Dunbar UCC
March 15, 2009

Exodus 20:1-6
John 2:13-16
One, many

  1. Last Tuesday I did my worship service at Davenport Dunbar and six women attended, which is a big turnout for that place. I asked them:  “Why were those readings in the lectionary for this week?  Do they have anything in common? Betty said:  “Yes, the First Commandment tells us not to make idols but to worship only God.  And the gospel says people broke that commandment and made money their god.  Money is our god.”
  2. The Hartford Currant last Friday showed Bernie Madoff led to jail after stealing 50 -- 65 billion dollars from people and pension funds and charities.  People in their 70’s can’t retire now because he took their savings. So here are the headlines of a man and his family and associates who made money their god. But on a smaller scale we all make idols --  money,  a political party, a person, comfort, security....
  3. A cartoon in the Courant showed Rush Limbaugh on a throne that looked like an altar, with his name in big letters over him -- the way we display the cross here. A man on his knees bowed in front of him.  Two people saw this and one said to the other:  “....Just so long as they don’t impose their religion on the rest of us.”  We make other people our god.  So we end up with many gods, many idols.  The real God  says: “Feed the poor,” and the idols say, “Let the poor buy their own food!”  God says, “Heal the sick,” and the idols say, “Heal the sick only if they pay.”  God says, “Love your enemies.” The idols say, “Kill, torture, destroy your enemies!” Sometimes we follow the idols, and not God.
  4. Money is probably the biggest idol.  Jesus went in the Temple and it was like the floor of the New York Stock Exchange -- traders saying:  “I’ve got an ox here -- healthy -- no blemish! Sacrifice this, and God will cancel your sins.”  Someone said, “A thousand dollars for the ox!”  Another yelled, “One thousand five hundred!”
  5. Jesus drove all the animals and merchants from the Temple. “Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” he yelled.  But no one listened.  The priests called 911 and Jesus was arrested.  The merchants brought their business back to the Temple.  To get the people to return, they offered a special “Sin-reduction” sale, two chickens for the price of one, two sins forgiven for every dollar spent.  People flocked back to the temple. I think the market rose 500 points that day.