I must not have had the sermon totally finished by the time I preached it because I freelanced quite a bit. I don't believe i have ever preached on Jesus clearing out the Temple before yesterday. These two stories are complicated, with lots of of different places to dig into the text. I had initially thought I might tie the fig tree story into the sermon, but that never materialized.
I knew the sermon was going to be challenging, so I intentionally began with a fun little reflection. I also reminded the congregation about the preaching series before I read the text so I did not have to start the sermon with it. One of the challenges in preaching sermons is how to remind the congregation where you are in the series without every sermon starting out with the same type of rehash of the previous sermons.
Our preaching series during our stewardship time looks at different stories dealing with money or resources. Started with the story of the rich young man; now we turn to another familiar story of Jesus in the temple.
Mark 11: 12-25 On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. 13 Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see whether perhaps he would find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. 14 He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.
15 Then they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves; 16 and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. 17 He was teaching and saying, “Is it not written,
‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’?
But you have made it a den of robbers.”
18 And when the chief priests and the scribes heard it, they kept looking for a way to kill him; for they were afraid of him, because the whole crowd was spellbound by his teaching. 19 And when evening came, Jesus and his disciples[a] went out of the city.
20 In the morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. 21 Then Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” 22 Jesus answered them, “Have[b] faith in God. 23 Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you. 24 So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received[c] it, and it will be yours.
25 “Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.”
“Money Trouble” SAPC; September 17, 2017; Matthew 19:
Move 1: The Membership sub-committee of Jesus’ disciples drools at the sight of the rich young man who comes to meet Jesus and ask Jesus a few questions.
a. Okay, there is no mention of the disciples having a membership sub-committee, but if they were Presbyterian, they would have had one.
1. Their goal would have been to put the word out about Jesus and get people to come meet him.
2. and to invite them back. They would not have had postcards or emails, but they would have tried to figure out a way to contact them.
3. Maybe they would have instituted a Follower of Jesus 101 Class.
4. The young man in our story would have been a catch for them.
5. he had it all.
6. Living a good life — I know we only have his words to prove that he was living such an obedient wonderful life, but no one in the story questions that he is living a good life.
7. And he reached into a demographic, the wealthy and powerful, that the disciples surely wanted to reach.
b. But the young man runs into trouble when he asks Jesus what ws next on th road to discipleship.
1. Money troubles.
2. Money troubles we discovers when Jesus engages him.
c. “if you want to be perfect,” Jesus tells him.
1. Stop there for a moment.
2. When Jesus uses the word perfect, he does not mean without defect or sinless.
3. Greek word used for perfect done not mean, “without defect, sinless.”
4. the word in the Greek is better translated as “undivided devotion.”
5. For example, this same Greek word was used in translating the Hebrew from the story where King Solomon is told his heart was not like David’s. We know David’s heart was not sinless, but he had undivided devotion to God. (227, Douglas Hare, Matthew from the Interpretation Bible commentary series).
6. Jesus does not demand perfection; he demands undivided devotion.
d. If you want to have undivided devotion, Jesus says, “Sell everything; give to the poor; then, follow me.”
1. That’s a problem for the young man.
2. That would mean everything was not about him.
3. Do you notice that in his conversation with jesus, the young man is focused on himself, on the way he lives his life, on what he can do to have eternal life.
4. the young man is focused one himself, and he identifies himself with the wealth, the power, the stature that he has.
5. the question was not money, exactly. Jesus engaged the rich and the poor. One of his good friends was the wealthy Joseph of Arimethea.
5. The question was about discipleship that called for one’s undivided devotion to God, which might mean giving up his place in the world — his status, privilege, and economic power. he was identified by his wealth; did he want to give that up and be identified as a follower of Christ?
Move 2: Let’s shift for a moment to the story of jesus in the Temple.
a. this story is found in all four of the gospels.
1. Perhaps it gets so much play because this image of Jesus getting angry is so memorable.
2. Or maybe it’s so important a story all the gospel writers include it.
3. The birth story is only found in two of the gospels.
4. money changers in the Temple found in all four canonical gospels
b. Sometimes we too quickly hear this story and jump to the conclusion that Jesus was mad about the way the money-changers were ripping off those who were coming to worship.
1. At this point in Temple history, money changers were indeed part of Temple life, situated in the outer court of the Temple.
2. Those who were coming and wanted to give coins often had to change their coins that had images on them for coins that had no images because of the commandment to have no other images before you.
3. this led to a brisk business of changing money.
4. you could also buy sacrifices in this area.
5. some biblical scholars argue that Jesus was upset at the exorbitant prices the money changers were charging.
6. Other biblical scholars argue that it was not a question of unreasonable rates, but the whole idea of all this taking place in the Temple.
c. I suppose I lean toward the idea that Jesus’ anger was directed in a broad sense at what the Temple had become, not just directed at the business practices.
1. Remember, the Temple was the most identifying aspect of the Israelite faith.
2. When the Israelites return to Jerusalem after being in exile, what’s the first thing they do — rebuild the Temple.
3. People would travel great distances to come to the Temple.
4. Temple was supposed to be the symbol in the world of God’s presence.
5. Remember Israel’s charge from God — be a light in the world.
6. Temple was supposed to be the tall light post, if you will, that shined forth God’s presence.
d. instead the Temple had come a business.
1. With elaborate rules.
2. Rules that created insiders and outsiders.
3. Rules that put into play business practices that could be used to enrich the leaders and create economic inequities.
4. As the Temple business grew, the Israelites lost focus on God and their role as a light to the world.
e. they had lost their identity along the way.
1. Now, here comes Jesus.
2. he drives out the buyers and the money changers.
3. he challenges what the Temple has become and calls for it to reclaim its identity as God’s presence in the world.
Move 3: money troubles.
a. with the recent winning of a 1.5 billion dollar lottery ticket, there have been articles about how lucky a person really is to win the lottery.
1. when winners of the lottery win, they do not plan on getting in trouble with their money.
2. But studies show that nearly 70% of people who win the lottery will have financial trouble or go bankrupt within five years of their winning (according to the National Endowment for Financial Education).
3. I read an article that tried to explain why. "People who were little, ordinary people all of a sudden become extraordinary," said Steve Lewit, CEO of Wealth Financial Group in Chicago. "They're euphoric. They lose all sense of reality. They think they're invincible and powerful. They think they're Superman."http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2016/01/why_do_70_percent_of_lottery_w.html
Money troubles
4. their self-identity shifts, and they lose sight of who they are.
b. As we hear these familiar stories about money trouble, that the question we might ask ourselves.
1. do we identify ourselves with the riches, power, and wealth we have (or maybe we do not have, but want)? Or do we lay claim to our identity as children of God and disciples of Christ?
2. how we answer determines how we live our lives.
3. Is our top priority the pursuit of wealth and power, or undivided devotion of God?
4. The answer makes all the difference in the world.
Amen.
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