The 3rd Sunday in Lent, Year B Then God spoke all these words: 2 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; 3 you shall have no other gods before me. 4 You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, 6 but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments. 7 You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not acquit anyone who misuses his name. 8 Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work. 10 But the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall not do any work-- you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. 11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it. 12 Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. 13 You shall not murder. 14 You shall not commit adultery. 15 You shall not steal. 16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 17 You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. (Exodus 20.1-17 NRSV) The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. 15 Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 He told those who were selling the doves, "Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!" 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for your house will consume me." 18 The Jews then said to him, "What sign can you show us for doing this?" 19 Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." 20 The Jews then said, "This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?" 21 But he was speaking of the temple of his body. 22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. (John 2.13-22 NRSV) “REMINDERS” How do you remember things? There are all sorts of ways. There is the classic string around the finger. Sometimes we will ask others to remind us of things that we should not forget. Nowadays, we have electronic watches and calendars and computers that will beep us or make some noise to remind us of appointments and events. Myself, I am a big fan of writing things down. The Post-It note is a great invention. The only problem is that you still have to look at them. This morning we have one of the greatest reminders by writing things down that ever took place. The book of Exodus is to most people about escaping from slavery in Egypt and crossing the Red Sea. That is the miraculous, action-packed part. That is the big Hollywood part. But about half of the book is concerned with giving the Law and worship. Those are much duller reading for most people. But those are the things that are going to make these freed slaves out in the desert into the people of God and keep them free. It is this part where they form the covenant with God that will define them, make them God’s special people, and shape them over many centuries. And central in this is writing it all down. Moses on the mountain heard God’s commands and was told to write them down to take them to the people. We call these the Ten Commandments realizing, of course, that God gave other laws to Israel. These seem foundational and capture our attention. They are short, essential, a set by themselves. They give starting point to life. That’s what a lot of controversy concerning them seems to be about, that they define us as a nation. That’s why they are written down and keep being written down. But that is only half of it. They are written down not just to remind us of who we are, though; they are written down to remind us of what God wants from us. They are written not only to be seen, not only to be conspicuous; they are written to be followed. They are more than a symbol, they show us that we belong in relationship to God. They are about important things. These are not like parking laws. Parking laws bring order to traffic flow, but rarely are matters of life and death. The first ones, of these Ten Commandments, are about God, what our behavior and attitude towards God should be. If there is a foundation, that is it. The others are foundational to society, in them the basic the rights to property, to faithfulness in relationships, to protection against being falsely accused are found. They are the things which make living together possible. They do not cover every possibility but they are a start. A very good start. It is easy for things to slip our minds. I had to laugh at a friend from college who had left himself a note to read the note that was the actual reminder. But in more serious ways we forget what we should remember. We start out with these and do not pay attention to them for very long. History is filled with the ways we have forgotten these commandments. We forget God and forget that others are objects of God’s care just as much as we are. When asked to summarize all of God’s laws and commands Jesus said: love God and love your neighbor. You can’t do better than that. But before we are given the commands, we see God, the giver. Another example of how these slip our minds is found in the Gospel reading this morning. Jesus drives the money changers out of the temple. They had forgotten that it was to be a place of worship, not worship of money, not of people, not of activities, but of God. When you forget what it is for, you end up with a lot of silly things, like sheep and goats. It was to be God’s house, where they meet God. Jesus drove them out, remembering what the right purpose of it was. The authorities asked him on what basis he was doing this and his reply was somewhat mysterious. They asked for a sign and the sign was that if they destroyed the temple he would raise it up in three days. They thought he meant the huge temple building. No, he meant his body, which they eventually would kill. A person can get into trouble for pointing out the ways people do not live up to who they think they are. This trouble will lead to his death. It leaves us with the question of what his death will lead to. But he will be raised up on the third day. God will not leave him in death. They were talking about buildings, Jesus about God’s purposes in the world. We, too, need to reconsider what the right purposes of God’s gifts are. The temple authorities had forgotten that. We need to remember that the goal of the Commandments is to remember God in our lives. Terry Helwig tells the story of when he met with a friend to whom he mentioned his ardent desire to continue on his spiritual journey. The friend suggested that searching for God might be like a fish searching for water, that in fact, just as a fish is surrounded by water, we might be surrounded by the presence of God. Perhaps our seeking God is more recognition. The Commandments are not ends in themselves but the means by which we can see the Creator in our lives and world. We rediscover God’s purpose as we remember what God has given us. We also need to remember that the Commandments were given to us for our world. They are to change how we see it, particularly how we see others. We are not to go about life, and forget them as well. Brigitte Weeks saw what a neighbor was in a new way one day when frustrated by unemployment and taking a tunnel shortcut in New York City. She ran into many people on their way to work. While feeling very much alone, she remembered: “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,” says the second great commandment. Were these people her neighbors? she wondered. When a young man in a suit and tie almost ran her down and then apologized she realized that they were. Because we are who we are, we tend to forget things. We remember the stock market, or birthdays, or the score of the game, or what is on sale, but we forget God. We remember our projects or our hopes or our setbacks, but forget the lives of those around us. God has given us some reminders. We are reminded by the sun that comes up, by the rain that falls, the wind and the change of the seasons. We are reminded by the care and love of our families and friends, by the long histories of our nation and churches. We also have these words, that in life we would look up, that we would remember who created us, to whom we belong, and to whom we owe our lives. They are so we live lives that honor God, but most importantly, that through them we draw close to God. How do we remember? It is written down for us. Just look.