Trinity Blog

¹⁵ Then they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold doves; ¹⁶ and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. ¹⁷ He was teaching and saying, ‘Is it not written,
“My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations”?
             But you have made it a den of robbers.’
¹⁸ And when the chief priests and the scribes heard it, they kept looking for a way to kill him; for they were afraid of him, because the whole crowd was spellbound by his teaching. ¹⁹ And when evening came, Jesus and his disciples^] went out of the city. Mark 11:15-19

With the arrival of warm weather, I have started the dreaded process of Spring Cleaning.  I was able to leave up the garage door in the warm weather, but I noticed all the stuff that needed to go.  Where did all these leaves come from?  I swear I swept and blew them all out in November.  How many spiders can make that many cobwebs in the windows?  How many mice made a nest on my storage racks and dropped feces everywhere?  Where did all the mold on my garage windows come from?  I have a lot of work to do to make my garage presentable but also to make it a space for my car and not for leaves, spiders, mice, and mold.

Not only did I find the wrong thing in my garage, but Jesus also found the wrong things in His House.  On Palm Sunday, after his arrival in Jerusalem, Jesus enters the Temple to pray and to give offerings and he found the wrong things there.  He found people selling animals for the sacrifices prescribed in the Law and he found people forced to buy them at high prices.  He found money changers, to change the Roman coins into the local Jewish coins, which the vendors alone accepted, much like a Visa or Mastercard only, with of course a 20% fee for exchange.  He even found people selling doves, which were the poor person’s sacrifice, do we really think they were sold at cost or at profit?  Jesus expected a space of prayer and connection with God and found profiteers who were nurturing not faith but greed and gluttony.

After finding everything in my garage that was not supposed to be there, I Spring cleaned.  Jesus does likewise, He drove out the animals (and maybe a few people) with a handmade whip, He overturned the tables of the moneychangers (did people grab the money and flee?), and He restored the Court of the Gentiles to its proper function, a light to the Gentiles.  He even went so far as to begin teaching the real and true purpose of the Temple, ‘Is it not written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations”?  But you have made it a den of robbers.’  Jesus Spring cleaned the Temple to restore it to its Divinely established purpose, a place to connect with God and Community.

What would Jesus find in our sanctuaries?  Prayer, worship, service, study?  Hearts connecting with God and Community?  Or would Jesus find shows seeking entertained audiences, politically driven rhetoric seeking votes for President, idols and golden calves from ages past, or economic profiteering for personal fortunes?  If we were to look at our spaces supposedly dedicated to Jesus and His mission, would He find them faithfully used or needing some Spring cleaning?

Perhaps this is why Jesus was hated by the religious leaders, the priests, and scribes enough to be killed.  He threatened their purpose for the temple, not realizing of course that they were a threat to God’s purpose for the temple.  Perhaps the greatest problem today is not the outside world living and promoting sin, what did you really expect from them, but the religious leaders who take the things of God and find ways to profit off them.  Instead of nurturing faith and obedience to the Loving, Covenant God, they nurture fortune and glory for themselves.  We end up with leaves, spiders, mice, and mold in the garage; we end up with greed, pride, tyranny, and gluttony in the House of God.  Instead of connecting to God, people are led to connect with Sin and God chooses to Spring Clean.

Perhaps this is why even despite the people hating him for bringing the Kingdom of God into their kingdoms, Jesus dies for all creation.  To cleanse creation, even if creation is the problem.  Jesus dies for creation to save creation from itself.  To cleanse the sanctuaries and human hearts from sin, but also to restore it to its true purpose: gratitude and trust in the Loving, Covenant God.  Friends, as we near the end of Lent and the beginning of Holy Week, we are ever reminded of just how much in ourselves and even our churches needs to be removed and how much we need to be blessed with the new creation.  The good news of the Gospel is that as Jesus of Nazareth, God has done everything needed for our sanctuaries and our selves to be cleansed and restored.  The burden of our discipleship is learning to be a true temple of prayer and connection with God, not with sin.  Grace has changed us, let us be that changed people.  Jesus has Spring Cleaned, let us be His Holy and Faithful disciples.  Amen. 

¹⁶ Then someone came to him and said, ‘Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?’ ¹⁷ And he said to him, ‘Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.’ ¹⁸ He said to him, ‘Which ones?’ And Jesus said, ‘You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; ¹⁹ Honor your father and mother; also, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ²⁰ The young man said to him, ‘I have kept all these^] what do I still lack?’ ²¹ Jesus said to him, ‘If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ ²² When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

The wind and waves of Lake Erie’s storms can drive a boat of any size far off course or even sink them.  When a Gale warning sounds by the Weather Service or Coast Guard, boats rush for the safety of a harbor and either dock the boat, tying off on cleats or dropping anchor.  By tying off on an immovable dock, the boat ensures that neither the wind nor waves blow them away.  By anchoring in a shallow harbor, the boat ensures that neither the wind nor waves will cause them to drift off.  By being attached to something greater than the storm, the boat will not be harmed and lost during the “gales of November.”

In our story of the Rich Man and Jesus, we are told of a Jewish man who has kept the commandments his entire life but was extremely attached to his possessions.  I believe the entire point of this story is to reveal to us the challenges of attempting to be attached to God and something else, in this story, money.  Not only would a boat being anchored to two fixed points tear the boat apart, but so would a person being attached to God and Money be pulled apart.  How can you serve both?  The difficult reality of this story is that the Rich Man was never really attached to God, he was only attached to his stuff and when called by Jesus to give up one to gain the other, he couldn’t do so.  He was crushed.

Are we not the same?  We profess to be attached to God, but we are also attached to our Churches.  Our Churches have a legacy, and property, and building, and endowments; and we are quite attached to them.  But are they the same thing as being attached to God?  Perhaps the real test of who we are really being attached to, lies in the challenge of Christ to sell everything, and follow me.  If we can’t let go of our buildings and follow Christ, who are we really attached to?  If we can’t let go of our property and our programs and follow Christ, who are we really attached to?  If we can’t let go of our Church’s legacies and the endowments left to them and follow Christ, then who are we really attached to?  Like the Rich Man when commanded by Christ to do this, we go away crushed, because we have much, and we are quite attached to them and are not really interested in being attached to God.

The great problem beginning to be revealed is that over the past century, we as churches have invested heavily in the wrong things.  We invested in property, but the resources needed to care for that property are scarce.  We invested in buildings, but the boiler needs to be replaced, and the wiring needs updated, but we cannot afford them.  We have legacies of our parents and grandparents and endowments left to the Church from estates of previous members, but the interest in them alone cannot sustain mission work, they must be used to maintain the Status Quo.  We have attached ourselves to the Institutional Church instead of God, and the Institutional Church cannot sustain and provide.  We have attached ourselves to a worldly, temporary thing that cannot provide Divine, Eternal Things.  We have docked or anchored in the wrong thing and have been blown away by the wind and waves of Pandemic and Recession.  We have attached ourselves to what we can see and control instead of attaching ourselves to God which we can only see by faith and have no control over but must follow. 

Jesus said to him, ‘If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’  Perhaps these words of Jesus still stand for us today. Perhaps Church was never just about the tangible things of life, perhaps they were just symbols of the Greater, Divine things of God’s life given to creation.  Sanctuaries were meant to be houses of prayer and connection to God and neighbor; they have become about entertainment and splendor.  Communities were meant to be about nurturing people with love and forgiveness; they have become about suspicion of those different and judgment of the next generations.  Churches were meant to be missionaries into the neighborhood with compassion and justice; they have become about escaping from our neighbors and hiding with like-minded people.  We have become more attached to our blessings than God’s mission in giving those blessings.  We want to have Church, not be Church. 

Now we can see again why Jesus was crucified and resurrected; to forgive these sins of ours and to re-create a community of disciples attached to God instead of our stuff.  This Lent what do we need to let go of; to take hold of Christ and therefore God?  The Sunday Morning Show?  The Sanctuary to hide in?  The Endowment or Golden Calf?  The building, the property?  Through Christ, we are forgiven and being made new.  Will we have any faith to follow him and to obey him or will we just go away grieving, because we are attached to our Church instead of being attached to Him?  Will we anchor ourselves in Him and withstand the storms of life or will we attach ourselves to the Institutional Church and be washed away?  Choose faith and follow Christ!  Choose faith and start truly living!  Amen.