We were delighted that the Revd Dr Rob Rees recently led our diocese’s first ever offering to the National Online Service, gathering around the Lord’s Table for the Third Sunday of Lent. The service was filmed at the church of St Mary and St Michael, Stoke Charity, with many local people coming out (despite the rain!) to be part of the congregation. Revd Rob presided, while prayers were led by the curate Revd James Whymark, the reading was offered by the Church Warden Ruth Guy, and the sermon was given by ordinand, Claire Bentham (text below). Well done to all the team in the Dever Benefice!
The Sermon
May I speak in the name of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
I wonder, when was the last time you were gripped by a scandal? Maybe you’ve heard something about a friend, neighbour or family member that had you shocked and gripped at the same time. Or maybe for you it’s scandals about celebrities or politicians or the royal family. Scandals can fascinate us. Against all our better instincts, we can find ourselves enjoying the sense of superiority we get from seeing other people in trouble, seeing people behaving in a way we would never dare to, knowing that whatever mess we’re in, there’s someone in a worse one.
When Jesus walked into the temple in Jerusalem and drove the traders out with a whip, that was a scandal alright. The people selling cattle, sheep and doves, as well as those changing money, were an integral part of temple religion. If you wanted to sacrifice to the Lord according to the Old Testament rituals, you were told you had to buy an approved animal from one of the sellers in the temple. Likewise, if you wanted to give money, you had to change your Roman money showing the head of the Emperor, for “clean” money, with no images on it, which was then allowed into the temple’s inner courts. When Jesus drove out these people, then, it was a challenge to the whole temple machine, the whole of society, the whole understanding of how to be the people of God. People far and wide would have heard tell of this itinerant preacher doing and saying scandalous things.
It is scandal which links our gospel reading to our other reading, from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. Corinth was a sophisticated place. It was a cosmopolitan commercial centre. The people were very influenced by Greek culture and philosophy, they prided themselves on their intellectualism. And it was into this intellectual, sophisticated, cosmopolitan and pagan environment, that Paul had brought the message of the gospel a few years before he wrote this letter. Paul came bearing the news that a Jewish man in a forgotten backwater of the Roman Empire had died on a cross – the most brutal, revolting and shameful of deaths – but that God had raised him from the dead and made him Lord of the whole world. It was a message which invited ridicule, particularly in a place like Corinth. It was scandalous even to think that people there might take it seriously.
And yet, a few years after bringing them that seemingly scandalous, foolish message, Paul was writing to a thriving and growing congregation.
For God turns our human ideas of wisdom and foolishness completely upside down. The things we prize as humans, are not prized by God. A message which proclaimed that God had died on a rubbish heap at the wrong end of the known world could never prove redemptive, could it? A message that salvation is to be found in and through one, crucified man, could never take over the world, could it? It’s foolishness. A scandal.
And yet just telling the story releases God’s power. As we tell people of this amazing, scandalous man, who was so passionate about his message that he drove traders out of the temple with a whip, that he gave his life in the most hideous, shameful way possible, as we share this gospel, we find that things change. Our hearts and lives are changed. The hearts and lives of those we tell are changed. Communities form. This is the power of God, shining through a foolish, scandalous story.
God is not interested in the posturing, power and prestige of this world. God cuts through all that, and therefore so should we. It’s all too easy for our religion to become as narrow and hierarchical as the religion in the temple, and so we need to hold on to the scandal of it all. It is in the scandal that God’s power is released.
When we make our faith too safe, when we use our faith to justify the things which make us feel comfortable or powerful, when we make God in our image instead of us being moulded in his image, that’s when we lose the transformational power of this gospel.
In C.S.Lewis’ The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, when Lucy is first introduced to Aslan, the lion who represents God, she asks “is he safe?”, to which Mr Beaver answers “safe? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the king, I tell you.”
When we make God safe, we lose the God who drove the traders out of the temple with a whip, we lose the God who died for us on a cross but was too big for death to hold, and who rose again after 3 days. When we make God safe, and comfortable, and reasonable, we lose God’s power.
So let’s hold on to the scandal. When Jesus cleansed the temple, many said he was mad. When Paul preached in Corinth, many said it was foolishness. I’m sure plenty of us have heard people today say the same things. But for those of us who believe, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. It shouldn’t be safe, and it shouldn’t be comfortable. It shouldn’t fit within the narrow lines of organised religion or cultural norms. It should be so much bigger and more exciting than that. So let’s not be the people in the temple that Jesus drove out, let’s not limit God to our expectations, but let’s let God be as scandalous and disruptive as he really is, and watch his power flood through our lives. Amen
Prayers
Let us pray, praying firstly for our world:
Loving God, we thank you for this precious world that you have given to us to steward and care for. We are sorry for the times when we have not looked after it in the way we should; help us to see the world as you see it, so that we would nurture the beauty in the creation and communities around us. Further afield, our hearts continue to break for the conflict that we see in our world; in Israel and Gaza, Ukraine, as well as other ongoing conflicts in nations across the globe. Would you bring your peace and your comfort to those caught up in the violence and would you grant success to those seeking to bring aid and work for a lasting resolution.
Lord in your mercy
Hear our prayer
Lord God, as we turn our thoughts closer to home, we pray for the health of our royal family and ask that you would watch over them as they recover from illness and seek to be ambassadors and voices for good in our nation and in our world. We lift to you our local and national leaders as they govern and make decisions about the wellbeing and future of our nation; would you grant them wisdom and integrity and help us to discern how we might play our part as Christian citizens.
Lord in your mercy
Hear our prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank you that your word tells us that we are fearfully and wonderfully made and we thank you for the wonderful truth that we are made in your image. Help us to be aware, and respond to the needs of people around us with the gifts and skills you so graciously have blessed us with. We pray that those people risking their lives by fleeing their homes and crossing borders via land and sea would find rest. We lift to you our neighbours who are struggling with rising costs and ask that you would prompt us to know how we can play our part in caring for them practically as well as spiritually. We pray too for those known to us who are unwell, bereaved or are facing an uncertain future, may we and may your church be there for them in their time of need.
Lord in your mercy
Hear our prayer
Finally loving God, we pray for ourselves. We thank you that we can join together in this service, and we pray that you would help us to remember and respond to all that you want to teach us today. Help us not to be distracted by the treasure that the world tempts us with, but would you protect us from all the things that draw us away from you and your call on our lives. May we hold on to the scandal of our faith; the outrageous love, the unending and undeserved grace, and the certain promise of forever in your glorious presence because of the death-conquering power of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Merciful Father,
accept these prayers
for the sake of your Son,
our Saviour Jesus Christ.
Amen.
