3 Lent/Year B
March 7, 2021
Exodus 20:1-17; Psalm 19; 1 Corinthians 1:18-25; John 2:13-22
This past week, I received a zoom invitation to attend the Wednesday evening Lenten study, being led by Pastor Sandra at Sitka Lutheran Church….
The title of the weekly series caught my attention….
“RE-SEEING the RESURRECTION”…an exploration of portrayals of the resurrection in the visual arts.
It was wonderful to view some of the pieces of art this past week, which highlighted women present at the tomb and at the resurrection….she included stories about the artists…and allowed time to just be present with the art…and to give us time to adjust our focus a bit, our thinking, our wondering, our questions…assisting us, in this time of prayer…to re-see, re-imagine, and re-envision a part of the resurrection story that we hear every year on Easter, and throughout the Easter season…
In this season of Lent…I wonder if we can approach today’s gospel reading, in the same way….perhaps re-naming it for the context of today’s gospel reading… “Re-seeing the Cleansing of the Temple by Jesus”…
This is another pretty familiar scripture reading to folks who have attended church on a regular basis, throughout the years…we often hear this or other versions of this story, every year, during Holy week…in the days leading up to Jesus’ death on the cross on Good Friday…It’s also a pretty startling scripture reading…as we get a different view of what we would normally expect of Jesus…
The image I shared with you during the gospel reading, a painting by Bernardino Mei, of Christ Cleansing the Temple, was first brought to my attention during our book group study this past Jan/Feb….
Painting by Bernardino Mei…website link Christ Cleanses the Temple
It was so startling to me….it made me feel so uncomfortable…it was so jarring…that I really didn’t want to keep looking at it…
And as I thought about whether to share it today…my first thoughts were… “what if someone is hearing this particular scripture for the first time today, what if someone is looking at this image, for the first time today, which appears to portray Jesus as being an angry, violent person…one who appears to be frightening others…”
And then, I reminded myself…just as I did when I was engaged in Pastor Sandra’s re-seeing the resurrection offering this past week…that I was only viewing a small part, of a much bigger story, a part of a much broader and expansive story about the Love of God for all people, for all of creation…for all times, and in all places…
And I was reminded that we, by our baptisms…are entrusted to share the whole story of God’s love from the beginning, all the way to the Good News that is proclaimed and revealed to us, in Jesus’ life, Jesus’ death, Jesus’ resurrection and ascension…
As we pause today, to listen to this one part of a much larger story, it is good for us to know, that from the beginning…God created us…God created it all: the land, the water, the plants, the animals, every living thing… The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows his handiwork…. He called it all… good. And on the 7th day…he rested and called us to do the same…a day set aside to rest in God…
God has loved us…all of us…all of creation…and from the beginning, God’s people struggled with believing this and living out their daily lives, as a beloved child of God…and they often fell short in seeing the belovedness of others….and they did all that they could do to make themselves feel important and feel worthy, in God’s eyes…often at the expense of other peoples’ lives…Lording themselves over other people, oppressing and excluding others, and neglecting to care for the created world….
The people wanted to be faithful to God, they wanted to do all the right things, offer up all the appropriate sacrifices according to the religious laws of the time…but they often fell short…and struggled to understand how to be faithful to God in their daily lives: to love justice, to do mercy, and to walk humbly with their God.
In an effort to help people understand their “duty” to God and their neighbors, to help them be in a right relationship with God and one another, God’s people were given a set of “rules” that we know as the 10 commandments…In the Catechism section from our Book of Common Prayer (pg 847), it is noted that the purpose of the 10 commandments were given to define our relationship with God and our neighbors…they spoke of our relationship with God, and our relationship with our neighbors…Jesus later summed up the understanding of the commandments, simply…Love God and Love your neighbor…
Sin, fear, power and greed distorted the people’s understanding of what our relationship with a Loving God, and what our relationship with loving our neighbors was all about.
We see the results of that when we come to today’s gospel reading. The temple, the sanctuary, the church…was being used for purposes, which distorted the vision of a right relationship with God and our neighbors. The activities happening in the temple, were not “love of God” inspired, for God, or their neighbors. The actions were the result of human weakness, fear, sin and greed, that, over time, had taken over their lives.
Jesus often confronted others to help them “re-see” a right relationship with God, and their neighbors…Sometimes he did this through parables, through teaching in the temple, through miracles, through healings, through calling others to follow him…and today… we saw him in action in the cleansing of the temple.
Jesus is the one who lived among us, to help restore us to a right relationship with God and one another….and that begins with re-seeing our relationships with God and one another.
The season of Lent is a perfect time to engage in a prayer practice or spiritual discipline that assists us in re-seeing our relationship with God and one another. And one key practice to help us do that, is the invitation for us to cleanse our hearts…to cleanse our own temples…our minds and our bodies…acknowledge our faults, our sin of distorting the use of God’s holy name, by acting in ways that are far from the vision of God’s beloved community… It’s an opportunity for us to take time in daily prayer, to acknowledge our neglect and exclusion and oppression of others, for our own comfort, for our own needs…It’s a time for us to pause and acknowledge that we have been allowing fear to govern our lives, and to acknowledge that we have been too busy trying to control everything through our own might and power…This practicing of emptying ourselves, of cleansing our hearts…can leave us feeling refreshed and open to receive the grace of God’s forgiveness and healing balm…
Another practice, you might engage in…would be to pray with the scriptures using a practice called Visio Lectio…look at some religious art, such as today’s…and sit with it…gaze at it for some time…ask the hard questions…and then look for a current photo in the news today…sit with it…gaze at it for some time…sit with the photos that are jarring to your spirit…and ask the hard questions…
Are there places and circumstances where you envision Jesus would be entering today, that would make him angry, cause God’s heart to break…Would Jesus stumble upon places where he would need to chase people out, over-turn the tables? Would he find places and circumstances where God’s people have distorted the vision of God’s dream of a beloved community? Then pray…pray for guidance on how you might be used as an instrument of God’s restoration and healing in the world…
Another simple practice to help you “re-see” the world around you?
Stand on your head and look around???? Things look a little different, don’t you think????
There’s one last thing I would suggest as an option to practice this week…
Look back over this past year, since the pandemic hit close to home in March 2020….There have been so many experiences along the way…that have helped us to “re-see” our relationship to God and our neighbors, and all of creation….Sit with the remembrances, in the presence of God: rest in them, pray with them,…all of them…
And then, pray some more…Pray for the Holy Spirit to rise up in you…to lead you and guide your steps in following Jesus, in a way of love, that restores us into a right relationship with God and one another... a way of love that builds up God’s dream of a beloved community…here on earth…a way of love, that reveals that everyone is part of a much greater story…a story of God’s love for his people…and all of creation…
Rev Julie Platson, St Peter’s by the Sea Episcopal Church, Sitka, AK
Hymn after sermon: Voices Found - #57 No longer settled
No longer settled or sure of our ways we leave ourselves open, in moments of grace, to fresh ways of seeing—scales fall from our eyes and in our new visions, the Spirit shall rise.
Rise on our wings, awake to new birth, breathe in our bodies, and free all the earth.
Claiming our passion, embracing our rage strengthens our love to refashion this age, unleashes the power to challenge our lies and in righteous anger, the Spirit shall rise. Refrain
Voices long silenced and mem’ries denied call out for healing, for justice and pride. Our hearts hear the anguish of each sacred cry and in our compassion, the Spirit shall rise. Refrain