Sunday Morning Reflection – Money Changers
The gospel for the third week of Lent was John 2:13-22. It is significant in that all four gospels record the same event. Christ enters the temple
area and “he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables.” John goes on to tell us how Jesus made a whip and began to drive the animals out, overturn the tables, told the dove breeders to get out of there.
This was one of those passages where I had to ask God, “What does this have to do with Lent?” I wasn’t long to find out. I had an unpleasant experience like I have never had before. I found my mind being constantly consumed with the scenario. Every free moment I was going back over the situation trying to figure out what I had done to lead up to the situation. It was as if I was walking down the midway of a carnival and the “hawkers” were yelling, “Come over here.” Another cries, “hey, take a look at what I am offering, – two chances for the price of one.” The noise in my mind kept pulling me away from the tasks set before me.
Only two things would break me free: during the day I was praying for a friend facing surgery, and at night, saying the Jesus Prayer. When I would do either of these things, it was like shields dropping down in front of my experience blocking the imaginations and thoughts that had been so distracting.
That is when I understood that “money changers” and “carnies” hawking their wares had come into my temple area where the Holy Spirit is to abide (1 Corinthians 9:16). My mind had become a market place instead of a place where my focus was to be upon the Lord. It was time for the Lord to drive out the money changers. It was time to live the experience of Lent, of bringing myself back to the simplicity of my faith, and of my walk with Christ.
There are many money changers, sellers of doves and livestock, and myriad of distractions that block path for entering into God presence. Take the time, stop struggling on your own, and ask Christ to come in and drive out the “money changers”. He is the one who will make the path straight and free of the stumbling stones.
Sunday Morning Reflection
February 8, 2009
Fr. Mitchell
The OT reading for the week came from Isaiah 40. The most familiar verse within the reading is vs. 31,
” but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint,” (ESV). So familiar, and I think we have all heard sermons from this passage more than we should. But, alas, I felt compelled to speak on it last night.
The part that struck me most about this passage was the attitude of waiting. As trite as trite may be, we are an instant society, a throw away society, and an impatient society. “Give it to me now.” “If it does work the way I think it should (God forbid I read the instructions or small print)… throw it out or sell it at the garage sale.” “If I stand in this Wal-Mart line another minute, I’m leaving my cart.”
What is our attitude toward waiting? Is it “God, I’m waiting on you to do something and if you don’t do it soon, I’m going to…” I can just hear God saying, “Do what? Have a hissy fit? Strike out on your own? Do that which is right in your own eyes?”
Waiting on God does not mean we stop everything and “sit on our fist and lean back on our thumb,” but stay faithful at what God has set before us at that time, with the attitude God is directing our lives. Who knows, the people we meet in the Wal-Mart line may be looking for a church home, or for Christ, or just someone who will listen to their story.
Maybe reading the directions will yield in a product worth far more than I paid for it, or I know someone who will benefit from my mistake. Maybe the delay in getting “the ideal job” leads me to a job God created just for me. With God, the possibilities are endless when we wait with the right attitude.
When the wait is over we will experience a renewal of strength, a lightness as if we are soaring as eagles. It is a part of the abundant life that Christ came to give.
Leprosy
February 15, 2009
The Gospel and O.T. readings (Mark 1:40-45 & 2Kings 5:1-14) both dealt with leprosy. Most biblical scholars feel the term leprosy is a generic term for a persistent skin disorder rather than the disfiguring disease that “eats” away a person’s extremities (which I remember seeing when I visited India). Regardless of the definition/description, or if it was at the time of Jesus, Elisha, or today, the result is the same. Outcast!
Leviticus details the expectations of someone with leprosy, “… wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose, and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean.’ He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. He is unclean. He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp”.
Can you imagine? This was worse than being in an isolation ward in the hospital. You are shunned and castigated beyond your control. No display of affection allowed. No hugging of your children, or spouse. No extended hands of fellowship from friends. NO TOUCHING. You have a sense of being a cast-off – left to rot on (or under) garbage heap of life. Unclean. Unloved. Unwanted. Unworthy.
I think what struck me most is that we have society that is filled with a “perceived” leprosy. Most can keep it hid, covered by staying busy, not socializing, an air of “touch me not”. Some of us have gone through seasons in our lives with leprosy by feeling unclean, unloved, unwanted, and unworthy.
I remember as a teenager seeing a poster that said, “God doesn’t make junk.” Which is absolute truth. The other truth is the devil will try to convince you otherwise. He is more than glad to imbed his catchy leprosy song into our heads, “unclean, unloved, unwanted, and unworthy. The devil wants us to separate us from our physical family – and from The Church. And sometimes, I am sorry to say, the church has even done the separating.
I say all the above to remind us of the message of the Gospel. The leper came to Jesus and made the statement, “If you choose, you can make me clean.”
I love how Mark describes what comes next. Christ, moved with compassion, stretched out his hand and touched him. He touched the one who was unclean, unloved, unwanted, and unworthy. The “uncleanness” did not soil Christ. In fact, the opposite happened. Christ spoke, “I will, be clean” and immediately the leprosy left him. I think his skin looked like Naaman’s after he dipped seven times in the Jordan. His skin was like that of a little child.
The good news, the gospel, is this, God loves you, He has forgiven you, and He is not mad at you. He would also say, “COME”, anyone who has ANY “leprous” condition and he will make you clean, restore you, reunite you, and bringing back into the fellowship of is love. You will not make him unclean, He will make you clean.
Sunday Morning Reflection
The Two Veils
February 22, 2009
The Two Veils.
The reading from the epistles this week is 2Co 4:3-6, but I want to consider only verses 3 & 4. “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
Most times when I see the word “veiled” in scripture, my mind goes back to Exodus 34. Moses had been in the presence of the Lord and “his face shone because he had been talking with God.” The people were afraid because his face shone. Something that stood out in reading the passage in Exodus was that Moses only veiled his face after delivering a message from God. When he entered the tabernacle, he took the veil off, when he came out, the veil was still off until he had spoken what the Lord commanded. A sure sign Moses had heard from God. Once the people understood why the veil was on or off, there does not seem to be fear. They were hearing from God.
However, in the Pauline passage we see a different type of veil. This veil has been put over the faces and minds those who are perishing – by the enemy of God. This is not a self-imposed veiling as Moses had done for the convenience of the people but rather a deliberate veiling by the “god of this world.” The Enemy does not want the world to see the Glory of God. We see this happening every day. How many times have we even said, “How in the world can anyone live day-by-day without the Lord.” Or, “Surely, with this “event” they will turn to God.” The enemy will do everything to keep the “blinders*” on and restrict the sight of unbelievers, and some Christians. He seeks to make the world blind to the Glory and Presence of God.
As we enter into this Lenten+ season God has impressed upon me to pray for two things. The first is to take Luke 4:18, 19 to heart and expect Christ through the Holy Spirit to make His presence known to those around us, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” The second is similar as I desire the Light of the Gospel of Christ within me to be so bright that it penetrates the veil the enemy has put on the minds of unbelievers. What better time to see people set free and ushered into God’s Kingdom.
*blinders - http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/blinders
+Lent - http://www.moodyradio.org/brd_ProgramDetail.aspx?id=34066
