3rd Sunday in Lent, March 8, 2015

Collect for the Day

Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Reflections: When I was a kid, I didn’t really believe in crash test dummies—my body wouldn’t really bounce around like that! I had never experienced my body completely out of control . . . until I got knocked upside-down by a wave one day when I was out alone in the ocean. (No, of course my parents hadn’t allowed me to go alone. Afterwards, I understood why.) Under water, unable to tell which way was up, I discovered my powerlessness (and even though I continued to disobey now and then, I never ever went into the ocean again alone).

While we may not yet believe—at a deep level—that “we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves,” those words do speak to a reality we will inevitably experience someday. Until we have experienced it ourselves, we can only trust the witness of those who have. People in recover understand; they refer to it as “hitting bottom.” Although devastating, powerlessness can also be a door to life, an invitation to a visceral knowledge of the God whom we otherwise may only know about. 

First Lesson: Exodus 20:1-17

Then God spoke all these words: I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.

You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.

You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.

Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall not do any work-- you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.

Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

You shall not murder.

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

Reflections: The 10 Commandments! Actually, “the Law” is more than this list. It is comprised by the Torah—the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. The Torah gives us a total of 614 precepts! Who can remember so many? When we think carefully about them, though, we realize that they are all attempts to apply these 10 principles to the circumstances of everyday life. On the other hand, as Jesus points out, they can be simplified to two principles: love God with your whole being, and love your neighbor as your self.

Psalm 19 Caeli enarrant

The heavens declare the glory of God, * and the firmament shows his handiwork.

One day tells its tale to another, * and one night imparts knowledge to another.

Although they have no words or language, * and their voices are not heard,  

Their sound has gone out into all lands, * and their message to the ends of the world.

In the deep has he set a pavilion for the sun; *

it comes forth like a bridegroom out of his chamber; it rejoices like a champion to run its course.

It goes forth from the uttermost edge of the heavens and runs about to the end of it again; * 

    nothing is hidden from its burning heat.

The law of the LORD is perfect and revives the soul; *
the testimony of the LORD is sure and gives wisdom to the innocent. 

The statutes of the LORD are just and rejoice the heart; *
the commandment of the LORD is clear and gives light to the eyes.

The fear of the LORD is clean and endures for ever; *
the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.

More to be desired are they than gold, more than much fine gold, *
sweeter far than honey, than honey in the comb.

By them also is your servant enlightened, * and in keeping them there is great reward.

Who can tell how often he offends? * cleanse me from my secret faults.

Above all, keep your servant from presumptuous sins;let them not get dominion over me; *

then shall I be whole and sound, and innocent of a great offense.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, *
O LORD, my strength and my redeemer.

Reflections: Over the millennia, we Christians have put a lot of thought into sin and virtue. At times, it has been a preoccupation, and we have run the risk of becoming like the Pharisee who stood in the temple and counted his virtues, while the publican stood far to the back could only ask for mercy.

It is easy to identify the sins of the publican because they are obvious. But the faults of the Pharisee are hidden. In fact, the “secret faults” of the Pharisee are his virtues. It is his virtues that blind him to sin, give him self-satisfaction, and move him judge the publican. No wonder the psalmist prays to be cleansed from “presumptuous sins.”

What if the sins that matter most are those we don’t want to know, those that we avoid knowing? Dare we see them? They are already seen by God—and can be healed only by God.

Epistle: 1 Corinthians 1:18-25

The message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength.

Reflections: Salvation, says St. Paul, is an ongoing process. More: it is mysterious. Like the Pharisee in the temple, we do our best to live by the principles we consider right. Salvation, however, may come from the direction we aren’t looking, announced by a prophetic voice we don’t respect.

          A dear high school friend recently lost his mother. She was a gifted song writer and performer. She was creative and spontaneous. But she had a rare spirit that didn’t fit into a middle class mould; she couldn’t “get organized” or fit a system or settle into a routine. She was a hoarder. Someone connected to the family once referred to her as a “useless mother.”

          True, her house wasn’t tidy; she didn’t cook (or iron). But her home was filled with song and stories: She freely gave the gifts she did have: creativity, energy, and love. As both a teenager and an adult, I found in her a kind word, an extended hand, and a compassionate ear. Moreover, her children have grown into “normal,” responsible and compassionate, and creative parents.

“Useless” mother? I wonder what criteria really matter. What gifts that I dismiss as “foolish” really count? And what obvious virtues ultimately have no particular value?

John 2:13-22

The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, "Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!" His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for your house will consume me." The Jews then said to him, "What sign can you show us for doing this?" Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." The Jews then said, "This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?" But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

Reflections: We are horrified when the status quo is upset. Jesus disrespects the whole religious system. Yet Jesus does this to cleanse the religion of his day.

Here in the middle of Lent, heading towards Christ’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem and his subsequent betrayal and execution, what does the Johannine account of the Cleansing say to us?

First, it seems to me that Jesus rejects the human tendency to commodify aspects of our lives. And we are tempted to “thingify” human beings, as well, especially those who don’t belong to our circle. This is clearly wrong; but it is not “wrong” to treat God the same way: it is impossible. The sacred is sui generis cannot be commodified. And whatever we can commodify isn’t God.

The people don’t understand Jesus’ behavior, and they don’t understand his explanation, either. It is only the disciples—those who walk with him through his ministry and through his passion—who come to understand (and then only in hindsight).

The good news for us is that even when life is at its worst, there is meaning. Life is not absurd. We may doubt there is any meaning; we may even doubt there is any god. Like Jacob, perhaps, we lie awake and wrestle through the night. Especially when life seems least holy, the struggle we are engaged in is sacred.

Sanctification is a process; we walk through a dark valley, and maybe it’s a long valley. But one day, like the disciples, we will find that a new perspective has emerged that gives meaning even to the worst of our lives. We will remember; we will re-member.