I had the privilege to be with the congregations of Zion American Lutheran Church in Macon, Nebraska and Bethany Lutheran Church in Axtell, Nebraska on Sunday March 3, 2024. Thank you to Pastor Marcia Dorn for the invitation and to both congregations for the warm welcome. In addition to preaching on stewardship, I was invited to bring greetings on behalf of the Bishop and words of gratitude about the congregations’ participation in the larger church for all they do in and beyond their congregations, and to explain a bit about mission share too. I also had the joy of leading children’s sermons, assisting in worship, and having some great conversations with involved leaders of the congregations before and after worship on many topics including stewardship, imagination, and experimentation. It was a joy to be with both congregations. What follows is the majority of the manuscript from which I preached on. The sermon was based on the revised common lectionary readings for the Third Sunday in Lent (Year B): John 2:13-22; Exodus 20:1-17; Psalm 19; and 1 corinthians 1:18-25.
Grace and peace from God in Christ who is with you, for you, and who loves you. Amen.
Grounding Ourselves in the Word Today
“Take these things out of here!”[1] And, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”[2] These are just two of the exclamations Jesus makes in today’s story. Two statements which are big and call us to take notice. Jesus isn’t quiet in today’s story. He’s direct. He sounds kind of intense. And what he says, he knows, matters. He’s in the temple, the center of the faith life of the community, and he has come with a point to make.
In hearing this story, I wonder, as we think about Jesus today in it, is this the Jesus we like to imagine we walk alongside and follow? Jesus the Good Shepherd? Or is this a Jesus who might scare us a bit? Who might make us nervous? Who might just push and challenge us? The kind of Jesus who just last week said to his closest friend, “Get behind me Satan?”[3] Hmm… It’s a complicated question, and today’s story is a complicated one too, because it’s full of tension. I start there because the season of Lent invites us to be intentional. To focus on God and not on ourselves. To focus on what God might have us see, sense, and do, and not on the earthly things that might distract us or get in the way of our relationship with God and neighbor.
I don’t know what you hear in this Jesus today, but I think I hear Jesus almost like a parent in this story. And I feel like I can relate, just a little bit as a dad of two young girls. He’s a bit exasperated and annoyed. The disciples haven’t quite figured it out yet. It seems as if some of the faithful have lost sight of what the main thing is. And maybe he’s wondering if anyone is actually listening and paying attention? Or maybe I’m reading into the text just a little bit as that young dad, who feels like his children are really good at seemingly tuning him out and not hearing what he has to say. You know about finishing a meal, cleaning up a mess, putting things away, getting ready for school. Maybe that sounds familiar? Maybe or maybe not.
What Might God Be Up to in these Stories?
In whatever way you hear Jesus come through today, we can’t deny that there is a lot going on in this second chapter of John. You might recall that the chapter starts with a story we often hear in the season of Epiphany, the story of Jesus’ first miracle where at the wedding in Cana he turns water into wine.[4] So it’s not long after that that Jesus has come to Jerusalem to see, to teach, and to invite God’s people to follow. Passover is near, but at least in John’s version of this story, this isn’t his final Passover, it’s not Holy Week yet. We might assume that this is the Passover not long after Jesus’ baptism perhaps, during his first year of ministry. Word hasn’t spread yet about who this Jesus is and what he is up to. The religious authorities weren’t aware of Jesus yet. But today, he comes in the temple and acts. It’s safe to assume he’s got their attention now. Attention we know that will ultimately lead to the events of the cross and the tomb.
Today Jesus doesn’t hold back. He acts. He can’t allow what he is seeing to continue. He drives the sheep and cattle out of the temple.[5] He overturns the tables of the money changers and pours out their coins.[6] In seeing the doves for sale, he says, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!”[7] Wow. At first glance Jesus might be calling us to attention for our understanding of stewardship. But hold that thought. We’ll come back to it.
Jesus here in this story, is taking issue with those who might be getting in the way of the worship of God and the ability of others to worship. He’s also trying to make a point of welcome and inclusion. In the temple, the marketplace that Jesus witnessed was in the outer area known as the “Court of the Gentiles.” It’s the outer most part of the Temple, and its’ the only spot within the temple complex set aside for the Gentiles to pray.[8] Naturally those in power thought, well, it’s the perfect spot for making some extra money. That’s not going to fly with Jesus. Now there was good reason for the market. It was a custom to make sacrifice. But Jesus is declaring through his actions that he has come so that no more sacrificing in the temple is needed. Effectively he is “Declaring that God will interact with God’s people in a whole new way.”[9] He has come not just for the Jews, but also for the Gentiles, and for all of God’s beloved children. Jesus acts today, showing another way. One towards welcome, showing how expansive, wide, and inclusive God’s love is and God’s mission and kingdom are, which Jesus has come to proclaim.
His acts get the people’s attention. He is asked, “What sign can you show us for doing this?”[10] Jesus says, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”[11] It was common practice to make fun of the temple building, it had taken forty-six years to build it and it still wasn’t done.[12] It’s kind of like making fun of the county or the state for getting the highway built or repaired, knowing it might happen, a few years from now. But Jesus really here is making a passion prediction, pointing to the events that ultimately will come that fateful week we know as Holy Week. And this prediction, John would say would be remembered by the disciples as good news after the joy of the resurrection at Easter.[13]
God in Christ is For You, With You, and Loves You
There is a lot in this story. Just as there is a lot in all of the stories we just heard read. We heard the story and explanation of the law with the commandments from Exodus 20, beginning with the reminder of who God is, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery…”[14] God gives the commandments after reminding God’s people who God is, and who they are as God’s people. God gives the law really, in this case in the hope that life might go well for God’s people, and that they might be in relationship with God and neighbor, and in right relationship together.[15] We’re reminded that God does this for you, and for me, out of God’s deep love and desire to be in relationship with God’s children.
We also heard from the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Corinthians, writing about the complexity of the cross. It boggles the mind and defies human understanding and expectation. “For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”[16] This is Good News. God is with you. God is for you. And God loves you. We know this most clearly through the cross, and in response to it “we proclaim Christ crucified,” knowing that God is God, and we are not, and thanks be to God for that.[17] These are reminders that are core to our faith. They are at the heart of our identity as disciples, and they call us to respond as stewards.
Stewardship- What is it, anyway?
I said I would come back to stewardship, so here we go. I’ll say pointedly, I don’t think Jesus was saying don’t think about stewardship in today’s story. But I do think he is calling us to pay attention and be intentional as disciples and stewards, because stewardship is a big part of discipleship. It’s part of our daily lives and walks with Jesus. When trying to describe it, I always start with the psalmist who proclaims in Psalm 24, “The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it.”[18] Putting it simply, everything is God’s. You are God’s. I am God’s. All that we have, and all that we are, are God’s. And all means all here. It means your time, talent, treasure, assets, and finances of all kinds. It also means your lives, health, bodies, hearts, souls, and minds. Your passions, strengths, vocations, gifts, ideas, dreams, stories, and even your questions. And all of creation that is entrusted into your care back at the beginning of Genesis. All of this and more is God’s. And God chooses to entrust it into our care because God wants life to go well for God’s people, and God wants to be in relationship with us. God entrusts too so that we might live lives of deep meaning, in part through caring for our neighbors.
God does this and so much more, for you. And this is just a starting point. God will go even to the point of death on a cross for us. We know this. We just heard it both from Jesus himself today and from Paul. We know this through God coming to be among us in the incarnation and the birth of Jesus, through Jesus’ earthly life and ministry, and through his death and resurrection. We know this through the salvation which God promises and provides. All of this, God does for you, for me, and for all of God’s beloved. This is pure gift and grace we could never earn or deserve. And that is Good News, news which is at the heart of the Gospel.
It does invite a question though. How do we respond? That’s the stewardship question. How do we, or how will we respond? Do we respond by going about daily life seemingly unchanged? Or do we respond by being so moved with joy and gratitude for what God has done, will do, and promises to do for us, that we can’t help but give our thanks and praise with the psalmist. And even join in with the psalmist in the deep prayer to God, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock, and my redeemer.”[19] We respond as the Spirit moves in us. As we can’t help but be so swept up in thanks and praise, joy, and gratitude for God, that we join in with God in some of God’s on-going work here and now. The work of the Kingdom of God today. That work that is made real through our lives, vocations, and all that we are. This is what stewardship is all about. It’s the response of living life as a steward forever changed by God’s love, forever growing as a disciple. It’s the response of being so moved, that we intentionally lean in, and step up, as part of God’s work, here and now today.
What will be our response?
So People of God, what will be your response? How are you so moved that you can’t help but give thanks and praise? How are you so moved by seeing your neighbors in need, that you show up and respond? This isn’t a hard question. I see it in you. I see it in your sense of welcome. In your love and hospitality. In your witness here in your community and through all the ways you respond. Zion I see it through your brunches after worship, through the words and melodies of praise from the kids choir we just heard, through the way you support VBS and bless the backpacks each year, and through your many shared community worship experiences. Bethany I see it through your Swedish roots on full display through your special gatherings for Midsummer and Santa Lucia; through your 5th Sunday potlucks, bonfires and hayrack rides, harvest meals, VBS and Circles, and through the way you support Bethany Home. Thank you!
But I wonder, how else might God be inviting you to respond? To perhaps commit to steward your time and volunteer to serve in some new ways both at church and in the larger community? Is God calling you to help here in worship through serving communion, caring for the altar, proclaiming the Good News by reading the scriptures, by ushering and inviting and welcoming God’s people? By making sure that all are fed as Jesus invites one and all to come and see that the Lord is good, and who again and again, makes room saying that there is a place at the table for you, and for everyone, and we’ll never run out. I mean Jesus took five loaves and two fish and fed thousands. Abundance is real friends, and you are all signs and witnesses of that. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
So, what will be your response? How will you continue to go and be intentional as God’s people? Perhaps that’s the Lenten question to end with. My hope and prayer is that you will ponder it, pray about it, and lean in and step up as the Spirit moves. To go as God’s people intentionally, open to what God might be inviting, and willing to follow, and to keep on growing and responding as God’s beloved children, disciples, and stewards that you are. Do so, knowing that you are not alone. Trusting and believing that God in Christ is with you, for you, and loves you. Always. Thanks be to God. Amen.
References and Citations:
[1] John 2:16, NRSV.
[2] John 2:19, NRSV.
[3] Mark 8:33, NRSV.
[4] John 2:1-12, NRSV.
[5] John 2:15, NRSV.
[6] John 2:15, NRSV.
[7] John 2:16, NRSV.
[8] Pastor Al Duminy explained this to the Fremont Area Text Study on 27 February 2024.
[9] David Lose, 26 January 2015, on John 2:13-22, as found at: https://www.davidlose.net/2015/01/john-2-13-22/?fbclid=IwAR0pej7Rm4fPDdCMyUyfBpUlRfgVR0hkRCN88LafgdnDLQ7kotd70v_6Bds
[10] John 2:18, NRSV.
[11] John 2:19, NRSV.
[12] John 2:19-20, NRSV & with echoes of mocking the temple building process in John 4:21, 2 Samuel 7:5-7, Jeremiah 7:1-15, and others, as noted in The New Oxford Annotated Bible, ed. Michael Coogan, (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2001), 151-152 New Testament.
[13] John 2:22, NRSV.
[14] Exodus 20:2, NRSV.
[15] My seminary professor Rev. Dr. Terence Fretheim used to say all the time in class that “The purpose of the law is so that life might go well for you.”
[16] 1 Corinthians 1:18, NRSV.
[17] 1 Corinthians 1:23, NRSV.
[18] Psalm 24:1, NRSV.
[19] Psalm 19:14, NRSV.