Purpose (Matthew 21 - P 55)

Jesus is in Jerusalem.  It is the final week of his earthly life.  He is headed to the cross.  He knows the time has arrived.  Our reading today is ...

Matthew 2: 12 - 22

We read of two encounters in this passage.    Today I want us to draw from both of these stories the same conclusion ... the same lesson.  And, by the grace of God, that lesson will penetrate our own hearts and, if pertinent, bring us to needed change.  The lesson is:

Lack of purpose and uselessness is the path to destruction.

Can you see it in both stories we read today?  

First, in the Temple. The NIV says, "the temple area".   An older NIV version uses, "the temple courts".  Other translations simply say, "the temple."  The word in Greek indicates the entire temple compound rather than just the building itself.  There is a different word used in the New Testament for the building.  The word used here would include the court of the Gentiles ... then the court of the women ... on to the court of the Israelites ... then the court of the priests ... and finally the building structure housing the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place.  

This event would have taken place in the court of the Gentiles.  Anyone could be there.  It is Passover time so the court would be teeming with people, Jews and Gentiles alike.  There was a temple tax ... required payment ... only particular coins could be used.  Therefore, pilgrims from away provinces would need to exchange currency for the correct coin.  OK.  Also the sacrificial animals would need to be purchased.  This was the area to do that.  OK.  So what's the problem?  Exploitation was taking place.  And our Lord witnessed people being mistreated and abused all in the name of religion and religious practice.  And He said, "No more."   Two observations:

• The people seem to have forgotten the purpose of the court of the Gentiles.  This was the place, the only place in the temple compound, where seeking Gentiles could come for worship and prayer.  And it seems that the "business" of the religious practice had taken over the "purpose" of the religious practice.  When that happens, purpose is lost.  And Satan wins a little victory.  
• Exploitation of people is never OK.  Abusing the naive or the innocent or the vulnerable is never OK.  And doing it in the name of religion is the most odious of all!  

I was privileged to take a trip to Jerusalem in 2012.  The myriad of vendors hawking religious paraphernalia around the city was staggering - religious relics, colored beads, inscribed ribbons, plates, pictures, crucifixes, candles - and the bartering and bickering - the noise and confusion - pilgrims more interested in their 'relic' than in the place itself, more interested in a good buy on a souvenir than 'being still in the place where Jesus was.'  And I wonder ... 

However, William Barclay wisely reminds us ... "Let the individual and the church without sin cast the first stone."  

So how do we apply this?  For me ... for what I can do at my church ... I will pray to remember purpose.  I will strive to keep my focus on purpose.  I will guard my heart from the power and the lure of materialistic commercialism.  And you?

The second encounter we read about was this business with the fig tree.  We need to be careful with this.  It presents some interpretive challenges.  Jesus never used his miraculous power to satisfy his own human wants.  So this can't be a story about Jesus wanting a fig and not finding one!  Jesus also never threw temper tantrums.  So this can't be a story about Jesus being mad because his expectations were not met.  I'm not wise enough to be able to sort out all of the difficulties with the story ... but I can glean a lesson for us that, to my mind, is powerful.  And that lesson again is usefulness and purpose.  Some observations:

• Profession without practice is deadly.  This tree had all the signs of a fig tree except ... the reality of figs.  Jesus offers us profound warning in this:  If you profess faith, practice faith.  There is an element of practicality here.  It reminds me of what I have read about Gandhi ... in South Africa ... in Pretoria:

Mahatma Gandhi inquired into Christianity.  For several Sundays, he attended a Christian church; but, he noted, 'the congregation did not strike me as being particularly religious; they were not an assembly of devout souls, but appeared rather to be worldly-minded people going to Church for recreation and in conformity to custom.'

Are you a professing Christian?  Oh my friend ... practice it!  

• Uselessness invites disaster.  We are called into a community when we accept Christ.  We are called into a body ... a community of faith.  Be useful!  Serve there.  It does not matter what gifts you have been graced with ... it doesn't matter your age ... it doesn't matter your gender ... or even your physical abilities or inabilities.  There are places for you to serve ... to be useful.  

So ... what's your purpose?  Are you living in congruence with that purpose?  Are you being useful for your Lord?  ... in your church? ... in your community?

Lord, give us eyes to see ourselves.  If our activities and attitudes reflect only self-interest and self-service ... let us see it!  If we profess to be your children and then behave as if we are anything but ... let us see it!   You are the God who gives sight ...