No God at the God Store, Mark 11.13-15, 20-23: A Sermon in Tryptich preached at Lexington Baptist Church on Sunday, November 16, 2014

Collect

Creator God who on the third day of creation called the trees into existence, Your Son once saw fit to curse a tree that promised fruit and offered none. Grant that we might live out the promise our faith professes by truly bearing the fruit of the Spirit, so that in us a spiritually starved world might indeed find the presence of Your Son, Our Lord, Christ Jesus, in whose name we pray, Amen.

Right Panel: The World

            A few weeks ago I needed a rental car for a business trip. I arrived at the rent-a-car place which, for reason that will matter in a moment, is located on Ocean Drive right across from the bay front. I arrived in a carpeted office with comfortable chairs and central air conditioning. A polite, well-dressed young man sat behind the counter at what I assume was a state-of-the-art computer. He clicked a few buttons and announced, "Yes," he smiled, "I have your reservation right here, but I'm sorry: We don't have any cars."

            "You mean," I said, "you don't have the model of car I requested, so now I'll get an upgrade for the same money?"

            "No," he replied, "I mean we don't have any cars."

            "You mean," I pursued, "you don't have the model of car I requested or the next size up, so I'll have to settle for a compact at a discount?"

            "No," he replied again, "I mean we don't have any cars."

            "Let me get this straight," I breathed. "You're the rent-a-car store, and you don't have any cars?"

            "Yes, that's right."

           So I leveled my prophetic index finger at his nose, fixed him with my glittering eye and thundered, "May no one rent cars from you again!"  Well, no, I didn't. I did say, I hope politely, "I know this isn't your fault, but I'm never going to rent from your company again, and you should tell someone higher up the food-chain that if you keep this up, your whole business will go under." I could have said - though I didn't - "At this rate, you might as well take this whole place across the street and toss it into the bay!" As an interesting side-note, my prophecy came true: I had occasion to walk by that very office suite just last week and found it cleaned out, completely empty and shut down.

Central Panel: Jesus in the Text

            Put a mental bookmark there and turn with me to the story in our text. This is a bizarre miracle, isn't it? As far as I can figure, this is Jesus' only DE-structive miracle. Everywhere else he makes food; here he destroys the potential for food. Everywhere else he heals the sick; here he sickens the healthy. Everywhere else he raises the dead; here he puts a living thing to death. And why? He acts out of what, in anyone else, we could call a temper tantrum: The one who refused to do a miracle to make food when he was hungry now does a miracle because he was hungry and couldn't find food! What's going on?

            To understand, we have to look at the story in its larger context. This is part of a structure that Bible scholars - we love fancy theological terms - call a "Markan Sandwich." (You won't find THAT on the menu at Subway!) This one is actually about figs so if you prefer, we can call it a Marcan Fig Newton™. This morning we read the cursing of the fig tree and the fulfillment of the curse. In between, in v.16-20, Jesus carries out what I learned in Sunday School to call "the cleansing of the temple." But I don't think that's what's really going on. I think what Jesus performs is a symbolic destruction of the temple. I'll give three reasons, though there are others.

            First, look at what Jesus does: He gets rid of the money changers, the guys selling sacrificial animals, and won't let anyone carry any kind of container. (v.15-16) Now, there was some crooked dealing going on here but these things were not bad in themselves. People came to the Temple at Passover from all over the world to do their religious duty. They had to pay the Temple tax, and you couldn't pay it with foreign money because those coins had a picture of the ruler on them and the Jews considered that a violation of the second commandment, the one against graven images. And you had to haves an animal to sacrifice; since most Jews came from far away and weren't herdsmen, they needed to purchase an animal. The sacrifices also involved flour and oil, things they carried in jars. So Jesus basically shuts down the whole sacrificial system, the mechanism God had given Israel to remain in relationship to God.

            Next, look at what Jesus says: "My house shall be called a house of prayer for al nations, but you have made it a robber's den." (v.17) He's quoting Jeremiah 7.11, where Jeremiah prophesies the destruction of the Temple by the Babylonians, an event which took place in Jeremiah's lifetime. Those ancient Jews thought the Temple was magical and could not fall. They believed in the Temple, not the God of the Temple, and it proved fatal. For an entire generation, the Jews had no place to come and seek God. Jesus warns that the same thing is going on here.

            Finally, look at Jesus' vocabulary: "A den of thieves," says the King James, or "robbers" in most other versions. That is a literal translation but it misses a cultural nuance. In Jesus' day there were Jews who advocated a military revolt against the Romans. These groups included the Zealots, the Siccarii or "Daggermen," and some others. They were sort of the Tea Party extreme of Judaism in that time. They would conduct terrorist strikes against the Roman army and then hole up in the limestone caves out in the deserts, as King David once did. The people called them "robbers" because, in the name of funding their revolution, they stole from their countrymen. Jesus hangs on the cross between two "robbers" (Mk 15.27). We know he took the place of Barabbas, whom the Romans had condemned for armed political revolt (Mk 15.7). So probably the two "robbers" were actually revolutionaries who took part in the same uprising. Add all that up and you get Jesus saying that the Jews are using the Temple as a political symbol instead of a place to find God and that as a result the Romans will destroy it. That, by the way, is exactly what happened about thirty-five years later. So, Jesus says, you've turned the House of God into your own private Alamo and it will come to the same end, except there will be no San Jacinto, no ultimate victory.

            Now, go back to the fig tree: Jesus curses it for making false promises, for being a fig store with no figs. Then he symbolically destroys the temple for being the God store with no God. Look carefully at what he says in v.23: "Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him." Notice: "this mountain" and "the sea." For a first-century Jew standing on the Mount of Olives, right across the Kidron Valley from the Temple, the phrase "this mountain" can only mean one thing: Mount Zion, the Temple mount. I've stood where Jesus was standing; you can see the Eastern Gate clearly. And in the same cultural and geographical setting, "the sea" can only mean one thing: the Dead Sea, that lifeless sump just to the south that covers the ruins of Sodom and Gomorrah, the most proverbially wicked cities in Jewish thought. And remember Jesus' emphatic language to the fig tree. In the original language it is quite exaggerated. He literally says, "No longer forever ain't nobody going to eat figs from you."

            His teaching here re-enforces his action there; the tree and the temple speak the same truth: "If you believe I know what I'm talking about, then make up your minds that your precious Temple is going into oblivion and never coming back." There will never be another Temple, and even if there is, it will be of no theological significance to Christians. I know all about Ezekiel 41 and the vision of a new temple, but interpret that passage by Revelation 21.22. Jesus is our new temple and Ezekiel's vision helps us understand how he will minister to us.

Left Panel: The Church

            So - a car store with carpet, chairs, air conditioning, computers, and polite, well-groomed employees. . .but no cars. And a fig tree with a sturdy trunk and healthy branches and thick, fragrant leaves. . .but no figs. And a God store with impressive architecture, sacrificial money and animals and materials, a legitimate priesthood descended from the high priest Aaron. . .but no God.

            And here is my question: Are we ever a Jesus store with no Jesus? We have a lovely building - debt-free and with a roof that no longer leaks! We have great music and gifted preaching. We have friendly faces and warm greetings. We have lots of programs and classes. But do we have Jesus?

            Sometime you should read Revelation 2-3. The risen Christ speaks to seven churches, seven literal, historical, local churches in Asia Minor: Ephesus and Smyrna and Pergamos, Thyatira and Sardis and Philadelphia, and Laodecia. And Jesus says to the first of these churches, "I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place -unless you repent." He says something along those lines to almost all of these churches. He's not talking about any individual Christian losing her salvation. He is saying to a church - a specific local church in a given geographical location - "If you are the Jesus store and you are out of Jesus, I will shut you down, blow you up, cave you in and drown you out."

            You know, of all the disciples, I have always envied Philip the most. When Philip goes to his pal Nathaniel in John 1 and says, "We have found the Messiah and it's Jesus of Nazareth," what does Nathaniel reply? "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" Nathaniel was from Bethsaida, where they told Nazarene jokes: How many Nazarenes does it take to light an oil lamp? One hundred: One to light a flame and ninety-nine to squeeze the olive tree. So what does Philip do? Launch into a long argument proving Jesus is a direct descendant from King David? Tell him, "No, no - he's from Nazareth but he was born in Bethlehem, just like Micah says!" Do a full exposition of the Suffering Servant songs from Isaiah to demonstrate that the messiah will be of lowly origin? No; he just says, "Come and see."

            And I've always envied the woman at the well in John 4. When she hot-foots it into Sychar and tells everyone, "I think I've met the messiah," how does she get them to listen? Does she go into 2 Kings 17 and lay out the whole history of the Samaritan race and religion and say, "See? We got it wrong. Their temple in Jerusalem is the right one and ours on Mount Gerazim was a mistake!"? No, she just says, "Come and see!"

            I envied them because when I would share Christ with my friends at school they would bring up all these arguments and questions. I could answer most of them but it seemed so complicated and anyway I got the idea they weren't really concerned about the arguments - they just didn't really want to hear it. And I wished I could just say, "Come and see," and walk with them to Jesus and let Jesus take over because of course he would do everything right. It just didn't seem fair that Philip and the Samaritan woman could say that and I couldn't.

            Then one day it hit me: Jesus says to his disciples, also in the Gospel of John, "It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you." (Jo 16.7) If Jesus was physically nearby and I could take people to him, he would be too far away to be available to people in foreign countries like China or Afghanistan or Oklahoma. But if I let the Holy Spirit control my life, if each believer lets the Holy Spirit control her life, Jesus can always be everywhere and anyone can say at any time to anyone else: Come and see! And, since I'm never going to be enough like Jesus to handle that all by myself, I need a church full of Spirit-filled people so, when I'm off my game, I can still say to someone, "Come with me to church and see Jesus."

            Bottom line: If we're going to be the Jesus store, we'd better have Jesus.

            And what might that look like? It isn't as complicated or intimidating as you might think. Just last week Amanda Alaniz, who is a member here, posted something on her Facebook page for Throwback Thursday and I asked her permission to share it. It was the third anniversary of her coming to Lexington and this is what she wrote:

I stayed because before and after the first service people introduced themselves to me, welcomed me, and when I went back they remembered my name. I stay not because of amazing music (although ours is pretty great), or flashy worship, or a large college/singles group but because I'M WELCOMED. I was seeking community and authenticity and I found it.

That's pretty much it. She came here to the Jesus store and she found Jesus!

Conclusion

            I'm going to wrap this up by suggesting a few different ways to respond. For those of use who are Christians and members of Lexington, I suggest we make a renewed commitment to making sure we have plenty of Jesus in stock. But how does that work? Well, how did it work for Nathaniel and the woman at the well? They could say, "Come and see" because they knew where Jesus was. And they knew that because they'd just been spending lots of time with Him. We need to pledge ourselves, individually and as a community, to doing the same - lots of time in worship, lots of time in prayer, lots of time in God's word and, incidentally, lots of time with poor people, and sinful people, and sick people, and generally unpopular people, because Jesus tells us we find him there (Mt 25).

            Next, I want to offer a response to those of you who are Christians but don't have a church home. I know the church isn't perfect; I know we often run low on Jesus. But I know you aren't perfect either, that you aren't always completely stocked up on Jesus either. But our city needs a Jesus store where people can come and find Jesus and you can help us with that and we can help you. And if it was enough to have your own personal relationship with Jesus then why did Philip go find Nathaniel and why did the woman at the well go find the men of her village? So you can respond to this message by saying, "I want to join this church. I want to help the Jesus store have a little more Jesus."

            Last, I want to offer a response to anyone here who doesn't have Jesus but would like to. You're here at the Jesus store. We haven't shown you Jesus perfectly; we may have given you a pretty warped look at him. But somehow that's still enough that you want to know him. The figs we feed you here may be a little shriveled, a little sour perhaps, but it's still sustenance. Come this morning and let's talk about how you can find Jesus.