“Jesus is The Answer…”

A sermon/reflection for the Third Sunday in Lent – Year B

The readings for this Sunday are those of the Third Sunday in Lent:

Exodus 20. 1-17
Psalm 19
1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
2 John.13-22

You might like to use the link below to find the above readings, and click on any of the reading above that you wish to use: http://www.katapi.org.uk/CommonWorship/CWLectionarySelV.php

Collect of the day

Let us first spend a few moments in silence to centre ourselves,
to gather ourselves in our souls,
to come before the Lord just as we are with our joys and sorrows,
our hopes and our fears, our loves and our pains.
Let us just focus our minds and hearts on Jesus
who is the answer for every problem.
Let us pray that the Spirit will work through our lives
to bring Christ to the world.

Silence is kept

Almighty God,
whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain,
and entered not into glory before he was crucified:
mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross,
may find it none other than the way of life and peace;
and give us insight loving God
to discern your will for us,
to give up what harms us,
and to seek the perfection we are promised
in Jesus Christ our Lord
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Amen.

Prayer before the Sermon

Loving Heavenly Father,
we thank you
for the words you have given us today.
We know they are words of life and salvation.
Open our hearts Father,
touch our souls,
help us to respond to your word
and know that you are indeed our Lord and Saviour.
May we experience in our hearts
your love and your presence always.

Amen.

A homily based on the readings of today is given below:

Lord touch my heart and my lips that I may worthily proclaim your word.

Introduction

The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20.1-17) – Following the Way of The Lord…

The Book of Deuteronomy chapter 4 also speaks of God’s Covenant with his People which are guidelines for living under divine protection and in the company of the Lord.

The giving of the Ten Commandments is one of the mighty events of the Old Testament. It is a dramatic event that took place at Mount Sinai or Horeb as it is called. It is especially characterised by the theophany, God manifesting himself to Moses in the form of the burning bush. (Most of us remember the film Ten Commandments and the dramatic impact it had on us.)

The people of Israel had been in Egypt in exile and slavery and God had delivered them through Moses. They were nearing the promised land when on Mt Horeb God intervened in a mighty way in the history of Israel.

The Ten Commandments is a call to the people of Israel to live as a chosen people, a moral community, with a shared historical memory of ancestors, exodus and the promised land and above all make God the centre of their lives as a nation as individuals.

We have all learned by heart the Ten Commandments at the Sunday school and it has become part of our religious consciousness. But most of us have looked at them as legal requirements or as merely ‘commandments’ and so in a negative way.

Looked in a positive way, the Ten Commandments are an invitation to us to centre our lives on God our creator and saviour and to lead a life of uprightness, righteousness, justice and peace. It is, in fact, the ideal road to a better life and a better world.

Today the Ten Commandments are not very popular as are many religious and moral standards. All religious norms, laws and moral requirements have fallen in disrepute. Are we living in a culture of laissez-faire, ‘anything goes’ attitude?

‘Can we turn the clock back’, we ask. What can we as Christians do in this culture of moral degradation, hedonism, profiteering, injustice and exploitation? Light at the end of the tunnel?

What is the Word of God telling us today?

Jesus simplifies the Ten Commandments with the new Commandment of Love.

The New Testament has shown us the way. Jesus gave us the Ten Commandments too. He told us: Love the Lord your God with all your heart…….but finally, he actually gave one commandment that encapsulates all: I give you a new commandment : ‘Love one another as I have loved you.’

The Church, the Kingdom of God, becomes real when we have a relationship with God through the Spirit. The Holy Spirit motivates us to keep his commands giving us an understanding of the depths of God’s love for us and for our neighbour.

In the gospel today Jesus gives us a new understanding of the Temple

Jesus manifests himself through the two public events at Cana (changing water into wine) and the cleansing of the Temple as we heard in the gospel today.

The two elements of Jesus’ behaviour at the Temple are:

The Temple: Jesus the new and real Temple (I am the true Temple): “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” (John 2.19). Jesus was referring to his own body, the sign that he would give the Jewish nation, namely his resurrection from the dead.

Worship in the temple needed to be superseded. Jesus demanded a complete reversal of the Temple – his Body – the Church. “Worship the Lord in Spirit and in Truth” (John 4.23-24) – in any place, as within the Christian community.

The community – the Church – is a place of sanctification of prayer to God.

Body (of an individual or the body of the community) seen as “temple of the Holy Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 6.19)
“Where 2 or 3 are gathered in my name I am there in their midst” (Mt 18.20 and Luke 17.2–21)

Jesus gives us a new understanding of Sacrifice: no longer only ritual, animal sacrifices: Jesus is the true sacrifice by his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead. This is what we celebrate in Holy Communion every Sunday!

To conclude:

To be a Christian is to follow Jesus the Way, the Truth and the Life.

(John 14.6)

To be a Christian is to live the Great Commandment to love God and to love our neighbour. “Love one another as I have loved you.”

Pause to pray …

A further Prayer you can say now:

Lord Jesus,
I believe you are the Son of God.
Thank you for becoming one of us.
Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins.
Thank you for rising from the dead
to give me hope and the gift of eternal life.

I repent of my sins
and invite you into heart and life
as my Lord and Saviour.
Please grant me your Holy Spirit
so that I may know you, love you
and follow you every day of my life.

Amen.

[Revd Dr ST Mattapally, Rector, Springline Parish, Diocese of Lincoln]