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The Uncomfortable Jesus
Sunday, Nov. 7, 1999
Pastor Dan Baumgartner
John
2:1-11
John
2:13-22
My
good friend Stu asked me a couple weeks ago if I wanted
some firewood for the winter, as he had some friends who
had cleared several trees from their lot. I said,
“Sure! Do
we need to go chainsaw it, or what?” My friend
assured me that, no, it was all done, it just needed
to be split “a little smaller.” He would
drop it off for me in my garage. Wonderful! I
got home late from a meeting, and went down to look in
the garage. There were about a dozen huge, complete
rounds of wood, there were TREES in my garage! … probably
50 pounds each. Me being a city kid, I had no idea
what to do…so Stu had to bring his maul and wedges
over and teach me how to really split wood. I spent
Monday morning of my day off playing Paul Bunyan, splitting
wood.
And
I was amazed to find the difference that a knot made. I
would split off one absolutely perfect piece of wood, fireplace
size, grain perfectly straight…it would come off
as easy as a knife through butter. Then I would swing
again, and strike on top of a knot. My arms would
quiver like a cartoon character, and the ax would only
go a teeny bit of the way in. I’d swing again
and again and again, practically give myself a hernia…and
eventually I’d get the piece off…but it would
be mangled and knotted, little spikes and cuts all over
it. It was quite a contrast, those two pieces of wood
side-by-side. One clean and beautiful, one gnarled
and knotted.
It
strikes me that this is a little like these two stories
which the writer John gives us about Jesus in chapter 2. We
are very comfortable with the Jesus at the wedding, and
come back to that story often. But we are perhaps
even a little appalled at the Jesus clearing out the temple,
and avoid it like the plague. John, however, won’t
let us only take one of these stories. These appear
one immediately after the other. They really are the
very first glimpses we have of the public ministry of Jesus. And
if John was right, that Jesus is the “Word [who]
became flesh and dwelt among us…full of GRACE and
TRUTH”… if we are right that to know what
God is like, we need to look at Jesus Christ…then
we must look at both of these stories.
A
wedding. A bright and happy occasion. The story
which Marlene read of the wedding at Cana is in fact used
at the beginning of many weddings today. At the time
of Jesus, a Jewish wedding was an immensely important occasion,
and a huge celebration. The party sometimes lasted
an entire week. After the ceremony itself, there was
a lavish feast. And after the feast wound down, the
bride and groom were escorted to their home by torchlight. They
would be taken by the longest route possible, so that as
many people as possible could congratulate them.
This
wedding is in full swing, hosted as always by the Bridegroom
and his parents. Jesus is enjoying the party with
the rest of the guests…when the problem comes up. The
party is running out of wine. Contrary to what we
might think, this was a major problem. Wine was the
marker of a celebration. In a culture that put an
absolute priority on hospitality, it would be an extreme
embarrassment to invite over guests, and then run out of
wine. And, in a relatively poor
culture, wine was expensive as well. Jesus may have
saved the bridegroom not only from social embarrassment,
but from starting a marriage in debt.
“Do
whatever he says,” Jesus’ mother tells the
servants…good advice for any followers of Jesus…and
she inadvertently thrusts him into the beginning of his
public ministry.
By
the door are the standard large water jars…each
holding 20-30 gallons of water. They are used for
various parts of ceremonial Jewish washing: the washing
of dusty feet of guests…the elaborate and detailed
washing of hands before the meal, or between courses…and
the washing of the plates used for the food…all
made ceremoniously clean. Jesus has the servants fill
these jars, right to the very brim. And then turns
the water into wine. Somehow. Quietly…the
story doesn’t even SAY he did it, or how he did it. He
just quietly does it.
Now,
when we read John, we need to always have our eyes open, because
there is always another possible layer to what he writes. For
instance, it is clear that we should notice that there
are SIX of these jars, one less than the number of completeness
for the Jews. It is clear that we should notice what
the jars are used for, which is the Jewish rites to establish
things clean and unclean, acceptable and unacceptable. And
it seems clear that we are to notice that Jesus essentially
completes that which was incomplete…having the jars
filled to the brim, then changing the wine. Jesus,
then, might be seen as the new and complete expression
of God, providing the wine of completeness to human life,
where before there was only the water of ritual which was
incomplete at best. God is doing something new, something
big in Jesus.
But
we need to keep digging deeper. This is a story of
grace. Jesus, of course, is under no obligation to
do a miracle…but does it anyway. People have
certainly suffered worse fate than social embarrassment
or financial hardship…yet Jesus cares.
And
think of the LAVISHNESS of what Jesus gives. 120 to
180 gallons of wine, filled to the brim…more than
any half-over wedding feast could ever use…Jesus
does not just meet the need, but lavishly goes over the
top, giving wine until it overflows, drips down in abundance. And
not just ANY wine. Wine that is of such quality that
the experienced steward is amazed that it has been held
back until such a late moment. This first act of Jesus’ ministry
tells us much…though the sign is provided in a little,
obscure corner of the world, a dusty little town in Galilee…Jesus’ wine
of grace flows abundantly outward, far beyond any expectation … and
points us forward to another wine, a wine of blood which
will also be poured out, and exceed all expectations.
Jesus
is always turning water into wine…still is. He
wants to change the dry, incomplete things that we think
will bring meaning to life…into a luxurious, deep
and rich relationship with God that truly changes life. Life
as a follower of Jesus is different…it’s not
always easy, of course. But it has celebration, richness, depth. So
if we fall into thinking that being a Christian means just
going to church, or just living an austere lifestyle…we’re
missing it. We’re missing the party of grace…the
wine of grace.
That’s
a good picture of Jesus, isn’t it? The Jesus
of GRACE. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt
among us, full of GRACE and truth.” And I say, “Okay,
Lord, here’s my jar! Fill it up! Fill me
up! Better yet, dump it right over my head, like the
Gatorade barrel over the winning football coach, just drown
me with it!” We’re comfortable with this
Jesus. The disciples were drawn to this Jesus…it
says “they put their faith in him.”
But
there’s another picture of Jesus…a picture
that makes us uncomfortable.
A
picture of Jesus with a homemade whip, knocking over tables
of money and driving animals out of the Temple. It’s
a picture you won’t find portrayed in the stained
glass windows in a church. It makes us, perhaps, shudder
a little bit.
It’s
the Passover, and Jesus is in Jerusalem for the celebration
(remembering God’s saving of His people from slavery
in Egypt); historians believe that as many as 2 ¼ million
people crowded into Jerusalem. The Passover was a
very important holiday…and it was big, big business. Hence,
the moneychangers, the tables and the animals. In
Jesus’ time, the worship at the temple in Jerusalem
was built around the sacrifice of animals. Offering
sacrifice was the legitimate way of paying homage to God. And
with such a huge number of people coming into the Temple
area, there was an equally huge number of cattle, sheep
and birds. Unblemished animals were necessary. And
it seems as though there may have been something of a racket
going on, where those animals sold within the temple courtyards
to visiting pilgrims were deemed acceptable, and home-brought
ones were not. The sales price at the temple also
was sometimes three times the going rate…a great
hardship for those with little money.
At
the same time, people would pay their annual temple taxes. For
males 20 and over, the temple tax was required for
the maintenance and upkeep of the Temple. It amounted
to 2 days wages for an average worker. And it had
to be paid in a particular silver coin, which the moneychangers
could provide for visitors…at a fairly exorbitant
exchange rate. Imagine, for a second, that at this
church we were going to only accept offering in Canadian
currency. But when you came in the door, we would
have set up big machines out in the lobby, where you could
change you’re American money into Canadian. But,
by the way, it would cost you 12-13-15% to do it.
But
even more important… the business of animal purchase
and moneychanging was set up…within the courtyards
of the temple itself. Not in the marketplace, not
outside the city walls, but in the outer courtyards of
the Temple built to worship Almighty God. And in fact,
these outer courtyards were the only places that Gentiles,
God-worshippers from outside the Jewish background, could
come to worship.
Into
this scene steps Jesus. He sees poor people being
taken advantage of in the name of worshipping God. He
smells the smoke of sacrifice, and thinks of the cries
of prophets that God cares not for the sacrifice, but for
changed lives. He remembers the words of the prophet
Zechariah, saying that someday “all nations will
go to Jerusalem to worship,” but sees that the “all
nations courtyard” is a mass of noisy commerce. And
he doesn’t say a word…just starts rearranging
the furniture. In essence, he says… “Enough
is enough. You have crossed over the line. This
is totally unacceptable.”
Some
of you parents know full well what may be going on here. You
come home from a romantic night at the movies, and find
one of your kids hooked into his stereo headphones, the
TV also blaring, the living room looking like a nuclear
bomb has gone off, food and wrappers all over the floor. You
go upstairs to find that the other two kids have stripped
sheets, upended furniture, unscrewed lightbulbs, all in
an attempt to recreate the set of a movie. In the
dark you trip over the rented saxophone which provided
the sound track, and feel the crunch of popcorn on the
rug…and every fiber of your being shouts out “Enough! Enough
is enough! You have totally crossed over the line,
you KNOW this is not okay!”
“Get
out of here!,” Jesus says. “You make
a mockery out of worship yourself, and you make it impossible
for others to come close to God my Father, Get out! How
dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!”
Is
Jesus overreacting? Is he overly worried about the
PLACE of worship, about the four walls of the temple? Jesus
seems to know that how we act day by day, and week by week
HERE, in the place where we worship…will be played
out in our lives during the week. Will we love, care,
reach out, draw in, forgive, invite, be hospitable in this
place? If we can’t, we won’t out THERE
either. Will we focus on God? On the worship
of God here? Will our leaders be spiritual leaders, will
our committees sing and pray and study together, or just
be business groups? Will we build little kingdoms
here, or think about how to equip others, and encourage? If
we won’t do it here…then let’s not worry
about inviting others in…because we may actually
BLOCK them from worshipping God.
Jesus,
as you might imagine, stirred up a few folks when he rearranged
that furniture. What authority do you have? they asked. Give
us a sign. “Destroy this temple, I will raise
it up again in three days.” Jesus was looking
ahead to the sacrifice of his body, and his victory over
death…while the religious churchgoing people thought
he meant the building. Later, just like in the first
story…the disciples would remember this day, what
Jesus did and said…and their faith would be strengthened.
Jesus
is always rearranging the furniture. We are not free
to live and act however we choose. A little deception
grows in us, it grows into a problem, we get complacent
or comfortable, we need someone to tell us the truth. Jesus
did not stay silent when the church went astray. When
we begin to go along with the crowd, become immersed
in our culture, obscure those around us from seeing and
worshipping God…Jesus comes with the voice of the
prophet, the truth-teller, and says “Enough is enough.” The
truth is God cares about how we live. There are places
where He says “This is not okay.” And
it breaks through where we have been fooling ourselves. And
we’re good at fooling ourselves. And so we say:
- it’s
okay to work 80 hours a week and rarely see my kids.
- it’s
okay for me to just check out the pornography on the
Internet.
- it’s
okay to harbor grudges, to refuse to forgive that one
person.
- it’s
okay to flirt with someone outside my marriage…no
harm done.
- it’s
okay to sleep with my girlfriend…we’re just
experimenting.
- it’s
okay to pile up wealth, and ignore the needs of the world
around me.
We
do it as though it doesn’t matter how we live, and
along comes Jesus the truth-teller, and
He says “Enough is enough. You are hurting yourself. You
are hurting others.”
And
so the second picture: the Jesus of Truth. “And
the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace
and TRUTH.”
Grace
and Truth, Wedding and Temple, Wine and Whip…we
need both of these pictures, friends. If we read only
the texts about grace, the way we live our lives begins
to mock the very holiness that God asks. Dale Bruner once said, “Grace
is unconditional…but it is not inconsequential.” Grace
changes us, and our lives change too. But if we read
only the texts about discipline and judgment…we
become legalistic, and judgmental, and again our lives
hide the God who always moves towards us, always loves,
always longs for His kids to come home.
These
two stories of Jesus belong together. The pieces of
wood came from the same tree. The same hand that turned
the water to wine…also turned over the tables.
It
makes us uncomfortable. It’s hard to put in
a formula. But the same God who showers us with grace
also demands obedience. And I suspect that even as
we sit here this morning, God has put a hand on some of
us and said, “I give you my grace for what weighs
you down…it is My gift of love.” And
I suspect that even as we sit here this morning, God has
put a hand on others of us and said, “I give you
my Truth, and tell you to give up the thing you hold onto…it
is My gift of love.” They are both gifts of
love.
They
come to us in Jesus…the One called the Christ. Amen.
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