Finding Faith ... in staring into the eyes of God all along

EDITOR'S NOTE: In October 2017 I began a new venture as a synodically authorized minister at Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. The ride over the past 3 years has been an amazing journey of learning, growing and a deepening of my theological mind. This sermon took place on March 3, 2021. This was the 41st digital service we performed after our church was shuttered because of the COVID pandemic.

This week's preaching text: John 2:13-22

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

13 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.

Message:

So i'm wondering who among us here tonight or listening online tonight likes a good mystery maybe something dramatic and a little corny like those old perry mason tv episodes

i tend to watch those now on those old tv stations veronica's shaking on her head too or maybe if that's a little too dated for you i remember my mom being a big fan of jessica fletcher on murder she wrote another tv mystery nowadays maybe a little bit more contemporary one that shelley and i have really liked is the movie called knives out there's a lot of big actors that star on that one it does a good job of bringing the classic whodunit tale into this day and age i think tonight's gospel provides us with a wonderful mystery that you just might miss if you aren't paying close attention most certainly this is a very well known story from our gospels and i think that a lot of us has a picture of jesus standing there with a whip chasing the sheep and cattle and people out of the temple etched deeply in our minds from our sunday school lessons and of course the plot of the story it seems simple enough right jesus arrives at the temple and upon entering takes a look around and sees people using his father's house as a livestock exchange and also using it as a bank and even ludicrously using it as a bird preserve and so jesus chases all of them out even the sheep in the cattle as we are told in the text out of the temple and he chases them out with the admonition to stop making my father's house a marketplace end of story right a short easy

vignette about the commercialization of religion and we will see you next week television

audience but that's when we hear it we hear those three ominous notes that tell us that there's something more to the story right on to you michael thank you maybe just maybe

jesus isn't done with us yet in this story after all just what is he doing with this display of

bravado to the people in the temple when they try to call him out the text tells us that those people in the temple ask jesus what sign can you show us for doing this in other words who are you to boss us around and then throw us out you say that you are the son of god that this is your father's house well then jesus prove it and surprisingly jesus takes the bait but i have to ask why would he he he is already comfortable in the knowledge that he is god's son

and most often when he is baited by the pharisees or the leaders of the temple

he's just not in the game of proving himself to anyone he just doesn't have to so what gives in this particular story why doesn't it end when jesus ushers them out of the temple

well i think that it is jesus who actually does the baby to those in the temple when he tells them to tear down their cherished temple and he will rebuild it in three days three days the astonished people in the temple react you've got to be crazy jesus look around we have been working on this temple for 46 years and that is when jesus sets his hook for all of you angers anglers out there he's got them jesus tells them i am not talking about this earthly temple surround us that's that's surrounding us and it's made of brick and mortar yes you believe that your god your father lives here in this stone temple but what i'm telling you what i'm trying to display to you here he's telling these folks in the temple is that he's talking about his body his body is now the temple jesus's body is the resting place the earthly living home of god our father jesus goes on to tell them that you know eventually you are actually going to tear down this temple and we know the end of the story jesus of course is talking allegorically in that moment but jesus is telling them you will kill me and three days later i will rise from the grave and the temple will be restored in me faith family the irony of this entire story from the beginning of the reverses to the end is that those in the marketplace required of jesus a sign of who he was jesus said you cannot use my father's house as a marketplace and instead of asking about god in the presence of god they demanded that he prove to them who he was they demanded a sign from jesus that he was the son of god and ironically there stood god in the body of christ looking them in the eyes the entire time now end scene and roll the credits and mystery solved we will see you next week television audience

faith family in this past year when we have been yearning to return to our temple our beautiful church that surrounds us those of us that are working on the digital services team

tonight we have been yearning to return to our temple so that we could be closer to god

and in that year i wonder how often we've actually looked god in the eyes and completely missed it you see as jesus told those in the temple on that day in this story god never lived in the temple god was on the loose out there god was in the wilderness with them on their journey from slaves in egypt to the promised land god was present all of the time and surely that is a lesson that we must have learned during this past year of the pandemic ourselves

yes many church doors have been shuttered in this past year including ours but god certainly hasn't been locked up in here or any of them out of reach he's been out there with us and we have been staring into god's eyes all along and that is the good news for this wednesday

march 3rd and sunday morning march 7th the third sunday of lent. ... Amen.