David Bahn – Reflections

A fellow pastor friend of mine had a revelation of sorts a couple of years ago. He began to wonder what he would do next in order to get people to come to church. With more and more sophistication in the tastes and expectations of the religious consumer, and the friendly competition of nearby mega-churches (with thousands in worship on a Sunday), he was feeling a squeeze. “What was I going to do? Bring elephants into the church next Sunday?!?” Hardly. But people are drawn to a circus.

Matthew 12:38-42

³⁸Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” ³⁹But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. ⁴⁰For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. ⁴¹ The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. ⁴² The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.

The issue here isn’t exactly the same, but it is close. The scribes and Pharisees were demanding a sign from Jesus – evidence of his authority and a means of legitimizing himself and his ministry. Jesus, of course, refuses. But he does more: he tells them, in effect, that they are evil and adulterous! He’s not saying that they are sexually immoral, but that they were unfaithful to God. They had wandered from the path of true faith. What’s more, they would be given a sign – but it would be the sign of his death, burial and resurrection.

But the exclamation point of Jesus’ words here is the simple assertion that, “something greater than Solomon” was there. The point for us is that when we do gather for worship the main thing is that Jesus is present: not elephants, bells and whistles, or other trappings of excitement. He tells us that where two or three are gathered in his name he is present in their midst.

I subscribe to the 11th commandment about worship and preaching, “Thou shalt not bore!” But the first commandment should shape our worship life: “You shall have no other gods.” And that’s the legitimate and on-going challenge for us all. We can so easily get distracted or ill-focused in our pursuit of holiness. In fact the Son of Man has come to redeem us. He has died and risen from the grave. His salvation is what we celebrate each week – or at least it surely ought to be!

What’s more, there is also the matter of what really ought to be on our radar: How to get out of the pews and into the world with the message of the Kingdom. Jesus invites us out of our comfort zones and into the lives of others because we have received life and grace and salvation from him. No circus elephants – just people who have learned of God’s love, who are connected through Christ and who are taking his love into the world.