Text used – John 12:20-33

• This Lent, we’ve been working our way through this series on the power of sacrifice.
  • Talked about sacrificing our grip on our own expectations and opening ourselves up to God’s guidance
  • Talked about the sacrifice of self-giving service
  • Talked about sacrificing those things in our lives that fail to bring us life in order to pour ourselves more deeply into things that do bring us life
  • Last week: talked about sacrificing our own comfort in order to lift up even the most broken and failing parts of ourselves to experience God’s grace in our whole selves
  • Talked a lot throughout the last 4 weeks about making choices and choosing sacrifices that result in us feeling more uncomfortable → At its heart, friends, the gospel is a call to “change our hearts and our lives” as Jesus declared in our first Lenten Scripture reading[1] this year. And more often than not, change – true, heartfelt, genuine change – is undoubtedly uncomfortable.
    • Author Susie Caldwell Rinehart: The world needs us to be fierce enough to see challenges as gifts, to express our unique selves, and to expand the limits of what is possible. The only thing getting in the way is that we get stuck trying to find our way out of pain and discomfort. There is no way to avoid uncertainty. There is no guarantee of safety.” → If we altered that a little bit to skew toward a Christian expression of faith, we could say, “God needs us to be fierce enough to see challenges as gifts, to express our unique selves, and to expand the limits of our belief. The only thing getting in the way is that get stuck trying to find our way out of pain and discomfort. There is no way to avoid uncertainty. There is no guarantee of safety. But God is there, too.” You see, it’s in the midst of that discomfort, we find ourselves seeking God more authentically, more fully.
• Picture painted by our Gospel reading this morning = double example of this leaning into discomfort for the sake of faith
  • Jesus = leaning into his own discomfort
  • Jesus = also encouraging the disciples to lean into their discomfort
  • Now, before we explore this idea further, we need some context for today’s passage.
    • Context within Jn’s gospel → I have to admit that we’re cheating a little bit this morning. We’re jumping ahead in the story. We aren’t quite reading the ending first … but we can safely say that if the gospel were a mystery novel, today’s reading would be the beginning of that final interaction that brings all the disparate pieces of the story together in one “ah ha!” moment that leaves your heart racing. [PAUSE] It would be the beginning of the end.
      • Today’s text = follows on the heels of his triumphal entry into Jerusalem[2] (which we’ll read Mark’s account of next week on Palm Sunday)
        • Description of placement of text – scholar: This text is situated dramatically in the context of the festival of Passover, preceded by events such as Jesus’ raising of Lazarus, Mary’s anointing of Jesus’ feet, and the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. The responses to these events are intensely divided, as crowds of people form to heart Jesus, while others plot to destroy him, and some disciples become more reverent while within the heart of one of them, Judas, irritation escalates. Momentum builds in this narrative … as all eyes – including some of the Gentiles – strive to focus on Jesus. The scene is strikingly shaped for a powerful statement by Jesus to his disciples regarding not only what is to happen but also what it means. One more time he tries to tell them what his mission really is.[3]
  • So with the joyous, adoring praises of the crowd still ringing in the air and bolstering the hearts of the unsuspecting disciples, Jesus delivers these sobering, uncomfortable words.
    • Passage that begins innocently enough – text: “The time has come for the Human One to be glorified. I assure you that unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it can only be a single seed. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their lives will lost them, and those who hate their lives in this world will keep them forever. Whoever serves me must follow me. Wherever I am, there my servant will also be. My Father will honor whoever serves me.”[4] → sounds like a number of other parables Jesus told throughout his ministry
      • Parables of seeds and growing
      • Parables of fruit and vines
      • Parables of wheat and chaff
      • Surely, the disciples were thinking, “That last bit about losing and keeping lives was a little odd, but Jesus was always talking like that, right? This is just another one of his ‘lessons.’ After all, he included that bit at the end about serving him, and we’re definitely doing that. We’re good … right?”
    • But then Jesus’ words quickly take a turn the disciples weren’t anticipating. – text: “Now I am deeply troubled.”[5] → Alright, all … just a few short words into this portion of the text, and we need to stop and spend some time with this bit!
      • Passage often called “the Johannine Gethsemane” → nothing in the text tells us that Jesus is, in fact, in the Garden of Gethsemane BUT Jesus expresses similar sentiments to those we find him expressing in the Garden of Gethsemane portion of the passion narrative in the other gospels[6]
      • More nuanced struggle within this text than we even realize
        • First, the Gr: “troubled” = stir up, disturb, trouble, throw into confusion → Jesus isn’t just fretting a bit here, folx. What Jesus is describing is serious inner turmoil: worry, fear, anxiety … doubt.
        • Revealed even deeper when we understand that that his statement – “Now I am deeply troubled” – is actually a reference to a psalm – Psalm 6: Please, Lord, don’t punish me when you are angry; don’t discipline me when you are furious. Have mercy on me, Lord, because I’m frail. Heal me, Lord, because my bones are shaking in terror! My whole body is completely terrified! But you, Lord! How long will this last? Come back to me, Lord! Deliver me! Save me for the sake of your faithful love! No one is going to praise you when they are dead. Who gives you thanks from the grave? I’m worn out from groaning. Every night, I drench my bed with tears; I soak my couch all the way through. My vision fails because of my grief; it’s weak because of all my distress. Get away from me, all you evildoers, because the Lord has heard me crying! The Lord has listened to my request. The Lord accepts my prayer. All my enemies will be ashamed and completely terrified; they will be defeated and ashamed instantly. → The Greek visitors that had come seeking Jesus wouldn’t have recognized Jesus’ reference with his words because they were Gentiles, but the disciples were Jews like Jesus. This psalm was a part of their worship history and practice just like his. Did they recognize the words and all the weight they carried? While John’s gospel is written in Greek, Jesus would have spoken these words in his native tongue – in Aramaic, a language closely related to Hebrew – so his words would have had the same cadence and ring as the beginning of this psalm: a psalm of fear and hesitation, a psalm of powerful struggle and deep doubt, a psalm that cries out to God for strength beyond our own capability.
    • And yet, even with these doubts swirling like a torrent through his mind and his spirit, Jesus stays the course. Even more than that, Jesus chooses worship in the midst of the storm. – text: “What should I say? ‘Father, save me from this time’? No, for this is the reason I have come to this time. Father, glorify your name!”[7]
      • Gr. in that last bit – “Father, glorify your name!” – more than a suggestion → The Greek verb here is rendered in the imperative. It’s a directive. It’s a command. It’s in the “do it and do it now!” verb form.
      • God obliges: voice comes down from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”[8] → crowd who’s heard this omnipresent declaration are divided – some believe it’s thunder while others believe angels have spoken to Jesus
    • Jesus’ final pronouncement (for the crowd? for the disciples?) in this passage: “This voice wasn’t for my benefit but for yours. Now is the time for judgment of this world. Now this world’s ruler will be thrown out. When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to me.”[9]
      • And a final parenthetical aside from the gospel narrator (just for the sake of the reader’s utter clarity): (He said this to show he was going to die.)[10]
  • Brandan Robertson’s characterization of this passage: In this brief passage, you can almost imagine Jesus’ inner dialogue: “Is this really worth it? Couldn’t I make more of an impact among the small fishing villages? Why do I need to stare power in its face? Am I really ready to give my life for this cause?” Who among us wouldn’t ask the same questions? And who among us wouldn’t turn back when faced with the death penalty? Yet, in this fragile moment where Jesus’ human nature is on full display, we see the profound divine strength and resolve that marked his life and ministry. “I am deeply anxious, but should I seek to be delivered from these consequences? No! This is the very reason I have come into the world. God, glorify yourself through me.”[11] → I think the questions Robertson poses – “Who among us wouldn’t ask the same questions? And who among us wouldn’t turn back when faced with the death penalty?” – are hard questions for us to ask and to answer honestly today because we live in a place where it is so safe to be Christians. Even in these divisive times. Even in this post-denominational time in which it can be hard to be church, we can still safely and openly practice our faith with no fear of persecution, oppression, or reprisals of any kind.
    • Brings to mind passage from Is – known as one of the “Suffering Servant” passages: [read Is 53]
    • Important for us to remember that that isn’t that case in many parts of the world – list from Open Doors[12] (organization started by a Dutch Christian known as “Brother Andrew” in 1955 when he started smuggling Bibles across the Iron Curtain into Communist Europe[13]
      • North Korea (most dangerous country for Christians): owning a Bible can get you killed
      • Libya: evangelism is a crime that carries the death penalty
      • Iran: speaking about Christian faith violates blaspheming laws
      • And so many more places.
• Final word from Brandan Robertson: As we walk this Lenten journey toward the cross, may we take time to reflect on the sacrificial bravery of Christ. May we remember that he is like us, often distressed and perplexed by the choices that lie in front of us, the choice to stand up and speak out or to remain complacent and comfortable. But in his moment of deepest distress, leaning on the strength of his Creator, he resolves to take the hard path. And in so doing, he transforms the world for good. May his bravery become our bravery, and may we heed his oft-spoken words to his disciples to “Go and do likewise.”[14] Amen.

[1] Mk 1:14-15.

[2] Jn 12:12-19.

[3] Margaret P. Farley. “Fifth Sunday in Lent – John 12:20-33 – Theological Perspective” in Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary – Year B, vol. 2. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008), 140.

[4] Jn 12:23-26.

[5] Jn 12:27a.

[6] Judith M. McDaniel. “John 12:27-36a – Homiletical Perspective” in Feasting on the Gospels – John, vol. 2. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2015), 93.

[7] Jn 12:27b-28a.

[8] Jn 12:28b.

[9] Jn 12:30-32.

[10] Jn 12:33.

[11] Brandan J. Robertson. “Lenten Series: The Power of Sacrifice” in A Preacher’s Guide to Lectionary Sermon Series: Thematic Plans for Years A, B, and C, vol. 2. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2019), 104.

[12] https://www.opendoorsus.org/en-US/stories/10-most-dangerous-places-Christians/.

[13] https://www.opendoorsus.org/en-US/about/.

[14] Robertson, 105.

Text used – John 3:14-21

• A little over a week ago, we took the kids to a concert up in the cities – the TobyMac concert.
  • TobyMac = long-time Christian recording artist
  • 4 other opening acts before Toby → each used a different part of the stage so the venue staff could continue to set things up while the opening acts were playing → In particular, there was one woman, Tasha Layton, who did her set at the front of the stage – the part closer to the audience – and did her set in a very stripped-down sort of way. It was just her, a few instrumentalists, and a spotlight.
    • Rest of the Target Center was dark while she was singing → Julia was fascinated by the spotlight as it cut through the darkness over our heads and illuminated the woman on stage
      • Powerful beam
      • Doused the singer in a bright white light (definitely an LED bulb in that thing!)
      • Lit up all sorts of unintentional things in its path from that spotlight stand to the stage → dust motes, mostly … maybe a few bugs
      • Julia kept turning around in her seat and looking for the source of that beam of light. I kept looking at the performer thinking, “Man, that bright light has to be blinding.” Such is the difference between childhood innocence and adult experience, I guess. Julia looked at the spotlight with wonder. I looked at it with discomfort.
• Our Scripture reading this morning not only speaks of light, but it also shines the spotlight of grace on us and for us – a spotlight that can be both wonderful and uncomfortable all at the same time.
  • (Obvious) acknowledgement: today’s Scripture reading includes probably the most famous passage in all of Scripture – John 3:16 – which says … [cue congregational recitation] Exactly. None of y’all needed to look at your Bibles or the text in the bulletins to recite that. But the thing about Scripture is it’s never just one verse. The word of God is words in context. You can’t pull one single sentence or one single verse out without looking at and considering the verses that surround it. Life doesn’t happen in a vacuum, and Scripture wasn’t written in a vacuum. Scripture builds layers upon itself. It references other passages. It tells the same stories from different angles. It weaves the same overarching message – the ultimate message of God’s love for all people – into so many different types of texts that the message becomes inescapable. So today we’re going to consider the context of that one verse that people like to pull out: God so loved the world that he gave is only Son, so that everyone who believes in him won’t perish but will have eternal life.[1]
  • So let’s back up.
    • Beginning of today’s passage: Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so must the Human One be lifted up so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.[2] → references story from First Testament – Num 21
      • Part of the story of the Israelites wandering in the desert for 40 yrs. after being turned away from the Promised Land for lack of faith
      • Text: They marched from Mount Hor on the Reed Sea road around the land of Edom. The people became impatient on the road. The people spoke against God and Moses: “Why did you bring us up from Egypt to kill us in the desert, where there is no food or water. And we detest this miserable bread!” (referring to the manna that God had continually provided for them) So the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people and they bit the people. Many of the Israelites died. The people went to Moses and said, “We’ve sinned, for we spoke against the Lord and you. Pray to the Lord so that he will send the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. The Lord said to Moses, “Make a poisonous snake and place it on a pole. Whoever is bitten can loo at it and live.” Moses made a bronze snake and placed in on a pole. If a snake bit someone, that person would look at the bronze snake and live.[3]
        • Formulaic story in the First Testament: people complain against God → God causes something terrible to happen → people repent → follow God’s instruction once again → Moses and others worship
        • Now, we may hear this story and think, “They’re worshiping the snake for healing them. This is idolatry.” But the thing is, it’s not about the snake. It’s about following God’s direction … following God’s plan … even when that plan is hard or it doesn’t make sense to us. – scholar: The point of the comparison between Jesus and this quasi-magical totem is that the serpent had to be lifted up so that the Israelites could see it and receive its life-saving benefits. So too the Son of Man must be lifted up so that those who believe might have eternal life.[4]
  • Rest of the passage speaks to how we go about seeking that eternal life – text: God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him won’t perish but will have eternal life. God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him.[5] → We’re going to pause on these two verses for a minute, friends, because they’re really, really important together.
    • God sent Jesus into the world for the sake of pure and unconditional love → love so strong and so unrelenting that God desires eternity with us to continue living into that love → “God so loved the world … the whole world … that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him won’t perish but will have eternal life.” Whole. World. Everyone. All. Each. There are no parameters in this much-loved, often-wielded verse. There are no “except for the”s. There are no exclusions, no escape clauses, no parameters defining people that God doesn’t love.
      • Bumper sticker: God loved the whole world. No exceptions.
      • Sentiment reiterate by the following verse: God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him.[6] → Here’s the thing, friends. If God sent his own treasured, beloved, holy Son into the world not to judge the world but to love and redeem it … what on God’s green earth makes us think it’s our job to do that judging? If God didn’t even send Jesus – God’s own Son, God’s own self incarnate – into the world to judge, what makes us think that God is calling us in all our broken, flawed, human imperfections to pass any kind of judgment.
• Basis of the rest of the passage – the part about judgment and belief, light and dark, actions and truth, evil and fear
  • John uses a lot of dark/light imagery throughout his gospel. It’s there in the very beginning – What came into being through the Word was life, and the life was the light for all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness doesn’t extinguish the light.[7] → idea introduced here that the ministry of Christ was a light to shine on the hearts and lives, words and actions of all = idea further developed in our passage today → It’s the idea that Jesus’ life and ministry and love and grace are the spotlight on our lives – a light that illumines our whole selves, hiding nothing before God.
    • Translation makes it sound simple enough: The light came into the world, and people loved darkness more than the light, for their actions are evil.[8] → And we think to ourselves, “Well, that can’t be us. Our actions aren’t evil. Evil is deep. Evil is intentional. Evil is a great big thing.”
      • Gr. is much more nuanced than that – “evil” = spoiled, vicious, painful, degenerate, arrogant, envious → There are plenty of subtle ways to engage in this “evil” that John speaks of – ways in which we chip away at the world around us, judging others without knowing or understanding their circumstances … celebrating (internally or externally) when someone gets “knocked down a “peg” because we feel they deserve to be “put in their place” … putting ourselves above others because we tell ourselves that we’re better in some way … causing pain to others, not necessarily in any big way, but in a thousand small, passive aggressive ways.
  • You see, friends, we know in our hearts that none of these things are the ways that Jesus would go about being in this world. We know that they stem, not from our faith, but from our brokenness. And it’s a whole lot more comfortable to keep that brokenness in the shadows so that other’s don’t discover it. Maybe we even fool ourselves into thinking that God won’t discover it if we keep it well-hidden enough. → 2 problems with that
    • FIRST, nothing is hidden from God → God knows us better than we know ourselves. There is not a part of our lives, our hearts, our spirits, or our minds with which God is not intimately familiar.
    • SECOND, trying to hide these things from God is only counterproductive because all we end up doing is hiding them from grace → One of my favorite phrases when it comes to Church life is “you can’t protect people from their own generosity.” It’s about presenting people with opportunities to give and to serve in unexpected ways because we can never truly know just how generous others are willing to be. Grace is similar to this idea in that we never truly know just how generous God is willing to be with grace until we present God with the opportunity to lavish that grace on our whole selves. But in order to do that, we can’t hold anything back. We have to bring it all into the light.
      • Brandan Robertson: This is the profound paradox of grace: in order to receive it, one must go through the painful process of exposing one’s inner brokenness and sinfulness. Until one’s sins are exposed, there is no reason to seek out grace. But stepping into the light, even with the promise of grace and forgiveness, is hard to do. … Lent is a season of owning our brokenness, taking an account of the impact our wrongdoing has on our lives, on our world, and on those around us. It’s a season when we set aside time to go through the painful process of bringing our dark and ugly parts into the light of God’s truth, allowing ourselves and others to see all the ways that we are in need of healing and grace. It’s a terribly difficult process, but it is also liberating. Once we step into the light of God with every part of ourselves exposed, we have the profound gift of hearing Jesus proclaim the words that he says early on in our Gospel reading: “I have not come to condemn the world, but to heal it!”[9]
• Want to end with the song that that opening act artist sang in one of her songs – picture her standing there on a dark stage in a dark stadium lit up by the dazzling brightness of that spotlight and belting out these words: “Singing in the Dark” by Tasha Layton[10]

https://open.spotify.com/embed/track/18rRb189sPhZJWzrJMHmNT?utm_source=generator

• Because in the end, even as we struggle in the darkness … even as we strive toward the light … even as we cringe away from all the light may reveal, the spotlight of God’s grace is the light of love … of hope … of forgiveness. It’s a light that keeps us singing praise … even in the dark. Amen.

[1] Jn 3:16.

[2] Jn 3:14-15.

[3] Num 21:4-9 (clarification added).

[4] Jouette M. Bassler. “Fourth Sunday in Lent – John 3:14-22 – Exegetical Perspective” in Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary – Year B, vol. 2. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008), 117.

[5] Jn 3:16-17.

[6] Jn 3:17.

[7] Jn 1:3b-5.

[8] Jn 3:19.

[9] Brandan J. Robertson. “Lenten Series: The Power of Sacrifice” in A Preacher’s Guide to Lectionary Sermon Series: Thematic Plans for Years A, B, and C, vol. 2. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2019), 103, 104.

[10] Tasha Layton, “Singing in the Dark.” Released Nov. 3, 2023 by Sypher Music.

Text used – John 2:13-22

• I spent a lot of my spare time on Pinterest this weekend looking up butterfly stuff because Julia’s decided she wants a butterfly birthday this year.
  • Butterfly cake
  • Butterfly party
    • Decorations
    • Snacks
    • Favors
    • Games
  • All butterflies … all the time. Such is the life of an almost-6-year-old girl mom, right? But really, there’s something almost magical about butterflies, isn’t there?
    • Delicate
    • Dazzlingly colorful
    • Watching a butterfly flit through your garden or dance across your lawn just sort of brings a smile to your face, right?
  • But what got me thinking about butterflies with our Scripture reading this morning has more to do with what makes the butterfly in the first place – the process a caterpillar has to undergo in order to become a butterfly.
    • Description of the process from Labroots.com: The chrysalis is actually part of the caterpillar’s body created by increased production of a hormone dubbed ecdysone, and once enveloped, a number of gut-wrenching processes occur to the caterpillar that transform it into a beautiful butterfly. For starters, the caterpillar’s outer coating separates from the body much like a snakeskin, and this creates the chrysalis. After the chrysalis forms, the body released enzymes called caspases that dissolve cells in the insect’s muscles and organs, leaving behind only the most vital life-supporting cells. It’s from this point that a group of specialized cells called imaginal discs get to work, developing the insect’s new body and wings in a short time period. When the fully developed butterfly emerges, it often leaves behind a gooey fluid in the spent chrysalis. This fluid is the waste that was produced during the transformation, including the bodily fluids that the butterfly won’t need anymore. Indeed, the life of a caterpillar is nothing much to write home about, but becoming a butterfly, on the other hand, it somewhat spectacular.[1] → Yup. In order for a caterpillar to become a butterfly, nearly its entire being needs to dissolve into goo, “leaving behind only the most vital life-supporting cells.” Destruction … that brings life.

• This morning’s Scripture passage = similar to last week → another one of those tough ones … another one of those not-easy, not-heart-warming, not-pick-you-up sort of passages
  • Text: [Jesus] found in the temple those who were selling cattle, sheep, and doves, as well as those involved in exchanging currency sitting there. 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. He said to the dove sellers, “Get these things out of here! Don’t make my Father’s house a place of business.”[2] → Now, I know I can’t be the only one who finds at least some comfort in the fact that even Jesus – Emmanuel, God-With-Us, Son of God, Savior of the world Jesus – got table-flippin’ mad sometimes. Right?
    • Another window into Jesus’ humanity
    • Another element that helps us relate to Jesus → helps draw us deeper into a more authentic, open-and-honest relationship with Jesus
    • Of course, the whole point is why Jesus got table-flippin’ mad in the first place. It was all about why all those money changes and vendors selling cattle, sheep, and doves were even there in the Temple. → all related to the practice of worship in the Temple
      • Part of the right practice of Judaism as laid out in the First Testament (mostly Deut and Lev) = practice of animal sacrifice à various sacrifices required to cleans the people of various different kinds of sin
        • 5 basic categories of sacrifices (found in Lev 1-5)[3]:
          • Burnt: gift to express thanks, worship, devotion, commitment to God AND atonement for unintentional sin (important distinction) → VOLUNTARY → animal offering – completely burn all but hide which was given to the Levites (priests) who earned money by selling it
          • Grain: expression gratitude and thanksgiving God, recognition of God’s unearned favor and goodwill → VOLUNTARY → fruit of the field, generally in the form of a cake or baked bread and accompanied by drink offering of wine – usually given with a burnt offering
          • Peace: expressed thanksgiving with an emphasis on fellowship/relationship → VOLUNTARY → followed by shared meal → animal offering with various parts being designated for God, for the priests, and for the people
          • Trespass: atonement for unintentional sins committed against someone that required reimbursement or recompense → MANDATORY → always a ram – various parts designated for God, other parts shared by those giving the offering
          • Sin: forgiveness of intentional sins and cleansing from defilement → MANDATORY → tiers of offerings dependent on financial situation (common person: female goat, poor person: fine flour)
    • This last one, the sin offering, is the offering that most concerns our gospel story this morning. It’s these animals – the animals for the sin offering, the mandatory sin offering – that were being sold in the Temple that morning.
      • Scholar highlights why this whole tableau was so problematic: Entering the Temple precincts Jesus found little in the way of sacred space. The Court of the Gentiles looked and sounded like an open-air market. Cattle bellowing, sheep bleating, turtledoves cooing, people yelling, coins clanging. Ironically, the activity was necessary for the functioning of the temple! The temple tax had to be paid in temple coinage, so money changers were necessary. Because sacrificial animals had to be without blemish, sellers of sacrificial animals were necessary. After all, who could make it all the way to Jerusalem with an unblemished animal? All of this activity was in service to the temple, but … did these services have to be rendered inside the temple precincts? Was it necessary to rob the Gentiles of the one area in the temple precincts they were allowed to enter and pray?[4] → It wasn’t the practice of sacrifice that had Jesus flipping tables that morning. It was that this spiritual practice had been monetized and consumerized to the point of not just losing its own spirituality but interfering with the spirituality of others. As the church, this passage should cause us to examine our own practices and treasures as a body. Are there practices that we cling to that have become a stumbling block of others?
        • Not necessarily intentional → I don’t think the Levites and Temple officials set out to corrupt their faith practice with this commercialism. They just let one thing slide after another until the slippery slope had consumed the whole practice. So is there anything that we’re turning a blind eye to because it’s easier not to deal with it? It’s easier not to confront it and try to correct it?
• Challenge that Jesus receives from the Jewish leaders after his table flipping brings about another crucial point – text: Then the Jewish leaders asked him, “By what authority are you doing these things? What miraculous sign will you show us?” Jesus answered, “Destroy this temple and in three days I’ll raise it up.” The Jewish leaders replied, “It took forty-six years to build this temple, and you will raise it up in three days?” But the temple Jesus was talking about was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered what he had said, and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.[5] → “Destroy this temple and in three days I’ll raise it up.” This is where the butterfly comes in.
  • Brandan Robertson: The author of the Gospel tells us that Jesus was cryptically prophesying about what would be done to his body in his inevitable crucifixion and subsequent resurrection. This may be true, but there is an even deeper meaning contained in this passage. Jesus is making a statement that is reiterated time and time again throughout the New Testament: that the Spirit of God doesn’t dwell in temples of systems or organizations, but rather in flesh-and-blood human beings. … So, when Jesus speaks of destroying the temple, as radical as it would have sounded to his listeners, he’s also hinting at a deeper reality: that institutions, religion, and hierarchies were not necessary at all, that God was available to all and through all, if we would only open our eyes and behold.[6]
    • Important distinction: religion faith
      • Religion: a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or groups
      • Faith: confidence or truth in a person or thing, belief not based on proof
      • “Religion” is the corporate adoption and practice of individual faith. At its best, religion is the body of Christ expressing and engaging with everyone’s individual faith together – living and praying and working and worshiping and believing together. But at its worst, religion becomes so concerned with “correctness” – correct practice, correct belief, correct conformity – that it forgets all about love and compassion and the moving and working of the Holy Spirit. The striving for correctness wrings all the authentic spirituality out of it. When that happens, it’s time for us to take a good, hard, uncomfortable look at our practices and figure out what we need to sacrifice to bring ourselves back into true, faithful relationship with God.
        • Scholar: [This] text pushes us to imagine Jesus entering our own sanctuaries, overturning our own cherished rationalizations and driving us out in the name of God. Surely we can be honest enough to acknowledge that often enough we put ourselves and our institutions at the service of powers that are decidedly less than God.[7] → Remember me saying last week that the gospel is meant to be uncomfortable? It is meant to bring us hope and comfort through the love and grace of God … but being comforted is not the same being comfortable. Being comforted lifts us up and gives us strength in moments of weakness and despair. Being comfortable leads to stasis. Being comfortable leads us to try to maintain our current state. But the gospel is not about maintaining and “holding steady.” It’s also meant to stir us to action and self-examination. It’s meant to bring about change – for ourselves, for our neighbors, for the world. And a lot of the time, change is uncomfortable. But today’s passage makes it clear that when it comes to living a life of authentic faith, the status quo just doesn’t cut it. So what do we need to shed? What part of our religious practices needs to dissolve into goo to let the delicate beauty of our true faith flit and dance through the world? What destruction do we need to enact in order to bring true life? Amen.

[1] https://www.labroots.com/trending/plants-and-animals/15714/here-s-happens-inside-caterpillar-s-chrysalis.

[2] Jn 2:14-16.

[3] https://firmisrael.org/learn/sacrifice-in-the-bible-5-types-of-offerings-israel-made/.

[4] W. Hulitt Gloer. “Third Sunday in Lent – John 2:13-22 – Homiletical Perspective” in Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary – Year B, vol. 2. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008), 93, 95.

[5] Jn 2:18-22.

[6] Brandan J. Robertson. “Lenten Series: The Power of Sacrifice” in A Preacher’s Guide to Lectionary Sermon Series: Thematic Plans for Years A, B, and C, vol. 2. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2019), 102, 103.

[7] Paul C. Shupe. “Third Sunday in Lent – John 2:13-22 – Pastoral Perspective” in Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary – Year B, vol. 2. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008), 94.