Meeting God

Lent 3 
Fr. Tim Nunez

May my spoken word be true to God’s written word and bring us all closer to the living word, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Where might we encounter God? Anywhere, of course. Yet, we are also drawn to encounter him in specific places. We have very deep roots on that point.

From the Exodus forward, the people of Israel got used to God being with them in a particular spot, even if when God was moving with them. It began with a pillar of cloud and fire as they were leaving Egypt. It included the top of Mount Sinai wreathed in cloud with thunder and lightning, or in a cloud of fire. God then gave them very detailed instructions on building the Tabernacle, a tent for meeting God that could move with them as they wandered in the desert wilderness. Wherever they went, the people would know that God was right there.

Eventually, after the conquest of the Promise Land, after the time of the Judges, after King Saul and after King David, God gave Solomon very detailed instructions for the first Temple at Jerusalem. That Temple lasted over 400 years, until it was destroyed by the Babylonians in about 586 AD. Then, 70 years later, that’s 2-3 generations later, Cyrus of Persia overthrew Babylon and helped Israel rebuild it, and there it has stood all the way up to this moment.

That’s a long time. The Temple was there for about 1,000 years and those 70 years between the first and second one were filled with despair about the old one and hope for the new one. Imagine all the generations that were taught that that was where God was. They knew he watched over them and could be anywhere, but he was definitely there. Everyone knew this. Most of them lived it.

And the Temple was the only place that you could offer a sacrifice to God for the forgiveness of your sins. That sacrifice could be livestock or, if you were poor, a pigeon or dove or two. Maybe you would bring your own if you live close by, but if you’ve had to travel a few days or more, it’s hard to feed and water a cow or sheep along the way.  It’s much easier to buy one close by, so markets spring up to meet the needs. You know, like Dollar General.

But, oh, and by the way, you can’t use those idolatrous Roman coins here, you’ve got to exchange them for Temple coins. So, a place to exchange money springs up.

Maybe these markets for livestock, birds and money exchanges were ok at first. You expect to pay a little more for the convenience. But soon vendors take advantage. The demand for the livestock, birds and Temple coins got very high during high feast days. What happens when we have high demand because of an event or an emergency? Price gouging!

They wanted to maximize profits instead of the prophets.

There are a couple of layers of trouble here. The first one is the commercialization itself. Jesus goes off on them. It must have been a wild scene; livestock panicking and running everywhere, money scattered across the pavement.

The second layer comes when Jesus says, “You have made the house of my father a house of merchandise.” His focus has shifted. The vendors aren’t the real problem. If we turned our parking lots into a flea market, would it be the vendors’ fault? No! They had to get permission, probably rent a booth, to be there. So, who told them they could be there? Who allowed them to jack up their prices and cheat people on the exchange rates? Who is very likely getting a cut of the action?

John says, “The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” When John says “The Jews” that’s shorthand for the leaders, in this case the Temple authorities. (He isn’t referring to the crowds or to everyone present. They are all Jews.) The real problem has been laid bare. It’s not just that they’ve allowed this commercialization and exploitation to occur, or that they’ve profited from it. Those are just symptoms of the very deep rot that has festered in their midst.

If you know the scriptures as they know them, if you are steeped as they have been steeped for over 1,000 years that this is God’s house and he is present within it, how could you possibly allow and even encourage this exploitation, except that you have been utterly corrupted by it.

They ask for a sign when they have ignored the biggest, most beloved sign, a wonder of the ancient world right there and they have ignored it.

Jesus responds by saying, “Destroy this temple and within three days I will raise it up.” They cannot grasp what he’s saying about himself, but like John and the other disciples, we have the advantage of hindsight and we experience him here and now.

I’d like to share two lessons from this, which are really two perspectives on the same lesson. The first is that we must always, together, keep our hearts, minds and spirits focused on this place as holy ground. We have title to the buildings and grounds, and our diocese and church have a trust interest in it, but it only has true, lasting value because he is here. We are all here because we feel it, or someone who feels it dragged you here. Somehow the Lord transmits that over the live stream, too. About 100 people usually tune into this service either live or over the next few days. He is here, in a profound way, as we are faithful.

Second, attend to Christ’s presence in you. Jesus went to the cross and died for you, for me, for any and all who will repent and follow him. When he was raised in three days, as he said he would, he became unbound by space and time. That freed him to be with any and all of us all of the time. Remember what he said to the Samaritan woman at the well, coming up in chapter 4. “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem…But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:21,23)

Places matter, and they don’t matter.

These come together in a simple request. When you come to this place, when you come to the altar of God, when you meet him over your coffee, when you meet him on your porch or on a walk, when you meet him in the dead of night between sobs of grief or worry: You bring you. That’s all he wants. Well, that and your family and friends. Bring them, too.

AMEN