St Andrew’s Milngavie2018 3rd Sunday of Lent 2018
Today we marked the third Sunday of Lent accompanied by Abigail.
It’s not too late to join the Lent Group which started on Thursday 3pm at All Saints, Bearsden. It will run throughout Lent on Thursday afternoons. The book we are studying is “Rooted in Love” Lent reflections on Life in Christ introduced by Rt Rev Sarah Mullallay, The Bishop of London. Each session will cover one of the five sections of the book. Let me know if you need me to order you a copy.
Also available is the Ignatius Spirituality Centre Lent Retreat both online and in book format which Steve Parratt is very kindly able to provide. The theme is Through Lent with Pope Francis, drawing on some of the wisdom in the Pope’s homilies and encyclicals over the past 10 years covering some important themes, such as mercy, friendship, love and care.
At the Diocesan Synod which took place yesterday in Kilmarnock Bishop Kevin announced his retirement. He will leave at the end of August, a farewell service for him will take place at Peteride, the occasion will also mark 45 years of ordained ministry.
The Bishop’s Lent appeal this year is in aid of “Friends of the Holy Land.” It’s a charity which supports Christians in the Holy land. You can donate online or through the church. Details available next week.
Looking ahead to two events…..
Saturday 16th March 10-12pm there will be a session to tidy up the garden. All welcome to help.
Saturday 23rd March 2pm (tbc) church walk. Meet at Caulders Car Park, visitor’s centre, Mugdock for a circular walk, finishing with tea in the café.
This Week
Tuesday 10am – Prayer Group in the Garden Room.
Thursday 10am – Said Holy Communion followed by coffee in Friendship House
Thursday 3pm – Lent Group All Saints Hall
Readings for next Sunday – 4th Sunday in Lent – Mothering Sunday Exodus 2:1-10 2 Corinthians 1:3-7 John 19:25-27
Today’s Readings – John 2:13-22 Exodus 20:1-17 1 Cor 1:18-25
Gentle Jesus, meek and mild, Look upon a little child.
Pity my simplicity, suffer me to come to Thee.
The words of an early children’s hymn written by Charles Wesley, first published in (1742), then later republished in Hymns for Children (1763). A hymn that portrays Christ in a certain light: warm; loving; cosy.
However, the gospels can portray a very different Jesus and today is just such a passage. The narrative speaks of high drama. Never have we heard Jesus taking a whip and driving people out in the temple, anger in his voice and almost desperation. It is so unlike him, the one who is patient and kind and forgiving suddenly loses his temper.
We first associate Jesus with the temple when he was twelve years old. He went there with his mother and father. And he was so fascinated that he remained there. His parents continued their journey, eventually when they realised he wasn’t with them, they returned to find him sitting in the temple with the elders, asking and answering questions. Luke 2:41ff
And now a grown man, Jesus walks into the temple and he sees what has happened to it. And he says, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” Luke 2:16
He’s furious, he doesn’t like what he sees. He wants people to change their ways, to change direction. Lent is often associated with a change in direction.
On Ash Wednesday when we receive the imposition of the ashes we are asked to turn away from sin and to turn to Christ. Today in the gospel Jesus demands a similar change of direction in our hearts – this time of attitude and practise.
The scene is set at Passover – a holy time of year, and people in the temple courts were only doing what was required of them to do under Jewish law. They were buying and selling animals to offer God a sacrifice in the temple. The money changers were necessary because people couldn’t use Roman money which had the inscription of the emperor on it. They needed to exchange it for the Jewish shekel, but one could expect the money changers to do their work without gaining any profit.
So, this wouldn’t be a cause for such distress. But Jesus was distressed. He clearly felt a need to cleanse the temple. And this was because the people had lost the original sense of what the temple was for. They had changed direction and turned it into a marketplace for the convenience of everyone. A religion of convenience.
Here Jesus saw how such a religion of convenience was destroying the true purpose of worship in the temple. A religion that had become so focussed on the sacrificial system that it had lost touch with the grace of God.
Jesus also wanted the temple to be a place for everyone. Jews and non-Jews alike. The area in which the buying and selling took place was the court of the Gentiles. This was the only area of the temple that the Gentiles could gather, the other areas were for Jews only. Jesus clearly didn’t want this, so, he cleansed the temple to make room for the Gentiles. He came to welcome all people into God’s family. But we need to remind ourselves that this is John’s gospel. Therefore, there is always a deeper truth that needs to be discerned.
And this comes in the claim Jesus then makes referring to his future passion and death “Destroy this temple and I will raise it again in three days” John 2:19
This was an extraordinary claim!
For the Jewish nation the Temple was THE place of God’s presence among his people. The beating heart of their faith and worship. By referring to the temple of his body Jesus was effectively claiming that the cult, the focus, of the temple was now over. The presence of God upon earth was now embodied not in a building but in Christ himself.
The challenge continues to this day. A great danger for the church in any age is that it will fall into the trap of assuming that the church’s authority is the same thing as God’s authority.
Today in our sacrament of Holy Communion we are reminded that our relationship with God transcends any building as we are directed, invited and welcomed into his very presence. We come with humble and grateful hearts and souls, to be strengthened in our earthly journey of faith. We look also into the future and realise that this sharing of bread and wine is a foretaste of the Great Heavenly Feast of God, where everyone will celebrate in joy without end!