Immediate Word

Dear Fellow Preachers,

In light of President Bush's recent ultimatum to Saddam Hussein we at The Immediate Word felt it would be helpful to offer material that seeks to address this crisis from a biblical and theological standpoint. Team member Carter Shelley, drawing upon John 2:13-22, as well as other scriptural material, helps put in perspective the different roles and responsibilities people of faith have in a free society.

This week's installment also includes an alternative approach to the Gospel text, along with team members' comments on both approaches. In addition there are worship resources, illustrations, and a children's sermon.

Reverence at Ballgames
By Carter Shelley

John 2:13-22, Acts 22:22-29

Billy Baker needed the break the Bull's game would provide. For a couple of hours he could forget how much he hated the long, hot hours at the mill, forget that the car needed a new muffler, forget his wife's careworn appearance and his own spreading waistline. For a couple of hours Billy could immerse himself in the battle of the two teams on the field.

"Would you stand for the National Anthem," called a voice over the loud speaker.

Billy shuffled to his feet as did those around him, including his sons, Billy Junior and Danny, who continued to fuss and poke at each other. Billy took a swipe at each kid with his hat before placing it carefully over his heart. He stood very straight, hoping the boys would follow his example.

Billy did not sing. His voice couldn't reach all the notes, but Billy liked to listen. He liked to hear the words -- "Oh, say, can you see?" It made him proud to think of those bombs bursting in air, and the flag, our flag still there. Billy liked the peace and togetherness of the moment -- with everyone in the ballpark standing together facing ol' Glory. For the briefest of horrible moments, Billy thought he might cry. He hadn't allowed himself to do that since he was six years old, so instead, he swallowed really hard.

"I love this land," he thought. "It's my land, my country!"

Billy Baker never sets foot inside a church, but he knows, as do many Americans who never set foot inside churches, what it is to have reverence, to worship. The word reverence means to honor, to respect, and to show deference. Jesus' initial outrage at the marketplace atmosphere he encounters in the Jerusalem Temple at Passover owes much to the lack of reverence and spiritual respect the Temple leaders and would-be worshipers display towards God's holy sanctuary.

There is much to respect and honor about the United States of America, and like Billy Baker, I am very, very glad I am an American and not someone born in Croatia, Russia, Rwanda, or Iraq. I know that I live in a country where I can criticize the government and vote my convictions without fear of being tortured or put in jail. I know that as an American woman I have career opportunities and freedoms I would never enjoy in Afghanistan or Iran. I know that my color television set, my car and spacious house, not to mention my plentiful wardrobe and always full refrigerator, all exist because material goods cost less in the United States than almost anywhere else in the world.

I know that I am free to practice my religious beliefs without fear of government reprisals regardless of whether those beliefs are expressed through Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Unitarianism, or agnosticism. I know that as a white, well-educated, middle-class American I can accomplish almost anything I want if I work hard, am frugal, and have a little bit of luck. I also know that there are people in our country who are not quite as equal as I. I know there are Americans who were not raised by loving, stable parents. I know that not all children have adults who read to them at bedtime or parents who model good study and work habits, speak grammatically, and instill ambition in their children. I know I am more fortunate than Americans who are born into poverty in Appalachia, a gang war ghetto in D.C. or LA, or are raised as third-generation welfare recipients.

I know my chances for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are better than that of the underpaid, illegal alien Latino working for less than minimum wage at the local chicken factory. Yet, I still have to say: If such individuals are going to have even half a chance of making a better life for themselves and their families, they are more likely to have that chance in the United States than they ever will in Columbia, Argentina, Nicaragua, or El Salvador.

I am very glad to be an American.

I believe it is still the best country in the world, and, if I were Mexican, Haitian, or Cuban, I too would be trying my darnedest to get into this country.

So, like Billy Baker, I respect the United States of American and am proud to be one of its citizens, but I do not revere it.

The word reverence means more than simply to honor or respect something. It also means profound adoring -- and profound adoring comes dangerously close to worship, and that is something we as Christians are called to reserve for our God, not our country.

As Christians we would be uncomfortable with the secular patriotism of Billy Baker, but sometimes, like now, March 2003, when our nation is going virtually alone in declaring war on Iraq, it seems as though we Christian Americans have devised our own form of national idolatry, and it's more insidious than Billy Baker's because it is less obvious to us. In fact, we do it without even realizing what it is we do. Listen to these words of the Reverend Jerry Falwell in his book Listen America. Much of what he wrote has echoes in the political rhetoric we are hearing from the Oval Office today:

The free-enterprise system is clearly outlined in the Book of Proverbs in the Bible. Jesus Christ made it clear that the work ethic was part of His plan for man. (sic) Ownership of property is biblical. Competition in business is biblical. Ambitious and successful business management is clearly outlined as a part of God's plan for his people. Our Founding Fathers warned against centralized government power, concluding that the concentration of government corrupts and sooner or later leads to abuse and tyranny. Robert Ringer sums up the economic situation in America, 'If the devastating cycle of politically expedient promises/government function, spending/direct taxation and inflation is not halted and drastically reduced, attempts to use the free enterprise system as a scapegoat will accelerate. And as taxation and regulation of business increase, motivation to produce will die, leading inevitably to a nationalization of industry. This is the step which will take America from the decaying state to the death stage. It happened in Greece; it happened in Rome; it happened in every civilization that tried to provide the free lunch for its citizens and then blamed businessmen for its financial collapse.'1

As residents of the greatest and most powerful country in the world, we are tempted to make being a Christian and being an American synonymous and to say that our political and economic systems are the only ones advocated by God. Because the premises upon which our nation was founded -- liberty, justice, and equality -- are noble ones, we jump to the assumption that our national will and the divine will must be one and the same. The next logical assumption we make resembles that of ancient Israelites who thought wealth and prosperity were signs of God's favor and of their own personal virtue. After all, we are a generous nation, a wealthy nation who aids other countries with food, technology, and military weapons. Since many of our citizens are Christian, then we also conclude that we are indeed a Christian nation.

We want to make such claims for our country, because we do believe, alongside our President and our Congress, that the United States is the most blessed and divinely called nation in the world, but the Scriptures do not support such claims. Yes, we can find Old and New Testament texts that support the Protestant work ethic and the capitalistic system, but careful study reveals an equal number of passages supporting communist or socialistic economic systems.

The book of Leviticus outlines Israel's practice of the Jubilee Year. Every fiftieth year was declared a Jubilee by God. In each Jubilee year, all land was returned to its original owners, even if it had been sold in the past 50 years. The Israelites believed that all of their land actually belonged to God, and was only on loan to them from God; thus, it was appropriate that God's land be redistributed every 50 years so that all the people might have enough and none too much.

Later on as a political state, Judah forgets such practices and is called to task by the prophet Isaiah for failing to provide for the widow and orphan. Although the prophet's tone is not communistic, his expectation that the whole community is responsible for the care of its poor and disadvantaged members has a socialistic bent to it.

In the New Testament book of Acts, chapters 4 and 5 recount the early Christian practice of selling property and possessions and pooling the proceeds so the needs of all were met. "There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostle's feet; and distribution was made to each as any had need."

If we wish to draw conclusions about God's economic philosophy, we have to say that on the basis of scripture, the voice of God speaks most eloquently over and over again about the needs of the poor, and the way we respond to God's demands is left for us to decide within the context of charity and generosity.

Believing our economic system the only truly inspired one is one tendency we have as a nation. The second tendency is to see ourselves as the savior nation in a demonic world where our democratic way is the right way for all the peoples of the world. The much-used term "Axis of Evil" certainly conjures up the image of the good fighting against the bad in a clear cut struggle between the righteous on the one hand and the wicked on the other. Yet, there is nothing in our Christian belief system that supports such a simultaneously arrogant and naïve stance. Being a Christian is based upon recognition of our personal propensity and will to sin. We are sinners. We are not saved, because we are good while others are bad. We are saved, because God loves us and Christ died to save us.

Reinhold Niebuhr stated the irony of American history is our belief in our own virtuousness. This belief Niebuhr identifies as our primary sin. In striving to be a Christian nation, we take ourselves too seriously. We begin to believe that we always are the children of light battling against the darkness of terrorism, oppression, depravity, and greed that dominates the rest of the world, but not us, not the U.S.
Niebuhr goes on to observe that this sin creates for us a Pharisaic dilemma. We are a rich and militarily powerful nation, yet our very strength is foolishness, because it has enabled us to design nuclear arms for mass destruction. We are a benevolent nation. We help other countries with food, resources, and technology, but we expect the recipients to be grateful when in fact, they often resent our wealth and our strings-attached diplomacy.

And just as the Pharisees began to believe they were earning God's approval by their piety and virtue, we Americans living in a food-laden and prosperous land may find it easier to forget the limits of human achievement than a person who lives in a Third World country where the daily threat of disease, famine, ignorance, and failure remain both real and humbling. Thus, in assuming that our achievements are God's achievements and that our will and God's will are one and the same, we come dangerously close to eliminating God's will entirely. And "Jesus Saves" bumper stickers and full churches on Sunday morning will not be adequate if we revere our nation more than our God.

Again Reinhold Niebuhr speaks to the situation. "Divine jealousy is aroused by man's refusal to observe the limits of his freedom. There are such limits because man is a creature as well as a creator. It is clear that the great evils of history are caused by human pretensions which are not inherent in the gift of freedom." Pretensions to claim one race or nation is superior to another. Pretensions to make material wealth and success signs of God's favor. Pretensions to call our wars just and holy and other nations' wars demonic.

So how do we walk the fine line between Pharisaic pretensions and objectivity as American citizens? How do we express joy in our patriotism while keeping a firm Christian perspective? I think we look to the Apostle Paul for a little help.

In the Acts of the Apostles account of Paul's missionary efforts, it is clear that Paul's Roman citizenship on more than one occasion saves him from a brutal beating. As a Roman citizen, Paul could not be beaten or condemned without a fair trial. Thus, Paul, along with you and me, would have to admit that his citizenship was a great prize. But Paul would not have understood the God and country rhetoric we frequently hear from our politicians and church leaders or even the patriotic selections contained in many of our church hymnals. For Paul the meaning of life and its obligations must be interpreted above and beyond the limits of any particular community or nation. And Paul finds his meaning in Jesus Christ. Christ is the sole source of salvation for Paul. Neither his strict Jewish religious education nor his status as a Roman citizen offer Paul the freedom, the grace, or the love he discovers on that road to Damascus. For Paul, liberation and life begin with Jesus Christ.

And the God who sent Jesus into the world is also the God Paul knows as the sole sovereign of all peoples. For Paul all earthly powers are subject to God, because God made them. God is the sovereign of the whole world, including Rome. When the two powers clash, it is God revealed in Jesus Christ, not Rome, who receives Paul's absolute loyalty.

Paul also discovers that the God of Jesus Christ is a God for all peoples. The reason Paul gets into such trouble with the crowd in Acts 22 comes from a statement he made declaring the Gospel to be for Gentiles as well as Jews. Such a message was intolerable to a Jewish mob whose whole theology was based upon the belief that they are the only ones chosen by God. Yet Paul believes such religious exclusivism is inconsistent with the Gospel. "There can be no such thing as Jew and Greek, slave and freeman, male and female, for you are all one person in Christ Jesus." This conviction of Paul's that we are all children of God drives Paul to travel and establish churches throughout the known world of his day. And, it is this same sense of missionary zeal that causes him to view his arrest and removal to Rome as an opportunity to spread the Gospel to new territories. Paul's citizenship was not a resting place or a badge of superiority. Instead, it was his opportunity to plead the case of Jesus Christ before Roman officials, an audience he had not faced before.

From Paul's example, I think we can learn how to make our American citizenship relate with integrity to our Christian faith. In fact, my guess is putting God first and country second offers us a chance to be better citizens, not disloyal ones. Being Christian citizens who are seeking to obey God's will for our lives and our country requires us to be-self critical instead of self-righteous. It forces us to admit there are a few kinks in our economic system, our government, our domestic and foreign policies that need to be examined, evaluated, and improved. Being self-critical may give us the honesty to admit the political motives we conceal behind our democratic ambitions for Middle East countries. A wise Christian, a wise citizen, is one who is self-critical as well as clear-eyed and clear-headed when all around us support war.

Putting our Christian faith before our American patriotism may help us develop a positive understanding of freedom as an opportunity for rather than an escape from the hardships other nations endure. As American citizens we have the freedom for accepting the stranger in our midst with openness and support, not hostility and fear. We have freedom for using our political clout as a people to win equal rights for women and genuine rights for minorities. We have the freedom to call our congressmen and women and our senators and tell them what we think and feel about war with Iraq, changes in the tax code, or the removal of legal rights for residents accused of being in league with terrorists when the evidence against them is spurious at best. We have the freedom for aiding poorer countries without bribing or bullying strings attached. We have the freedom in America to maintain a sense of humor and a sense of sin so we do not become self-righteous like the Pharisees.

When Benjamin Franklin left Constitution Hall after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, he commented to the crowd gathered around outside the hall, "We have given you a republic if you can keep it." Being Americans does not make us free of faults, vices, selfish ambitions, or greed. As members of the human race, we continue to require God's forgiveness and grace every day of our lives.

Yes, we are a nation under God. We are a nation which owes its existence to the love of God, but whether we survive as a nation or fall, as have so many great nations before us, will likely depend more upon where we place our reverence than where we place our missiles. Hot dogs, apple pie, corn on the cob, the colors red, white and blue, big cars, big dreams, enthusiastic campaigns, and Fourth of July celebrations all identify us. We are Americans. Being unavailable to play golf on Sunday mornings, taking time to ask God's blessing before eating a meal, and knowing where a Bible is and how to use it also reveal who we are. We are Christians.

Do we revere country or do we revere God? It is a question we cannot ask only at times of national crisis. It's a question we must ask ourselves every day of our lives.

Notes

1 Falwell 299.


Team Member Comments
George Murphy responds: I think the overall approach is good and realize that because of the immediacy there's not enough time for much fine-tuning. For those who do have time to develop the material further, however, here are a few things to consider:

1) It would be good to develop the themes further in story form with Billy Baker. Story sermons are hard to write and I don't immediately see a natural way to do one here, but it would be effective if the ideas could work out as part of his thought and experience.

2) It might be better to reverse the two aspects of American thought that you critique -- our tendency to see ourselves as the savior of the world and our individualistic economics. The critique of our economics in light of the Bible is certainly appropriate, but I wonder if having that first might not seem to some people to be straying from the point a bit. Our savior complex will seem to most people more immediately connected with the present crisis.

3) Not only Isaiah but other prophets -- Amos, for example, also insist on concern for the poor. In fact, it may be proper simply to say, "the prophets."

4) Near the end you quote Franklin. In dealing with our economic ideas earlier we might note that many Americans think that the saying, "God helps those who help themselves," is in part of the Bible. It is, of course, from Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanac.

Carlos Wilton responds: Thanks, Carter, for both sermon approaches this week. Both messages have to do with maintaining purity of devotion in the face of powerful influences that would deflect Godly impulses toward worldly competitors.

With all the public commentary about war as a virtuous enterprise, perhaps it would be wise this week to address the question of how a nation becomes one "whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage" (Psalm 33:12). Surely that does not happen merely by talking about it, by invoking God's name. Those who take comfort in the motto, "In God we trust" printed on our currency, and in the frequent mention of God's name in our political discourse, would do well to remember that "the nation whose God is the Lord" is the one that does God's will and relies upon God, not upon its own strength. It's not enough to have might. The cause must also be right. And that judgment of rightness is made in the heavenly courts alone, not in the oft-mentioned "court of public opinion."

James L. Evans responds: Carter: This is a timely word. It has become increasingly difficult even under normal circumstances for many American Christians to separate their faith from their national allegiance. It is almost as if the two commitments exist as simply two different tenets of one confession of faith: "I believe in God, the creator, and in America as the center of that creation ..."

The advent of war serves only to intensify that sense of national reverence. Your careful and passionate words will help any who are willing to listen and think have an opportunity to understand how to balance these two great loyalties -- one to God, and one to our country. It will take courage to put God first, but to do otherwise will render us disloyal citizens of both realms at the same time.


An Alternative Approach to the Lectionary Text

A Groundbreaking Religion
By Carter Shelley
John 2:13-33

Now that the architectural plans have been chosen, the groundbreaking for the building complex that will occupy ground previously held by the Twin Towers is not far off. The design accepted offers a memorial to those who died on 9/11. One of its features concerns the way the sun will shine upon each building at the same time that the attacks were made on that fateful day. The new buildings will offer a somber tribute to those who died. What has gone before will not be replaced but built upon. The same holds true in the ministry of Jesus. The basic tenets of Judaism serve as the essential cornerstones to the foundation of Christianity.

In John 2:13-22, Jesus addresses the distortions he encounters in the religious community of his day and announces himself the Sign God is using to address these ills while offering a new and better alternative. The title of today's message recognizes that Jesus is breaking new ground in religion by shifting Judaism's focus from distorted Temple observances in Jerusalem back to God.

In reading any biblical text a minister must consider which point of view offered in it applies to the congregation had we been active participants in the events that occur. With the cleansing of the Temple in John 2:13-22, we have three possible perspectives:
First, there's John the Evangelist who writes with hindsight that is 50/50. John places Jesus' cleansing of the Temple at the beginning of Jesus' ministry rather than as part of the incidents and days that lead to Christ's Passion. This alteration does not signify new information possessed by the latest of the Gospel writers, but it does indicate a theological shift in how the reader, and second generation Christians, are meant to understand Jesus' message and mission. In fact, the human nature of Jesus of Nazareth, while still vital, cedes ground to the divine Son of God who prophesies and proceeds with a level of confidence, certainty, and foreknowledge unknown to the synoptic writers. The Evangelist assumes the reader knows who Jesus is; therefore, the reader's reading of this Gospel will allow him or her to grow in Christian faith and understanding by accompanying Jesus from his baptism, teachings, and signs on to the cross and resurrection.

For this reason, Jesus' words about "the temple of his body" already anticipate the radical break that true worship of God and true religion must make from the institutional morass Jesus encounters at the Jerusalem Temple during Passover. In John's Gospel, Jesus is not interested in correcting Judaism, but in establishing a new, groundbreaking religion based upon God's seemingly foolish and radical action in Jesus Christ.

The disciples offer a second perspective. Verse 22 suggests the disciples also had to reconsider their interpretation of events from the perspective of hindsight, but they are humble enough to admit they really didn't "get it" the first time around. "After Jesus was raised from the dead, Jesus' disciples remembered that Jesus had said this, ' Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up,' and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken."

The third perspective belongs to the Temple personnel and the Jewish congregation, many of whom have traveled a long way to be in Jerusalem for Passover. These people are not bad people. They are faithful people. They are doing what their scriptures, their local rabbis, and 2000 years of tradition are telling them they should do. For the most part, they are sincere. For the most part, they are compassionate, caring people who give alms to the poor, and repeat the Shema faithfully: "Hear,O Israel. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might." They do not take the Lord God's name in vain, and they understand that Yahweh, God's name, is so sacred it can not be uttered aloud.

For many this trip to the Temple in Jerusalem would have been a once-in-a-lifetime event. It's costly because the time away from work means time not earning income. It's costly because money for the expenses for travel, housing, and food is required. It's costly because they must exchange their own currency for the Tyrinian coins an out-of-town supplicant must use to buy a dove, a sheep, or an oxen to sacrifice. So, the entire trip requires significant economic sacrifice before the first bird, sheep, or ox even gets bought or slain.
Of the three perspectives offered in John 2:13-22,it is the Passover visitors to the Temple who most resemble us. They don't expect to find a Messiah in their midst, and they certainly don't expect to encounter the theological and physical assault launched at them in this holiest of grounds. Imagine how we might respond if some unkempt, under-educated, self-declared holy man interrupted our worship with words of outrage at the things that we take for granted as pleasing to God.

"Making a whip of cords, Jesus 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. Jesus told those who were selling the doves, "Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father's house a market place!" (NRSV).

Suppose it was us being herded out of our sanctuary by a truly mad madman? "Take yourselves and your Sunday's finest clothes, and your beautifully embroidered prayer cushions, take your Book of Confessions and hymnals and your giant pulpit Bibles and get out of God's house! Do you think your well-stocked Sunday School classrooms and your infrequently used fellowship hall are of service to God when people sleep every night on the front steps of your church? God doesn't want your elegantly carpeted hallways, lined with the black and white framed photos of previous pastors. Get out of God's house and don't return until you truly grasp the Gospel!"

Huddled on the outside steps waiting for the police to come and take this haranguer away, we wouldn't really understand who he was or exactly what we are doing wrong. It doesn't take much to slip from righteous faithfulness to attempted faithfulness on to distorted faithfulness, and it's very hard for any of us to know for sure where we fit on the scale.

You see, few of us ever stop to examine our own religious practices and beliefs with the same critical eye we employ to judge that of others. Reading backwards in time, it's tempting for us to view the temple worshipers and the temple leaders as evil and corrupt people, an interpretation our own Christian tradition usually supports, but that's not fair. It's the actions, not the people, Jesus condemns. He lashes out and upends tables, because he wants to get their attention and turn them away from the misapprehension that turning the Temple into a marketplace and a bank actually demonstrates reverence for God. Like the prophet Jeremiah before him, Jesus condemns those who commit injustice and think that outward symbols of religion and worship are sufficient to please God.1 Jesus demands a shift from going through the proper motions of religion to actually living righteously and worshiping God.

Easter 1973 found me in Ravenna, Italy, on spring break from my Visiting Student year at the University of Manchester in England. My travel partner and I had looked forward to worshiping Easter morning in one of the many beautiful churches we had been visiting during our stay, but we got a shock when we entered the church door. The sanctuary was really crowded and we could barely see the several priests speaking and praying at the front of the church, because the majority of the congregation were not worshiping at all but milling around, laughing, exchanging greetings, and talking loudly with one another. There were dogs roaming the sanctuary searching expectantly for some dropped morsel to eat. Children were running back and forth. Almost all present seemed oblivious to the Mass taking place on that most holy of Christian days.

"What is this? A market or a church?" asked my Jewish friend in disgust.

In sharp contrast to that experience is one I hope all of you experience at some time in your life. I'm talking about the incredible sense of awe one experiences upon entering a great cathedral for the first time. York, Canterbury, Chartre, Notre Dame or Washington, D.C., location doesn't matter. Both the casual tourist and the devout supplicant cannot help but be filled with a sense of wonder and mystery. The very structure of great cathedrals fills one with reverence. The high vaulted ceilings, the brightly colored stained glass windows, the meticulous carvings and statues, its vastness, its architectural layout in the shape of a cross, the echo one hears as one walks down the center aisle, all of these features inspire a sense of the holy.

Now, we all know that it's not really the artwork, the symbols, the bricks or mortar that make a church, a cathedral, or temple a holy place. It is our worship of God and our focus upon God that hallows the place and the action. Jesus' anger encompasses the sacrilege he witnesses at the Temple, but Jesus appreciates the larger problem presented by the secular practices he observes. If this behavior is what he witnesses in the holiest of holy spaces Judea provides, what does it signify of their faith outside its walls?

As we all know, worshiping God doesn't end with the benediction. Worship is what we do after we leave the sanctuary. It's who we are after we leave, and who we have the potential to become. For worship to be authentic and faithful, its effects must be felt away from holy spaces and witnessed to in daily life. By refocusing the startled worshipers, the disciples, and us upon himself as a true sign of God's presence and action, Jesus in John's Gospel points ahead to his own death, burial, and resurrection.

The word that describes what Jesus seeks and does not find is piety. The word piety gets a bad rap these days. When we describe someone as "pious," more often than not, it points to some kind of behavior that we consider sanctimonious or self-righteous. In its original medieval usage, the word piety described an action of compassion. Piety was the expression of compassion in a concrete and specific way. Thus, a pious person was one whose compassionate outreach was understood as a sign of his or her faithfulness to God.

What are the expectations placed before Moses and the children of Israel? The Ten Commandments. They say nothing about animal sacrifices, nothing about one kind of coinage being preferable to another for donations or exchange. The first two commandments establish the ground rules for a relationship between God and God's people. Loyalty to God must be pre-eminent over all other loyalties, but it's significant that the first two commandments can only be properly fulfilled when the other eight are obeyed. Those are the ones that pertain to lying, stealing, adultery, covetousness -- you know the list.

The point established then, and well-known to Jesus, who was after all, a devout Jew, demonstrates that righteous relationships between and among human beings are more important than proper clothing, unblemished animal sacrifices, or faithful pilgrimages. In John 2:13-33, Jesus announces a groundbreaking change in the religion of his people. The outward signs of worship, such as animal sacrifices, visits to the Temple, and obedience to a vast array of religious laws, will be replaced by Christ himself.

It is possible to be faithful, dedicated, earnest, and sincere, to be trying one's best to serve God and humanity, and still get it wrong. Jesus attacks a "religious system so embedded in its own rule and practices that it is no longer open to feel reverence for God."2 The flaws that Jesus rails against in John 2:13-22 are flaws that almost inevitably creep into all organized religions as more people join.

Most of the known religions practiced in the world today began with human, charismatic leaders to whom something divine was revealed. Judaism points back to Abraham and Sarah and their descendants as the one's who instituted a monotheistic faith practiced in a world in which multiple gods serving multiple functions were the norm. Christianity's uniqueness is based upon the sacrificial death and victorious resurrection of Jesus Christ and affirms the paradoxical notion of God as three in one: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Islam, which testifies to shared origins with Judaism and Christianity via father Abraham, traces its formation to the man Mohammed.

Each of these groundbreaking religions started with a radical new way of understanding God, worship, and piety. Each was groundbreaking when it was organized. Each had and still has ideals that focus centrally upon devotion to God and compassion towards other human beings. Each of these central tenets has been distorted over the centuries by various sects, subsets, cults, and radical extremists.

In his recent book When Religion Becomes Evil Dr. Charles Kimball, an ordained Baptist minister, chair of the religion department at Wake Forest University and former director for the Middle East office of the National Council of Churches, identifies five characteristics that lead to evil when held by devotees of a particular religion: 1) absolute truth claims, 2) blind obedience, 3) establishing the "ideal" time, 4) the end justifies any means, and 5) declaring Holy War. In our current political situation it may be easier for us to identify these characteristics in Muslim terrorists than in church-going American Christians, but all human believers are capable of such distortions of God's will. We follow a Lord whose path led him to take upon himself suffering and death.

It is sobering to note that the cleansing of the Temple passage was Adolf Hitler's favorite biblical text. In it he saw a way to justify his Final Solution for getting rid of the Jews. Hitler used this biblical text as evidence that Jesus himself would approve such an action. It's a stark reminder of how easy it is for human beings to distort and pervert the good intended.

God bless us. Christ help us. Spirit deliver us from twisting your Word and your Will to fit our own. Amen.

Notes

1 John Marsh. Saint John: The Pelican New Testament Commentaries. John Marsh, 158-159.

2Gail O'Day. New Interpreter's Bible Commentary, Vol. IX, 545.


Team Member Comments on Alternative Approach

George Murphy responds: I think what you've got is good so far. You've given attention to Jesus' replacement of "religion" but I think it would be helpful to look in particular at the immediate aspect of religion the text deals with, the idea of the "holy place." Jesus' words are, after all, not understood here as referring immediately to religious ceremonies or attitudes but to the Temple. The idea of the "holy place" is an essential part of Islam. But it's also an important feature of much Christian piety and, in fact, of American civil religion. "Ground Zero" very quickly became a shrine and the replacement of the Twin Towers that you refer to at the beginning will undoubtedly take on something of that character.

It will be interesting to see how Americans manage to combine such a shrine with a commercial building. Older countries are more used to that. I think of the General Post Office in Dublin with the plaques commemorating the Easter Rising and the statue of Cuchulain and bullet marks in the walls -- and people standing in line to mail packages and buy lottery tickets.

James L. Evans responds: Your insight into the struggle between what some scholars have called "prophecy and order" is very important. In the prophetic phase, the charismatic prophet gives birth to a dynamic movement with fresh and sometimes iconoclastic insights into the nature of God or ultimate reality. In the "order" phase, followers of the prophet, as they seek to extend the prophet's message make what was fluid and alive for the prophet fixed and rigid for themselves. Ongoing membership within the movement becomes dependent on faithfully observing, not what the prophet said, but what subsequent generations of the prophets' followers distill as what the prophet meant. Reformers arise and seek to reclaim the original message which often results in new prophetic insights and the cycle begins again.

Paul Tillich described this process as the "protestant principle." The church, he wrote, was forever reforming itself, and constantly struggling not to get stuck in any one historical manifestation of itself. It will be interesting to observe where our current ferment in church life takes us.


Illustrations

It's humbling to remember that the Nazis stamped the words "Gott Mit Uns" ("God With Us") on the belt buckles of their soldiers.

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The theological term for all this, although it's not explicitly mentioned in today's gospel lesson, is idolatry. (Today's Old Testament lectionary reading, the Ten Commandments -- and especially the First Commandment, Exodus 20:3 -- is of course the classic text on idolatry.) According to an old definition, idolatry is "worshiping anything that ought to be used, and using anything that ought to be worshiped." In swinging his cord of ropes, Jesus is purifying the Temple from the idolatrous trade of the moneychangers.

Of course, it's not the money itself that's idolatrous, but the merchandising of religious devotion, which the moneychangers are effectively doing as they go about their trade. In hawking sacrificial animals at exorbitant prices, the Temple merchants are squeezing poor people who have no other alternative under religious law. (Some also think Jesus' rage is because the coins being exchanged bear an idolatrous image of Caesar, although that seems to me less likely.) To Jesus, this is unjust: which is why he responds with such angry zeal.
--Carlos Wilton

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[The] worshipers of idols . . . were bowing down to the work of their own hands. What they were worshiping was themselves. And in worshiping themselves, in trusting in themselves as though they were gods, they not only failed to acquire superhuman status, but they lost even such powers as were granted to human beings, becoming as dead to the world as the idols they constructed.
--Norman Podhoretz, The Prophets

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We do not acquire humility. There's humility in us -- only we humiliate ourselves before false gods.
-- Simone Weil

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We have all been inoculated with Christianity, and are never likely to take it seriously now! You put some of the virus of some dreadful illness into a man's arm, and there is a little itchiness, some scratchiness, a slight discomfort -- disagreeable, no doubt, but not the fever of the real disease, the turning and the tossing, and the ebbing strength. And we have all been inoculated with Christianity, more or less. We are on Christ's side, we wish him well, we hope that He will win, and we are even prepared to do something for Him, provided, of course, that He is reasonable, and does not make too much of an upset among our cozy comforts and our customary ways. But there is not the passion of zeal, and the burning enthusiasm, and the eagerness of self-sacrifice, of the real faith that changes character and wins the world.
-- Arthur John Gossip, From the Edge of the Crowd

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A Zen master, doing laundry in a river, was approached by a would-be disciple, who asked eagerly, "What is the true meaning of life?" The Master immediately grabbed the questioner, catching him off guard, and plunged him into the water. He held the man there until he began to thrash desperately, then lifted him up. Gasping for breath, the disciple asked the master why he had done such a thing.

The master replied, "When you desire the answer to that question as much as you desired air just a moment ago, then you can become my student."
--submitted by Carlos Wilton

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Religion is tending to degenerate into a decent formula wherewith to embellish a comfortable life . . . Religion will not regain its old power until it can face change in the same spirit as does science.
-- Alfred North Whitehead, Science and the Modern World (New York, 1927), pp. 269ff.

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Christianity, if false, is not important. If Christianity is true, however, it is of infinite importance. What it cannot be is moderately important.
-- C.S. Lewis

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(From the Editor: All the illustrations gathered here this week work well with both sermons. The following, however, may have particular application to "Reverence at Ballgames.")

Television commentator Bill Moyers explains why he's wearing a flag on his lapel:
"So what's this flag doing here? Well, I put it on to take it back. The flag's been hijacked and turned into a logo -- the trademark of a monopoly on patriotism. . . .

So I put this on as a modest riposte to men with flags in their lapels who shoot missiles from the safety of Washington think tanks, or argue that sacrifice is good as long as they don't have to make it, or approve of bribing governments to join the coalition of the willing (after they first stash the cash). I put it on to remind myself that not every patriot thinks we should do to the people of Baghdad what bin Laden did to us. The flag belongs to the country, not to the government. And it reminds me that it's not un-American to think that war -- except in self-defense -- is a failure of moral imagination, political nerve, and diplomatic skill. Come to think of it, standing up to your government can mean standing up for your country."
- Bill Moyers, NOW with Bill Moyers Friday 28 February 2003

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A man was watching his two small children, ages six and four, on Wednesday, September 12, 2001, the day after 9/11. The TV announcer said that the President was going to address the nation.

The father said, "Now you have got to be quiet because the most important man in the world is getting ready to speak!"

The six-year-old then turned to the four-year-old and said, "You've got to be quiet now. God is about to speak to us."
-- Anonymous

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Contrary to what many Europeans think, the problem with American power is not that it is American. The problem is simply the power. It would be dangerous even for an archangel to wield so much power. The writers of the American Constitution wisely determined that no single locus of power, however benign, should predominate; for even the best could be led into temptation. Every power should therefore be checked by at least one other. That also applies in world politics.

Of course it helps that such power is exercised by leaders under the scrutiny of a developed and self-critical democracy. But even democracy brings its own temptations when it exists in a hyperpower . . .
-- Timothy Garton Ash, "The Peril of Too Much Power," New York Times, April 9, 2002
(Timothy Garton Ash is director of the European Studies Centre at St. Antony's College, Oxford, and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.)


Worship Materials
By Larry Hard

CALL TO WORSHIP
Leader: We thank God for this place where we gather to worship.
PEOPLE: AS MUCH AS WE ENJOY THIS PLACE, IT IS GOD THAT WE WORSHIP.
Leader: We are grateful for those who provided this sacred space.
PEOPLE: WE WISH TO KEEP THIS PLACE SACRED AS A PLACE OF PRAYER.
ALL: LET US THEN WORSHIP GOD AND PRAY TO OUR MAKER AND REDEEMER.

OPENING PRAYER (Unison Prayer)
Holy God, we are in your presence. Keep us aware of ways your Spirit is ministering to us and others as we sing, pray, listen, affirm faith, and respond to your Word. Inform our minds and reform our hearts that from our worship we will better serve you and our world. Amen.

HYMN
Holy God, We Praise Thy Name

SONG
Surely the Presence of the Lord
Words and music by Lanny Wolfe

CONFESSION

Call to Confession (by the leader)
God knows our intentions and our deeds. We need honest and humble confession of thoughts, words, and deeds that have done harm to others and ourselves. Let us confess to our Merciful God ways we make even religion serve selfish and narrow ends. Let us pray:

PRAYER OF CONFESSION
God of infinite mercy, we confess that we have sinned by words we have spoken and deeds we have done. You know how we misuse even religion to gain control and power over others. We close our minds to new understandings by claiming to have all the truth. We close our hearts to those who would speak new truths that we need to hear. Forgive us when we have been arrogant in spirit and put our trust in the externals of religion. Come among us to cleanse us. Remind us that we are to be your body, giving ourselves in love to each other as you gave yourself on the cross to reveal redemptive love. Hear our silent individual prayers of confession.

SILENT PRAYERS AND REFLECTIONS

Prayer for Pardon (by leader)
O God, hear our confession and heal our souls. We pray that the assurance of your forgiving love will move us to live with open minds and loving hearts; through Christ who is our Redeemer. Amen.

HYMN
O Crucified Redeemer

SONG
Humble Thyself in the Sight of the Lord
--Words and music by Bob Hudson

AFFIRMATIONS OF FAITH
Leader: We affirm that God is gracious,
PEOPLE: WELCOMING ALL PEOPLE INTO HIS PRESENCE.
Leader: We affirm that God is compassionate,
PEOPLE: CARING FOR ALL WHO SUFFER IN OUR WORLD.
Leader: We affirm that Jesus comes to judge,
PEOPLE: CALLING US TO NEW INSIGHT AND TRUTH.
Leader: We affirm that Jesus comes to save,
PEOPLE: TRANSFORMING US TO LOVE AND SERVE.
Leader: We affirm the Holy Spirit is present with us,
PEOPLE: EMPOWERING US TO BECOME LIKE JESUS.
Leader: We affirm the Holy Spirit is present in us,
PEOPLE: CAUSING US TO TURN TO GOD IN PRAYER.
Leader: We affirm the church as a covenant community,
PEOPLE: BINDING US TOGETHER AS THE BODY OF CHRIST.
Leader: We affirm the church as a redemptive community,
PEOPLE: HELPING US TO HELP EACH OTHER TO LIVE IN FAITH, HOPE, AND LOVE.

HYMN
Dear Lord and Father of Mankind

SONG
We Need a Faith
--Words: John Thornburg; Music: Jesse Irvine


Children's Sermon
By Wes Runk
John 2:13-22

Text: v.16 - He told those who were selling the doves, "Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!"

Object: A menu, a program for a play, a scorecard

Good morning, boys and girls. Today we are going to ask ourselves what we could use this big room for that we are in besides church? Do you have any suggestions? (let them answer) On Sunday's we come to church and worship in this room but what else could we use it for? (let them answer)

I have some ideas, which I would like for you to consider. I brought along a menu. How many of you know what a menu is? (let them answer) That's right, this is what a restaurant uses to tell you what kind of food they serve. Let's see, we could have steak and baked potatoes and salad or we could have pork chops and hash browns with some applesauce. What do you think? Do you think this would make a good restaurant(Let them answer)

Or maybe it would make a better theatre? I have a program from one of the plays I have seen recently. Let's see, the chancel area would make a great stage except we would have to remove the altar and the pulpit and the lectern. The choir could sit out here and the organ could be moved to another room. Do you think this would make a good theatre?

Or I have a better idea. Think of this as a gym! We could put up baskets at each end and play basketball or put a net across the middle and play volleyball. Or we could just take out all of the seats and play soccer. I have a scorecard to help us know which team is winning! Do you think this would make a good gym? (let them answer)

Are you worried about coming to church? Don't be, we can move the furniture in and out. We only need the church furniture on Sundays. Why I can even think of others things we might do with this room. We could have the biggest garage sale in town. We could set up tables and fill them with all of the things we wanted to sell. Or maybe if we need more school rooms we could turn it into a school. What do you think? (let them answer)
Not a very good idea, is it? (let them answer) But you know people get funny ideas about the church. As a matter of fact I want to quickly tell you another story.

One day Jesus was going up to the Temple where he worshiped every day that he was in town. Jesus loved to go to the Temple and pray and listen to God's word read. Sometimes people would sing the Psalms and very often there were people who discussed the reading of God's Word. Jesus loved the Temple and he went very often. On this one day as he was going into the Temple, he saw it was filled with cows and doves and men and women were selling and shouting. It wasn't like a house of prayer. It was like a marketplace or a mall. You could hardly hear yourself think it was so loud. It just didn't seem like church.

Jesus was so angry at what he saw that he turned over the tables and scattered the money across the floors. He went over to the people who were selling the animals and he drove them out of the Temple. He shouted to them that God's house, his Father's house, was a house of prayer and not a store or a mall. It was quite a scene. We need to remember this lesson today. We don't want our church to ever become anything but a house of prayer and a place of worship. Do you agree? (let them answer) I knew you would. Amen


The Immediate Word, March 23, 2003, issue.

Copyright 2003 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.

All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., P.O. Box 4503, Lima, Ohio 45802-4503.