Sunday, March 3, 2024

Third Sunday in Lent
Exodus 20:1-17
Psalm 19
1 Corinthians 1:18-31
John 2:13-22 (23-25)

They are more to be desired than gold, yes, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the extract of the honeycomb.

Board games come with a set of rules so that all the players will know how to play the game. It is funny, however, how we sometimes end up making our own rules. Take, for instance, Monopoly. On the board there is a space called “Free Parking.” According to the official rules of the game, the “Free Parking” space is just that, a place to park your token for a turn without penalty or reward. If you are playing against a mogul who owns every property, a free space might be a welcome rest stop.

I don’t know many people who play the “Free Parking” space as directed in the official rules. When I was a kid, we played long games of Monopoly that lasted days during the summer. To make it interesting, we used the “Free Parking” spot to get “free money.” We put money collected from taxes and fees paid from Community Chest or Chance cards in the center of the board and the player who landed took it all. We tried to build up a huge pot, because the game got most interesting when the players were rich. This unofficial rule made the game more fun. We had to remember, however, to teach new players our rule because we wanted everyone to agree about the rule.

Now, if you have ever played games with young children, you know that they are very good at making up rules as they go, “teaching” the adults the right way to play. The new rules usually benefit the child in some way. When something is about to go the wrong way, which means against them, the child quickly says, “Oh, by the way, I forgot to tell you about this rule...” and they go on to tell you how you have to jump three times on one foot and then turn around in circles until they can move their piece to the place where it needs to be to make them the winner. Ok, so I’m exaggerating, but I’m sure many parents out there know exactly what I’m talking about. It is important to teach our children how to play by the rules, but it can also be fun playing it their way.

We have to establish the rules from the beginning. With board games it is important that everyone know how to play before starting, or else in the middle there will be conflict. Like the “Free Parking” rule in Monopoly, it is essential that everyone agrees or there will be an argument. It can ruin the fun and hurt feelings.

But sometimes it is more important to establish a relationship, to build up trust in one another before establishing rules. In the case of the Hebrews, God didn’t say, “If you do this, that and the other thing, then I will save you from this slavery to which you are bound.” No, God saved them first, taking them out of bondage and into freedom. It was then, and only then, that He made the covenant with them. They knew He was a deliverer, that He could save His people. They knew they could trust Him. Then God taught them how to live in this new community together with the commandments.

Notice that the Ten Commandments do not begin with “do not” rules. They begin with relationship building rules. The first commandments are about putting the One who saved them out of Egypt first in their life, and then those whom God has appointed as our elders. The last few commands are the “do not” rules which are meant to be relationship keeping rules. The things we do against other people are the things that cause the brokenness of our world. We build walls when we murder, commit adultery, steal, lie and covet. These rules are given to keep us right with our neighbors and therefore right with God. In the end, if we keep the first commandment by putting God first, we will not disobey the others because we want to please the One who is our Savior and Deliverer.

The thing about rules is that it is not enough to know what we are not to do. We need to know what we should do. One of the schools which our children attended had a list of rules the children were expected to follow. The list included both positive and negative language. One rule was, “Do be gentle. Do not hurt anyone.” Another was, “Do listen. Don’t interrupt.” A third read, “Do be honest. Don’t cover up the truth.” A positive perspective on behavior is more valuable than negatively stated rules. We are to teach our children how to act, not just how not to act. This is not a new concept. It is what we see in Martin Luther’s Small Catechism.

Martin Luther wrote in his Small Catechism, “No person can keep any or all commandments perfectly, except Jesus Christ. All those who have faith in Him by the power of His Spirit willingly strive to keep these commandments.” God didn’t begin His relationship with His people with the commandments. Faith came first. Our inability to keep perfectly these commandments is exactly why God reveals Himself more fully in our other lessons. People learn through repetition and the catechism helped to write the basic doctrine of Christian faith on the hearts of believers. By holding to the words of the catechism, the priests built on the lessons learned at home and avoided confusion. To Luther, it was not enough for the believer to recite the prayer, creed, and commandments; he felt that all Christians should understand what they mean. So, he wrote one sentence explanations answering a simple question, “Was ist das?” which means, “What is this?” The answer to this question in the Small Catechism always included the positive expectation in response to the negative rule. For example, in the explanation for the fifth commandment, Luther taught that disobedience goes beyond murder and includes anything that might harm others. Rather than hurt, we are to help and support each other.

The truth of this concept goes back even further than Martin Luther. The greatest teacher in history also taught rules in the positive form. In the Old Testament, the Decalogue or Ten Commandments is the standard by which God expected the Jews to live, listed in the negative form. All religions have a similar standard. During His ministry among us, Jesus Christ taught the rules from a new perspective. Instead of “you shall not bow down to other gods,” Jesus taught, “you shall love the Lord your God.” Instead of “do not murder, steal, and cheat,” Jesus taught, “love your neighbor as yourself.” Rather than just teaching us what not to do, He gave us the standard of how we should live. Every religion has rules, but they are stated in the negative rather than the positive. This perspective encourages us to do more than avoid negative behavior. By faith in the God with whom we have a relationship, we will glorify Him by treating others well.

The commandments as we hear them in today’s Old Testament passage are not simply a list of things we should and should not do. It is a covenant between God and His people. The Law was a gift, a sign that shows us God’s care and concern for our health and safety. The Temple was a gift, a sign that reminds us of God’s presence among His people. Even more so, however, our Lord Jesus Christ is a gift, because He is the Word in flesh and His body is the true Temple. In Him we truly see God’s care and concern for us and His presence among His people.

God’s Law is described five ways in today’s Psalm. These words sound so similar: law, testimony, precepts, commandment, and ordinances. However, in the Hebrew the words are all very different. The law is the Torah, the teaching of God. The testimony is the witness to God’s wisdom, works and promises. The precepts reference God’s authority. The commandment refers to the entirety of God’s Word. The ordinances speak of God’s justice, the verdict over sin. We hear those law words knowing that God’s Word is meant for us, too. They bring us a sense of uneasiness based on our experiences and culture, but they also offer comfort and calm. God’s Word is perfect, sure, right, pure and true; His message gets into our hearts because He puts it there. By His Spirit, we hear His grace. His Law restores the soul, makes wise the simple, makes our heart rejoice, enlightens our eyes, and we will endure forever. We can trust in His Word because He is righteous.

There is a universal language when it comes to faith. No, I don’t mean that we can all hear words in other languages and understand everything we hear. The psalmist speaks of a more basic universal language: that of creation. The psalmist wrote, “The heavens declare the glory of God. The expanse shows his handiwork.” He also said, “There is no speech or language where their voice is heard.” God can be seen in the beauty of a rose garden anywhere around the world. He can be experienced on the top of any mountain. His handiwork is seen in the sunset as it follows the path of the earth’s rotation. Every star screams “glory” and every wave mutters “power.” All that God created points back to Him.

However, we need more than creation to have a relationship with our Father in heaven. Those who think it is enough to worship God on the mountaintop miss the beauty of dwelling in God’s Word. The commandments as we hear them in today’s passage are not simply a list of things we should and should not do. This covenant between God and His people established a relationship, building trust in one another. In the case of the Hebrews, God did not sit down with them before taking them out of Egypt. He didn’t say, “If you do this, that and the other thing, then I will save you from this slavery that has you bound.” No, God saved them first, taking them out of bondage and into freedom. It was then, and only then, that He made the covenant with them. They knew He was a deliverer, that He could save His people. They knew they could trust Him. Then God taught them how to live in this new community together. This meant putting God ahead of all, living for the sake of all God’s people, something Jesus modeled during His ministry.

In our gospel lesson for this week, Jesus entered the Temple and openly defied the rules of the community. The marketplace at the Temple was an important part of the worship experience. The merchants made things easier for the pilgrims to obey the Law, but they were there at the request of the priests who benefitted financially from the sales. Providing the pilgrims with animals that were suitable made their travel easier and ensured perfect animals for the sacrifice. The moneychangers provided an important service, exchanging the money that had graven images into acceptable coins. If the marketplace had been outside the gates of the Temple, Jesus may not have chased off the merchants and money changers. What was Jesus standing for when He chased out the animals and tipped over the tables of the money changers?

The sales were going on in the outer court, the only place in the Temple where visitors from other faiths could visit. It was a place of prayer for the Gentiles, a sanctuary for those who could not enter the places meant only for Jews. In the synoptic Gospels, Jesus quoted Isaiah who wrote, “...for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” By filling the outer court with merchants and money changers, the Gentiles had no place to experience the presence of God; Jesus was standing for the nations of the world, whom God loved, too.

John tells us that the disciples heard Jesus and remembered a quote from Psalm 69, “Zeal for thy house shall eat me up.” They saw Jesus’ actions in the Temple as a statement about how He wanted to clean up the religion of the day. The priests had lost touch with the God who was their Creator and Master. They were more concerned about filling the Temple coffers than meeting the spiritual needs of the travelers. They were more concerned about making every little detail about the service perfect that they did not see that their world, as God saw it, was not what He intended for His people.

John places this incident early in Jesus’ ministry. The Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) have Jesus clearing the Temple on the Monday following the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. They point out that this incident was a last straw for the leaders. Jesus had to be stopped because He was claiming authority over even the Temple business. While John also makes the point that the leaders demanded that He prove His authority, there is something deeper to John’s purpose in telling us this story.

Jesus tells those who demand a sign that they’ll get one. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” They thought this was ridiculous, and the statement would come back to haunt Him during His trial. They thought He meant the Temple made of stones, the Temple that had taken forty-six years to build. He couldn’t possibly rebuild such a miraculous building in just three days. However, we know that Jesus was referring to His own body. When they destroyed Him, they would see the sign because He would rise again in three days.

So, why does John put this story so close to the beginning? John’s purpose in writing was to establish Jesus as the true Temple. Throughout the book of John, Jesus is identified with every aspect of the Temple worship. Each of the seven “I Am” statements that Jesus makes throughout the book takes us deeper into the Temple and deeper into the heart of God. He is the Bread which was represented by the Bread of the presence. He is the Light which is represented by the candlesticks. He is the Gate, which is represented by the altar of incense. He is the Shepherd which is represented by the royal priesthood. He is the Resurrection and the Life, which is represented by the atonement cover on the Ark of the Covenant. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, which is represented by the contents of the Ark: the tablets of Law, Aaron’s staff that budded and a gold jar filled with manna. Then, when Jesus says, “I am the True Vine” He is telling us that any connection we have to God comes through Him. We are merely branches. It is through Him that we have a relationship with our God; He is the One through whom we can see and know God. The Temple itself was just a building; He was the place where we would meet and worship the Creator and Master of our lives.

John begins with this incident so that we might see step by step into the Holy of Holies that Jesus is the One He says He is. He is the I AM. He is our God. He has the authority to stand up not only for His chosen people, but for all people so that they might worship Him, too. His zeal is not to clean up a building, but to offer Himself to the world as the way to meet God, to know Him, and to love Him.

God is revealed to us as we live according to His Word and Law. He is manifest in our relationships with our neighbors and creation. We see Him revealed in all these things as we put Him first, keep Him as our God, love Him above all else. The Jews went to Jerusalem to worship at the Temple, but today we are called to worship at a greater one; for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is the true Temple. He saved us and invited us into His eternal covenant where we will dwell forever in a relationship with Him.

Some people don’t want to hear about a God that demanded such obedience that His Son died on the cross. To them it is nothing but foolishness. Yet, by Jesus we are saved. They prefer to follow after wisdom and intelligent teaching and ignore the foolishness of the cross. The truth of God’s purpose is a stumbling block to many. God is not glorified by those who claim to be righteous. He is not glorified by a Temple full of perfect sacrifices and acceptable coins. God’s grace is found in the pure Law of God, for it is the Law that points to our need for Jesus.

God seems to take the most incredible situations and make them work for His glory. Grace is found in the Law, as God promises to bless us for generations for the obedience of our forefathers, but the greatest moment of grace came when Jesus died on the cross. He died and was raised so that we can present living sacrifices to God: our hearts, our hope, and our lives. But that’s just foolishness. Why would a God of love demand such a high price for our failures?

Paul tells us that the Jews were looking for miraculous signs and the Greeks were looking for wisdom. We ask ourselves again, what are miraculous signs and what is wisdom? The cross does not fit into our worldly understanding of either. For the Jews, the cross meant the person hanging from “the tree” was cursed. It was a sign from God that the person is not blessed or righteous. For the Greeks, the cross was not a wise way to create a group of followers. The cross was, indeed, foolishness to the world.

Paul saw the doubt of men. We suffer from the same doubts today. Why did Jesus have to die? Why did God require a blood sacrifice? What possible benefit could the world get from the cross? How could one life make up for all our failures? It is easier to think God loves us for our good works as we meet the needs of our neighbors. It isn’t so easy to see that we need a Savior, and that Jesus is the One. This is why we often focus more on changing the world than on repentance and redemption.

Jesus turned the world upside down. What we see as foolishness is actually the wisdom of God, for it is in the life of that one perfect man that we find true peace and forgiveness. It is in His death that we find life. In God’s kingdom, the weak are the ones who have power because they are given power and wisdom based on God’s grace, not on their own works. In God’s kingdom, the wise are those who look to the cross for everything, not to the things of this world. Lent is about repentance; without repentance, the grief of Good Friday is foolishness and there is no real joy at Easter.

Are we speaking this foolishness about Jesus to the world, telling them that the only answer to evil and sin is found in Him? Do we call people to recognize their sin and point them to Jesus the Savior? Or are we like the wise ones in Paul’s day seeking signs and earthly wisdom rather than the cross of Christ? Have we allowed our own churches like marketplaces that make it impossible for those outside our faith communities to seek God in prayer and to learn about Him? Have we taken advantage of those who are afraid or desperate by giving them a false hope and phony promise? Do we think that all will be well if only we could change the world?

We are reminded during our Lenten journey that God did not just deliver the Hebrews out of Egypt, He delivered us from death. He did that while we were still sinners, which seems so foolish, but it is the reality of God’s grace. He loved us so much that He died for us. Yet we are also reminded that we are still sinners. We still need His grace. We still need to look at the cross and ask Him for forgiveness. We need to do this daily, constantly reminding ourselves that though we are saved, we still fail to live up to the expectations of our God. The Psalmist shows us the only way we can live righteously for God: “Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me.” Only with God’s help will we ever be kept blameless.

Are we willing to join with the psalmist in praising God with the silent voices of creation while also living in the gift of God’s Law? The Law He gave is not meant to be a burden, but is perfect, sure, right, pure, and true. It is more desired than gold and sweeter than honey. As we live in that Law, our souls will be restored, we’ll be made wise, our hearts will rejoice, our eyes will be enlightened, and we will endure forever. Most of all, as we live in the Law as it came to us in and through Jesus, we’ll be made righteous, blessed for generations and into eternity.