As we listen today to the story of Jesus driving people out of the temple, let us make sure that we worship God with our whole hearts and minds, in the way that Jesus would wish.
Invitation to Confession:
Jesus, forgive our greedy desires.
Lord, have mercy.Jesus, forgive our wrong motives.
Christ, have mercy.Jesus, cleanse our hearts and minds.
Lord, have mercy.
Reading:
John 2:13-22
The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. [14] In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. [15] 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. [16] He told those who were selling the doves, "Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!" [17] His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for your house will consume me." [18] The Jews then said to him, "What sign can you show us for doing this?" [19] Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." [20] The Jews then said, "This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?" [21] But he was speaking of the temple of his body. [22] 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.
Story:
If your church sells cards or booklets, or offers coffee at the end of the service, this reading could be disturbing for children. So it's important to explain that Jesus was angry with people because of their motives of greed, and because they oppressed other people in order to make themselves rich.
This story about Praxis the colourful pixie attempts to explore some of those themes.
Praxis Gets Rich
Praxis, the colourful pixie whose skin changes colour according to his moods, had hit upon a brilliant idea. The more he thought about it, the more excited he became, for it was a way of earning pixie money very quickly without having to do too much work.
Pixie money is in the form of tiny, pearl-like shells. The shells are very hard to find, and pixie explorers spend their lives travelling around the pixie world to mine for shell money. Then they sell it to toadstool banks, and pixies earn the money for the work they do. Even pixie children can earn shell money for their work, but they have to work very hard for just a single shell.
That's why Praxis' idea was so good. It involved a lot of shell money with almost no work, and the very idea turned Praxis golden with excitement. He sat down and began to write out a letter to all the pixie children. That was quite hard work, for Praxis wasn't very good at writing. His skin became quite dull and brown as he laboured over his task. But when he had finished, he brightened up again and ran to the pixie post office, where he spent a whole shell on stamps. He posted his letters and sat back to wait.
Within two days, letters began to come back to him. Each one, from a pixie child, contained a single shell. By the end of four days, Praxis had forty shells. He had never been so rich in all his life! It was wonderful. Praxis turned a beautiful shade of pink, and waited for more letters to come pouring through his letterbox.
But instead of letters appearing on his doormat, something much worse happened. The Wise Old Pixie came to call on Praxis, and Praxis had never seen him so angry.
He roared at Praxis, and Praxis turned pale blue and began to shiver and shake. He wasn't sure what he'd done wrong, but he thought of all that pixie money and somehow felt ashamed.
The Wise Old Pixie had a bundle of letters in his hand which Praxis instantly recognised. "Did you write these, Praxis?" roared the Wise Old Pixie.
Praxis hung his head and nodded. He was now feeling very blue indeed.
"Do you know what you've done?" bellowed the Wise Old Pixie.
Praxis shook his head. He was too frightened to speak. He'd never before seen the Wise Old Pixie like this.
"You've written a list in each of these letters with your name at the top, and five other names below. You've asked pixie children to send a shell to the name at the top of the list, then to copy out the list and send it to six of their friends, but crossing off the top name and adding their name to the bottom. You've told them that if nobody breaks the chain, they will receive lots of pixie shells when their name reaches the top of the list."
"What's wrong with that?" blurted out Praxis. "If nobody breaks the chain it'll work and we'll all get rich."
The Wise Old Pixie, who was the only other pixie to change colour with his moods, turned scarlet. Because he was so old and so wise, he was usually pure white. Praxis gasped at the change in him and shrank back as far as he could.
"No, Praxis," said the Wise Old Pixie, more quietly this time. "Pixies work for their money. It's very dishonourable to try to get money without doing any work for it. But what you've done is worse than that. You see, the money must come from somewhere. By the time all the pixies on the top half of the list have their money, there'll be none left for the pixies at the bottom of the list. When their name reaches the top, they won't get anything. They'll have given their hard-earned money to greedy, lazy pixies like you, but they won't receive anything for themselves. Now do you see what you've done?"
Praxis did, and he felt so sad and sorry that big, fat tears began to pour down his blue face. "I'll send all the money back," he whispered.
"See that you do," commanded the Wise Old Pixie, and left.
Poor Praxis. It took him ages to sort out who had sent him money, and to return it with a nice letter. By the end of his labours he was quite worn out, and had turned a sickly yellow.
But the next time he saw the Wise Old Pixie, he received a nod and a smile, and he saw so pleased and so relieved that he turned a bright, shocking pink for three whole days.
Activity:
You need:
Simple 1st century clothes for dressing up - dressing
gowns, tea-towels, and long swathes of cloth are fine.
If possible, a video
camera and someone to use it.
The story of the cleansing of the temple has plenty of action and is great for acting out. Allow the children to decide what parts they will play, and work out a dialogue first. If you can, let them dress appropriately. Have a couple of rehearsals, then act out the drama, getting a parent or member of the church to video it if possible.
If you can, let the children do the drama in church.
Diary Time: For details, click here.
Get the children to talk about times when they have felt cheated, and ask them what their feelings were. They could write or draw about these occasions. Then ask them whether they have ever cheated, or tried to cheat someone else, and what that person might have felt. With older children it might be possible to develop this into a discussion about the destruction of the rain forests, or some other ecological issue.
Intercession:
God of justice, help everyone in your Church to worship you from the heart.
God of justice, may our world resist the temptation to think only of money and making wealth. May we be concerned for all human beings and for our planet, and make sure that everybody has a fair share.
God of justice, teach us to really understand the difference between right and wrong, especially when it's hard to know. And help us to make sure that we treat all our friends well.
God of justice, please help those who are ill. May any pain be eased, and may they soon be restored to full health and strength. We name them before you....
God of justice, we pray for all who are suffering because someone they love has died, and we hold them in your presence.....
Blessing:
With the help of the Lord
may we fight against injustice,
stick always to the truth
and seek only for the riches which God can give.
And the blessing of God almighty,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
be with you now,
be in your homes and in your families
and with all those whom you love
and for whom you pray,
now and always.
Amen.
