Lent 3

  Ex 20.1-17; 1 Cor 1.18-25; Jn 2.13-22
      
            Does anyone remember the hymn "Gentle Jesus, Meek and Mild"?  I don't think today's gospel passage was the scripture of the day when the lyricist came up with it.

            We have before us today a really difficult passage. Jesus: God incarnate. Love manifest in human form. Divine reality in the flesh.

            Threatening people with a whip. Chasing away animals, throwing away other people's money, turning over tables - utterly vandalising the marketplace. Why is this happening? What is going on here?

            The place has become a marketplace. It's no longer a place for worship, but for commerce. People would come to the temple to offer their sacrifice, as detailed in the law of Moses. And some helpful folks decided to make those sacrificial animals available, for sale, to help out those who were traveling from afar. A helpful service.
But, as can happen anywhere, corruption slipped in - and some opportunistic folks changed the helpful service into a high-profit, guilt-trip-inducing, consumeristic capital gains arena.

            Jesus - rather dramatically - shifts the focus back to where it should be. He needs the people to see things through a new lens - with a new perspective. He needs the people to know that the Temple was the place where the human and divine connected - and that connection should not come with a hefty price tag.

So while Jesus acknowledged that the law required sacrifice, he also knew that God requested love. Come with those turtledoves in thanksgiving - but only if it won't bankrupt you. What's more important, is to come.

            It's the similar shift in focus that Jesus continues on, when he lets people know that the Temple of God is not a bricks-and-mortar structure - as beautiful as it may be. Rather, the heart of God, the  divine presence, is active within his person - his physical body. The law said the holy place had a street address; Jesus said the holiest place of all is in the connection to God.

            Isn't that the way for all of us? And isn't it the way of the world to forget that!

Lent, then, brings us back in. It helps us to re-focus. To shift away from the legalist, requirement-based, duty-bound mentality into a loving, caring, nurturing sort of reality. The law - very helpful and important - tells us what we shoudl be doing. But unless we are doing for in the love of God  and in the service of Christ - then we're missing the point.

            It's what Paul tells the Corinthians: the law is good, but the actions you do should be secondary; it is the love for God that inspire you into action. It encourages a new lens on how we live our faith. Do we do it [whatever action IT may be] because we've always done it? Or do we do [IT} because we see in that action a way to make God's redeeming love known in the world? Because that is when the wisdom of God shines through, the strength of the gospel, becomes a reality. When we realise that the focus is not on just doing things a certain, legalistic way, but on doing things with and through love.

            So, with that focus in mind, I bet you're wondering how I'm going to tie in the 10 Commandments. I've been doing a LOT of thinking about this. And part of it comes from how we understand these commandments. Are they restrictive, or are they actually liberating? Do they limit us form doing what we want, or do they help us to consider how we relate to God and to one another in healthy, helpful ways?

            It's all in how we look at them. Firstly, I'm going to point out that God doesn't say they are commandments - he speaks them as words. Much friendlier approach. And then we're given 4 ways that we can mould our relationship with God; and 6 ways to provide a healthy relationship with one another.

            Not unlike the more current way of raising children - with positive reinforcement - whereas we used to say "don't run!" we now say "please walk" - the meaning is the same, but with a gentler approach, modern ears are more likely to hear and adapt.

            Imagine the lens of love for these 10 relationship builders.

1. 'I am your God' could be heard as "please remember what I have done for you, I'd like to be a priority in your life."

2. "No idols" could re-write as God is bigger than some trinket, make sure to focus on being loved and loving, rather than capturing and controlling. Your trust should be in God, not in some 'thing' 

3. Not using the Lord's name in vain is a simple request to keep God as God - not as an oath or a joke or a political tool or military propaganda.

4. Keep the Sabbath holy is in fact a great reminder of the human need for rest and re-creation, for self and for those in your care. It's a loving parent or partner asking us to take care of ourselves, to relinquish control, to be gentle with ourselves so that we will have longer and healthier lives - in which we can turn our grateful hearts to God. "You've been working hard! You could use a day off."

5. Honour your parents is about intergenerational respect; an opportunity to embrace all that has been shared, and what possible ways we can share into the future.

6. Don't murder - instead, instill and support life. "Seek ways to love and support someone's physical, mental, emotional, spiritual selves so that they can grow and flourish."

7. No adultery! can be heard as Respect your vows; "hold tenderly the love that has been entrusted to you."

8. No stealing! can be heard as an invitation to be thankful for what we have. "celebrate your abundance with grateful hearts" - with that gratitude one wouldn't need to steal.

9. No false witness! Instead, presume the best about someone else. Or a classic adage: If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. We already know that the world has enough critics, what it needs are encouragers.

10. No coveting! Indeed - coveting implies an intent to cause harm to your neighbour in order to possess or control some living thing under their protection. This is a time to appreciate - and improve, if necessary - our own relationships. Don't worry if the grass is greener on the other side of the fence; instead seek ways to keep your own grass green.

            When we hear these words in this caring and nurturing way, they do become the framework for our lives. They support our relationships, they increase our faith, they bring new life to how we live. They re-focus our perspective from one of LAW to one of LOVE.

            That is what they are intended to do. It's what Jesus was trying to do at the Temple, it's what Paul was writing about.

            So I challenge us, as we continue in Lent, to look at our own lives: into our hearts and minds and actions - and determine where we have been acting legalistically, and discern how we might instead act in love. Where have we been engaging the world in contradictory ways, instead of finding different ways to caringly connect? Where have we focused on dissonance, and can instead put energy into harmonious living?

            However it is: it all starts with a shift in perception and perspective. It starts with us choosing to reflect inwardly, and applying a new lens for acting outwardly.

May the lens we apply be one of love; to look at the world with grace as an on-going opportunity to love God and love one another.