Narrative Lectionary Reflection

January 21, 2018

Introduction

In the past few weeks, we have said again and again that there are events that take place only in John and not in the Synoptic Gospels.  For example, last week’s lesson- the wedding at Cana- is only found in John.

But the Cleansing of the Temple is an event that takes place in all four Gospels.  Why?  It had to be viewed as important that it is found in every Gospel.

What made it important to the early church?  What does it mean now?  Does it have something to say about modern business?  Does it have something to say about the modern church and what we do inside the walls?

Let’s look at Jesus and the Cleansing of the Temple.

Engaging the Text

(Jesus)He found in the temple those who were selling cattle, sheep, and doves, as well as those involved in exchanging currency sitting there. ¹⁵ He made a whip from ropes and chased them all out of the temple, including the cattle and the sheep. He scattered the coins and overturned the tables of those who exchanged currency.

-John 2:14-15

 While this story is found in all four gospels, it is placed differently in John than it is in the other three books. The Synoptics place it at the end of Jesus’ ministry, when he arrives in Jerusalem. In fact, it is the precipritating act that starts things in motion that leads to Jesus’ death.

In John, the cleansing of the temple takes place at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. This isn’t the act that gets him killed, that would come later in John (the event that would start that process in John is the raising of Lazarus from the dead).

But there is something else going on here.  While the each gospel tells the same stories, the Synoptics and John tell different stories.  Theologian Karoline Lewis notes that while in the Synoptics, Jesus was angry that the temple had become a “den of robbers,” Jesus had a different purpose in mind in John. Lewis explains the difference:

The levels of meaning of the temple incident in John are also found in the details in how the incident is told. Jesus enters the temple and finds what one would expect during a pilgrimage festival. The vital trades are in place for the necessary exchange of monies, animals, and grains for the required sacrifices. Nothing is out of order at this point. The narration happens in real time, as if the reader can see everything that Jesus sees. Yet, Jesus’ command to the dove sellers differs strikingly from the accounts in Matthew, Mark, and Luke (Matthew 21:12-13; Mark 11:15-19; Luke 19:45-48). Instead of a concern for temple malpractices (“den of robbers”), Jesus orders that his Father’s house not be made a marketplace. For the temple system to survive, however, the ordered transactions of a marketplace were essential. The temple had to function as a place of exchange for maintaining and supporting the sacrificial structures. Jesus is not quibbling about maleficence or mismanagement but calls for a complete dismantling of the entire system. Underneath this critique lies also the intimation that the temple itself is not necessary.

In the Synoptics, it seems like there is some abuse taking place. Sellers in the temple are ripping off the poor in Matthew, Mark and Luke.  But as Lewis notes, what is happening in the Temple is normal, everyday commerce. People who came from far away bought animals to offer sacrifice at the temple.  Buying the animals was a way for the temple to pay for itself.

The moneychangers in the other gospels are seen as crooks.  But here in John, the moneychangers are seen in a different light. They made it easier for people to offer sacrifices to atone for sin.  They were a vital link in helping the people keep faithful to God instead of people trying to make a quick buck.

But Jesus still overturns their tables. Why?

The reason that the people came to the temple was to offer sacrifice- animal sacrifice. But Jesus was coming to be the sacrifice for people.  What he was doing was showing folks that the temple system was no longer needed.

In the tech world, a disruptor is something that upends an established order.  So, for example the rideshare company Uber is said to disrupt the traditional taxi. Disruption is about throwing the existing order into disarray.

The temple had been long seen as the place where God’s presence was said to dwell.  But Jesus was the Word-became-flesh. John 1:14 says that God pitched God’s tent among the people.  If Jesus was the new “temple” there was no need for buying and selling sacrifices.  Jesus was enough.

Jesus’ actions caused the religious leaders to question his actions. ““By what authority are you doing these things? What miraculous sign will you show us?” they say.  Jesus answers enigmatically: “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.”

The leaders were shocked.  It took 46 years to build build this temple, so it seemed rather foolish to say that Jesus could do that.  The religious leaders couldn’t know that Jesus was not talking about the temple in front of them, but the new temple: himself.  He was referring to his coming death and ressurrection.

A short note about verse 17.  In that verse, it says the disciple remembered a passage from scripture:“Zeal for your house consumes me.”

This passage is found in Psalm 69:9.  The writer of this Psalm is being made fun of because of their faith. Preacher Scott Hoezee notes that this is about someone that was zealous about God’s house, but was made fun of because said devotion. Hoezee says:

Psalm 69 is about suffering for your faith. It’s about how the world sneers at us for claiming that a worship service is more valuable than anything that could ever happen in the citadels of worldly power. It takes faith to believe that what we do in worship on a Sunday morning matters in an eternal sense. It takes faith to believe that what a preacher conveys in a biblically true sermon is vastly more vital than anything that could ever emerge from the U.N. or from the office of any president, king, or prime minister. The writer of Psalm 69 believed that the ancient temple of Israel was the center of the universe, the house of God, the dwelling place of the cosmic Creator. And his neighbors saw this zeal for God’s house and they laughed out loud. How could he believe such an outlandish, silly thing?

In the wider world, there can be a viewpoint that things like worship or prayer don’t mean much in a world of Presidents and Prime Ministers.  But the writer of Psalm 69 and Jesus are saying that our faith is not just an everyday thing, but something that can change the world, something that is disruptive.

Conclusion

When I was young, people around me interpreted the Cleansing of the Temple as a prohibition of selling things in church. In John, Jesus comes to disrupt the way of doing things.  God has a new way of how people can worship, but to do that they need to have their applecarts upturned.  Jesus ministry is about showing a new way to worship God.

The cleansing of the temple is viewed at times as challenging the powers such as Rome or the commerce of then and today.  But John shows us it is also about challenging a faith that might have grown comfortable or not open to seeing things in another way.

Would Jesus upturn the tables in your congregation? Why?

 

 

 

Dennis Sanders is the Pastor at First Christian Church of St. Paul in Mahtomedi, Minnesota. He’s written for various outlets including Christian Century and the Federalist.

Narrative Lectionary Reflection

January 14, 2018

Introduction

Epiphany is the season in the church where we talk about the manifestation of Christ in the world.  In the gospel of John, what are called miracles in the other gospels, are called signs here; an act that points to Jesus.

So if Epiphany is about Christ made manifest and John says miracles are signs of who he is, then why is the first miracle/sign taking place at a wedding party?

The Wedding at Cana is one of the most odd stories in the gospels.  It’s not raising someone from the dead or healing someone with leprosy, it’s not even the feeding of the five thousand.  This even takes place at something incredibly ordinary event: a wedding.

But if you look between the line, there is a lot going on here. What matters is not where God is revealed by who God is revealed to.

Let’s look at the Wedding at Cana.

Engaging the Text

 This was the first miraculous sign that Jesus did in Cana of Galilee. He revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.

-John 2:11

Before we get into the Scripture, we should talk about the environment that Jesus lived in. The producing of wine by supernatural means was a common story in the Mediterranean world. Indeed, my name, Dennis, translates to Dionysus in Greek which was the god of wine.  The Roman name for Dionysus is Bacchus, which is where we get the word bacchanal. While this story seems odd to our modern ears, when this story was first told/read in ancient times it made perfect sense.

Jesus is at a wedding with his mother and the disciples in the town of Cana in Galilee.  Cana is not heard anywhere else in the gospels.  But the writer of John needs to tell his audience that this is taking place in Cana and in Galilee.  In this case, the location was important.  It was in Galilee where Jesus was welcomed, which is different from Judea, the more cosmopolitan Judea where he was rejected. Galilee is also the place where Jews and Gentiles lived together .  Having his first miracle take place here shows that God in Jesus loves both Jew and Gentile and they have equal standing in the new community that Jesus is creating

The wedding Jesus was at was not like modern weddings.  In the ancient world a wedding could last days.  Someone did not plan to have enough wine for the wedding, and the wine ran out before the party.  Today, someone would run down the local liquor store around the corner. Wine had a special place in that society. Wine was a sign of God’s abundance, of hospitality.  So, when the wine runs short, it means that abundance is limited.  This was a major social faux pas.

John and his mother have an interesting argument about the issue. (the mother of Jesus name, Mary, is never mentioned in John.)  She tells Jesus that the party is out of wine.  Jesus responds that this is not his concern, his time to be revealed has not come.  Mary seems to ignore his complaint as she tells the stewards to do whatever he tells them to do.  For Jesus his time meant that he would be the one that would determine when he would reveal himself.  But his mother believed that he could provide wine.

It is important to note how his mother brackets Jesus’ ministry.  Here, he says “Woman, what does that have to do with me?” When he is on the cross, he sees his mother and tells her,“Woman, here is your son,” meaning John would take care of her from now on.

Jesus relented and asked the stewards to fill six stone jars with water.  The jars were used in Jewish religious rituals. Jesus asked that a servant draw out a sample of the water and give to the head steward.  This was the person that made sure the wedding guests had food and wine so not having wine mean that blame rested with him. The steward never saw the stone jars being filled with water. The steward was confused when he tasted that water that was now wine. Where did it come from?  He was probably also puzzled about why the groom (who was the host) decided to give such good wine at this point in the wedding.  Indeed, he goes to the groom and tells him the following:

The headwaiter called the groom ¹⁰ and said, “Everyone serves the good wine first. They bring out the second-rate wine only when the guests are drinking freely. You kept the good wine until now.” ¹

-John 2:9-10

This is a long way of saying that the groom was viewed as breaking a major hospitality protocol. It was more common to offer the good wine at first and then bring out the cheap wine when the guests are so drunk they won’t tell the difference.  But Jesus offered the good wine on the third day.

Conclusion

What is the signifigance of this story? Why is Jesus’ first miracle changing water into wine? What does it say about God?

Remember that John doesn’t call what took place a miracle but a sign.  A sign points beyond the act itself to show God.  Jesus creates a huge amount of wine and it is not just any old wine, but very good wine, which is not what you would serve to guests three days in of a wedding feast.  What we see here is a God that gives abundant grace and love.  Notice that it was the servants and not the steward that saw the sign taking place.  Another example of grace. Like the feeding of the 5,000 this event shows a God that gives an abundance of love to all of us. It is a love that has no limit.

In the Old Testament, wine is an example of deliverance from the exile.  This is what Amos 9:13-14 says:

The days are surely coming, says the Lord,
        when the one who plows
        will overtake the one who gathers,
        when the one who crushes grapes
        will overtake the one who sows the seed.
    The mountains will drip wine,
        and all the hills will flow with it.
¹⁴ I will improve the circumstances of my people Israel;
        they will rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them.
    They will plant vineyards and drink their wine;
    and they will make gardens and eat their fruit.

-Amos 9:13-14

So Jesus turning water into wine is a sign of God coming in the form of Jesus to bring salvation and delieverance.

Sociologist and pastor Tony Campolo once shared a story about giving a birthday party for a prostitute named Agnes.  He comes to a restaurant and meets Agnes and learns she never had birthday party and her birthday was the next day. This was her reaction.

Three‐thirty in the morning, in come Agnes and her friends. I’ve got everybody set, everybody ready. As they come through the door, we all yell, “Happy birthday Agnes!” In addition, we start cheering like mad. I’ve never seen anybody so stunned. Her knees buckled. They steadied her and sat her down on the stool. We all started singing, “Happy birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday to you!”

When they brought out the cake, she lost it and started to cry. Harry just stood there with the cake and said, “All right, knock it off, Agnes. Blow out the candles. Come on, blow out the candles.” She tried, but she couldn’t, so he blew out the candles, gave her the knife, and said, “Cut the cake, Agnes.”

She sat there for a long moment and then she said to me, “Mister, is it okay if I don’t cut the cake? What I’d like to do, mister, is take the cake home and show it to my mother. Could I do that?”

I said, “It’s your cake.” She stood up, and I said, “Do you have to do it now?”

She said, “I live two doors down. Let me take the cake home and show it to my mother. I promise you I’ll bring it right back.” And she moved toward the door carrying the cake as though it was the Holy Grail. As she pushed through the crowd and out the door, the door swung slowly shut and there was stunned silence. You talk about an awkward moment. Everyone was motionless. Everyone was still I didn’t know what to say.

The story ends with the owner of the diner chatting with Campolo and wondering who he really is:

Harry leaned over the counter and said, “Campolo, you told me you were a sociologist. You’re no sociologist, you’re a preacher. What kind of church do you belong to?”

In one of those moments when you come up with just the right words, I said, “I belong to a church that throws birthday parties for whores at three‐thirty in the morning.”

I’ll never forget his response. He looked back at me.  “No you don’t, no you don’t.  I would join a church like that!”

We worship a God that can turn water into wine and throw birthday parties for a hooker at three in the morning. Are we ready to see God shower people with God’s grace?

Dennis Sanders is the Pastor at First Christian Church of St. Paul in Mahtomedi, Minnesota. He’s written for various outlets including Christian Century and the Federalist.

Narrative Lectionary Reflection

January 7, 2018

Introduction

Do you remember when you met a specific friend?  What about a boyfriend/girlfriend, spouse?  You probably wanted to know more about this person and see them again.

Having friends, marrying a spouse all begins with wanting to know more about the person. When you are really into this person, you then want to tell others about this person

We don’t usually think of getting to know someone when it relates to God, as we learned in John1:1-18, God came in human form, in a way that made God relatable. What does it mean to get to know God? How did Jesus change how we connect with God? How do we tell others about meeting Jesus?

Today, we look at Jesus’ calling of the first disciples and what it tells us about God and about what it means to follow Jesus.

Engaging the Text

²⁹ The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! ³⁰ This is the one about whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is really greater than me because he existed before me.’

-John 1:29-30

In the study of the first part of John 1, we said that it was a different birth story than what is found in Luke.  When it comes to Jesus’ baptism (which some churches will be commemorating this Sunday), we see the same pattern showing how different Luke is from the other gospels.  The Synoptic (Matthew, Mark and Luke) show the actually baptism taking place.  In John, we know there is a baptism, but we know this only because John the Baptist is sharing the experience of seeing Jesus be baptized.

³² John testified, “I saw the Spirit coming down from heaven like a dove, and it rested on him. ³³ Even I didn’t recognize him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘The one on whom you see the Spirit coming down and resting is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ ³⁴ I have seen and testified that this one is God’s Son.”

-John 1:32-34

So, why don’t we see the baptism?  The writer of John never says so, but there might be a reason that this event is shared by one’s account and not by showing the actual event.  The point might be not to show the event, but to see one who witness the event tell others.  This is a theme throughout the book of John where a character will tell others what they experienced. 

That witness has an effect.  In verse 35, John the Baptist sees Jesus and again calls him the lamb of God.  Standing nearby are two disciples who hear what John says and follow Jesus.  Maybe the reason we have the scene where John is recounting the baptism is that these disciples heard it and when John says it again, their curiosity is piqued.   In John, one “hears” about Jesus before “seeing” him and that is followed by “believing” and finally “witnessing.”  The two disciples heard about Jesus from John.  When they see Jesus, they really “see” him, maybe not at this point as the Christ, but as someone they need to know better.  This is indicated in verse 38. Jesus asks them “What are you looking for?”  The two never answer the question, but instead respond with another question “Rabbi, where are you staying?”  The Greek word for staying is menein, which means abide.  The point in using menein is to indicate that the disciples want to have an intimate friendship with Jesus.

Throughout the rest of chapter one we see the same pattern of what we would now call discipleship: some receives a witness about Jesus and they in turn become witnesses of Christ. John witnesses to the two disiciples and they in turn become witnesses to their brothers, Peter and Nathaniel.

In meeting Jesus, people recognize who Jesus is.  New disciples have a name to describe who he is: Rabbi in verse 38, the Messiah in verse 41, the son of God in verse 49 and the king of Israel in verse 51. While they use these titles, that doesn’t mean they totally understand Jesus.  In fact, throughout the Gospel of John, people will struggle in trying to understand the identity of Jesus.

That might be why we have this little interlude about Nathaniel. His brother Phillip tells Nate about Jesus, but Nathaniel doesn’t immediately follow Jesus.  He responds by saying, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” This shows that not everyone “gets” Jesus because of their preconceived notions.  Nathaniel thought Galilee and Nazareth represented the backwater a forgotten part of Israel. The Pharisees in chapter 9 and Martha in chapter 11  and others discounted Jesus because of how they had already viewed Jesus.

Jesus ends the text by saying in verse 51 the heavens will open up and God’s angels will rise and fall with he Christ.  That’s a 1st century version of saying, “You Ain’t See Nothin’ Yet.”

Conclusion

Most Christians who are part of the Mainline Protestant tradition tend to be allergic to evangelism.  As theologian David Lose notes, people either have seen it done rather poorly (think the person who harranges people) or because we have learned not to talk about religion in polite company.

But today’s passage is basically evangelism.  The people who witness Jesus aren’t pushing their views on others, instead they are simply telling what happened in their lives.  It was up to those who heard to do something with this.

In our modern age, we as Christians are to be on the look out for what God is doing in our world and then be willing to tell others. Here is how Lose describes it:

 

And that may be the larger point of this story from the Fourth Gospel — that when it comes to our relationship with Jesus, our primary job is to see and share. Not threaten, not coerce, not intimidate, not woo or wheedle or plead, but simply to see and share.

John the Baptist does that here. He sees the dove descend upon Jesus and tells others what he sees. That’s it. Andrew later does the same. He tells his brother what he and John’s other disciples saw — the person they believe is the Messiah — and invites Peter to come along and see for himself.

Could it be that simple? At its heart, evangelism is noticing what God is doing in our lives, sharing that with others, and inviting them to come and see for themselves.

Why do I think that? Because this isn’t only what John the Baptist does, and it’s not only what Andrew does. It’s also what Jesus does. When Jesus notices some of John’s disciples following him, he asks them what they are looking for. They, in turn, ask where he is staying. He doesn’t give an answer. He doesn’t question further. All he does in response is make an invitation: “Come and see.”

Notice. Share. Invite. These are the three elements of evangelism, sharing the good news of what God has done and is still doing through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ for us and all the world.

What keeps us you from sharing that you have seen Jesus?  How could it make a difference in your community? 

One note about evangelism and today’s text.  Sometimes sharing the gospel is presented as a one-time event.  That the disciples who listened to Jesus found all the answers. When Nathaniel gives his snarky response to his brother Philip, Philip responds by saying that “we have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote,” (verse 45). The verb tense used in the Greek is in the perfect tense which means you don’t meet Jesus once, but over and over again.

The 1987 song by the group U2, “I’ll Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” was a song that some pastors criticized because it seemed he didn’t really find Jesus.

But as writer John Jay Alvaro wrote it isn’t realistic to think that meeting Jesus once answers every question you have. He shares what it means to keep looking even when you’ve found Jesus:

I have a white little schnauzer at home. He has been with us for many years, most of our marriage and before the kids arrived. He is a fixture in the house, until he is not. Lately my kids have been leaving the back door open, and Albie the schnauzer slips out. Sometimes it will be up to an hour before we realize that he is gone. We always find him, but lately it has felt like we are looking for him a lot. He takes off down an alley or finds a new friend to walk beside for a bit. People around our neighborhood recognize him in part because they have found him in their yards, content to be in the sun and grass.

Every time my son finds a new treasure in the driveway or buried in some drawer, I know that it is only a matter of time before we are looking for his new precious-but-lost item. He will carry a shiny rock everywhere, until he sets it down and forgets to pick it back up. I have torn apart every room looking for a fragment of glass he is convinced is a space crystal. Losing his treasures is part of his having them.

Who are you looking for? Come and see.

Dennis Sanders is the Pastor at First Christian Church of St. Paul in Mahtomedi, Minnesota. He’s written for various outlets including Christian Century and the Federalist.