3rd Sunday in Lent
Exodus 20:1-17; Psalm 19; 1 Corinthians 1:18-25; John 2:13-22
Gospel: John 2:13-22
13The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. 15Making 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. 16He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” 17His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” 18The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” 19Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21But he was speaking of the temple of his body. 22After 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.
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Memory Stones
Grace to you, beloved of God, and peace from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Whenever our lectionary texts refer to the temple of Jesus time, I think of stones. I know most have their ears tuned to the whip of cords and picture our Savior turning the tables and booths of less-than-honest coin exchangers and sellers of animals used for sacrifices. I have a sermon for that part of the passage of John we received today, but I kept thinking of stones. I can’t help it.
One of my favorite images of the New Testament is the spiritual house of the living stones assembled by Christ, which we find in the first letter of St. Peter. It is very fitting for the rock upon which the church was built. Anyway, I almost digress.
“Destroy this temple,” Jesus says in verse 19, “and I will raise it up in three days.” It was true. The temple had been under construction for a few decades and was often in need of repairs here and there. There could very be some stone carriers and workers witnessing this interchange. It is not difficult to picture them scoffing and saying – or at least thinking – you Galilean fool. Who do you think you are? God?
Destroy this temple. It always sounds like a dare to me. We talked before. Jesus’ sayings about the destruction of the House of God in Jerusalem came to fruition around the year 70, and we can still have a sense of what took place back then. I have never been to the holy land. Still, if you search the internet for Jerusalem Temple, you will eventually come across images of its most famous surviving structure, the western wall. Piled up on its base, you can see stones that survived the Roman legions and the fires and were thrown over the wall.
See, even stones have memories. Every physical body on this earth does. The concrete slab on our driveways or sidewalks always expands and contracts the same way, depending on how hot or cold it is outside. They have “memory.” I wonder, therefore, about the surviving stones of the structure housing our gospel scene today. What would they remember?
Maybe they remember all the evil they witnessed on those grounds. I wonder if they remember the beating, the shame, the taste of the blood of the foolish rabbi from Nazareth who dared to speak truth and then refused to open his mouth under false accusations. Maybe they remember his words when General Titus ordered Jerusalem to be under siege. I wonder if they carry the stain of dying human bodies dead of hunger and thirst. They certainly remember the heat of intense fires and the crushing into the pavement below.
But perhaps it is not only sorrow and defeat they remember. I wonder if they remember a young Jesus already embodied with divine wisdom. Maybe they remember the strides of the procession bearing the good news sitting on the back of a colt and the crowds crying hosanna! Hosanna in the highest heavens! I wonder if they remember the hopeful whispers of their sympathizers spreading the word that he was risen, indeed, after three days, or the rage and despair of those who deemed themselves wise and powerful but failed to silence Christ, God’s Word, wisdom, and power. I hope they remember the joy of the first disciples sharing with generous hearts everything they had and everything Jesus taught them. I wonder if they remember being soaked with baptismal waters. I am sure those stones will never forget the cries and laments of those who, until this day, hope that their God still permeates them.
If the stones extracted from quarries have memory, so do the living stones that make God’s peoples from all nations and those assembled into God’s spiritual house, the body of Christ. We remember the deserts but also the waters. We remember our bondage but also our liberation. We remember being lost but also being found. We remember our starvation but also the bread that came down from heaven. We remember being forsaken but also being forgiven. We remember being hopeless but also hoping against hope for the fulfillment of God’s promises. We remember being having doubts but also when we believed. The temple of his body remembers. The living stones remember the rock from who they were hewed. Return the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. Amen.
Bridging Faith 