Long Story, Short
March 9, 2012
Did you follow the story of the Occupy movement over the last several months? Protesters occupied public places in demonstration against large corporations and the global financial systems that seemingly control the world’s economy – leaving power to only a few (the 1 percenter's), and nothing but powerlessness to the 99% of us.
The world of Jesus and his disciples is essentially the same when we come across them in John 2. The 99% were powerless. Romans occupied his homeland and were doing business with the priesthood for political rest. Israel had become – yet again – a key military point in the supply line to dominate distant regions of land. And the worst of it was that Israel’s people, the ones to whom Jesus belonged and with whom Jesus most closely sympathized, were being sold out by the religious leaders to the political system.
By the time Jesus walked into the temple that day in the middle of the Passover season, it was clear to him that the temple had become a shell of its former glory. Instead of being a holy place, its core identity and function had gone missing. It had become a shopping mall, a bank, and a government building all rolled into one.
All his righteous anger seethed. It fumed. It boiled over. His pressure relief valve triggered and he exploded. Jesus makes a whip and from cords in a fit of anger begins driving the people out of the temple like he’s driving cattle. Imagine the sweat, the tears of rage, his furrowed brow. It’s animated for us in children’s Sunday School pictures with the title “Jesus cleanses the temple.” It says that in the heading of some of your Bibles, too.
cleanses
It’s an appropriate word for what happened. It’s an appropriate word for the season of Lent when we think about forgiveness of sins and how we experience cleansing in confession, cleansing that is only found through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ.
cleanses
Like a good spring-cleaning from top to bottom, Jesus cleanses the temple. He’s dusting out the cobwebs of a musty old religious system, as we’ll soon see. He’s decrying the elite priests, he’s calling out the Roman occupiers. Jesus conducted a “Occupy Jerusalem” protest of his own because he wanted to cleanse the temple of its consumerism, politicization, and the power plays of the elite priests and ruling class. Jesus occupied the temple in anticipation of his final protest site, the place where his purpose would become clear and his work decisive: Jesus was heading to “Occupy Calvary.”
Join us this week for worship to discover why Jesus occupied Jersalem and Calvary. The answer is so close to home it may surprise you. John 2.13-22 is the focal passage, so read it at home and bring your Bible to church. We gather for worship at 10:30 am and Bible study is at 9:15 am. Don't forget the clocks move ahead one hour this Satuday night!
See you Sunday,
Pastor Gary
Showing posts with label Gary Long. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gary Long. Show all posts
Friday, March 09, 2012
Friday, March 02, 2007
Making Sense of Suffering
Not a Sermon - Just a Thought - March 2, 2007
Tsunamis, cancer, violence, and war.
Poverty, hunger, and homelessness.
All of these are symptoms of a world limping along in desperate need of healing & wholeness. In the classic blues tune It’s Bad You Know, R.L. Burnside rants in pained monotone his agreement that suffering stinks. Simply and repeatedly, he says, “It’s gettin’ bad, you know.” Hardly any other lines in the song, he sums up the state of things.
The most pressing question in all of the Christian faith is why God allows so much suffering if God is all-powerful and all-loving. I don’t believe we’ll ever fully understand this, but I also believe that parts of the answer can be found. For example, Isaiah 52 and 53 offers a prophetic look at the role that Jesus would fulfill in his life and death. It is also a graphic portrait of his suffering and glory. Verse 5, my emphasis added, reads:
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
It is troubling to know that our actions can cause pain and suffering to happen to anyone, but we humans are capable of that. For our iniquities, for our transgressions, the scriptures say that Jesus was wounded, and perhaps more profoundly we discover that because of his wounds, we are healed. Beautifully, the King James Version renders this idea, "by his stripes we are healed."
Isaiah 53.11 goes on to say this, again with emphasis:
After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied.
By allowing these two verses to frame the suffering of Jesus we are able to get a glimpse into one of the most troubling questions of Christianity: Why is there suffering?
For Jesus, the suffering and "wounded-ness" that he endured brought peace and forgiveness to the world. After his suffering, says the Bible, he was able to see the light of life and be satisfied. In the life of Jesus, there was purpose to his suffering, purpose on a grand and cosmic scale. I'm convinced that if we are indeed co-heirs in Christ as the Bible teaches, then the suffering which we endure on this earth must have a purpose also.
It may not be on the grand and cosmic scale of Jesus', but in discovering the reasons for suffering you and I are able to live more fully, freely, and joyfully-even when life is crushing in upon us on all sides. This Sunday we'll draw from the Isaiah 52 and 53 texts to think about the purposes of suffering. Suffering in our life, when properly observed, can sharpen our character, increase our sensitivity to God's work in our lives, and can be used to accomplish good.
Bringing a good word for hard times,
Pastor Gary
Not a Sermon – Just a Thought is a weekly e-column written by Gary Long, pastor of Willow Meadows Baptist Church, Houston, Texas. You can subscribe or unsubscribe to this column by emailing me at glong@wmbc.org.
Here are the upcoming sermon topics at WMBC during March:
Series Title – Wounded Light – Making Sense of Suffering
March 11
The Waiting Room of Life - How Do I Find Strength in Suffering?
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 12:7-10
Three times Paul asked God to relieve him of the mysterious "thorn in the flesh" and three times God said no. In effect, Paul hears God saying, "My grace is sufficient for you, my power is made perfect in weakness." Paul had to endure suffering and hardship and we can learn from his model that finding strength in suffering comes through waiting strong with God.
March 18
Singing the Blues
Scripture: Psalm 22
David sang the blues, the children of Israel sang the blues, Job sang the blues. Even Jesus, on the cross, sang the blues. Giving voice to our suffering-making a groaning lament-is sometimes good for us because it acknowledges our pain and helps us to remember that suffering is common to all humans, that it doesn't last forever, and that God is right there with us, even when we sing the blues.
March 25
Don't Waste Your Suffering
Scripture: Romans 8:28
Suffering has an end and a purpose, though they are difficult to see when you are in the midst of suffering. The benefits of suffering are wasted if you believe it to be a curse and not a gift, if you allow it to drive you to solitude rather than into deeper relationships, and if you allow it to drive you away from God rather than toward God. Suffering should invite reflection and changes in our lives as we respond to the difficulties of life by the power of our relationship to Jesus Christ.
Tsunamis, cancer, violence, and war.
Poverty, hunger, and homelessness.
All of these are symptoms of a world limping along in desperate need of healing & wholeness. In the classic blues tune It’s Bad You Know, R.L. Burnside rants in pained monotone his agreement that suffering stinks. Simply and repeatedly, he says, “It’s gettin’ bad, you know.” Hardly any other lines in the song, he sums up the state of things.
The most pressing question in all of the Christian faith is why God allows so much suffering if God is all-powerful and all-loving. I don’t believe we’ll ever fully understand this, but I also believe that parts of the answer can be found. For example, Isaiah 52 and 53 offers a prophetic look at the role that Jesus would fulfill in his life and death. It is also a graphic portrait of his suffering and glory. Verse 5, my emphasis added, reads:
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
It is troubling to know that our actions can cause pain and suffering to happen to anyone, but we humans are capable of that. For our iniquities, for our transgressions, the scriptures say that Jesus was wounded, and perhaps more profoundly we discover that because of his wounds, we are healed. Beautifully, the King James Version renders this idea, "by his stripes we are healed."
Isaiah 53.11 goes on to say this, again with emphasis:
After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied.
By allowing these two verses to frame the suffering of Jesus we are able to get a glimpse into one of the most troubling questions of Christianity: Why is there suffering?
For Jesus, the suffering and "wounded-ness" that he endured brought peace and forgiveness to the world. After his suffering, says the Bible, he was able to see the light of life and be satisfied. In the life of Jesus, there was purpose to his suffering, purpose on a grand and cosmic scale. I'm convinced that if we are indeed co-heirs in Christ as the Bible teaches, then the suffering which we endure on this earth must have a purpose also.
It may not be on the grand and cosmic scale of Jesus', but in discovering the reasons for suffering you and I are able to live more fully, freely, and joyfully-even when life is crushing in upon us on all sides. This Sunday we'll draw from the Isaiah 52 and 53 texts to think about the purposes of suffering. Suffering in our life, when properly observed, can sharpen our character, increase our sensitivity to God's work in our lives, and can be used to accomplish good.
Bringing a good word for hard times,
Pastor Gary
Not a Sermon – Just a Thought is a weekly e-column written by Gary Long, pastor of Willow Meadows Baptist Church, Houston, Texas. You can subscribe or unsubscribe to this column by emailing me at glong@wmbc.org.
Here are the upcoming sermon topics at WMBC during March:
Series Title – Wounded Light – Making Sense of Suffering
March 11
The Waiting Room of Life - How Do I Find Strength in Suffering?
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 12:7-10
Three times Paul asked God to relieve him of the mysterious "thorn in the flesh" and three times God said no. In effect, Paul hears God saying, "My grace is sufficient for you, my power is made perfect in weakness." Paul had to endure suffering and hardship and we can learn from his model that finding strength in suffering comes through waiting strong with God.
March 18
Singing the Blues
Scripture: Psalm 22
David sang the blues, the children of Israel sang the blues, Job sang the blues. Even Jesus, on the cross, sang the blues. Giving voice to our suffering-making a groaning lament-is sometimes good for us because it acknowledges our pain and helps us to remember that suffering is common to all humans, that it doesn't last forever, and that God is right there with us, even when we sing the blues.
March 25
Don't Waste Your Suffering
Scripture: Romans 8:28
Suffering has an end and a purpose, though they are difficult to see when you are in the midst of suffering. The benefits of suffering are wasted if you believe it to be a curse and not a gift, if you allow it to drive you to solitude rather than into deeper relationships, and if you allow it to drive you away from God rather than toward God. Suffering should invite reflection and changes in our lives as we respond to the difficulties of life by the power of our relationship to Jesus Christ.
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