Exodus 20:1-17
God spoke all these words:
I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.
You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.
You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.
Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.
Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
1 Corinthians 1:18-30
The message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.
God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
John 2:13-22
The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After 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.
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Journalist Miles Kington once defined the difference between knowledge and wisdom this way: “Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.”
I thought about this quote last week when seven-year-old Sam was trying to trick his four-year-old sister with the question, “Hey Ellie, is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable?” so that he could show off his knowledge that a tomato is, indeed, a fruit, a fact that is utterly perplexing, and doubly-so, to a four-year-old who eats neither tomatoes nor most fruits.
Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
More broadly speaking, knowledge is having information. Wisdom is knowing what to do with it.
For instance, I’ll bet most of us have at least some knowledge of the ten commandments that we heard in our first reading today. In fact, I suspect that at least a few of us had to memorize them in Sunday School or confirmation at some point.
And for most of us, we know the ten commandments as something of a checklist for good behavior. Like, we can get to the end of each day, and pull out the list, and say, “hey, I didn’t steal my neighbor’s ox, and I didn’t even covet it today! I’m doing pretty good here, God.”
But these ten laws, and the other six hundred or so other laws that are woven into the narrative of God’s relationship with the Israelites, actually serve a much deeper purpose in the life of God’s people. God has liberated them from slavery in Egypt, he is guiding them through the wilderness, he is leading them to the promised land, and he has set them apart as his chosen people. The commandments are meant to illustrate how you live as people liberated and blessed by God.
The law is meant meant to expand human imaginations about what it looks like to live in right relationship with God and with others. The heart of the law is not found in merely knowing and keeping each commandment. The heart of the law is found in the the way it shapes you to live in the world.
And this is how you live: You love the God who saved you. And you love your neighbors whom God has also saved.
The whole of the law is summed up in love. Not a set of rules. But a rule of life. The law is not merely about knowledge. It is about wisdom.
The church at Corinth had plenty of knowledge. They knew the story of Jesus and his life, death, and resurrection. They knew that baptism was the sign of being part of the community of believers. They knew that the way of Christ brought them grace and freedom.
But there was a lot still to be figured out. Once you are part of this new community, what do you do about all of your old practices? How do you relate to the world around you? Does it matter who baptized you, Paul or another apostle? Who has power in the community of faith? How do you settle disputes? What is your obligation to fellow community members, especially those in need? If you are indeed made free in Christ, does that mean you are free to do anything you want?
Paul counters all of their quarreling by calling them back to simple truths: love as the greatest gift, the cross as the revelation of Christ’s love, the resurrection as the revelation of God’s power, humility and service as the hallmarks of the life of faith…even if these things appear weak or foolish in the eyes of the world.
Later in his letter, he will say, flat-out, “knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.”
Knowledge is having information. Wisdom is knowing what to do with it.
And the truth is that we can have all knowledge, we can speak in the tongues of humans and angels, we can all mysteries in heaven and on earth, we can dutifully give away possessions and tithe our wealth…but if we do not have love, we and the world gain nothing.
The knowledge we have about Jesus, or scripture, or church history, or systematic theology, or the church constitution…none of it matters if it does not lead us to live with love in this world.
Because the wisdom of God, which looks like foolishness to the world, is centered in devoted and sacrificial love, shown no more tragically and powerfully than in love that would rather give up its life than give up the cause.
And so maybe this is how we can make some sense of what happened there in the temple courtyard in our gospel reading today.
Because by all counts, there was nothing particularly out-of-the-ordinary happening at the temple. The ancient temple was, by design, both a place of worship and a center of economic activity. It had currency exchanges and sacrificial animals for purchase, so that even those traveling great distances for festival observances might be able to fully participate in temple and ritual life.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with this.
So why does Jesus go all Hulk-smash in our gospel, then? Why the flipped tables and the whip of cords?
Maybe it was to call the people back to basics. To call them back to the holy liberation and love that defines them. To disrupt the rules and rituals to remind all those gathered there that their actions, both sacred and profane, are summed up and grounded in love. To remind them that without this grounding in love, their sacrifices and rites and prayers are just empty displays.
And maybe Jesus wants to hit pause on everything, there at the temple, that he might be seen--really seen --for who he is as the living, breathing presence of God and God’s love among them. Love that will die but not be defeated by death. Love so powerful that even in its foolishness it puts to shame the wisdom of the world.
Maybe the one of the lessons and graces for us in our readings today is that even when so much has been flipped over around us and so much has been taken from us through this year of pandemic, and every extra trial and grief layered on top of it, we can look around the rubble and know that the love of God still stands, and that this is the one thing that won’t fall or fail or be able to be taken away from us.
And maybe, too, today’s lessons call us back again to the heart of the matter, to the guiding wisdom at the core of our faith: love for God and love for neighbor. And as we navigate so many transitions right now, between pandemic and building project and pastoral transition…and as we have to keep discerning together what our future will be, for this generation and for generations to come…and as we navigate both the ordinary and extraordinary quarrels and disagreements that are simply part of being a community together…
…we always have an unshakable foundation and calling. And when we don’t know what direction to go, we can ask whether we are loving God and loving neighbor, and these things will always keep us on track and move us forward in God’s Spirit.
Paul tells us that faith, hope, and love remain.
After the dust settles, after the noise dies down, on the far side of whatever the present chaos, there will be faith. And there will be hope. And there will be love.
And when we have nothing left of our own striving, when we have exhausted our own strength, when everything else has been brought low, there will be faith. And there will be hope. And there will be love.
Especially love.
And this, dear ones, is the eternal wisdom that will sustain us and hold us, shape us and guide us, transform us, and, by God’s grace, transform the heart of the world.
Amen.