Sermon for the 3rd Sunday of Lent - Year B (RCL)
Offered by Nathan Ferrell at HS, Bellmawr & St. Luke’s, Westville
Texts: Exodus 20:1-17; Psalm 19; 1 Corin. 1:18-25; John 2:13-22
Where can I get the frosting I deserve?
I love this little question from our Lenten study book which, to me, summarizes the spirit of our age. Where can I get the frosting I deserve? How can I get more stuff to fill the boredom or loneliness or uneasiness of my life? Frosting, of course, represents that which makes us feel better for a bit, before we inevitably become bewildered or frustrated again and need to dip back in and get some more of our frosting fix.
It’s getting a bit harder for many in our land to fill themselves with a constant stream of new stuff or new experiences to numb the uneasiness of life, and – God willing – our financial crisis will hopefully cause many to re-think their lives. For as you and I here in this place both know with certainty, this is what our nation needs most: not a constantly growing GDP and stock market, not more military success around the world, but a chance to stop, to re-think how we are living, and to change our moral and spiritual direction in the light of Christ.
It’s not just about money or material things. We need to re-think how we treat other people. A few weeks ago, when I was getting my hair cut, the young hair-dressers in the shop were having a conversation about one of their co-workers who was just fired. The newly unemployed girl was a negative presence in the group who complained regularly, and when she left the shop for good, she had choice words for the manager, who she called a B-I-T-C-H. My young hairdresser turned back to me and said, “Mmm, man, if that girl said that to me, she would have some big trouble!” “Why? What would you do?” I asked her. Without any hesitation at all, she declared, “I would follow her outside and make sure we were a little bit away from the shop, but trust me – she wouldn’t have any teeth left, that’s for sure!”
Amazing! To lose her honor and her dignity and, ultimately, her freedom, because of a flippant, angry comment from another. My young hairdresser has no rock to stand on, no foundation in her soul to offer her self-control and a bigger perspective on life than reacting to what is immediately before her face. And, of course, in this situation, both of these girls would see themselves as the victim.
We fool ourselves by repeating in our minds 3 myths which we like to believe about ourselves. Our author, Frederica (Matthewes-Green), explains these well, and she is right that these need to be dismantled if we are to grow closer to God. These myths are: 1. We are victims. 2. We’re nice. 3. And we’re better than a lot of other people.
Think about it, and you can see how virtually all of us think this way about ourselves. And this is where much of our spiritual trouble lies. We need to change our way of thinking.
Metanoite is the greek word used by our Lord when he preached to the people: “Repent and believe the good news.” The word means to change your thinking, to re-evaluate your situation, to alter your perspective. If we think it through, we can see how this is the fundamental task that the Gospel demands of us. Just look at our readings for today: in each situation, the recipients of the text are challenged to change their way of thinking.
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me. You shall make for yourself an idol” (Exodus 20:1-2). This commandment demanded a complete change in thinking for the Israelites! All of the people around them had golden or carved idols that were used in worship. This, and all of the commandments as well, demanded that the people change their way of thinking.
St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians has the same dynamic. To those accustomed to trusting in their own thinking and in the power of their own logic to solve all mysteries, the message of the cross arrives as a foolish story. To enter into the saving power of our Lord’s passion, the wise must change their way of thinking, embrace a new vision for the world, and find life according to an entirely different path.
Today’s Gospel reading does not use the Greek word metanoite (repentance) per se, but the prophetic call to change is written large all over this story. “Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” Stop with your incessant selling and buying. Stop and worship. The temple is a house of prayer. Change your focus from looking at what you can get from others, to giving thanks for what God has given you.
Church is not a place for nice people. If there is any place at all where we can all let down our guard, throw away the masks that we create for ourselves, and take down any pretence about who we are, then Church is that place. Here, more so than anyplace else, is where we come face-to-face with the truth about ourselves and about our world.
I would rather be part of a church community full of broken people seeking healing and redemption, than a group of folks who have it all together and are polished and nice. Again, I suggest to you that the 12-step groups are a good model for us. Folks gather at these meetings because they know that they need something from outside of themselves to find the strength and healing that they need. No more playing games. Church is about getting down to business and being real.
What is more: the truth is that we are not better than other people. It’s sad how easily we miss this point, because of our faulty frame of reference. Remember this, please: the dividing line between good and evil runs through every human heart. Each one of us is a corpus permixtum, as Saint Augustine said. A mixed body all jumbled up inside with good and evil. And in a mixture like this, how can I possible separate out the evil and measure its worth? How much mold in a pot of leftover soup is enough to warrant its being thrown away? How much rot in a piece of wood renders it un-usable? How much sin in a human heart before we can call the heart sinful?
Repentance is going to the Physician for a thorough exam. It is not negative or macabre. It is seeking the truth – the truth about ourselves. But of course, the Physician’s diagnosis is not the end of the story. It is the beginning of our healing.
Way back in the deserts of Egypt, one of the desert fathers was asked by a certain soldier whether God forgives a sinner. The wise elder said to him: “Tell me, beloved, if your cloak is torn, will you throw it away?” The soldier answered: “No, I will mend it, and put it back on.” And the elder said: “If you take such good care of your cloak, will not God be merciful to you who are made in His own image?”
God longs for us to live a full and abundant life being shaped and guided by a different perspective. If we truly trust this Doctor, this Physician, then we can open ourselves completely to his loving, healing touch.
St. Augustine had this to say about our healing by the loving hand of God:
Offered by Nathan Ferrell at HS, Bellmawr & St. Luke’s, Westville
Texts: Exodus 20:1-17; Psalm 19; 1 Corin. 1:18-25; John 2:13-22
Where can I get the frosting I deserve?
I love this little question from our Lenten study book which, to me, summarizes the spirit of our age. Where can I get the frosting I deserve? How can I get more stuff to fill the boredom or loneliness or uneasiness of my life? Frosting, of course, represents that which makes us feel better for a bit, before we inevitably become bewildered or frustrated again and need to dip back in and get some more of our frosting fix.
It’s getting a bit harder for many in our land to fill themselves with a constant stream of new stuff or new experiences to numb the uneasiness of life, and – God willing – our financial crisis will hopefully cause many to re-think their lives. For as you and I here in this place both know with certainty, this is what our nation needs most: not a constantly growing GDP and stock market, not more military success around the world, but a chance to stop, to re-think how we are living, and to change our moral and spiritual direction in the light of Christ.
It’s not just about money or material things. We need to re-think how we treat other people. A few weeks ago, when I was getting my hair cut, the young hair-dressers in the shop were having a conversation about one of their co-workers who was just fired. The newly unemployed girl was a negative presence in the group who complained regularly, and when she left the shop for good, she had choice words for the manager, who she called a B-I-T-C-H. My young hairdresser turned back to me and said, “Mmm, man, if that girl said that to me, she would have some big trouble!” “Why? What would you do?” I asked her. Without any hesitation at all, she declared, “I would follow her outside and make sure we were a little bit away from the shop, but trust me – she wouldn’t have any teeth left, that’s for sure!”
Amazing! To lose her honor and her dignity and, ultimately, her freedom, because of a flippant, angry comment from another. My young hairdresser has no rock to stand on, no foundation in her soul to offer her self-control and a bigger perspective on life than reacting to what is immediately before her face. And, of course, in this situation, both of these girls would see themselves as the victim.
We fool ourselves by repeating in our minds 3 myths which we like to believe about ourselves. Our author, Frederica (Matthewes-Green), explains these well, and she is right that these need to be dismantled if we are to grow closer to God. These myths are: 1. We are victims. 2. We’re nice. 3. And we’re better than a lot of other people.
Think about it, and you can see how virtually all of us think this way about ourselves. And this is where much of our spiritual trouble lies. We need to change our way of thinking.
Metanoite is the greek word used by our Lord when he preached to the people: “Repent and believe the good news.” The word means to change your thinking, to re-evaluate your situation, to alter your perspective. If we think it through, we can see how this is the fundamental task that the Gospel demands of us. Just look at our readings for today: in each situation, the recipients of the text are challenged to change their way of thinking.
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me. You shall make for yourself an idol” (Exodus 20:1-2). This commandment demanded a complete change in thinking for the Israelites! All of the people around them had golden or carved idols that were used in worship. This, and all of the commandments as well, demanded that the people change their way of thinking.
St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians has the same dynamic. To those accustomed to trusting in their own thinking and in the power of their own logic to solve all mysteries, the message of the cross arrives as a foolish story. To enter into the saving power of our Lord’s passion, the wise must change their way of thinking, embrace a new vision for the world, and find life according to an entirely different path.
Today’s Gospel reading does not use the Greek word metanoite (repentance) per se, but the prophetic call to change is written large all over this story. “Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” Stop with your incessant selling and buying. Stop and worship. The temple is a house of prayer. Change your focus from looking at what you can get from others, to giving thanks for what God has given you.
Church is not a place for nice people. If there is any place at all where we can all let down our guard, throw away the masks that we create for ourselves, and take down any pretence about who we are, then Church is that place. Here, more so than anyplace else, is where we come face-to-face with the truth about ourselves and about our world.
I would rather be part of a church community full of broken people seeking healing and redemption, than a group of folks who have it all together and are polished and nice. Again, I suggest to you that the 12-step groups are a good model for us. Folks gather at these meetings because they know that they need something from outside of themselves to find the strength and healing that they need. No more playing games. Church is about getting down to business and being real.
What is more: the truth is that we are not better than other people. It’s sad how easily we miss this point, because of our faulty frame of reference. Remember this, please: the dividing line between good and evil runs through every human heart. Each one of us is a corpus permixtum, as Saint Augustine said. A mixed body all jumbled up inside with good and evil. And in a mixture like this, how can I possible separate out the evil and measure its worth? How much mold in a pot of leftover soup is enough to warrant its being thrown away? How much rot in a piece of wood renders it un-usable? How much sin in a human heart before we can call the heart sinful?
Repentance is going to the Physician for a thorough exam. It is not negative or macabre. It is seeking the truth – the truth about ourselves. But of course, the Physician’s diagnosis is not the end of the story. It is the beginning of our healing.
Way back in the deserts of Egypt, one of the desert fathers was asked by a certain soldier whether God forgives a sinner. The wise elder said to him: “Tell me, beloved, if your cloak is torn, will you throw it away?” The soldier answered: “No, I will mend it, and put it back on.” And the elder said: “If you take such good care of your cloak, will not God be merciful to you who are made in His own image?”
God longs for us to live a full and abundant life being shaped and guided by a different perspective. If we truly trust this Doctor, this Physician, then we can open ourselves completely to his loving, healing touch.
St. Augustine had this to say about our healing by the loving hand of God:
“God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple: all you who believe in Christ
and whose belief makes you love him. Real belief in Christ means love of Christ:
it is not the belief of the demons who believed without loving and therefore
despite their belief said: What do you want with us, Son of God? No; let our
belief be full of love for him we believe in, so that instead of saying: What do
you want with us, we may rather say: We belong to you, you have redeemed us.All
who believe in this way are like the living stones which go to build God’s
temple, and like the rot-proof timber used in the framework of the ark which the
flood waters could not submerge. It is in this temple, that is, in ourselves,
that prayer is addressed to God and heard by [God].” –St. Augustine,
Expositions on the Psalms
Our path of repentance during this season of Lent is taking us to the foot of the cross, to a life built upon solid rock, to a house built of rot-proof timber, to a healing that lasts forever. Let us continue to walk this path with honesty and with joy. Amen.
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