Our “I Am…” series has already been off to a wonderful start. We have explored our identity as being rescued and named by God! As we move through Lent, members of Saint Luke will continue to share reflections about who we are in Christ here on our blog. These thoughtful prompts will also gather us together and lead us into a weekly time of connection on Zoom.
Earlier this week, we heard from Liz Harmon and today Amanda Heintzelman helps us continue to dive into the idea of being formed by God.
I Am Formed
John’s account of the story of Jesus cleansing the temple was not the gospel passage that immediately came to mind when I considered the theme of being formed by God’s law. In fact, when I first agreed to blog about the theme, I recognized immediately that the old testament reading was the ten commandments, and I assumed the gospel passage would be where Jesus tells everyone that he has not come to “abolish the law but to fulfill it.” Let’s just say I got a little nervous when I finally got around to reading John 2:13-22, and I immediately realized this was not going to be a neat, tidy, obvious moral to the story kind of reflection. This passage gives us the story of Jesus unleashing his righteous indignation on the money-changers and animal sacrifice salesmen at the temple with a handmade whip, overturned tables, and verbal confrontation with the temple authorities and other Jewish worshippers. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great, if not startling, story with a ton of potential sermons and lessons, but what on earth does it have to do with being formed by God’s law? It took me days of reading commentary after commentary, and it wasn’t until I consulted the great theologian, Calvin and Hobbes, that I finally saw a connection.
What provoked Jesus anger? The same thing that caused Calvin’s mom to lose her patience. She didn’t send Calvin to the tub to go through the motions of taking a bath; she sent him to be cleansed by soap and water. Calvin’s interpretation of the letter of the law missed the point entirely. I think when Jesus went into the temple he saw a huge discrepancy between the letter of the law being followed and the spirit of the law being honored. The temple was supposed to be the meeting place between God and God’s people. There were rules for entering this space, and Jesus would not have been surprised or upset by these. It wasn’t paying the temple tax or obtaining animals for sacrifice that made Jesus angry, it was going through the motions and the rituals without regard for the true purpose of purification and entering a holy place where human life and divine blessing could meet. Jesus was mad that they were following the letter of the law with complete disregard for the spirit of the law. They allowed worship to become business as usual. It was transactional instead of relational. It was playing church instead of encountering and being transformed by the true, living God. Jesus looked around and realized he needed to dramatically interrupt “business as usual”.
Business as usual can happen anywhere: in relationships, careers, church. Business as usual is insidious because its predictable and familiar and provides an illusion of security. We are often all too willing to trade authenticity and realness and struggle and growth for the security of going through the motions, crossing our Ts and dotting our Is. Following the letter of the law can feel so much less complicated than the work necessary to fulfill the spirit of the law. But Jesus barges into the temple of our lives and says, “no more walking your faith journey on auto-pilot. I don’t want you to just follow God’s law. I want you to recognize that you are FORMED by God’s law.”
Dear God, Thank you for forming us by your law. Help us to recognize the importance of honoring both the letter AND the spirit of that law. Give us the courage to interrupt “business as usual” in our lives and in our faith. Teach us what it means to worship you “in spirit and truth”. Amen.
PONDER & SHARE
What “tables need overturned” in your life to interrupt business as usual?