David Bahn – Reflections

John 2:12-25

The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. ¹⁵ And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. ¹⁶ And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” ¹⁷ His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

¹⁸ So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” ¹⁹ Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” ²⁰ The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” ²¹ But he was speaking about the temple of his body. ²² When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

²³ Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. ²⁴ But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people ²⁵ and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) elected an openly homosexual person as a Bishop on June 3.

The parallel between this recent action on the part of the ELCA and the money changers in the temple is greater than one might imagine. For the issue is the defense of an action or lifestyle that is not pleasing to God. The people of Jesus’ day were committed to their practice of selling animals and changing money in the temple as a proper means of serving God. The people of the ELCA who elected this bishop are committed to the support of openly homosexual persons as having full privilege and place in the church. Jesus overturned the tables of the money changers in the temple. I wonder what will come of the ELCA church leaders. Members, pastors, and entire congregations have left the ELCA since its 2009 decision to lift its ban on openly homosexual clergy.

From a CNN blog post reporting the most recent move:

The ELCA lifted its ban on openly gay, partnered clergy in 2009, clearing the way for pastors like Erwin, but angering conservatives. By some estimates, some 600 congregations have since left the ELCA for more conservative churches.

The Rev. W. Stevens Shipman, director of the Lutheran Coalition for Renewal, said the ELCA is not keeping promises it made in 2009 to respect the views of churches and individuals who regard homosexuality as a sin.

“The promise was also made publicly that no congregation would be required to call a pastor in a same-sex partnership,” Shipman said, “but now an entire synod has been forced to live under the authority of a bishop who is in such a relationship.”

Sadly, this should not surprise us. Sinful self-righteous action did not surprise Jesus. It angered him. It saddened him. It moved him to extraordinary action, but it did not surprise him. John tells us that Jesus did not entrust himself to man, for he knew what was in man (v. 24-25). John doesn’t name it, but the implication is clear: man is corrupted by sin. Our hearts are evil. That’s why Jesus came: to seek and save lost, corrupted, sinful, broken, and deceived people.

The question is this: are you one of those for whom he came? Are you willing to admit your own sinfulness and lostness? While we cannot judge the hearts and motives of those in the ELCA, we can make this clear: the issue is not just the sin. The issue is seeking to normalize a sinful lifestyle and claiming that homosexual behavior is not a sin.

It should not surprise us when the church shows its corrupt nature in actions such as this; we are a hospital for sinners after all. But people are not cured of any disease by defining it as health. The move to normalize homosexuality should make us deeply sad, and righteously angry. Our recourse should always be that of prayer. Jesus says here, “My house shall be a house of prayer.” And he teaches us to pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth – as it is in heaven.”