SUNDAY, MARCH 3, 2024 | LENT - Third Sunday in Lent (B)

Revised Common Lectionary 3-3-2024: Third Sunday in Lent

Old Testament Exodus 20:1–17

Psalm Psalm 19

New Testament 1 Corinthians 1:18–25

Gospel John 2:13–22

Exodus passage outlines the basics = at those we also fail.

1Cor

The cross is foolishness for others - supposed to work that way

Talk about Luther’s alien word

John

What would Jesus do - flipping over tables is not out of the question!

We are familiar with this - once God’s grace and forgiveness becomes business, it spells trouble!

Good morning,

We are barreling towards Easter through Lent rather quickly…but the journey would not be complete without some hard hitting texts! Old testament - Abraham receiving the Ten Commandments - boom, Apostle Paul writing that the mesage about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God - smack, and finally John’s passage, where we see Jesus doing something that is rather rare for him - making a whip of cords, driving all animal sellers and money changers from the Jerusalem temple and overturning their tables proclaiming “Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” - bam.

If you look at these texts carefully, they are really rather heavyweight! Well, Lent can be like that sometimes. Heavy texts for some heavy times - just this week, Kentucky passed House Bill 500 that erased Kentucky state law’s work breaks (including lunch) and overtime for working more than 7 days a week, and guaranteed payment for on the job travel. Imagine being a minimum wage ($7.25 in Kentucky) retail worker and even what little “luxuries” you have are taken away. The sponsor of the bill owns a landscaping company and alleges that of course companies will give people lunch breaks! Yeah, right.

In Gaza, overall death toll passes 30 000 people. Like yeah, what Hamas did, killing more than 1400 people at once and abducting hundreds of people was terrible, but every life is sacred as we all bear the image of God, so adding another 30 000+ people on top of it is just making it worse. ANY war is a failure of us humans to get along and figure stuff out of the highest order.

For the 4th+ time in this election cycle we have been barreling towards at least a partial Government shutdown and all that the elected officials can agree on are stopgaps and short term funding bills. Power posturing and ideology to some is more important than actually functioning goverment and the livelihood of those employed - there are making a circus of it.

So yeah, heavy times for many! The wisdom of God’s kingdom is foolishness to many. The very idea that every life has the exact value -immeasurable and priceless as we all bear the image of God; the idea that we are here with a higher purpose than just having the best stuff and opportunities for our particular tribe over others; or perhaps the idea that wholeness, financial, physical, emotional, mental… is meant for everybody, not just the “deserving.”

No, Jesus wouldn’t be happy with capitalism - he clearly pointed to the separation of the empire and its money system from faith, when he was asked about taxes and as we can see now, he clearly has strong opinions about misusing religious laws for profit. The Prince of Peace isn’t for war either - he didn’t come to be a messiah like some army general, but rather pointed to resistance through being the example, patience, doing what is good in God’s eyes and caring for your neighbor. And he was definitely against leaders that misused their position for their gain, while those under them suffer and cry out to God - he was tough on religious and civil leaders alike!

These texts show that God has provided guidance for basic humanity - not murdering each other, not coveting what is not ours, respectful familial relations - none of these are some optional stretch goals, but the basics really; that our human sense of what is wisdom is not the final word on the matter, but rather God and God’s Spirit is; and that even Jesus can and will have enough with people’s selfish profiteering off God’s good creation. Let it be for us a Lenten lens to observe and interact with the world around us training our sense of God’s justice and love that is foolishness for most. Amen.