The Third Sunday of Lent ---- 8 March 2015

John 2:13-22

13 The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. 15 Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 He told those who were selling the doves, "Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!" 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for your house will consume me." 18 The Jews then said to him, "What sign can you show us for doing this?" 19 Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." 20 The Jews then said, "This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?" 21 But he was speaking of the temple of his body. 22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

• What is it that makes the difference for Christians? Are we somehow morally superior to all other people? Do we have secret knowledge or a secret understanding of the mysteries of the universe? Do we have special powers unavailable to the average person?
• Well, you know the answers to those questions. We are not of ourselves morally superior to those who do not follow Christ. We have no secret knowledge or understanding that gives us special insight into the world around us. Beyond pot-luck suppers, we have no special powers.
• Still Christians are different. What makes the difference for us is simply this – the proclamation of Christ crucified. This has become the centre of our lives, even if we don't understand it fully. I'm not sure we can ever understand it fully, but for us, Christ crucified reveals to us the power and the wisdom of God, to use Paul's words.
• Note well that Paul uses the word “power” saying that the message of the cross is the power of God, not simply the wisdom of God. Wisdom implies a way of thinking and then a way of acting. God can grant us the wisdom to take care of some situation but it would then be up to us to apply that wisdom to how we act.
• Power is different. If the cross is the power of God, then the cross is something that God has done for us, something that is and remains beyond our own power and ability. Paul writes: For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
• This message is quite simple to say and harder to swallow: We are not saved by our own actions but by the power of God in Jesus Christ... and him crucified.
• We can take Jesus as a great moral teacher and an enlightened person in the ways of God... and we would be right to do so. There are many who do so all around the world today. There are those who lament the crucifixion and death of Jesus and wonder what he might have taught had his ministry continued. For Christians, who no doubt accept Jesus' moral teachings, there is still more. For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
• For us “who are being saved”, the cross is nothing less than God's salvation made manifest is a supremely graphic way. We need not meditate on the gruesomeness of what Jesus did for us; that might be too much and it just might be a distraction.
• Knowing why Jesus went to the cross and thinking and praying on that would be sufficient for a lifetime.
• When Paul says that Christ crucified is a “stumbling block” for Jews and “foolishness” for Gentiles, he is speaking of course about groups of people of his own time. Those people still exist today although often under different names.
• Do you know what a “stumbling block” is? The closest thing we have today is that concrete block that stands at the end of a parking space in some parking lots. If you've ever tripped over one, you now what I mean. Now the original word Paul used is skandalon, the root of our English word, “scandal.” For many, the crucified Christ is a shocking scandal. They're prefer a clean and tidy savior god of power and strength rather than the image of a man strung up on a gibbet. They want thunder and lightening and a smashing defeat of enemies. The weakness of God is a scandal to them.
• To others, the image of Christ crucified is foolish and ridiculous. There must have been a better way, they say and then they ask why such a god didn't take it. The idea of dying, as inevitable as it might be, is the ultimate defeat, the final end, and the height of meaninglessness. There is no wisdom to be found here, only the futility of a teaching cut off before coming to fruition.
• So it seems that for the high priest and for the philosopher, none of this makes sense.
• A religion that says we must strive to save ourselves cannot see the worth of the cross since there is no glory or personal striving in it. A philosophy that seeks wisdom will not see any wisdom in the cross since such a death is foolish in that philosophy's light.
• Here is where Christians are different. We know we cannot do it ourselves. We know that the wisdom of God looks foolish in the eyes of many. We know that our salvation is accomplished for us by the power of God rather than any work or decision of our own. We know our weakness and we know that what appears to be God's weakness is for us grace, strength, power, and salvation. We know our own foolishness and we know that what seems to be God's folly is for us the way of true wisdom and hidden power.
• In truth, to answer that first question asked at the beginning of this talk – that is, what makes the difference for Christians – we hold to this: it is the grace of God that has made any difference in us and that grace is available to all.

we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.