Three O'Clock At The Temple
Sermon
Sermons on the First Readings
Series III, Cycle B
Object:
A church caught on fire. An elderly man came running to join the others who had come to throw water. After the fire was under control, the minister said to the old gent, "Why, John, this is the first time I've ever seen you at church!" John replied, "This is the first time I've ever seen this church on fire."
Many have reduced the number of visits to the neighborhood church. They are, perhaps, tired of unpolished, irrelevant sermons. Perhaps the worship is done by rote and boring, not inspirational, but dull. Maybe the welcoming mat is gone. A lady went to church. She parked her car. Someone said, "You took my parking place." She took a seat in the third row, right on the aisle. The stare she got from the man next to her said it all, "You took the place of my wife who will soon come to sit." After services, she went to the fellowship hall to get a cup of punch. As she finished off the last cup in the bowl, someone said, "You took the pastor's cup of punch." The visitor went into the church to look at the altar cross. She looked up at the crucified one and thought, "But you took my place!"
Peter and John went one day to the temple at three o'clock in the afternoon to pray. The story starts at the beginning of chapter 3 in the book of Acts. They watched as a lame man was laid at one of the gates. As Peter and John passed him, the man asked them for a handout. Peter responded, "I have no silver or gold for you but I have something better: In the name of Jesus, stand up and walk!" The man's ankles and legs responded; he stood up and, dancing, accompanied Peter and John into the temple.
A miracle -- it happened at the temple; it happened at church; it happened at three o'clock in the afternoon. There were witnesses that day milling around on a great stone porch built by Herod the Great facing the Mount of Olives. The lame man must have raced around throughout the temple compound showing off his new strong ankles and legs. The visitors recognized him; he had been laying at the gate for years. There was no doubt, the man once paralyzed was running around making a nuisance out of himself.
It was clearly a miracle!
Can miracles still happen at church? Charismatic Christians witness to speaking in tongues and dramatic healings. But there is more: Worshipers weep as they receive the body and blood of Christ. Sometimes those who exit the services exclaim to the pastor or priest, "You were talking to me today, pastor," or "You touched my heart!" Sometimes a man or a woman will make a silent vow to make amends with a neighbor or a parent or child. Sometimes guilt or doubt is exorcised from the soul. It happened at three o'clock in the afternoon. It can happen at the eight o'clock mass or the 10:30 service of praise.
A point was made -- at the temple -- at three o'clock. Peter expressed bewilderment about the astonishment of the people. The witnesses have missed something. Have they not heard about the raising of Jesus, the man from Nazareth? "It's a new world! The promises of God to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob have been fulfilled in Jesus! You remember Jesus, don't you? He's the one you consigned to death when Pilate the governor wanted to acquit him! He's the innocent man you sent to the cross! But know this! That very man you murdered has given new life and hope to the lame man at the gate! What do you think about that?"
There was a little soul searching that day. Maybe people don't want to search their souls anymore. That's why they avoid church on Sunday morning. Some have found other "churches" that omit references to sin, death, and the devil. People can go to churches that accept credit cards, which only preach positive messages complete with references to fluffy white clouds floating in bright blue skies. The choirs sing numbers from Gershwin or Rogers and Hammerstein or simple "praise" songs inviting audience participation. They want to praise, praise, praise God and drown out God's word of judgment. Soul searching is discouraged.
There was a challenge -- at the temple -- at three o'clock. Peter lets his listeners off the hook. "You didn't know what you were doing. You didn't know that you were murdering a man who willingly took the bullet for you! But now you know! Look at this lame man now whole and leaping and dancing! The man you killed was raised from the dead with great power. It is that same man who gave back life and hope to this poor soul! God had it all planned out! It was not a coincidence! God has made good on his promises to the fathers, to the nation, to Israel! Look at this man once lame and know that the God who healed this hopeless piece of humanity can also heal you! Repent! Make up your minds! Get on the bandwagon! Follow the risen Savior! Enter the land of hope and restoration!"
There is a museum in Berlin that documents the attempts of Germans entrapped behind the wall in the German Democratic Republic to escape to the west. Some of them tunneled under the wall. Others hid in the beds of trucks or brazenly crashed through the wall. A few daringly floated over the wall in hot-air balloons. Some simply made a run for it.
Many were shot or killed on the spot or captured. Some simply vanished, their fates still unknown. One documented incident records the efforts of three men to dig a tunnel from the basement of a small house near the wall. They dug a passage twenty inches in diameter and about sixty yards long, under three rows of barbed wire. The digging was slow. The men took turns shoveling the dirt in front of them behind to be transported back to the house that became filled with sandy dirt, in closets, in dressers, in cupboards, in the rooms from floor to ceiling. When the tunnel was finally finished, seven women, four men, and two children wiggled their way through the tunnel to freedom.
Peter challenged the people standing on the porch of the temple that day to accept the courage and power of the living Christ to move the obstacles between them and the kingdom from before them to behind them. Is God the punitive God who needs to be appeased? Move that god behind you. Is God the God who operates on merit? Move that god behind you. Pride, human effort, pretentiousness, power games, worldly success (or the appearance of success)! Move that dirt to the back. Clear the way! Go with God! Love God; do not fear him! Love God; love your neighbors! Follow the risen Lord!
"Repent!" said Peter. "Make up your minds!"
A film was made in 2005 based upon the book, Tsotsi, about a boy in South Africa who runs away from home because of the cruelty of his father. Tsotsi survives by living with orphans in giant construction pipes near the city. He becomes the leader of a band of thieves and is able to get his own "place" in the township. The boy in the group nicknamed the "teacher" accuses Tsotsi of going too far and abandoning "decency" when a robbery gets out of hand and a victim is killed. Consumed by a fit of anger, Tsotsi beats up the teacher.
He goes to a good neighborhood, steals a car, and later realizes that there is a baby in the backseat. He decides to keep the baby and takes it to a young widow for feeding. He returns to the baby's house to fetch toys. He does not allow a fellow thief to harm the baby's father who is in the house at the time of the toy raid.
His love for the baby initiates a transformation. He apologizes to the teacher. At the moment of confrontation with a helpless cripple in an alley, he decides not to take the cripple's take for the day. He wants to help the young widow. Moved by the widow's love for him, Tsotsi agrees to take the baby back to its parents. On the way to the house, he is curiously moved by the sight of several baptisms in the river.
In his attempt to return the baby, Tsotsi fails to avoid a confrontation with the police. The baby's father persuades the police not to harm him and Tsotsi is taken into custody. Tsotsi's fate is not known but the viewer of the movie knows that Tsotsi has been redeemed. The plight of those weaker than he (the baby, the young widow, the teacher, the wheelchair-bound beggar) has moved him to compassion. He has left his life of crime and the hatred for his father behind. He goes to jail but he goes as a free man, a man who has been liberated by love.
There are many accounts of Paul, Peter, and other apostles recorded in the book of Acts that demonstrate the power of the risen Christ in the lives of his first-century followers. The Easter season is not only the time to celebrate the resurrection of Christ, but it is also the time to remember how the power of the risen Christ was visible and manifested in the life of the early church. At the gate of the temple at three o'clock in the afternoon, a lame man was restored and healed! Those who witnessed the miracle of restoration were challenged by Peter and John to embrace the power of new life. Perhaps the pastors and priests of today's mainline churches cannot preach as inspiringly as Peter but perhaps, on the other hand, today's seekers do not see the love of the community that can transform them. Their eyes are not open; their hearts are turning to leather. Perhaps they are looking for the wrong kind of miracles. They may go to the temple but they are looking for the wrong kind of miracles. Too bad. They are dragging their feet when they could be dancing for joy. It's three o'clock. It's time to go to the temple. Anytime is a good time to go to the temple to see what God can and has done, but Peter and John went at three o'clock in the afternoon. Amen.
Many have reduced the number of visits to the neighborhood church. They are, perhaps, tired of unpolished, irrelevant sermons. Perhaps the worship is done by rote and boring, not inspirational, but dull. Maybe the welcoming mat is gone. A lady went to church. She parked her car. Someone said, "You took my parking place." She took a seat in the third row, right on the aisle. The stare she got from the man next to her said it all, "You took the place of my wife who will soon come to sit." After services, she went to the fellowship hall to get a cup of punch. As she finished off the last cup in the bowl, someone said, "You took the pastor's cup of punch." The visitor went into the church to look at the altar cross. She looked up at the crucified one and thought, "But you took my place!"
Peter and John went one day to the temple at three o'clock in the afternoon to pray. The story starts at the beginning of chapter 3 in the book of Acts. They watched as a lame man was laid at one of the gates. As Peter and John passed him, the man asked them for a handout. Peter responded, "I have no silver or gold for you but I have something better: In the name of Jesus, stand up and walk!" The man's ankles and legs responded; he stood up and, dancing, accompanied Peter and John into the temple.
A miracle -- it happened at the temple; it happened at church; it happened at three o'clock in the afternoon. There were witnesses that day milling around on a great stone porch built by Herod the Great facing the Mount of Olives. The lame man must have raced around throughout the temple compound showing off his new strong ankles and legs. The visitors recognized him; he had been laying at the gate for years. There was no doubt, the man once paralyzed was running around making a nuisance out of himself.
It was clearly a miracle!
Can miracles still happen at church? Charismatic Christians witness to speaking in tongues and dramatic healings. But there is more: Worshipers weep as they receive the body and blood of Christ. Sometimes those who exit the services exclaim to the pastor or priest, "You were talking to me today, pastor," or "You touched my heart!" Sometimes a man or a woman will make a silent vow to make amends with a neighbor or a parent or child. Sometimes guilt or doubt is exorcised from the soul. It happened at three o'clock in the afternoon. It can happen at the eight o'clock mass or the 10:30 service of praise.
A point was made -- at the temple -- at three o'clock. Peter expressed bewilderment about the astonishment of the people. The witnesses have missed something. Have they not heard about the raising of Jesus, the man from Nazareth? "It's a new world! The promises of God to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob have been fulfilled in Jesus! You remember Jesus, don't you? He's the one you consigned to death when Pilate the governor wanted to acquit him! He's the innocent man you sent to the cross! But know this! That very man you murdered has given new life and hope to the lame man at the gate! What do you think about that?"
There was a little soul searching that day. Maybe people don't want to search their souls anymore. That's why they avoid church on Sunday morning. Some have found other "churches" that omit references to sin, death, and the devil. People can go to churches that accept credit cards, which only preach positive messages complete with references to fluffy white clouds floating in bright blue skies. The choirs sing numbers from Gershwin or Rogers and Hammerstein or simple "praise" songs inviting audience participation. They want to praise, praise, praise God and drown out God's word of judgment. Soul searching is discouraged.
There was a challenge -- at the temple -- at three o'clock. Peter lets his listeners off the hook. "You didn't know what you were doing. You didn't know that you were murdering a man who willingly took the bullet for you! But now you know! Look at this lame man now whole and leaping and dancing! The man you killed was raised from the dead with great power. It is that same man who gave back life and hope to this poor soul! God had it all planned out! It was not a coincidence! God has made good on his promises to the fathers, to the nation, to Israel! Look at this man once lame and know that the God who healed this hopeless piece of humanity can also heal you! Repent! Make up your minds! Get on the bandwagon! Follow the risen Savior! Enter the land of hope and restoration!"
There is a museum in Berlin that documents the attempts of Germans entrapped behind the wall in the German Democratic Republic to escape to the west. Some of them tunneled under the wall. Others hid in the beds of trucks or brazenly crashed through the wall. A few daringly floated over the wall in hot-air balloons. Some simply made a run for it.
Many were shot or killed on the spot or captured. Some simply vanished, their fates still unknown. One documented incident records the efforts of three men to dig a tunnel from the basement of a small house near the wall. They dug a passage twenty inches in diameter and about sixty yards long, under three rows of barbed wire. The digging was slow. The men took turns shoveling the dirt in front of them behind to be transported back to the house that became filled with sandy dirt, in closets, in dressers, in cupboards, in the rooms from floor to ceiling. When the tunnel was finally finished, seven women, four men, and two children wiggled their way through the tunnel to freedom.
Peter challenged the people standing on the porch of the temple that day to accept the courage and power of the living Christ to move the obstacles between them and the kingdom from before them to behind them. Is God the punitive God who needs to be appeased? Move that god behind you. Is God the God who operates on merit? Move that god behind you. Pride, human effort, pretentiousness, power games, worldly success (or the appearance of success)! Move that dirt to the back. Clear the way! Go with God! Love God; do not fear him! Love God; love your neighbors! Follow the risen Lord!
"Repent!" said Peter. "Make up your minds!"
A film was made in 2005 based upon the book, Tsotsi, about a boy in South Africa who runs away from home because of the cruelty of his father. Tsotsi survives by living with orphans in giant construction pipes near the city. He becomes the leader of a band of thieves and is able to get his own "place" in the township. The boy in the group nicknamed the "teacher" accuses Tsotsi of going too far and abandoning "decency" when a robbery gets out of hand and a victim is killed. Consumed by a fit of anger, Tsotsi beats up the teacher.
He goes to a good neighborhood, steals a car, and later realizes that there is a baby in the backseat. He decides to keep the baby and takes it to a young widow for feeding. He returns to the baby's house to fetch toys. He does not allow a fellow thief to harm the baby's father who is in the house at the time of the toy raid.
His love for the baby initiates a transformation. He apologizes to the teacher. At the moment of confrontation with a helpless cripple in an alley, he decides not to take the cripple's take for the day. He wants to help the young widow. Moved by the widow's love for him, Tsotsi agrees to take the baby back to its parents. On the way to the house, he is curiously moved by the sight of several baptisms in the river.
In his attempt to return the baby, Tsotsi fails to avoid a confrontation with the police. The baby's father persuades the police not to harm him and Tsotsi is taken into custody. Tsotsi's fate is not known but the viewer of the movie knows that Tsotsi has been redeemed. The plight of those weaker than he (the baby, the young widow, the teacher, the wheelchair-bound beggar) has moved him to compassion. He has left his life of crime and the hatred for his father behind. He goes to jail but he goes as a free man, a man who has been liberated by love.
There are many accounts of Paul, Peter, and other apostles recorded in the book of Acts that demonstrate the power of the risen Christ in the lives of his first-century followers. The Easter season is not only the time to celebrate the resurrection of Christ, but it is also the time to remember how the power of the risen Christ was visible and manifested in the life of the early church. At the gate of the temple at three o'clock in the afternoon, a lame man was restored and healed! Those who witnessed the miracle of restoration were challenged by Peter and John to embrace the power of new life. Perhaps the pastors and priests of today's mainline churches cannot preach as inspiringly as Peter but perhaps, on the other hand, today's seekers do not see the love of the community that can transform them. Their eyes are not open; their hearts are turning to leather. Perhaps they are looking for the wrong kind of miracles. They may go to the temple but they are looking for the wrong kind of miracles. Too bad. They are dragging their feet when they could be dancing for joy. It's three o'clock. It's time to go to the temple. Anytime is a good time to go to the temple to see what God can and has done, but Peter and John went at three o'clock in the afternoon. Amen.
