“A SEA TO HELP YOU SEE”

MARK 11:11-17

11  Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple; and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

12  On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry.

13  Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see whether perhaps he would find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.

14  He said to it, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again." And his disciples heard it.

15  Then they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves;

16  and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple.

17  He was teaching and saying, "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations'? But you have made it a den of robbers."

It is probably the most misquoted verses in the entire Bible.  People say it all the time. Money is the root of all evil.  That’s not what the Apostle Paul said though in the letter that he wrote to his good friend Timothy.  Do you know what the Apostle Paul actually said?  That right. What he actually said was, “The love of money is the love of money is the root of all evil.”

The Apostle Paul certainly  knew what he was talking about. All you have to do is turn the television on or open up a newspaper and you’ll see that he knew what he was talking about.  In fact, here’s a bold pronouncement for you.  Greed is destroying this country that proclaims itself to be a nation under God.  Greed is at the root of a lot of the problems that we’re dealing with these days; problems like the high price of gas, the mortgage meltdown, global warming and the great debate over illegal immigration.

Greed is everywhere.  An elderly woman found that out when she asked a Congregational minister to do a funeral service for her beloved cat Homer.  The minister was sympathetic but told the elderly woman that he didn’t do funerals for animals. He then suggested that she try the Methodist minister down the street.  The Methodist minister also refused to do the funeral service and sent the elderly woman on to the Baptist minister who in turn sent her to the priest at the local Catholic Church. Several hours later the elderly woman found herself back at the Congregational Church. “I don’t know what I’m going to do,” the elderly woman sobbed.  “All I wanted was someone to do a funeral service for my beloved Homer and here I was going to give $50,000 to the church that was willing to help me out.” The Congregational minister shook his head and gently put his hand on the elderly woman’s shoulder. “My dear lady,” he said, “why didn’t you tell me that Homer was a Congregational cat in the first place?”

Greed is everywhere.  A little over a week ago I saw that for myself while I was watching the Today Show.  I saw a man being interviewed who happened to be a billionaire.  The man was proudly showing off his incredible home and some of the 30 classic cars that he has in his garage. Imagine a garage that can hold over 30 cars!  During the story I learned something that I didn’t know before.  Back in 1985 there were 49 billionaires in this country.  Do you know how many there are today?  Today there are over 1000 billionaires in this country.  Now when you get home take your calculators out and multiply 1000 by 1 billion.  It comes to more than $1 trillion dollars; more than $ 1 trillion in the pockets of a handful of people.  No wonder I feel so poor these days.

That simple statistic makes you realize that Mahatma Gandhi was right.  He once said that God has given us enough to supply everyone’s need but not enough to supply everyone’s greed.  

Greed, by the way, was also the spark that made Jesus go ballistic that day in the Temple.  Jesus went ballistic when he saw the money changers cheating poor people out of their hard earned money. They were basically running a big scam and this is how it worked.  In order to make an offering in the Temple you had to use a special religious coin that you could only get from the money changers.  There was a catch though.  In order to get say a $1 religious coin you had to give the moneychangers $5 in Roman coins. The gouging didn’t stop their either.  The money changers also grossly overcharged people for the animals they had to buy from them to sacrifice in the Temple. All of this is why Jesus turned the tables over and cried out,  “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’?  But you have made it a den of robbers.”

Now here’s a question for you.  If Jesus wasn’t happy with the greed that he saw that day in the Temple what do you think he would say to us today?  What do you think he would say to the mortgage brokers deliberately falsified people’s income and sold them mortgages they knew they would be able to repay? What would Jesus say to the scientists who are still suggesting that the evidence on global warning isn’t conclusive?  By the way take a closer look at those scientist and you’ll see that they’re being paid by the companies that don’t want to spend big money to buy the equipment that will put less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.  What that means is those scientist are from the same school as the scientist who said for years that cigarettes don’t cause cancer.   What would Jesus say to the fund managers at UBS who sold $250 million in investments that they knew were in trouble? If that wasn’t bad enough they sold those troubled investment at the same time they were selling their shares in those investments. By the way, as a pastor, I can also tell you that I’ve seen a few families torn apart over the years; torn apart because of children fighting over who should get what after mom and dad pass away.

When you look at everything that’s going on today my guess is that Jesus wouldn’t be very happy.   My guess is that Jesus would  be turning tables over all the way from Wall Street to Main Street.  My guess is that Jesus would be turning over tables in boardrooms and dining rooms all across the country.

Jesus knew how easy it is to get caught in the clutches of greed.  Jesus will also tell you though that it isn’t all that hard to get yourself out of the clutches of greed.  All you have to do is take a short walk from the Temple where he turned over those tables to the hill where he gave his life as a ransom for many.  All you have to do is take a short walk to that hill where he showed the disciples that he meant it when he said, “Greater love hath no man than this that he lay down his life for his friends.”  All you have to do is take a short walk to that hill where you can see that God really was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself; that God really was in Christ reconciling you to Himself.

When you know in your heart of hearts that there isn’t anything in all of creation that can separate you from the love of God in Christ you begin to realize that you already have everything you need in life.  You may not have everything you want but you have everything you need. 

Only then can you begin to live out the words of a poem that appeared in McCall’s magazine back in 1928. It was written by a man named John Barton and it’s called “There Are Two Seas.”  It goes like this,

There are two seas in Palestine.

One is fresh, and fish are in it.  Splashes of green adorn its banks. 

Trees spread their branches over it and stretch out their thirsty roots to sip of its healing waters.

Along its shores the children play as children played when He was there. 

He loved it.  He could look across its silver surface when He spoke His parables. 

And on a rolling plain not far away He fed five thousand people.

The river Jordan makes this sea with sparkling water from the hills. 

So it laughs in the sunshine. 

And men build their houses near to it, birds their nests; and every living thing is happier because it is there.

The river Jordan flows on south into another sea.

Here you will find no splashing fish, no fluttering of leaf, no song of birds, no children's laughter. 

Travelers choose another route, unless on urgent business. 

The air hangs heavy above its water, and neither man nor beast nor fowl will drink.

What makes this mighty difference in these neighboring seas? 

Not the river Jordan. It empties the same good water into both. 

Not the soil in which they lie; not the country round about.

This is the difference. 

The Sea of Galilee receives but does not keep the Jordan. 

For every drop that flows into it another drop flows out. 

The giving and receiving go on in equal measure.

The other sea is shrewder and hoards its income jealously. 

It will not be tempted into any generous impulse. 

Every drop it gets, it keeps.

The Sea of Galilee gives and lives.  The other sea gives nothing.  It is named The Dead.

There are two seas in Palestine. There are two kinds of people in the world. 

Yes, there are two kinds of people in the world.  If there is any hope for this great nation it’s going to come from the people who are able to use the love of God in Christ to overcome the clutches of greed and do what they can to make sure that God’s will is doing on earth as it is in heaven.  Amen.

Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hughes

July 6, 2008