It Is March, a Time…, Lent 3 (B) – 1997

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It is March, a time of late winter in many states, the promise of spring in others. And it is Lent. I wonder how many of us think of Lent as a special time in our busy lives? Do we think of it as a time of renewal and reflection? Or do we think of it as a grey time, sort of depressing and cold and sad. Both perspectives are heard.

As we think of the scripture we have heard today how might it make an impact on our lives? In the Hebrew Scriptures we heard God speaking to the Israelites through Moses. He says to the people, “I am your God, I brought you out of slavery” and he says, “You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them……..”(NRSV).

Isn’t it easy these days somehow not to have God foremost in our lives? We stay so busy. And we have so few hours in the day. If only we could make them stretch out a bit, then we would have more time to concentrate on God. As it is we have work and family and church…yes, even church sometimes adds to the hectic pace of our days. How might we change the rat race even for the time of Lent. And does our busyness mean that we are putting idols in the place of God?

In a sense many of us feel we are in bondage. Not in the same way as the Israelites, but in a bondage to all the forces in our lives. We need to be freed. Is God still offering us a way?

Let’s look at the New Testament lesson and the Gospel and see if we can find some hope. Some way that we can find our relationship with God more what we think it needs to be. The Hebrew Scriptures tell us the law but somehow that law is not enough.

In the Gospel, the first sentence tells us that it was near the Passover. The Passover is the remembrance of the Jew’s deliverance from slavery in Egypt. Jesus found that there were people in the temple selling cattle, sheep and doves and money changers seated at their tables. He made a whip of cords and drove them all out of the temple. He said to them, “Do not make my Father’s house a marketplace.”(NRSV) Those people around him said, “what sign can you show us for doing this?” Presumably they wanted to know what right he had to scold and send away those who sell animals for sacrifice and those who make change. And his response was most strange, He said, “destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” They were incredulous. Why, the temple had been under construction for forty-six years! What could this man mean? The Evangelist said, “But he was speaking of the temple of his body.”

We know that in remembering this perplexing thing that Jesus said, the Gospel writer makes the connection with Jesus’ death and resurrection. So, now our original concern about how to keep our relationship with God foremost, how to get clear of the bondage from the various forces in our lives is confronted by the picture of Jesus in the temple. He’s telling those people to clear our and to keep God in the right place in the temple. And he’s saying that he cares so much about all this that he is willing to go to his death rather than give up his relationship with God.

Does this connect with our first reading? And our original concern? I begin to think it might. It seems to me that one of the idols we may worship these days is speed. Doing everything quickly. Getting results immediately. Looking for the quick fix in our own lives. Don’t we see that reflected in the world of business and the world of politics? We seem to care about the short term results, but are very reluctant to consider the longer ones. Farmers used to know better. One cannot really rush the weather. But now giant agribusinesses use chemicals on plants to speed up their maturation.

Those who care about the natural world, about the environment, the air, the water, growing things and animals caution us about what we may be doing long term to the world that sustains us. But we are in a hurry and it takes a great deal of time and effort to think about the long term.

Another idol for our culture is materialism. Almost anything can be purchased if one has sufficient money: goods, influence, medicine, travel, comfort. We choose based on our perceived “needs” (It might be better to say “wants”). All this takes place in the marketplace.

What about the church? Have we turned the church into a marketplace? We sometimes choose a church in this way: has it the kind of groups we want? Has it the appropriate services for our children? Are the times convenient for our schedules? Can we go and then get home in time for the other important things we have to do? Do we sometimes forget that church is to help us keep our priorities straight – to keep God foremost in our lives. God our creator and sustainer – not goods and services and fast response.

Now, if we look at the passage from Romans we begin to see something new. Paul concludes that he is truly, in his own strength, unable to do what he knows to be right and unable to keep from doing what he knows to be wrong. He cries out, “Who can rescue me from this body of death?” Who can save me from this dilemma? I want to keep God foremost and not let all these other concerns push God out, but I seem unable to do it. Then he sings out, “thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

And he goes on in the next paragraph to explain that there is NOW no condemnation for those who are in Jesus Christ. We are rescued by His love. His life has been spent to give us new life and hope. If we believe and trust in him we have our relationship to God restored and made whole.

What in practical terms might that mean for us? Do we find ourselves any less superficial, or busy, any less harried or hurried? No. But it does mean that we can come to church with expectant hearts. That we can come and relax into the reality of God’s love. We can confess our shortcomings, we can be fed at God’s table, we can be supported by the people around us and also support them. We can be refreshed and renewed for the week to come. Strengthened by our participation in the Eucharist. And we can trust in God’s work in and through us to make us new. Not soon, not quickly, not tomorrow, but in God’s time.

In closing, think about this prayer of Teilhard de Chardin:

“Above all
trust in the slow work of God.
We are,
quite naturally,
impatient in everything
to reach the end without delay.
We should like to skip the intermediate stages.

We are impatient of being
on the way to the unknown, something new. . . .

And so I think it is with you.
Your ideas mature gradually —
let them grow,
let them shape themselves
without undue haste.

Don’t try to force them on
as though you could be today
what time
(That is to say, what grace and circumstances acting on your own good will)
will make you tomorrow.

Only God could say what this new spirit
gradually forming within you will be.
Give our Lord the benefit of believing
that his hand is leading you,
and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself
in suspense and incomplete.

Trust in the slow work of God.”

Amen