NORWOOD PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

MARCH 15, 2009 – 3^RD SUNDAY OF LENT

 “GIVING ONE’S LIFE TO GOD:  USING GOD’S STANDARDS RATHER THAN THE CULTURE’S STANDARDS”

·        What must it have been like – preparing for Passover in Jesus’ day?

·        Ordinary people doing their everyday jobs.  Just trying to make a living.

·        From the perspective of an animal handler might come these thoughts:

·        Now, I’m no scholar – but I know God’s commandments – and I follow them the same as everyone else.

·        And I’m good at what I do – if I do say so myself.  I feed my cattle and sheep with plenty of good grain, let them graze in green pastures and protect them from wild animals that would attack them.  I keep my doves in sturdy cages and feed and water them regularly.

·        And I check all the animals over carefully.  I keep aside the ones that are perfect – so I can sell them to folks who want to make a sacrifice in the temple.

·        Oh, sometimes I might let a slightly blemished one get by.  I know the rules – but if one or two of the calves have a bare spot on their hide – well, a little dye from a plant that grows near here does wonders in covering it up.

·        That’s not so bad, is it?  After all, the others do similar things – otherwise, we’d all be stuck with a lot of animals that no one wants – and we’d have to disappoint quite a few people who want to make sacrifices – especially the ones that don’t have a lot of money to worship God properly..

·        Look at it my way, the animals I sell here at the Temple go for a lot more than if I were selling them back at the village.  Why shouldn’t I sell as many as I can?

·        And all those folks that come from a long distance – they can’t be expected to bring their animals with them, can they?  So I’m providing an important service for all those foreigners by selling them my animals.

·        I’m not doing this for me – God has blessed me with a big family to support – surely God mind if some of the sacrifices aren’t up to par?

·        Besides, a lot of these folks couldn’t afford what it would cost to buy a truly perfect animal – even if I had one.  Most of them are so poor they can only afford to buy a turtledove instead of one of the other animals anyway.  At least this way they have SOMETHING to sacrifice.  How is a person like me supposed to make any money selling only birds?

·        Or what might a money charger at the Temple be thinking on a day leading up to Passover?  Perhaps it is something like this:

·        Ah!  What would the Temple be without us money changers?  People come streaming into the Temple from foreign lands with their strange currency – their coins with various images of Caesar on them.

·        That’s not acceptable to God!  They need me to convert their money into Temple shekels – money that can be used in worship. 

·        What better service could I do for these poor souls – than to turn their filthy money into holy coins?  I’m just using the talents God gave me – the ability to figure sums in my head quickly.

·        So what if I charge a little extra for the service?  Everyone else – all the other money changers – are doing the same thing.  I can’t very well be the only one not charging a fee.

·        Oh, I know – we’re not supposed to charge interest.  I know!  I’m as learned as the next fellow – even more than some!  I follow God’s laws!  But none of us are saints, you know! 

·        I’m not doing anything worse than all the others here in the Temple.  Have you watched the animal herders?  I’ve seen them pass off a lamb that was blind in one eye – that’s not right either – but you don’t see anyone stopping them, do you?

·        It’s just not practical for us to follow all those laws.  What’s the harm?

·        Or the Temple priests – helping those gathered to worship God properly.  What might they be thinking as they prepare for Passover? 

·        Oh!  What an honor it is to serve God in the temple.  To turn people’s offerings into sacrifices which are pleasing to God.  To make sure everyone worships God in the right way – my way.

·        But oh, the headaches I get dealing with all these foreigners.  They have such strange customs and behaviors!

·        How do they expect to sacrifice their puny little animals – without me?  It’s as if they’ve never been inside a Temple before.  They don’t know the right prayers or responses or choruses. 

·        Of course I take my share of their offerings – we faithful followers of God are entitled!  We’re the true keepers of the law.  We’ve been given the responsibility of turning these folks’ meaningless offerings into something worthy of God.

·        God surely doesn’t look upon me the same way he does all these other people – after all, I’m the one who is always in the Temple worshiping him.

·        I’d much rather stay inside these four walls, anyway – than venture out into the city and have to interact with those people.  Even if they are here to worship God – some of them are so dirty from their journeys.  They aren’t worthy to worship God, if you ask me!

·        Out there, it’s just noise and confusion.  Inside the temple, I can avoid all that!  Life’s too messy outside.

·        Now, not all the folks working at the temple were dishonest or cruel or had such feelings of superiority.  And none of them were providing a service that - in itself - was bad.

·        The people in the Temple courts were offering legitimate services to help people worship.  To help people bring their offerings to God in ways that would glorify God. 

·        But how easy it is for things to get out of hand!  To start doing something that is good and for the right reasons – and then letting ourselves slip into practices that are – well, if not out and out evil – then not as good as they could be.

·        We’re so easily influenced by the world around us.  We allow peer pressure to weigh us down so that it becomes harder and harder to do what we know is right.

·        We Christians try to follow those 10 commandments that Evan and Lauren read for us – we try to follow all the rules that govern us:  we don’t cheat on our taxes, we don’t speed, we don’t steal flowers from someone else’s yard.

·        But sometimes, we selfishly fail to “love others” as God has loved us – to love our neighbors as ourselves. 

·        Oh, we offer to help others – at the same time we judge them harshly – because they don’t meet our standards.

·        When we’re in a crowd, we go ahead and laugh at jokes that make fun of others.  We use sarcasm, even at the cost of hurting someone we love, just to sound clever.

·        We agree with our friends about people who bore us or make us uncomfortable because they are different.  We criticize how people are dressed or how they look – based on the glamour magazines we read or the TV shows we watch.

·        And how easily we justify what we do wrong – we find reasons and excuses to keep us from seeing that we are failing to follow God’s laws.

·        But here’s the good news!  God forgives us.  God loves us – even while we are yet sinners!

·        We’re never going to get it all completely right.  Even when we do good things – we often do them for all the wrong reasons.

·        And even when we are at our worst – God can and will forgive us – God will give us another chance!

·        God breaks into our ordinary, everyday lives – and turn us upside down – just as Jesus turned over the money changers’ tables.

·        God gives us laws to follow – not to hem us in – but to free us up.  To help us face down the world’s influences which lure us away from God.  To know right from wrong.

·        And through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, we are forgiven when we go astray – when we give into temptation.

·        During this morning’s moments of meditation – consider a time when you gave in – when you allowed society’s norms to impact your thoughts or actions more than God’s laws.

·        Then ask God to “turn over the tables” of your life – and restore you from being a “marketplace for the world” back into a “temple for God.”

·        Ask God to give you a new, fresh start during this Lenten season!  Amen.