Podcast of "His Disciples Remembered (MP3)
Exodus 20:1-17
Psalm 19
1Corinthians 1:18-25
John 2:13-22
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
Scholars teach there are three sections to the Ten Commandments, this morning’s reading from Exodus. The first three commandments, verses 4-7, tell us how humanity is to relate to the Lord our God. Verses 8-11 teach us how to relate to creation by way of the Sabbath. Finally, verses 12-17, the last six commandments, address social relations, how we deal with and take care of one another. Most of the Ten Commandments teach using action verbs, though usually through their negative. We shall not make; we shall not bow; we shall not take; we shall not murder; we shall not steal; and so on.
The only commandment that seems passive is “Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.” But this is not so, the command to remember the Sabbath is not just a mental exercise, it’s active too. Verses 8-11 instruct us not only to remember the Sabbath but how to remember the Sabbath. We are instructed not to work, not only us but everyone and everything in our household is not to work. We are to remember that the Lord made heaven and earth in six days and on the seventh the Lord made, blessed, and consecrated (consecrated means “made holy,” or more simply “set aside”) a day of rest for all that was created.
In English, often we think of remembering as a mental exercise, like remembering our multiplication tables or the alphabet. We know to “Remember the Alamo ,” but what does that mean? What exactly are we to remember about the Alamo ?
For the Alamo , we can be called to remember the bloody military battle and its horrendous body count. We can be called to remember political consequences of this battle to the Republic. We can be called to remember “Remember the Alamo” as the slogan used by the Republic forces at the Battle of San Jacinto, the battle which ended the revolution in favor of Texas
Remembering the Alamo , I want to remember the words Lieutenant Colonel William B. Travis wrote about Davy Crockett during the battle. “The Hon. David Crockett was seen at all points, animating the men to do their duty.”[1] Crocket reminded the men of their duty, what they were to do in service to the Republic of Texas
This is a very Hebraic—Jewish—way to remember, not only do we remember in our minds, but we remember with our actions.[2] As important as it is for us to bear the Sabbath in mind, it is important that we respond to the Sabbath. We are to meet the sovereign God and answer the Lord’s call keeping the Sabbath day holy. This is the command of the Lord to Moses and all God’s people.
The reading from John’s gospel is the story of Jesus coming to the temple for the Passover and seeing it turned into a marketplace. It is the story of his acts in cleansing the temple for worship. It is also a prophecy of the destruction of the bodily temple Jesus inhabits; and the resurrection of that same temple.
But there are two very interesting pieces to this reading that aren’t common to our lectionary readings. Most of the time, our readings are real time narratives. There is a sense of “you are there” in the readings. There is no indication that what we read wasn’t recorded as it happened until in verses 17 and 22 where we are told that his disciples remembered. The disciples not only remembered the events, but they remembered teachings that preceded these events.
They remembered what happened in the past as foreshadowing of what would happen in the future. This reading is one of the few times that we realize the author was remembering the events and actively reflecting on them after they happened. They remembered not only words and lessons; they remembered the actions that would follow them.
As the last verse in our reading teaches us, they remembered and by remembering they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. They remembered not only in their minds, they responded through belief; and through their belief, through their faith, were able to do many great things in the name of the Lord.
We are called to remember our baptism. In the words of John Calvin, “As often as we fall away, we ought to recall the memory of our baptism and fortify our minds with it, that we may always be sure and confident of the forgiveness of sins.”[3]
Surely those of us who were baptized as infants, like Billy Wayne, Elizabeth, and Isabel were, we won’t remember the events of our baptism. We don’t remember the chill of the water as we are anointed as God’s own. But as these children of the Body of Christ were baptized into the community God calls into existence, we are called to remember the vows of our baptism too.
We are called as the community to accept the responsibility to encourage those receiving this sacrament. The baptismal liturgy in The Book of Common Worship asks the congregation:
Do you, as members of the church of Jesus Christ
promise to guide and nurture these who receive this sacrament
by word and deed,
with love and prayer,
encouraging them to know and follow Christ
and to be faithful members of Christ’s church?[4]
Answering “We do,” as surely as we who were baptized as infants will not be able to remember our baptism, we can remember those who are now baptized. And by our very words, we are called to remember the promises we make to them upon their baptism; promises not only of word but deed, not only of thought but action; actions including teaching, serving, rejoicing, weeping, sharing food, and breaking bread together.[5]
As we celebrate the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, we hear the words of institution:
On the very night He was betrayed
Jesus took bread and gave You thanks
He broke it and gave it to His disciples,
“Take, eat, this is My body which is given to you;
do this in remembrance of Me.”
In the same way, after supper
He took the cup and gave You thanks
He gave it to His disciples, saying,
“Drink this, all of you;
this is My blood of the new covenant,
which is shed for you and for many,
for the forgiveness of sins.
Do this as often as you drink it,
In remembrance of Me.”
If you are thirsty, drink the Fount of Life
If you are hungry, eat the Bread of Life.
Blessed are all who hunger for this Bread
And thirst for this Fount.
Together we remember and proclaim
the mystery of Christ.[6]
Again, this remembrance is more than a mental exercise. This remembrance is a call not only to know in our minds but to reimagine—even recreate the Lord’s last supper.[7] In our remembrance of the Lord, we are not just to imagine as we celebrate the sacrament. We are not to experience remembrance as a solitary event. Remembrance is an event of the church. We celebrate the body and blood of Christ as the Body of Christ. By repetition, we are to take this remembering into our very beings and into the world. Doing this in remembrance of the Lord is so important to us that these very words are carved into the table.
We do this together until he comes again. In an oddly wonderful command, we are to remember into the future. We are to remember what is to come. The same Hebraic understanding of remembrance that allows us to experience anew the past also allows us to experience already the future.[8] The hope that is rooted in the historic past is the source of our Christian hope for the future. It is in remembrance that we connect these things in the present. It is in this sacrament that we are fed, nourished as the Body of Christ for God’s work in the world.
As the last verse in our reading teaches us, they remembered and by remembering they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. They remembered not only in their minds, they responded through belief, and through their belief, through their faith, were able to do many great things in the name of the Lord.
To us in the world of today, this kind of remembering, remembering with our minds and our actions, is foreign, it’s paradoxical and ironic. I know about remembering, but what does this kind of remembering have to do with the Republic of Texas
One of the ways this takes us to the cross, one of the ways this takes us on our Lenten journey, is it teaches us something special about our remembering; when we remember by our own wisdom, we gain nothing at all. When we remember by our own wisdom, we gain nothing at all.
For those wise in the ways of the world, the wisdom of the cross is lost. When we base our wisdom on our own understanding, the wisdom of God seems foolish. When we try to figure out how the things of God work in the ways of our world, our thinking cannot help but be too small.
Those who demand signs may receive them, but the ability to interpret them properly will fall short as long as we use what makes us wise to read them. We can study and we can debate and we can interpret and reinterpret all creation, but when we do, God will make our wisdom foolish.
In human wisdom we are told that those with the most toys win. We are told everyday that the only value anything has is the value that can be measured with a price tag. Let’s face the truth of this; Donald Trump gets better ratings than a Billy Graham Crusade. Keeping our life and life style is all that some people value.
Unfortunately, if that value cannot be earned honestly it can be stolen, and if it can be stolen it must be protected. Walls have to be built, power has to be collected. Giving becomes a sign of weakness.
This is not the power of the cross. This is not the power of God.
Paul writes God has made foolish the wisdom of the world. To those who build walls and store treasures, their reward is kept. They cannot give and perish a little more everyday. But to those who are bathed in the power of the blood, those who are bought with the body of Christ, we who see the cross as the world’s greatest failed attempt at controlling God; we are saved through the grace, peace, and glory of Jesus the Christ. This bit of wisdom is a stumbling block to those whose understanding is in the tangible things of our flawed, sinful humanity.
Instead we are to call on the Lord, whose foolishness is greater than all of our collected wisdom; whose weakness is greater than all of our combined strength. Paul remembers this, and Paul teaches not only the Corinthians to remember, but us as well.
On Wednesday evenings we are studying a book by Adam Hamilton called, “Final Words from the Cross.”[9] In last week’s lesson Hamilton
In the waters of our baptism, in the bread and the cup of the Lord’s Supper, we participate in the life and death and resurrected life of Jesus Christ, the special revelation of God, the Law incarnate, the living Torah. We are called to participate as Jesus did; not in the pomp and ceremony of the temple sacrifices, but in the life of the Church, the Body of Christ on earth and all of God’s good creation.
As the apostles and disciples before us, we are to remember and by remembering believe. By believing and through faith, the Lord is able to do far more with us than we could ever hope or imagine doing on our own.
We are called to remember. In remembering we are called to respond to God in gratitude. Answering God’s call because of an obligation is only necessary when gratitude is missing. In gratitude we are called to share the good news of Emmanuel, God with us.
We are called to share from the very life we are given in Christ. Today let us begin by remembering the Sabbath day and keeping it holy. Let us remember God’s wondrous love and respond. Let us remember the foolishness of our wisdom and weakness of our strength. Finally, and most important of all, let us remember who remembered us first.
[1] Groneman, Bill, “Alamo Defenders: A Genealogy, the People and Their Words.” Austin , TX
[2] “rAk±z"” entry, Brown, Driver, Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon, Electronic Edition found in BibleWorks version 7.0.019k.1 (Print Edition Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1907, page 269)
[3] Calvin, John, Institutes of Christian Faith, vol. 4, part xv, section 3.
[4] “The Book of Common Worship” compiled by The Theology and Worship Ministry Unit for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Louisville : Westminster
[5] Boonstra, Henry, “Perspectives: Remember Your Baptism”, in Reformed Worship Magazine, #14, http://www.reformedworship.org/magazine/article.cfm?article_id=243, retrieved March 14, 2009.
[6] Imago Dei Christian Community, a community drawn to Christ, Celtic Communion Liturgy, http://imagodeicommunity.ca/category/celtic-communion-liturgy/, retrieved March 10, 2009.
[7] Stookey, Laurence Hull, “Eucharist, Christ’s Feast with the Church.” Nashville
[8] Ibid, page 31
[9] Hamilton, Adam, “Final Words from the Cross.” Nashville , TN
[10] Ibid, page 43.
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