- Let’s spend a moment with a little context.
- Four sections of the Temple
- Temple Tax Money changers and Animals for sacrifice
- What I am thinking is that what started as a genuine service for those who traveled from all over the world eventually became a system that exploited people.
- All of this commerce took place in the Court of the Nations.
- People who were God Fearers were only allowed to worship in that area. They were people who were not born Jews but, adopted the Jewish religion.
“Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!”
- Jesus was appalled at what transactional religion had become.
- Golden Rule
18 The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”
19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”
- What happens next is a common motif in the Gospel of John—Jesus speaks metaphorically and the listener takes him literally.
20 They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” 21 But the temple he had spoken of was his body.
- Jesus speaking about his body
- Jesus made enemies with the authorities and the Power typically holds the purse.
- US History—Social Justice is rarely acted upon by the government because it was the right thing to do. Change typically takes place when there has been some kind of economic fall out.
- John has the cleansing of the Temple at the beginning of the story.
- Jesus despised how the religious authorities exploited people.
- He created a public display to make his point.
How can we take this story and use it to create a deeper spiritual understanding?
- Our body like Jesus’ body is a temple.
- How do we treat it?
- Our mind like Jesus’ mind is a temple—What do we put into it?
- Our soul like Jesus’ soul is a temple—How connected are we to it?
- At the center of our temple is the Holy of Holies where God dwells.
It is our soul.
- How many courts away are from our center?
- What is or are the catalysts that create change for us?
- Usually there is a cost before change takes place.
- Tony Robbins—-Benefit if you take action now
Costs if you do not.
- Once you lose your health it is amazing how much you think about it!
- Once you lose your mobility it is amazing how much you think about it.
- Once we lose our independence….
- Once you lose you family or friends because of an unhealthy lifestyle and decision making it is amazing how precious your family and friends become.
- Typically there is a cost involved before we take action.
- In last weeks sermon Jesus asked, “What is it to gain the world but, lose your life?” Greek word for life was psyche—soul.
- One of the reasons we lose ourselves and feel estranged from our Center, The Holy of Holies is because of all the commotion and noise around the outer courts of our life.
- Remember your Soul Knows what you need before you become conscious of it. Your Soul will pitch a fit in your temple to get your attention.
Our Soul?Psyche wants us to cleanse our body and mind and to let go of the distractions that separate us from having that deep Knowing/Ginoskw of the Beautiful Divine that resides in each of us.
- We can be proactive and create the change. It may take a great cost in our life to become the change we need to be.
- Either way, the purpose of it all is to help us reside nearer to that which is Holy within us.
Thus ends the Lesson!
Call to Celebration
God, you have a clear vision of who we are as a worshipping community.
We enter into this space to become more open and aware.
We are in a paradigm shift.
Help us to take off the blindfolds.
Our normal ways of knowing and doing have been disrupted.
Your vision for us in broader.
Empower us to release patterns that keep us inside the boundaries.
Our destiny is outside of the usual.
Amen
Offertory
God, thank you for the emphatic ways you show up in our lives. Those moments remind us to move forward with courage. We give thanks for the disturbances that shake us out of complacency. Help us believe in the power that we hold presently. Amen
Bringing in the Light
Announcements
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John 2: 13-22
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Taking the Light into the World
Women’s History (Her-story) Month
Meet Moses’ Mother
Jochebed meaning uncertain; perhaps "YHWH is glory," from yāh, a shortened form of YHWH, and kābôd, "glory" (Exod 2:1–9; 6:20; Num 26:59) Jochebed, wife of Amram and mother of Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, is mentioned by name only in Exod 6:20 and Num 26:59, both genealogical listings. The narrative in Exodus 2 about Moses' birth introduces her, without providing her name, as a member of the priestly tribe Levi; she marries a Levitical man, also unnamed here. The mother, in defiance of the Pharaoh's order that every male Hebrew child be killed, hides her newborn son for three months and then places him in a basket in the Nile. Pharaoh's daughter (also unnamed) finds the child and accepts the offer of Moses' sister Miriam, who witnesses the rescue of her brother, to find a Hebrew woman as a wet nurse for the infant. The narrative cleverly places Jochebed as the caregiver for her own son. The story in Exodus 2 clearly focuses on Moses, whose rescue from the river resembles other birth tales presenting culture heroes. The omission of the names of the child's family members contributes to the heightened interest in Moses. The genealogical information about his mother, as not only the daughter of Levi but also as the wife (and aunt!) of a Levite, serves to highlight the priestly pedigree of both Moses and Aaron. In addition, Jochebed, whose name (Hebrew yôkebed) apparently means " YHWH is glory," is notable as the first person in the Bible to have a name with the divine element yāh, a shortened form of YHWH. The tradition that Moses announces to the Israelites that YHWH is the name of their God (Exod 6:1–8) is thus embedded in his maternal lineage: if his mother bears YHWH's name, Moses learned it from her.
By CAROL MEYERS
Women in Scripture: A Dictionary of Named and Unnamed Women in the Hebrew Bible, the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books and the New Testament (pp. 215-216). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Kindle Edition.