Not to Be Contained

3rd Sunday in Lent

This week’s Gospel reading presents us with an image of a whip wielding, table turning, zealous Jesus in the Jerusalem temple (John 2:13-22). Some might find this image unsettling while others relish the thought of a kick-butt and take names kind of Jesus. That’s an issue for another day. I’ve got something else rattling around my head today.

In my sermon on this passage, I suggested that Jesus’ ire was directed at those who were putting up barriers that made it difficult to encounter God. Say what you will about the sacrificial system that existed in the temple, the fact remained that people desired an encounter with the God who was believed to dwell in that sacred structure. The temple had set up an elaborate system that made navigation difficult and expensive for religious pilgrims. Jesus drove out the livestock that was being sold at prices that far exceeded the open market and he overturned the tables of the moneychangers whose fee for service took advantage of the poor.

We can get behind this Jesus, the one who wants no barriers placed in the way of a life-giving encounter with God. But here’s the thing that I’ve been pondering: what about the barriers that we set up to keep God in place?

Whether it’s intentional or not, we have a tendency to localize God’s presence in the church. We bifurcate worship and daily life. In our own way, we establish boundaries that keep God sequestered to that one hour a week when we “go to church,” and then get on with our normal business the other 167 hours of the week.  What if Jesus’ anger was also directed at those ways we try to contain God and compartmentalize our faith? All of a sudden, we find the proverbial foot of Jesus planted firmly on our backside!

During worship, we also read the Ten Commandments as presented in the book of Exodus. God’s introduction is really important to note: “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” What follows is not so much a command, but a description of a life that is lived in relationship with God. It is a life in which all of our actions, interactions, and behaviors have at their core one’s relationship with God. There’s no separation.  God is not meant to remain in a box somewhere, accessible when required or desired. God’s desire is to infiltrate our world.

Every Christmas, I’m struck by all of the “Keep Christ in Christmas” language that pops up. While I understand the sentiment, there is a particular hubris that imagines that we can keep Christ anywhere. Christmas celebrates God's desire to enter every season of our lives. John sets up his whole Gospel with these words: And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14) The wonderful and scary reality is that in spite of all of our efforts, God will not be contained.  

Michael Peck, Senior Pastor