The Third Sunday of Lent, Year B

God’s Foolishness

Readings: Exodus 20:1-17; Psalm 19:7-14; 1 Corinthians 1:22-25; John 2:13-22

“The message of the cross is foolishness,” says Paul. The very thought of the cross as a symbol of Christian faith confronted the values of Paul’s worldview. The claim of the Christian church was unthinkable to the Jews. They were waiting for the Messiah. They certainly did not recognize it embodied in the life of Christ. They expected a figure of power, one who would free them from the tyranny of Rome. They were looking for a king riding on a horse, not Christ hanging on a cross.

The Greeks too had expectations about God. They loved oratory and rhetoric. For them, God was a concept, not someone with whom you had a personal relationship. They approached God through the rational, through the philosophical. So Christ, and particularly the cross made no sense to them.

Even for us, as far removed as we are from the horror of crucifixion, the cross is foolishness. Power and authority are the way of our world. No matter how you dress it up, coat it in gold, make it a work of art, turn it into jewellery, it is foolishness … but it is God’s foolishness.

Jesus’ action in the temple is a fine example of God’s foolishness. Imagine the scene! With the approach of Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem to the temple. The outer court of the temple was a huge area, big enough to house a few football stadiums. In this outer court were crowds of people, all vying to change their money into the currency acceptable in the temple. Once changed, they went off to purchase birds or animals for sacrifice. The area was usually closely guarded by soldiers.

It was business as usual as Jesus entered the temple. What a commotion ensued when he took action! He made a whip of cords and used it to drive out the animals. He poured out the coins of the moneychangers, overturning tables in the process. The scene was one of total chaos. What was he thinking! The very anger of Jesus in doing what he did! What was his objection? In this challenge of the status quo, is he protesting a system that places intermediaries between the people and God?

It seems likely that his action expressed disapproval of what the temple had become. Jesus knew the law. He lived the commandments. As a Jew he understood that the commandments were about not doing violence to loyalties. He knew they were about building good relationships with other people and with God. They were about ending injustice in society. Where we accept the commandments as the basis of Western moral conduct, for the Hebrew people and for Jesus it was about creating relationships that did not exploit. God had freed them from slavery in Egypt. God gave them the freedom to figure out how the rules applied to their daily lives. God provided the promise of how they could turn around their previous lives and live as God’s chosen people. Seeing exploitation, taking place within the religious institution must have offended Jesus at his roots. Is he hoping to bring about a single-handed reformation of the temple? Whatever the reason, his was a deliberate and passionate act of protest that was bound to lead to trouble.

It was not a wise thing to do. Why did he not write a letter to the authorities, or talk quietly to a few of the people in private? The fact is, Jesus was thinking from God’s point of view. He was making God’s point as clearly as he could. Making that point, foolish though it may seem, was worth getting into trouble.

What foolishness it is to buy into the nonsense that Jesus, the son of a carpenter turned preacher could do any good. Yet that is what we believe as Christians.

What foolishness it is to believe that a God of love reigns over this fractured, violence-ridden world of ours. Yet it is at the heart of what we profess as Christians.

What foolishness it is to think that God cares about starving millions, the deprived, the poor, the downtrodden, the victims of society. Yet that is what we proclaim as Christians.

What foolishness it is to insist that we have a personal relationship with God, that God is in our midst caring for us, that God is personally concerned about each of us. Yet that is what keeps us going through all the difficult patches of life.

And if we really do believe in the saving act of Christ, then the real foolishness is that we are not acting on it, that we are not working to transform our world. The suffering Jesus dying on the cross turns the tables on power. The cross becomes a symbol of love broken and poured out for all. We become bread for a hungry world.

There is much we could learn from Jesus and his table turning tactics, for there are many injustices at work in our society. There is much we could learn about living passionately. Are we passionate enough to challenge the systems of the Church and the world? Are we passionate enough to become advocates for the poor and for those in need? Are we passionate enough to speak out wherever there is injustice? Are we passionate enough to challenge a world where war is condoned because it is economically practical? Lent is surely an appropriate time to take a good look at ourselves, at our motives.

It should happen for each of us on a personal level. Lent is a time, first of all to test our own lives. Who do we refuse to forgive? What barriers and stumbling blocks to a close relationship with God have we allowed to enter our lives? How are we living out our covenant with God?

It should happen in our parish. Who do we turn away through our perceived lack of resources? Who do we keep out because we see them as too needy, or too different?

It should happen as Church. What marketplaces do we make of the church of God? What abuses happen in God’s name?

And when we have examined our motives, then we need to do something to change them, to turn the tables on them. I believe passionately that armed with our Christian faith we can change the world. Our prayers make a difference. They can bring about healing to this fractured world. They can change our hardened hearts and help us to live as brothers and sisters.

What are the issues we live with daily here in Oshawa for which you have a passion? Is it related to mental illness? It is such an issue in every community. How do we ensure that the voiceless are heard? How do we ensure that the are kept safe?

Or maybe your passion is for those who live in poverty. That too is present in the city of Oshawa. Food Bank usage continues to increase despite the fact that it was, from its inception, to be a bandaid solution. The Community Development Council of Durham released a study on poverty in the region and found as much as fifteen percent of Durham residents live in poverty. Our poor are working poor, people working multiple part time jobs at minimum wage to support their families. Our government gives families money for their children and then takes it back in the form of claw backs. Others are the elderly, living on fixed incomes. How can we become advocates for the poor? Isn’t that what the gospel calls us to be?

Is your passion homelessness? Once again here it is more hidden. But lack of affordable housing is more and more an issue in our cities. The average wait in Oshawa is almost four years. Sixty-eight percent more units are needed to solve the problems that exist. That kind of statistic means slum landlords and substandard housing.

Perhaps your passion is the environment. The Community Garden is, of course, a wonderful response to the issue. We are all recycling and doing our part, but what else needs to happen? Is it the greening of our neighbourhood and church? Is it through Advocacy for our First Nations people in their quest for justice?

The cross is foolishness. But it is God’s foolishness, and the foolishness of God is wiser than we are. During this Lenten season let us embrace its foolishness. Let us take up the cross and follow Jesus. Let our faith make a real difference in our lives and in the lives of those we touch. Amen.