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good morning welcome to our worship this morning
we begin with the invocation
in the name of the Father
and of the Son of the Holy Spirit
our reading is the gospel lesson of John chapter two
"in a temple Jesus found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons and the money
changers sitting there
making a wip of cords he drove them all out of the temple with the sheep and
oxen
he poured out the coins of the the money changers and overturned their tables
and he told those who sold the pidgeons
take these things away
do not make my Father's house a house of trade
his disciples remembered that it was written
deal for your house will consume
so the jews said to him
what sign do you show us for doing these things
Jesus answered them
destroy this temple
and in three days
I will raise it up"
here ends our reading
grace mercy and peace be unto you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ Amen
dear christian friends our text is the ending of that first reading
"the jews said to him what sign do you show us for doing these things"
Jesus said destroy this temple and in three days
I will raise it up"
here ends our text
time for spring cleaning
I saw robbins in our backyard on saturday
my neighbor next door started raking his lawn beginning another year of
staying many steps ahead of me in lawncare
it's time for spring cleaning wouldn't you say I suspect that when you go home for a
break if you get to go home for break mom might have a few of those ideas for
you
she'll be looking at your room she'll be looking at other things that just need a
good clean
let's talk about spring
cleaning I want to hold up the difference and I'm just going to be a little
gender specific and if you
want to go the other way that's fine with me but I'm going to talk about
the difference between men and women when it comes to cleaning
how do men spring clean
no no not an oxymoron men spring clean
turn a man loose in the garage it needs cleaning heaven knows
in my garage there's long shelves that span pretty much the entire length of
the garage we're talking twenty-plus feet of shelving
if Holly were to turn me loose this spring clean again it needs it this is spring
cleaning
literally from my shelving
I would do
starting with that
and step back to admire the result
that is spring cleaning now we men know that is spring cleaning to the
uninitiated eye it
doesn't look like it's much
but we know it is because what we do well you see this is how it was because
this is the scrub a dub brush and stuff that I used to clean the carpets
of the cars
during the winter
because I don't want to drag my shot vac out into the snow
so I use this method
that's for winter
now you see this in the tire foam stuff that I use but not during the
winter so now that it's no longer winter but spring what do you have to do this
is how they sit on the shelf in winter
this
is spring
repeat over twenty feet of shelving
and congratulate yourself on a job well done it's a beautiful thing
no again someone might look at that and say there's no cleaning because there's
nothing gone it's still all here and a man would say of course these are my friends
they've done so well for all these years why would I get rid of them
I just want to put the one one behind the other I don't want to look at winter's
brush anymore I wanna
hide it
so let it be behind something else
is that cleaning
it's how Jesus did
that's go good precident for you
how did Jesus clean the temple
he took what was inside and threw it outside
knowing that what was outside was going to come back inside
he took the money changers and threw them out he too the pidgeons and threw them out
but when is this
John chapter two
it's the very start of his ministry isn't it
what's gonna happen
soon enough
to the outside
it's gonna come back inside isn't it
because we also know that there's another cleaning that's going to happen at the end
of his ministry
and he's going to have to do it again do what
take the inside and throw it outside
he cleans like a man
he rearranges what he knows is not going to be able to be ultimately thrown away
it's going to be moved around
but never fully gone
do we ever clean that way
in our lives
absolutely
do we do a little shuffling
do we take that which is
worn out its welcome
is no longer attractive
and do we shuffle it
behind something that looks better
you bet
do we not get rid of it
just hide it you bet
we do a lot of that kind of cleaning don't we
it has its place
maybe
but is it really cleaning
my wife cleans a different way
when Holly says its time
we cleaned up stairs
the kids and I all know what's happening
armed with garbage bags she goes upstairs this was especially good when the kids
were all still living at home and they were little kids each one had their own room
oh we know how it is
in fact yes I can just feel it Nicole is just sitting there saying oh I know how this is
she has two garbage bags one is for paper
and that's all the old magazines
you can accumulate your people magazines for a year but the day
holly says it's time to clean they're all going in the garbage they're all
going to recycling and if you raise a protest she'll hold up some
eleven-month old people magazine and say really
you're reading this
it's gone
outta here
but that's only one thing
her arch nemesis the drawer that won't close
the dresser drawer that won't close do you remember that that push as much as you
want it just doesn't close
why won't your dresser drawer close
you had too many clothes in your dresser drawer that's the problem don't you
overstuff this thing with every conceivable t-shirt they've cascaded over the
back remember that one
and they've wedged
themselves back there
and the drawer won't close
what do you need to do
well you grab that thing
which has been balled up like this in the back and say
this is outta here
she fills a bag full of these
and she drops it off
next to the garbage
but that's her undoing
because we know what's in the bag
my clothes
are in the bag
my old friends are in the bag
I'm not too low to open the bag and go through and find my old friends and
rescue them
and swear to them it'll never happen again trust me I'll stay with you
top left hand corner of my closet on the floor hiding behind the bag
that contains my alb she'll never find it is a whole stack of these that I've rescued
and brought back
because how do men clean
men rearrange
women
get rid of
what if she really gets serious
what if she says enough of this whole back and forth in and out stuff
you know what
I'm cleaning today
what would she have to do
this would do it she goes to the peg board in the garage right next to the garbage can
she gets out a utility knife
she takes one look at this miserable things that says
enough
and if I do this right down the middle
and I tear this thing in two
now you got garbage
that's cleaning isn't it
that's how God cleans
she used the knife
he used the nail and a spear
she tore into a shirt
he tore his son
she filled garbage
God filled the grave
she cleaned a drawer
God cleaned the world
it's amazing isn't it
that's cleaning
and that's what it takes
seems kind of rough doesn't it
I mean what did this t-shirt ever do to you
better question
ask the father
what did your son ever do to you
nothing he's the perfect one
yes
the Father says
but all of this has got to go somewhere
and I'm putting it on my son
and if I don't do this
it'll all come back again
so I'm going to clean once and for all
with nail and spear
with grave that is full
I'm calling it done
it's an amazing thing
I'm going to tear down this temple
not just a stone
but the one I really love
my son
but that's what he does oh wonderful
cross on which he was torn down
but then he says the other part
and in three days I'll build it up again
isn't that amazing
we'll never repair this shirt
we'll always see it
that line down the middle
you wouldn't even try
but he brings his son back from the dead
and he gives him back to us
not dead but alive
isn't that an amazing thought
he cleans so completely that a vacuum is made
and he fills it again
with his son
he rebuilds that temple
not just of his son but now of us
and he fills us and connects us
with his son
that living temple
by the way I think there's one wonderful image that
captures all of this for us
go to communion
take the Lord's supper
where you worship
listen as someone says to you take and eat
and think of this
here is his body
broken for us
the father has so completely broken his son that there is a peace for each and
everyone one of us
authentic
his son
he has torn this temple into so many shreds
each of us can hold the part
here take the body
that I have broken
oh but how
it is dead no
raised alive
take this body once was broken take this body now that he lives
take this body not as burden of guilt but take this body
as his judgment
it is well
you are clean
the storm has passed
death is done
take his body
now always living
isn't that a great mystery
we hold him broken
we take him alive
and that's
how God cleans us
and his temple
now that's spring cleaning
so we do our shuffling about
we move
things on garage walls and
we shuffle things
unsightly
a little further back in our lives
sure but it's not really enough is it
thank goodness God did more than that
with nail and spear
he tore into his son
and filled the grave
he heaped on him
all that we should have lost
he broke him in pieces and put him in our hands
but remember
now alive
now rebuilt
now a temple
himself
with us
now that's spring cleaning
amen
now may the peace of God was passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds
in Christ Jesus amen