Richard C. Choe ©
The Third Sunday in Lent
Preached at Kingston Road United Church by the Rev. Richard C. Choe
* * *
To define is to confine.
I remember writing a final exam for East Asian Studies class in my final year of university. The professor looked up from his reading and watched a few us who were still writing. We were the keeners who were planning to do graduate studies. So we were trying to dump as much information as possible onto the paper to let the professor know that we really cared for the course.
“Please don’t draw legs on a snake,” the professor told us with a smile on his face. It was his way of telling us that what we wrote was more than enough. I am sure that I drew lots of legs on a snake on that exam.
Many years later, while I was marking papers for a course I was teaching at Emmanuel College, I read a few papers that drew lots of legs on a snake. When we try to define without taking enough time we end up confining the subject matter to our limited understanding and draw conclusions that may not be real or true.
Today’s passage is one of those “troublesome” passages in the Bible. We hear about a “not-so-gentle” side of Jesus.
We see Jesus really losing his temper when people were gathering for the Passover, one of the most important religious Jewish holy days. He walked into the temple in Jerusalem, the holiest of holy sites for Jews, and really made a scene. He thrashed the animals with a whip and drove them out of the temple. He emptied out the coffers of the money changers and overturned their tables. “Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” He yelled at them. His disciples remembered Jesus saying something they did not comprehend at the time, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
Why was Jesus so angry? Was his anger justifiable? What about his action?
People selling the animals and the money changers were necessary for the worship at the temple. Pilgrims from far away could not bring animals from home for their obligatory sacrifices so they had to buy them at the temple. Temple tax was received only in “sanctuary shekel,” so they had to exchange their Roman currency into Jewish currency.
Daniel Clendenin, a biblical scholar, writes the following on today’s passage.
“It is not clear whether Jesus objected to any and all commercial activity in the temple out of principle, even honest transactions that were necessary for pilgrims to fulfill their religious obligations, or whether he excoriated the fraud, exploitation and avarice of the religious authorities who controlled the means of ritual purity and thus access to Yahweh.”[i]
Clendenin concludes his article by saying that “the cleansing of the temple [was] a stark warning against any and every false sense of security. Misplaced allegiances, religious presumption, pathetic excuses, smug self-satisfaction, spiritual complacency, nationalist zeal, political idolatry, and economic greed in the name of God are only some of the tables that Jesus would overturn in his own day and in ours. Church is more than a place to enjoy a night of bingo or reinforce my many prejudices and illusions.”[ii]
A warning against any and every false sense of security. But isn’t religion supposed to provide a sense of security?
Clendenin’s article reminded me of my experiences as General Council staff for ten years before I came to KRU.
I remember numerous conversations with congregations across Canada that were willing to die than to change. They would rather keep their local “traditions” that were keeping their neighbours out than to explore new and different ways to be open to their changed ministry context. Being transformed by God’s spirit or serving the neighbours was often forgotten in those congregations. In the absence of clear focus on ministry and mission the upkeep of the church building would often became a focus of the congregation’s priority. It was as if the upkeep of the building provided a sense of security for them. It was as though “tradition” meant something that was unchanging and unmoving.
It was not that the upkeep of church was unimportant or that church should not be utilized efficiently. My concern was that church building was only seen as a property to rent for money or a liability for the congregation’s budget. There were not many conversations about using the building as a form of outreach to the neighbourhood.
“Where is God in all this?” I used to ask myself and people in those congregations. “What are your mission priorities?” I would ask. The answer I heard too often was that they wanted to have more people come in to church so that they would be able to maintain the church building. They seldom talked about serving the neighbours or being transformed by God’s spirit.
One of the exercises I did with congregations was to review the amount of time spent on various areas of their church’s business. Most, if not all, of the congregations that were struggling spent most of the time talking about money and the building. It was a vicious cycle. The less money they had, the more time they spent to talk about money. And the more time they talked about money, the less time they had to talk about their ministry. I would remind people that the amount of time they spent on each topic would show their congregation’s priorities.
Looking beyond themselves, looking at their neighbourhood, and setting up mission and ministry priorities was the last phase of the workshop I facilitated. What was sad was that too many congregations, too often, chose not to change with their changed neighbourhood. It was fear of changes, not faith, which kept them from looking beyond themselves.
Today’s passage from John, for me, is a warning against the kind of things that happens when church loses sight of its priorities, when it is not clear about its reason for existence.
Worship was the reason why the temple was built, not for commercial activities. When business transactions overwhelmed worship Jesus got angry. When business transactions became a priority over transforming people and serving people Jesus overturned the tables.
When we define church based on its survival, we confine church to be self serving. When we define traditions as unchanging, we confine church to become irrelevant to us and our neighbours.
“Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
This statement is more than just a metaphor of Jesus’ resurrection. It represents the confession of early Christian churches’ understanding that God cannot be defined and confined in the temple but found in each of us and everywhere God is sought.
What about us? What about us at KRU?
How much time, energy and effort do we spend on the upkeep of the building and on the budget? How much time, energy and effort do we spend on transforming ourselves and our neighbours to become whole? How much time do we spend on arguing over the process and the content of worship services in relation to time spent on how we could serve our neighbours?
Our actions, the amount of time and effort we spend, tell us of our priorities.
Where is God in all the activities of our church?
Here is a story that may overturn our understanding of our search for God.
A renowned monk asked a student what he was seeking in his faith journey. The student told the monk that he was seeking to find Buddha so he could become enlightened by Buddha’s wisdom. “When you meet Buddha, kill Buddha,” the monk told the student.
“When you meet Buddha, kill Buddha” is a phrase Buddhist teachers use to explain that seeking truth is not about arrival but a process. Faith is about being in the dynamic process of searching and renewal. It is not about a fixed state of an arrival. The story is a warning against those who become complacent in faith by thinking that she or he has attained wisdom for good.
We are part of the faith tradition that was formed to transform the lives of people and to serve those in need. God calls us to be open to God’s spirit we experience in and through our life. The only security we have is the knowledge that God will accompany us in our faith journey in seeking God’s presence and in being God’s presence for those who are in need.
A Song of Faith, a new Statement of Faith of our church, begins this way:
“God is Holy Mystery,
beyond complete knowledge,
above perfect description.
Yet,
in love,
the one eternal God seeks relationship.”[iii]
God seeks relationship with us so we could become partners in God’s ministry. And this is how the new faith statement ends:
“Divine creation does not cease
until all things have found wholeness, union, and integration with the common ground of all being.
As children of the Timeless One,
our time-bound lives will find completion
in the all-embracing Creator.
In the meantime, we embrace the present,
embodying hope, loving our enemies,
caring for the earth,
choosing life.
Grateful for God’s loving action,
we cannot keep from singing.
Creating and seeking relationship,
in awe and trust,
we witness to Holy Mystery who is Wholly Love.
Amen.”[iv]
May we continue our faith journey seeking God who is Holy Mystery. May we continue to be open to possibilities God provides each and every day. May our church building be a place of welcoming, transforming and serving. May we continue to experience liberty and joy as we experience God as our partners in making our world whole.
I remember writing a final exam for East Asian Studies class in my final year of university. The professor looked up from his reading and watched a few us who were still writing. We were the keeners who were planning to do graduate studies. So we were trying to dump as much information as possible onto the paper to let the professor know that we really cared for the course.
“Please don’t draw legs on a snake,” the professor told us with a smile on his face. It was his way of telling us that what we wrote was more than enough. I am sure that I drew lots of legs on a snake on that exam.
Many years later, while I was marking papers for a course I was teaching at Emmanuel College, I read a few papers that drew lots of legs on a snake. When we try to define without taking enough time we end up confining the subject matter to our limited understanding and draw conclusions that may not be real or true.
Today’s passage is one of those “troublesome” passages in the Bible. We hear about a “not-so-gentle” side of Jesus.
We see Jesus really losing his temper when people were gathering for the Passover, one of the most important religious Jewish holy days. He walked into the temple in Jerusalem, the holiest of holy sites for Jews, and really made a scene. He thrashed the animals with a whip and drove them out of the temple. He emptied out the coffers of the money changers and overturned their tables. “Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” He yelled at them. His disciples remembered Jesus saying something they did not comprehend at the time, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
Why was Jesus so angry? Was his anger justifiable? What about his action?
People selling the animals and the money changers were necessary for the worship at the temple. Pilgrims from far away could not bring animals from home for their obligatory sacrifices so they had to buy them at the temple. Temple tax was received only in “sanctuary shekel,” so they had to exchange their Roman currency into Jewish currency.
Daniel Clendenin, a biblical scholar, writes the following on today’s passage.
“It is not clear whether Jesus objected to any and all commercial activity in the temple out of principle, even honest transactions that were necessary for pilgrims to fulfill their religious obligations, or whether he excoriated the fraud, exploitation and avarice of the religious authorities who controlled the means of ritual purity and thus access to Yahweh.”[i]
Clendenin concludes his article by saying that “the cleansing of the temple [was] a stark warning against any and every false sense of security. Misplaced allegiances, religious presumption, pathetic excuses, smug self-satisfaction, spiritual complacency, nationalist zeal, political idolatry, and economic greed in the name of God are only some of the tables that Jesus would overturn in his own day and in ours. Church is more than a place to enjoy a night of bingo or reinforce my many prejudices and illusions.”[ii]
A warning against any and every false sense of security. But isn’t religion supposed to provide a sense of security?
Clendenin’s article reminded me of my experiences as General Council staff for ten years before I came to KRU.
I remember numerous conversations with congregations across Canada that were willing to die than to change. They would rather keep their local “traditions” that were keeping their neighbours out than to explore new and different ways to be open to their changed ministry context. Being transformed by God’s spirit or serving the neighbours was often forgotten in those congregations. In the absence of clear focus on ministry and mission the upkeep of the church building would often became a focus of the congregation’s priority. It was as if the upkeep of the building provided a sense of security for them. It was as though “tradition” meant something that was unchanging and unmoving.
It was not that the upkeep of church was unimportant or that church should not be utilized efficiently. My concern was that church building was only seen as a property to rent for money or a liability for the congregation’s budget. There were not many conversations about using the building as a form of outreach to the neighbourhood.
“Where is God in all this?” I used to ask myself and people in those congregations. “What are your mission priorities?” I would ask. The answer I heard too often was that they wanted to have more people come in to church so that they would be able to maintain the church building. They seldom talked about serving the neighbours or being transformed by God’s spirit.
One of the exercises I did with congregations was to review the amount of time spent on various areas of their church’s business. Most, if not all, of the congregations that were struggling spent most of the time talking about money and the building. It was a vicious cycle. The less money they had, the more time they spent to talk about money. And the more time they talked about money, the less time they had to talk about their ministry. I would remind people that the amount of time they spent on each topic would show their congregation’s priorities.
Looking beyond themselves, looking at their neighbourhood, and setting up mission and ministry priorities was the last phase of the workshop I facilitated. What was sad was that too many congregations, too often, chose not to change with their changed neighbourhood. It was fear of changes, not faith, which kept them from looking beyond themselves.
Today’s passage from John, for me, is a warning against the kind of things that happens when church loses sight of its priorities, when it is not clear about its reason for existence.
Worship was the reason why the temple was built, not for commercial activities. When business transactions overwhelmed worship Jesus got angry. When business transactions became a priority over transforming people and serving people Jesus overturned the tables.
When we define church based on its survival, we confine church to be self serving. When we define traditions as unchanging, we confine church to become irrelevant to us and our neighbours.
“Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
This statement is more than just a metaphor of Jesus’ resurrection. It represents the confession of early Christian churches’ understanding that God cannot be defined and confined in the temple but found in each of us and everywhere God is sought.
What about us? What about us at KRU?
How much time, energy and effort do we spend on the upkeep of the building and on the budget? How much time, energy and effort do we spend on transforming ourselves and our neighbours to become whole? How much time do we spend on arguing over the process and the content of worship services in relation to time spent on how we could serve our neighbours?
Our actions, the amount of time and effort we spend, tell us of our priorities.
Where is God in all the activities of our church?
Here is a story that may overturn our understanding of our search for God.
A renowned monk asked a student what he was seeking in his faith journey. The student told the monk that he was seeking to find Buddha so he could become enlightened by Buddha’s wisdom. “When you meet Buddha, kill Buddha,” the monk told the student.
“When you meet Buddha, kill Buddha” is a phrase Buddhist teachers use to explain that seeking truth is not about arrival but a process. Faith is about being in the dynamic process of searching and renewal. It is not about a fixed state of an arrival. The story is a warning against those who become complacent in faith by thinking that she or he has attained wisdom for good.
We are part of the faith tradition that was formed to transform the lives of people and to serve those in need. God calls us to be open to God’s spirit we experience in and through our life. The only security we have is the knowledge that God will accompany us in our faith journey in seeking God’s presence and in being God’s presence for those who are in need.
A Song of Faith, a new Statement of Faith of our church, begins this way:
“God is Holy Mystery,
beyond complete knowledge,
above perfect description.
Yet,
in love,
the one eternal God seeks relationship.”[iii]
God seeks relationship with us so we could become partners in God’s ministry. And this is how the new faith statement ends:
“Divine creation does not cease
until all things have found wholeness, union, and integration with the common ground of all being.
As children of the Timeless One,
our time-bound lives will find completion
in the all-embracing Creator.
In the meantime, we embrace the present,
embodying hope, loving our enemies,
caring for the earth,
choosing life.
Grateful for God’s loving action,
we cannot keep from singing.
Creating and seeking relationship,
in awe and trust,
we witness to Holy Mystery who is Wholly Love.
Amen.”[iv]
May we continue our faith journey seeking God who is Holy Mystery. May we continue to be open to possibilities God provides each and every day. May our church building be a place of welcoming, transforming and serving. May we continue to experience liberty and joy as we experience God as our partners in making our world whole.
----
[i] Daniel B. Clendenin, “Jesus Unhinged: the Cleansing of the Temple,” The Journey with Jesus: Notes to Myself, Sunday, March 15, 2009, http://www.journeywithjesus.net/Essays/20090309JJ.shtml.
[ii] Clendenin, “Jesus Unhinged: the Cleansing of the Temple,” http://www.journeywithjesus.net/Essays/20090309JJ.shtml.
[iii] A Song of Faith, The United Church of Canada, http://www.united-church.ca/beliefs/statements/songfaith.
[iv] A Song of Faith, http://www.united-church.ca/beliefs/statements/songfaith.
[ii] Clendenin, “Jesus Unhinged: the Cleansing of the Temple,” http://www.journeywithjesus.net/Essays/20090309JJ.shtml.
[iii] A Song of Faith, The United Church of Canada, http://www.united-church.ca/beliefs/statements/songfaith.
[iv] A Song of Faith, http://www.united-church.ca/beliefs/statements/songfaith.
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