Making the Boundary Permeable

Devotional Reflection, Tuesday, November 30, 2021

The week of the first Sunday of Advent

The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.

Key phrases for reflection from today’s reading:

12 Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 13He said to them, ‘It is written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer”; but you are making it a den of robbers.’ 14The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he cured them.

Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 937)

AM Psalm 5, 6; PM Psalm 10, 11

Amos 3:1-11; 2 Pet. 1:12-21; Matt. 21:12-22

Today we celebrate the Feast of Andrew the Apostle. (See below.)

Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, Book of Common Prayer

Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer

Compline (Night Prayer), Page 127, Book of Common Prayer

Daily Office Gospel, Matthew 21:12-22

12 Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 13He said to them, ‘It is written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer”; but you are making it a den of robbers.’ 14The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he cured them. 15But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the amazing things that he did, and heard the children crying out in the temple, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David,’ they became angry 16and said to him, ‘Do you hear what these are saying?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Yes; have you never read, “Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise for yourself”?’ 17He left them, went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.

18 In the morning, when he returned to the city, he was hungry. 19And seeing a fig tree by the side of the road, he went to it and found nothing at all on it but leaves. Then he said to it, ‘May no fruit ever come from you again!’ And the fig tree withered at once. 20When the disciples saw it, they were amazed, saying, ‘How did the fig tree wither at once?’ 21Jesus answered them, ‘Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, “Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,” it will be done. 22Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive.’

David's Reflections

Jesus’ cleansing of the Temple gets romanticized and misread. Some take this as an impulsive, angry action and see some sort of emotional outburst involved. But, I would take this as a deliberate, prophetic action with spiritual and political messages. Biblical prophets often acted out their message; numerous examples exist especially in Jeremiah and Ezekiel (Jeremiah 27; Ezekiel 4. Here, Jesus acts out his message.

The outer court area, a region nonJews could enter, also was the site of animal sales for use in the worship of the Temple. In addition, foreign currencies were exchanged there for a fee so that pilgrims could pay the Temple tax in local coinage, free of the image of the Roman ruler.

Jesus regarded these practices as exploitive of the people. He cited from Isaiah 56 and from Jeremiah's condemnation of abuses of Temple worship in Jeremiah 7, Jeremiah's "Temple Sermon." The lines from Isaiah and Jeremiah are in verse 13, “My house shall be called a house of prayer; but you are making it a den of robbers." The Court of the Gentiles was a huge area, impossible for one man to empty by himself; Jesus probably cleared a portion of that area as a symbolic action.

Blind and lame people were not allowed into the inner areas of the Temple. Jesus' curing them would accent his concern about the corruption of the Temple expressed in the cleansing.

Our practices of worship and liturgy must be consonant with the nature of the God we worship. NonJews were being treated with contempt by the misuse of the only area of the Temple where they were welcome. And, worshippers were being exploited by unjust practices. Temptations to exploitation do lurk. Are we inviting people to worship with us because we care about their well being or because we want more bodies? Are we challenging people to give themselves and their time and money in ways that benefit and stimulate their growth or are we being self serving because we need staff, buildings, and programs?

Do we show contempt or insensitivity toward some in our worship? What about those who do not understand the liturgy? What about the hearing impaired and the illiterate? And, during COVID, what about those who cannot access the public gatherings. Worship must be continually on guard to identify barriers that prevent or hinder anyone from freely approaching God. Would that Jesus can say to us, "You are making my house a house of prayer." May it never be said of us, "You have made this place of worship a place of exploitation."

Lutheran liturgist, Gordon Lathrop put it well in a statement that actually altered my approach to worship leadership. I told him about this in a retreat he was co-leading in Virginia a few years ago, and Gordon expressed delight.

“The task of the assembly is a task of polarity: make the center strong, the symbols large, the words of Christ clear, and make that center accessible,the circle large, the periphery permeable.” +

+Gordon W Lathrop. Holy Things: A Liturgical Theology. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993, p. 132.

Collect of the Day, First Sunday of Advent

Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP, 211)

Today we celebrate the Feast of Andrew the Apostle.

http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/Andrew.htm

Collect of the Feast of Andrew the Apostle

Almighty God, who gave such grace to your apostle Andrew that he readily obeyed the call of your Son Jesus Christ, and brought his brother with him: Give unto us, who are called by your Word, grace to follow him without delay, and to bring those near to us into his gracious presence; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

A Collect for Peace

O God, the author of peace and lover of concord, to know you is eternal life and to serve you is perfect freedom: Defend us, your humble servants, in all assaults of our enemies; that we, surely trusting in your defense, may not fear the power of any adversaries; through the might of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 99)

Of the Reign of Christ

Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together

under his most gracious rule; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP, 254)

A Collect for Mission

O God, you have made of one blood all the peoples of the earth, and sent your blessed Son to preach peace to those who are far off and to those who are near: Grant that people everywhere may seek after you and find you; bring the nations into your fold; pour out your Spirit upon all flesh; and hasten the coming of your kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 100)