March 15, 2009
Exodus 20.1-17; John 2.13-22
The other evening I had a few friends over to the rectory for a bit of a soiree. During the course of the evening, one of my guests commented on how beautiful the rectory looks. She then said, “Isn’t it so much easier to keep a place clean without too much clutter?”
In a sense, that’s what this whole season of Lent is about, isn’t it? During Lent, we strive to get rid of the clutter. Clutter is that stuff in our lives—and “stuff” is the prefect word for it—that just piles up. We start ignoring our clutter. We don’t give it a second thought, even when we’re tripping over it and stumbling on it. In fact, often we don’t fully realize how much clutter we have until after we’ve disposed of it. When we see that clean, orderly room, we realize only then how clutter sort of made us lose our appreciation for the beauty of the room itself.
In Lent, what we dispose of us is the clutter of our spiritual lives. And we all have it. We have those things that “get in the way.” We have our habits. We have those things that we do without even thinking. And oftentimes, they’re not good for it—or at least they don’t enhance our spiritual lives.
Often the clutter in our spiritual lives gets in the way of our prayer life, our spiritual discipline, our relationship with God. The clutter in our spiritual life truly becomes something we find ourselves tripping over. The clutter in our spiritual life causes us to stumble occasionally. And when it does, we find our spiritual life less than what it should be.
During Lent, it is an important time to take a look around us. It is important to actually see the spiritual clutter in our lives and to clear it away.
In our Gospel reading for today, we find Jesus going into the temple and clearing out the clutter there. He sweeps the Temple clean, because he knows that the clutter of the merchants who have settled there are not enhancing the beauty of the Temple. They are not helping people in their relationship to God. Rather, these merchants are there for no spiritual reasons at all, ultimately. They are there for gain and for nothing else.
In a sense, we need to let Jesus come in and clean out the merchants in our lives as well. We need to have the Temple of our bodies cleaned. We need to sweep it clean and, in doing so, we will find our spirituality a little more finely tuned. We will find our prayer life a more fulfilling. We will find our time at Eucharist more meaningful. We will find our encaging of scripture to be more edifying. We will find our service to others to be a bit more selfless and purposeful than it was before.
It is a matter of simplifying our lives. It is matter of recognizing that in our relationship with God and one another, we don’t need the clutter—we don’t need those things that get in the way. There are enough obstacles out there. There will always be enough “stuff” falling into our pathways, enough ”things” for us to stumble over. Without the clutter in our lives, it IS easier to keep our spiritual lives clean. Without the clutter in our life, we find things are just…simpler.
How do we do this? Well, the answer is really no further than our scripture from the Old Testament for today. God lays it on the line for Moses on Mount Sinai. And each commandment that God gives Moses is really a matter of housekeeping. It is a matter of cleaning up the messes in the Israelites’ lives. Rather than the clutter of gods you have worshipped, worship only the One God. You shall respect this God by respecting God’s Name. You shall, in a sense, honor, love and worship this One God. Likewise, God cleans up the messes of their relationship with one another.
Love God. Love your neighbor. And if you do these things—if you don’t disrespect your neighbor, if you honor your mother and father, if shall not commit adultery, or steal or bear false witness, or covet your neighbor’s house or spouse or anything that belongs to your neighbor, you will be living the life that was intended for you. In a sense, we are not living the living the life intended for us when we allow our lives to mucked up. When we complicate our relationship with God with allowing the other gods in—the idols and gods we worship in our daily life—our lives become complicated. When we disrespect others—when we curse or are jealous or strike out against others—our lives become complicated and difficult. What we need to do is sweep out the junk, the trivial things, the dust and dirt that have accumulated in our lives and live in that simplicity that God intends for us.
In our Gospel reading for today, we also find that the Temple Jesus is cleaning out and cleansing serves its purpose for now, but even it will be replaced with something more perfect and something, ultimately, more simple. It will be replaced by something that will not need to cleansed. It will be replaced with something that will not be cluttered. It will be replaced with the Temple of the Body of Christ. And it will be here that we will find our true worship. It is here that will be find a true and living Temple of our living God. And, in a sense, our own bodies become temples of this living God because of what Jesus did. Our bodies also become the dwelling places of that one, living God.
Which brings us back to Lent. In this season of Lent, we become mindful of this fact. Our bodies are the temples of that One, living God. And as such, in this season, we find ourselves cleansing the temple. We find our selves examining our selves, looking closely at this things over which we trip and stumble. And we work on ourselves a bit. We work at trying to simplify our lives—our actual, day-to-day lives, as well as our spiritual lives. We spend time in prayer, in allowing that living God to dwell within us and enlighten us. We fast—emptying our bodies purifying our selves. We recognize the wrongs we have done to ourselves, to others. We realize that we have allowed the clutter to build up. We realize we have not loved God or our neighbors. Or even ourselves. Or we have loved ourselves too much, and not God and our neighbors enough.
Once we have eliminated the spiritual clutter of our lives, we do truly find our God dwelling with us. We find ourselves worshipping in that Body of Christ that cannot be cluttered. We find a certain simplicity and beauty in our lives that comes only through spiritual discipline and a concentrate effort to improve ourselves.
So, as we continue our journey through Lent, let us allow Jesus to take up the cords and go through the temple of ourselves. Allow Jesus to clear away the clutter of your lives. Allow Jesus to cleanse the temple of your self and make it like the Temple of his own Body. And you will find yourself proclaiming, with Psalm 69, “Zeal for your house will consume me,” for it will.
Exodus 20.1-17; John 2.13-22
The other evening I had a few friends over to the rectory for a bit of a soiree. During the course of the evening, one of my guests commented on how beautiful the rectory looks. She then said, “Isn’t it so much easier to keep a place clean without too much clutter?”
In a sense, that’s what this whole season of Lent is about, isn’t it? During Lent, we strive to get rid of the clutter. Clutter is that stuff in our lives—and “stuff” is the prefect word for it—that just piles up. We start ignoring our clutter. We don’t give it a second thought, even when we’re tripping over it and stumbling on it. In fact, often we don’t fully realize how much clutter we have until after we’ve disposed of it. When we see that clean, orderly room, we realize only then how clutter sort of made us lose our appreciation for the beauty of the room itself.
In Lent, what we dispose of us is the clutter of our spiritual lives. And we all have it. We have those things that “get in the way.” We have our habits. We have those things that we do without even thinking. And oftentimes, they’re not good for it—or at least they don’t enhance our spiritual lives.
Often the clutter in our spiritual lives gets in the way of our prayer life, our spiritual discipline, our relationship with God. The clutter in our spiritual life truly becomes something we find ourselves tripping over. The clutter in our spiritual life causes us to stumble occasionally. And when it does, we find our spiritual life less than what it should be.
During Lent, it is an important time to take a look around us. It is important to actually see the spiritual clutter in our lives and to clear it away.
In our Gospel reading for today, we find Jesus going into the temple and clearing out the clutter there. He sweeps the Temple clean, because he knows that the clutter of the merchants who have settled there are not enhancing the beauty of the Temple. They are not helping people in their relationship to God. Rather, these merchants are there for no spiritual reasons at all, ultimately. They are there for gain and for nothing else.
In a sense, we need to let Jesus come in and clean out the merchants in our lives as well. We need to have the Temple of our bodies cleaned. We need to sweep it clean and, in doing so, we will find our spirituality a little more finely tuned. We will find our prayer life a more fulfilling. We will find our time at Eucharist more meaningful. We will find our encaging of scripture to be more edifying. We will find our service to others to be a bit more selfless and purposeful than it was before.
It is a matter of simplifying our lives. It is matter of recognizing that in our relationship with God and one another, we don’t need the clutter—we don’t need those things that get in the way. There are enough obstacles out there. There will always be enough “stuff” falling into our pathways, enough ”things” for us to stumble over. Without the clutter in our lives, it IS easier to keep our spiritual lives clean. Without the clutter in our life, we find things are just…simpler.
How do we do this? Well, the answer is really no further than our scripture from the Old Testament for today. God lays it on the line for Moses on Mount Sinai. And each commandment that God gives Moses is really a matter of housekeeping. It is a matter of cleaning up the messes in the Israelites’ lives. Rather than the clutter of gods you have worshipped, worship only the One God. You shall respect this God by respecting God’s Name. You shall, in a sense, honor, love and worship this One God. Likewise, God cleans up the messes of their relationship with one another.
Love God. Love your neighbor. And if you do these things—if you don’t disrespect your neighbor, if you honor your mother and father, if shall not commit adultery, or steal or bear false witness, or covet your neighbor’s house or spouse or anything that belongs to your neighbor, you will be living the life that was intended for you. In a sense, we are not living the living the life intended for us when we allow our lives to mucked up. When we complicate our relationship with God with allowing the other gods in—the idols and gods we worship in our daily life—our lives become complicated. When we disrespect others—when we curse or are jealous or strike out against others—our lives become complicated and difficult. What we need to do is sweep out the junk, the trivial things, the dust and dirt that have accumulated in our lives and live in that simplicity that God intends for us.
In our Gospel reading for today, we also find that the Temple Jesus is cleaning out and cleansing serves its purpose for now, but even it will be replaced with something more perfect and something, ultimately, more simple. It will be replaced by something that will not need to cleansed. It will be replaced with something that will not be cluttered. It will be replaced with the Temple of the Body of Christ. And it will be here that we will find our true worship. It is here that will be find a true and living Temple of our living God. And, in a sense, our own bodies become temples of this living God because of what Jesus did. Our bodies also become the dwelling places of that one, living God.
Which brings us back to Lent. In this season of Lent, we become mindful of this fact. Our bodies are the temples of that One, living God. And as such, in this season, we find ourselves cleansing the temple. We find our selves examining our selves, looking closely at this things over which we trip and stumble. And we work on ourselves a bit. We work at trying to simplify our lives—our actual, day-to-day lives, as well as our spiritual lives. We spend time in prayer, in allowing that living God to dwell within us and enlighten us. We fast—emptying our bodies purifying our selves. We recognize the wrongs we have done to ourselves, to others. We realize that we have allowed the clutter to build up. We realize we have not loved God or our neighbors. Or even ourselves. Or we have loved ourselves too much, and not God and our neighbors enough.
Once we have eliminated the spiritual clutter of our lives, we do truly find our God dwelling with us. We find ourselves worshipping in that Body of Christ that cannot be cluttered. We find a certain simplicity and beauty in our lives that comes only through spiritual discipline and a concentrate effort to improve ourselves.
So, as we continue our journey through Lent, let us allow Jesus to take up the cords and go through the temple of ourselves. Allow Jesus to clear away the clutter of your lives. Allow Jesus to cleanse the temple of your self and make it like the Temple of his own Body. And you will find yourself proclaiming, with Psalm 69, “Zeal for your house will consume me,” for it will.
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