May the grace, mercy and love of God be with us all. Amen.
Collect
Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Confession
Let us admit to God the sin which always confronts us.
Lord God, we have sinned against you, and we have done evil in your sight. We are sorry, and repent of our sins. Have mercy on us according to your love. Wash away our wrongdoing and cleanse us from our sin. Renew a right spirit within us, and restore us to the joy of your salvation, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
May almighty God, who sent his Son into the world to save sinners, bring us his pardon and peace, now and for ever. Amen.
God’s Word - I Corinthians, chapter 1, verses 18 to 25 :-
The message of the cross is sheer folly to those on the way to destruction, but to us, who are on the way to salvation, it is the power of God. Scripture says, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the cleverness of the clever.’ Where is your wise man now, your man of learning, your subtle debater of this present age? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish! As God in his wisdom ordained, the world failed to find him by its wisdom, and he chose by the folly of the gospel to save those who have faith. Jews demand signs, Greeks look for wisdom, but we proclaim Christ nailed to the cross; and though this is an offence to Jews and folly to Gentiles, yet to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike, he is the power of God and the wisdom of God. The folly of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God stronger than human strength.
John, chapter 2, verses 13 to 22 :-
As it was near the time of the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple precincts he found the dealers in cattle, sheep, and pigeons, and the money-changers seated at their tables.
Jesus made a whip of cords and drove them out of the temple, sheep, cattle, and all. He upset the tables of the money-changers, scattering their coins. Then he turned on the dealers in pigeons: ‘Take them out of here,’ he said; ‘do not turn my Father’s house into a market.’ His disciples recalled the words of scripture: ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’
The Jews challenged Jesus: ‘What sign can you show to justify your action?’ ‘Destroy this temple,’ Jesus replied, ‘and in three days I will raise it up again.’ The Jews said, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this temple. Are you going to raise it up again in three days?’ But the temple he was speaking of was his body. After his resurrection his disciples recalled what he had said, and they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.
Thanks be to God, for this his holy word. Amen.
Reflection
Living and ministering as I do on the border, last weekend was interesting, to say the least. Two national teams played a game of rugby in Cardiff, which ended more or less as I expected, if I’m honest - but the process was not without an element of controversy. And Facebook has been full of the cut and thrust of debate for much of this week. People on one side of the argument (and the border) have been getting very hot under the collar on the subject of poor refereeing standards; people on the other side have suggested that some people need to grow up, spit out their sour grapes and learn a bit of sportsmanship.
Imagine the same intensity of heated debate, but on matters not sporting but philosophical. That’s what Paul encountered in places like Athens and Corinth, as he travelled around the Graeco-Roman world talking about Jesus. He would start in the synagogues, among people of his own Jewish race. Then perhaps he would move on to the market-place, or wherever people met in debate. Some people listened, like the little church in Corinth to which our first reading was addressed; but many more didn’t. Some rejected him out of hand, some laughed at the foolish things he was saying, and now and again he got beaten up.
How could anyone follow a man who had been crucified? A man whose body had been mutilated and broken? The Greeks who heard Paul - for them the perfection of the body was paramount - look at the statues of their gods, each one super-human in their perfection. What Paul was trying to tell them seemed just completely foolish. And the Jews? Here is Paul trying to tell them that the Messiah, the one anointed by God, had died on a cross - and that this what was always supposed to happen! To talk like that was scandalous - it was impossible that God’s Messiah could die, especially in such a shameful way.
Paul’s message failed on both fronts, you see. It failed as the philosophy loved by the Greeks, and it failed as the traditional religious rituals valued by the Jews. But Paul pressed on regardless, proclaiming simply this: Christ, nailed to the cross. But that didn’t matter to Paul - neither philosophy or religious ritual mattered any more. What had transformed his life, and would transform the lives of those who did accept his word, was a new and life-giving relationship with God - established by a man who had chosen to die so that we might live, who had chosen to bear the burden of human sin so that we wouldn’t be crushed by it.
And Paul could see that the philosophical debates of the Greeks and the religious laws that governed Jewish life were in the own ways prisons: they trapped people within systems that led nowhere, did nothing, and could never save them from themselves. For Paul knew himself to be free: and he knew that what seemed like foolishness was wiser than all this world’s wisdom; and the weakness of God, the weakness of the crucified Saviour, is stronger than human strength.
Fundamental to this is something central to the Gospel stories - that Jesus was in control of his own destiny throughout. The story of the road to Calvary is not a story of doomed heroism, or brave but failed endeavour; no - what we see is a man who becomes painfully aware of what must happen to him, and yet he continues to walk that road. And in our reading from John’s Gospel, we see him forcing the issue, deliberately confronting those who will plan his death.
I think though that we also see him genuinely angry. It wasn’t the simple fact of commercial trade in the temple that angered him, though it must have distracted from the prayer and worship, and will have prevented non-Jews from easily entering the outer courts, something they should have been able to do. But it was also an abuse of power, and a way in which the poor were being exploited. To offer sacrifice, you had first to buy the bird or beast to be sacrificed; to make an offering of money you had to change your secular cash for temple coins.
What made Jesus so angry? God deals with us graciously; he offers us his love, long before we ever deserve or merit it. For the poor to be exploited and cheated in the one place where they should be fully aware of God’s welcoming love was truly scandalous. But there were also prophecies which made it clear that God’s anointed one, the Christ, would cleanse the temple; so Jesus was also declaring himself as Messiah, and making it clear to the authorities that the Messiah wasn’t there to serve the status quo but to overturn tables.
And this man calls us his brothers and sisters. Everything he does, he does for us. What should we offer him? Our love, our service, our sacrifice, and even our anger.
Statement of faith -
We believe in God the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. We believe in God the Son, who lives in our hearts through faith, and fills us with his love. We believe in God the Holy Spirit, who strengthens us with power from on high. We believe in one God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Prayer Pointers - Pray for courage in living and sharing our faith, and that the Church may be tireless in its commitment to service and its opposition to all that denies freedom and civil rights. Pray for the churches of the Congo and for the Anglican Province of Congo. Pray for our own Diocese, for Richard our Bishop, and today for the churches and communities of the Hereford Deanery.
Tomorrow is International Women’s Day: pray for equality of access to education and opportunity, and for those parts of our world where woman continue to be denied full rights. Pray for those in places of leadership and power in our world, and for wisdom and vision. Continue to pray that nations may co-operate and support each other as we face the challenge of Covid.
Pray for all who are ill: for their care, treatment and recovery, and for the safety and protection of all who work in hospitals, care homes and other places of care. Pray for the victims of domestic abuse and violence, and for places of refuge, healing and care. Give thanks for the ongoing process of rolling out Covid vaccinations.
Pray for our families and friends, and for the life of our churches and communities. Pray for local shops, farmers’ markets, and all that helps support the principle of “buy local”. Pray that as we move into Spring we may continue to observe the Covid rules that help keep us all safe. Pray we may look out for each other, and keep safe ourselves.
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Blessing -
May Christ give us grace to grow in holiness, to take up our cross and follow him; and may the blessing of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, be with us all, evermore. Amen.
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