The Readings
Exodus 20:1-17
Then God spoke all these words: I am the LORD your God, who brought you out
of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods
before me. You shall not make for
yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or
that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship
them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the
iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject
me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love
me and keep my commandments You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the
LORD your God, for the LORD will not acquit anyone who misuses his name. Remember the sabbath day, and keep it
holy. Six days you shall labor and do
all your work. But the seventh day is a
sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall not do any work--you, your son or your
daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in
your towns. For in six days the LORD
made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh
day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it. Honor your father and your mother, so that
your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your
neighbor. You shall not covet your
neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or male or female
slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
Psalm 19
The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament
proclaims his handiwork. Day to day
pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge. There is no speech,
nor are there words; their voice is not heard; yet their voice goes out through
all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In the heavens he has
set a tent for the sun, which comes out like a bridegroom from his wedding canopy,
and like a strong man runs its course with joy. Its rising is from the end of
the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them; and nothing is hid from its
heat.The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the decrees of the LORD
are sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing
the heart; the commandment of the LORD is clear, enlightening the eyes; the
fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever; the ordinances of the LORD are true
and righteous altogether.More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine
gold; sweeter also than honey, and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover by them
is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.But who can
detect their errors? Clear me from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also
from the insolent; do not let them have dominion over me. Then I shall be
blameless, and innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and
the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O LORD, my rock and my
redeemer.
1 Corinthians 1:18-25
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. For it is written, "I will destroy the
wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will
thwart." Where is the one who is
wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made
foolish the wisdom of the world? For
since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God
decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who
believe. For Jews demand signs and
Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to
Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews
and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God's foolishness is wiser than human
wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength.
John 2.
The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to
Jerusalem. In the temple he found people
selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their
tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove
all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured
out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves,
"Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!" His disciples remembered that it was written,
"Zeal for your house will consume me." The Jews then said to him, "What sign
can you show us for doing this?"
Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will
raise it up." The Jews then said,
"This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you
raise it up in three days?" But he
was speaking of the temple of his body.
After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had
said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken
The message
(I actually preached this sermon without the manuscript. I tried my best to write down what I said but if your interested I can email you an audio file as well, just let me know)
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer. I know and have heard many pastors who begin each sermon with those words from the end of Psalm 19. They begin every Sunday message, wedding or funeral, Baptism or special service with asking for God’s guidance over their words. I think that’s a good start but we should do more. Really pastors should begin with a time of confession and admitting how unworthy we are to share God’s word, there should be a sense of great thankfulness at the opportunity to do this work, and many of us should probably think of sitting down and shutting up before we say anything confusing, hurtful or plain wrong. At the same time, sharing God’s word is part of our call as God’s people. That is where the power and meaning of today’s readings all come from.
As we prepare for Confirmation in a few months, I am
teaching a series in class that I am calling the last 9 (named since we have 9
sessions left). I am trying to review,
reinforce and tell the story of what we believe. The first class was called “God speaks to us”. I started there because that is how we know
about God, about the mysteries of faith and about God’s care for us. We know these things are true because God
tells us.
In our first reading, right before the list of rules and
statement of God’s power, there is
simply “Then God spoke all of these words”.
We can easily get lost in trying to remember all 10 commandments (I can
usually) or assess how were doing with
keeping them (I’ll leave that one alone).
We often miss the amazing fact that God spoke these words to the
world In this case, God’s word teaches
us how to live, how to work, grow and survive together, and how to always
remember we are known, loved and cared for by God.
With the psalm, the last verse about seeking guidance for
our words, always gets the most attention but really most of Psalm 19 is not
about us at all. It is about the power
of God’s word and what that can do. We
are told about a silent voice that is heard throughout the earth, reaching all
places and touching all people. God’s
word is described with a poetic and serious list of adjectives, pure, right,
perfect, reviving, rejoicing, wise, enlightening, enduring and more valuable
than gold. We must seek guidance for our words because God’s word is not
something we cannot ignore, trifle or play games with.
With Paul, the cross is proclaimed and God’s love is
communicated. Here God’s word is somehow shared by this feared and hated tool
of execution used by the oppressive Roman empire. Paul talks about the cross with power,
reverence, and hope. Paul is honest, telling the faithful something along the
lines of “when you talk about the cross with people , they are all going to
laugh at you”. Paul also knows that we
did not come to faith by wisdom, reason, or signs, we came by God’s word to us. We did not figure out that the cross is the
way of our salvation, we know because God tells us so.
Last, we come to our Gospel reading. This passage is certainly
cited by pastors and other church leaders when they yell at their congregations
or advocate for very aggressive actions or unpopular decisions. Jesus anger and intolerance for those who
interfere with the Gospel is part of the reading, To allow money changers and
dove sellers to operate there border line scam businesses in the temple meant
distraction and interference. It gave the sense that God’s power and love could
be bought and sold just like sheep or cows.
Jesus is also angered because the people entrusted with
sharing God’s word, were not taking that work seriously. The temple is the
place of God’s word. It was built in obedience to God’s word and according to
God’s instructions, The temple is where God’s word was kept, proclaimed,
gathered around, heard, praised, taught properly, and celebrated. To lose that
would mean disaster for everyone.
Just like the people of ancient Israel, the writer of the
psalm, Paul, the priests and caretakers of the temple, Jesus, and his
disciples, we too have been entrusted with God’s word, with God’s instructions,
the voice of pslam 19, the good news of the cross, the care of God’s word and
the revelation of God’s love through Jesus life, death and resurrection. We need to take that responsibility
seriously. It is our hope, comfort, joy
and our life.
This is not only the work of priests, pastors and religious
leaders either. One time I had to prepare a funeral service for a family I did
not know. During my first conversation with the deceased woman’s daughter, we
started to talk about the sermon and what parts of her mother’s faith and life
she wanted most to celebrate. At that time, she casually asked me “if my part
was going to make any sense”. She did not mean to be rude, she wanted to know
because she had experienced so many sermons that didn’t make any sense, she sat
through church so many times and had no idea what the priest was talking about
and she had been to so many funerals where no comfort was shared and no hope
was proclaimed. I respected her honesty.
I also did quite a bit of editing on my message for that night, since I didn’t
want her to tell the next pastor “I hope you make more sense than the last guy
did”
No, this work of sharing God’s word is too important to just
leave up to the professionals. We have
all heard God speak, calling us in Baptism, telling us we are sinners and then
telling us our sins are forgiven, promising to be present with us, asking us to
love one another and showing us a good way of life, Each of us is asked to
share those things.
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