This Won't Do - Transformed - Audio

I stopped drinking coffee last week, not out of a Lenten discipline, but simply because I was drinking too much, still tired all the time, and I thought, "This won't do." The week was fine until Thursday. I had a long day leading to a long night, and I wanted just one cup of coffee in the afternoon.

Then I thought, "I can do all things through God who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13). I prayed that scripture, and I was suddenly no longer tired. God answered yes, and gave me strength.

I realized then that my comments in weeks past about diet coke and chocolate not meaning that much as Lenten sacrifices were wrong. If giving those things up can bring you to pray, "I can do all things through God who strengthens me," then it is a great disciple. Anything in your life that just won't do is a great Lenten sacrifice.

Jesus saw the money changers and the animals in the temple and thought, "this won't do." He was not, however, cleansing the temple as many Bible section headings say. Jesus was seeking to reform the temple.

Money was paid to the temple for its upkeep, and the money changers were there to trade foreign coins for coins proper for the temple. It was like a currency exchange when we go to other countries. There was likely however some underhanded profit going on, and that wouldn't do.

The animals that were there were supposed to be there. People were supposed to bring animals for sacrifice, the best they had. If their animals were deemed unworthy sacrifices, they would be redeemed for a certain amount of money. This was practice recorded in Leviticus.

It seems that for Jesus, however, the practice had gone on long enough. My guess is that the heart of the practice (giving the best you had to the Lord) had departed somewhat, and it had simply become a transactional arrangement. Not to mention that for centuries, God had been speaking through the prophets saying, "stop sacrificing animals. I made them all and I don't need any from you." Jesus saw all that was going on and said, "this won't do," and he sought to reform the Temple.

So, what in our life needs reforming? We've heard for a long time now about our need to live our lives as disciples of Jesus beyond the walls of the church building. Bishop Doyle has talked about it, and he brought Caesar Kalinowski to our last clergy conference to talk about his book, "Transformed".

In the book, he talks about life as Jesus' disciples being about not only the couple of hours at worship on Sunday, but also about the other 6 days and 22 hours. Salvation isn't just about getting a ticket punched to go to heaven when we die, but also about living as Jesus' disciples, his brothers and sisters, as servant missionaries. The church is the people, not the building.

He describes living out this life in simple ways of being together with "missionary communities", small groups of people from the larger church community who gather regularly to eat together, pray and study together, and live as Jesus' missionaries. If a neighbor is in need, they wouldn't necessarily call the pastor, they'd call their missionary community and help out together.

We'll be studying Caesar Kalinowski's book, "Transformed" over the next several Sundays (beginning March 22), and also in small groups after Easter.

That is the way of Jesus which we are going to be living at St. Mark's. Growing deeply with one another, and serving our community as Jesus' brothers and sisters. Such a life may seem daunting or difficult, but like our Lenten disciplines, we can do all things through God who strengthens us. Amen.