Psalm 19 and John 2:13-22
Compassion Stands
Rev. Kathryn Ransdell
It's all about this elusive thing we call balance. At least for me. The past 2.5 months have been
an interesting experiment in finding the balance in the mix of being a working person, a parent, a friend,
a spouse, an adult daughter with a sick father.
Some of you have commented to me, "I don't know how you are doing it." And my immediate
reply is, "How are any of us really doing this thing called life?" There is not a person in this room that is
not keeping multiple balls in the air. At least I hope there's not someone in the room like this--I would
really hate to find myself not liking one of you this morning.
With balance, I believe we don't find it in any one day. But hopefully over a period of time,
with good intentions and good work, we can go to sleep at night knowing we maybe didn't do it
perfectly, but it was the best thing for me and my particular place in life.
In other words, balance cannot be evaluated by external voices. Sure, they may tell you from
their needs that you are out of balance. If Anna and Oliver even get a hint that I'm leaving, they both
cling to my legs like little animals. But like my mentor said, Working moms can't judge themselves as
parents when they miss a game or play...they can't judge how they did until the kids turn at least 25."
Only you know or feel in your soul if you are aligned with your purpose here in this world and
whether you are attending to that purpose or getting sidetracked by the bright, shiny things that come
our way.
If we realize we've lost the balance internally, we have to take a stand on behalf of our own self.
Identify the boundary that needs to be in place, and then live into it for the sake of our own soul. My
hunch is that this is probably one of the most difficult stands to take because it is about loving our self
enough to treat our own self as good as we would treat someone else.
Karen Armstrong defined this taking a stand for your own self as being Compassionate to
yourself.
Maybe it's not internal, but external...something with our children, our family, our extended
family...something comes along and we need to take a stand on their behalf. We might call this being
their advocate. Probably more socially acceptable to take a strong stand on someone else's behalf. We
look saintly to be caring for someone else.
Draw the circle wider, and it gets complicated: What does it mean to take a stand at work? or
on neighborhood issues? Or taking a stand in local politics? Economic injustices? Provincial or federal
matters?
Sometimes I wonder how to hold the balance between the realities of the world and taking a
stand, or, if maybe we have lost the balance and become a bit apathetic, possibly accepting.
And it comes down to the smallest things...like how we speak of these issues, that embodies how
we take a stand...for instance, in this church, we have a group who feels called to the ministry of the
homeless.
But that's not what they call themselves. They call themselves, "End Homelessness Now."
Their words take a stand.
As individuals connected to an inner calling that all people deserve a place to live, they come
together to find very real ways to take a stand as a group. Jesus said that he poor would always be with
us, but it doesn't mean poor people don't deserve a home.
How do we find the balance between surviving this thing called life and taking stands?
Because I believe we are called to take stands and hold boundaries. Take a look at your marble.
One unique thing about your marble is that it maintains its shape by holding its boundaries. The stand it
takes is that it will be a marble in this world. You can press against it, but you won't squash it or pop it
or cause it not to be the very essence of what it is: a marble.
But when the marble presses against something else, it holds no sharp edges; it cannot poke or jab
or stab someone in the back as it holds its boundary...
There is compassion in its spherical nature.
There is compassion in taking a stand.
So where is the compassion in today's story from the Gospel of John?
It's interesting that in the other gospels, this story comes at the end of Jesus' ministry,
leading up to his arrest and trial.
In John, this story comes at the beginning of his public ministry, setting a tone that this
person is willing to take a stand.
Here in this gospel, Jesus said they were turning his Father's house into a
marketplace.
In the other gospels, Jesus said they were turning the Temple into a den of
robbers.
If it's not a marketplace and not a den of robbers, then what is the Father's house, the Temple?
Simple: the prophet Isaiah said that God's Temple is a house of prayer.
What is prayer? Sincere, deep, communion with God.
What did this story mean for the early followers of Christ who took a stand for their faith, living in exile
in caves in fear of their lives, about 70-80 years after Jesus' death and resurrection?
1. Jesus' cleansing of the temple was a sign to them of God's prophetic action, and, it was a sign
that Jesus was the divine Son of God. ("Zeal for your house will consume me." ref. Psalm 69:9). In
other words, they weren't off-base in taking the stand they were taking; they were aligned with what
they believed to be the divine working of God.
2. For those who wanted a sign as to what authority Jesus had in cleansing the Temple, Jesus
replied, "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up." Jesus foreshadows the resurrection.
3. And because this early group of people held this story that Jesus had been raised from the
dead, it convinced them even more that the stand they were taking was the divine working of God.
What does this story mean for us a little less than 2000 years later? What in this story calls us to take a
stand?
1. I truly believe that Jesus did not give us this story so that generations later we could use it to
define what can and cannot happen in what we call a Sanctuary, especially when it comes to legalistic
issues like coffee, children, etc. If we don't want these things because we don't want wear and tear on
our furniture, then let's just say that. But don't use this Scripture as a justification for including or not
including food; children; pets; in the space where we worship. Because unlike the Temple Jesus referred
to, if this building fell down, it would not be rebuilt in 3 days. And guess what, even then, we would
still be a church.
2. If we think back to 1st century Judaism, we know there were 4 sects: Pharisees, Saducees,
Essense and Zealots. The Zealots were just that...full of zeal. They were strongly convinced that
Judaism needed to resort to military action against the Roman Empire. Again, though, this kind of
reaction is what I call the sharp edge...it is meant to hurt the other.
3. A Psalm is quoted in this morning's text: Psalm 69:9....Passion for your house has consumed
me.... A theologian whose first name starts with a "J" and last name starts with a "W" defined zeal, as
used in today's passage as this: "Zeal - That fervent love which I have for thy house and service, and
glory, and people."
I believe this story calls us to take a stand for God's house, to take a stand in the service of God, to take
a stand for the glory of God, and for goodness sake, to take a stand for God's people.
So how do we do this? It's not easy. If we could interview Jesus about the experience, he would
probably tell us:
1. 1/2 of the people will cheer you on.
2. 1/2 of the people will ask who do you think you are?
3. And only time will tell whether you got it right or wrong in taking your stand.
And that's okay. I think when my life is over, I would rather be known for taking a stand and getting it
wrong rather than watching it all pass me by.
But I want to go back to this image of a marble...the individual...you. Here you are, taking your stand in
the life of this Christian community. It's a stand for you to even be here to say that faith matters so I
will spend some of my time each week with others who believe.
And you put all these marbles together, inside one container, and there's something interesting to notice:
The marbles maintain their marbleness even when pressed against one another; and even when pressed
against each other, they don't absorb or stab the other...each marble holds its boundary and the
gentleness of the sphere allows us to bump against one another and not stab the other. And, even when
the marbles are all pressed together, there's still space in-between.
That space is called grace.
Grace, given to us by God, freely, before we ask, --grace balances us.
As much as we have been absorbed in this conversation about Compassion...about our need to cultivate
it, if we could only try harder to be more compassionate towards others, that we can't forget that before
we cultivate an ounce of compassion, God has given us a pound of grace.
In this morning's Psalm, there is a list of 6 words that describe the things that God has given us through
the law, decrees, precepts, commandments, awe and ordinances...
* The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul;
* the decrees of the Lord are sure, making wise the simple;
* the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;
* the commandment of the Lord is clear, enlightening the eyes;
* the awe of the Lord is pure, enduring forever;
* the ordinances of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
If these things burn strong in us, then my guess is that with a whole lotta grace, we will take stands and,
we will find the balance.
Thanks be to God.
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