walked
into Jerusalem in the gospel of John today, and saw what I just told you.
~ Video Clip: From
the Gospel of John ~
Did Jesus sin in this gospel story then? Or was he using “Righteous
Anger,” as in acting in a holy way, towards his emotional response of anger? Further,
is a church like this, a sacred place, like the temple in Jerusalem was
supposed to be? Meaning, when we come into this church to worship, are we not
inhabiting sacred and Godly space?
Image if there
was a cover charge to get in here? To get into this sacred space? Imagine if
you had to know the right people, or do certain things to get into this church?
Could you imagine such hypocrisy? We know that the church exists because of all
the people like you who give, and we probably also know what the Bible says
about tithing. Yet what you give to God, what you give to God through this
church, is between you and God. As a pastor I never ever, ever, want to know
how much a person or a family is giving to God through this church, as I never
want to be influenced by money. Our church exists to share the hope and the
salvation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and because we believe in what God is
doing in the world, we give. We don’t give because there is an entrance fee, we
give because of who God is, and because of what God has done for us. We give,
because of how God is using us to build His kingdom here on earth, as we await
his kingdom to come.
This church then
is sacred ground, ground where generations of saints have trod, and it is
never, and I mean never, to become a market place. For this morning, Jesus
boldly told the high priests at the temple in Jerusalem, “Don’t make my Father’s
house a place of business.”
As we are
called to be holy and righteous people, we are then tasked with taking the
sacred love of God, of Jesus Christ, everywhere we go. Sacred space then, can
be anywhere. We have places of business, we have our “Market Places,” but as
Christians, we are called to be in the world, but not of the world. This
extends not only to the church, but to our homes, to our bodies, and to our souls.
These should all be sacred spaces.
In our
scripture from this morning, from the Book of Exodus, God gives Moses the
10-commandments on top of Mount Sinai in Egypt. Of these 10-commandments are of
course the commandment, “Do not steal,” and part of the tenth commandment,
which says, “Do not desire your neighbor’s house.”
Yet today, the
high priests, the animal traders and sellers, and the money changers, we making
money hand over fist, as poor Jews tried to atone and repent to the God of the
universe. To me, this is a sin.
I don’t know
about you, but when see some of the television preachers we have preaching
about feeding the poor and clothing the naked, and living in houses that cost millions
of dollars, I think, where did that preacher get all of that money? Further,
why does that preacher live like that, when they claim to serve God, and claim
to live the gospel of Jesus Christ, which commands us to care for the poor and
the needy? “Don’t make my Father’s house a place of business.”
To boil down
what the Apostle Paul said in his first Epistle or letter to the Corinthians,
he was saying our faith is enough. He said, “but we preach Christ crucified,
which is a scandal to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles. But to those who are
called—both Jews and Greeks—Christ is God’s power and God’s wisdom” (1 Cor.
2:23-24, NRSV).
The Apostle
Paul then ends this portion of the letter to the Corinthians by saying, “the
weakness of God is stronger than human strength” (1 Cor. 2:25b, CEB).
As I mentioned
already, in our gospel of John lesson from this morning, Jesus and his
disciples head into Jerusalem around the time of Jewish holiday of the
Passover. In Jesus seeing the animals penned and caged up, to be sold to
worshippers for animal sacrifices, and as he saw the money tables of the money
changers exchanging currencies for a premium, he grew angry. Jesus had emotion
towards what he saw.
Yet this
emotion, this anger, was not born out of vengeance towards any one person, as
scripture says the Jesus was angry at what had become of the great temple. At
what had become of the sacred space that supposedly was for all people that
wanted to worship God.
After Jesus is
done running around with a whip he made out of cords, probably to guide the animals
away, the high priests came out of the temple. I can imagine that the high
priests were angry at this point, and that they wanted to know why Jesus was
doing what he was doing. Jesus then said, “Don’t make my Father’s House a place of business.” Jesus’ disciples then quoted Psalm
69:9, which says, “It is zeal for your house that has consumed
me; the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me” (Ps. 69:9, NRSV).
The high priests then question Jesus’ authority to do such
things, and ask him to perform a miracle to prove his worth. Jesus then says, “Destroy
this temple and in three days I’ll raise it up” (John 2:19, NRSV).
The high priests then responded that it took forty-six years
to build the great temple in Jerusalem, but Jesus was talking about his body as
a temple. He again predicts his own death, and basically says, you will kill
me, and three days later I will rise from the dead.
Some people call this story, that is in all four of the
gospels of the New Testament, the “Cleansing of the Temple,” as Jesus cleansed
the temple of its sin. This gospel story can also challenge us to consider our temple,
this church, and how sacred it is, as well as how sacred we all are. It is our
duty then, to keep ourselves, our homes, and places like this sacred, holy, and
pure. It is also our duty to make sure that all people know, that they are
welcome in this scared place. That is, there is no entrance fee, as all are
welcome.
I would like to tell you a story, which is my own story about
someone trying to make God’s “house a place of business.” Here
is my story: so it was my second year of seminary, and at this point I was
doing pulpit supply. In this way, I would preach some Sundays in all different
places. One of these Sundays, I was asked to preach at a very large United
Methodist Church, down near Elmira. This church was so big, and is still one of
the biggest churches in our entire Upper New York United Methodist Church Conference.
In fact, it had a Saturday night service, two Sunday morning services, and I
believe the church had mid-week worship services, as well.
So
imagine me preaching to something like 200-300 people, with one of those little
stemmed microphones strapped to my face, and a huge projection screen behind
me. To say the least, I was nervous. I also told the senior pastor of this
church ahead of time, that I didn’t need to be paid to do the services for him.
Yet, the church did a free will offering for me at all three services. I had no
idea they would do this, and as a broke seminary student at the time, I am glad
that they went over my head and did that anyway. The donation helped with my
seminary expenses.
Yet
amidst the donations, I found a note. The note said something like, “I have the
answer to you seminary finances.” It also had scripture and phone number on it.
At first, I expected that the person who had wrote that note, had some sort of
ministry job or missionary job that he wanted me to consider.
Instead,
he solicited me to be salesman. Not only this, he wanted me to invest a good
chunk of my own money to buy into the business. I really tried to be patient
with him, but finally I got angry. I then said to him, “doesn’t it bother you
that are trying to make business deals during a church service?” “Doesn’t it
bother you that in this scared space that you are trying to make money?” This
person didn’t seem bothered by any of this at all.
Months
later, I was on a men’s spiritual retreat weekend with the senior pastor of the
church I preached at that Sunday. I expressed to this pastor that I felt that
this person, “made God’s scared house into a place of business.” This pastor
was grieved to hear this, and ensured me that the issue would be addressed, as
he agreed with me.
This
morning Jesus displays “Righteous Anger” and says, “Don’t make my Father’s house a place of business.” This
means that when we are all in worship, when we are all in this sacred space, that
all people are welcomed, as are all seeking to know God more, to know the risen
Christ more. Let us this day, this week, and always, keep our bodies, our homes,
and our churches sacred, and not “turn them into a place of business.” Amen.
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