No Secret is Hid

For the three years that I lived in Houston after graduate school working for Exxon I was a parishioner at Christ Church Cathedral. Christ Church Cathedral is a downtown parish, surrounded by the streets and sidewalks of downtown Houston. Which is to say that among the many people who are the life of that parish community, the men and women of the downtown streets and sidewalks are among them. There is a story that has passed into legend within the Cathedral community. At this point I don’t know if it is true, or if I remember it accurately, but it doesn’t really matter.

One Sunday morning as the 9:00 family service was already in full swing a woman walked in through the great wooden doors of the Cathedral. She was wearing an assortment of very brightly colored clothing, and I think it’s fair to say she was probably not the original purchaser of any of it. Evidently, the lime green stretch pants were particularly striking. As she walked down the main aisle of the church she proclaimed, “I am Jesus. Listen to me. I am Jesus.” As everyone present wondered how to respond, one of the Cathedral clergy whispered to the Dean, “What if she is Jesus?” And the Dean replied, “Look busy.”

There is a lot for us to ponder in this story. One thing to consider is how difficult it may be to imagine that a homeless person with poor fashion sense might be God incarnate. For some of you, it may be particularly difficult to imagine that God would ever be embodied as a woman, homeless or otherwise. Then there is the awkward recognition that Jesus’ arrival could be perceived as an unwelcome interruption to our carefully ordered worship. And the conversation between the two clergy challenges us all to consider the question: If you knew Jesus had just arrived and was looking over your shoulder, what would you go about doing? The clergy, presumably, should at least appear busy leading worship.

Today’s Gospel story is a familiar one, usually called Jesus’ cleansing of the temple. John places this incident at the very beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. The synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke place it as one of the final acts of Jesus’ earthly ministry as the events of Holy Week are just beginning to unfold. Regardless of when it took place, in all the accounts Jesus comes into the temple courtyard in Jerusalem and drives out the merchants who were selling animals for temple sacrifice and overturns the tables of the moneychangers. It’s not clear today exactly what the merchants and moneychangers were doing wrong… selling animals for use in temple sacrifice and exchanging Roman coinage for the coins of the temple were accepted parts of temple rituals. But it is clear that on that day the Son of God saw their activities as contrary to the sanctity and purpose of the House of God. Whether they were swindling their customers or had set up shop in areas that should have been reserved for worship or were doing something else inappropriate… whatever it was, they were defacing the temple as holy, and Jesus in his zeal cleansed his Father’s house.

Whatever unholy things they were doing, I think we can also assume that none of the merchants or moneychangers expected the Son of God to show up that day. Whatever they were doing that was sinful or selfish or exploitive, they didn’t expect to get caught or called out. Jesus arrived on the scene unannounced.

If Jesus showed up unannounced in your life, what would he find you doing?

I can think of all sorts of situations in our modern, “regular” lives that might be analogous to this morning’s Gospel story. For example: Lots of institutions like schools and hospitals must be accredited by some oversight agency. I do know that in many cases the accreditation process is messed up, but I’ve always been struck by how these institutions struggle and sweat and work for months before an accreditation visit to prepare for that visit. Shouldn’t they be meeting those accreditation standards all of the time? If you’re operating the way you should be operating, you should be ready for a planned visit or a surprise visit at any time.

Jesus made an unannounced accreditation visit to the temple in today’s Gospel story. The moneychangers and dove sellers in today’s Gospel reading didn’t have the time or opportunity to prepare or get their house in order. Like the recipients of a random drug test. Or the owners of a restaurant receiving a surprise visit from the county health inspectors.

If Jesus showed up unannounced in your life, how would he find the status of your Christian living?

The Scriptures have other examples reminding us that we do not know when Jesus is coming. From Matthew: “Keep awake therefore for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming… you must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.” What will Jesus find you doing if he shows up at an unexpected hour? What book will you rush to hide under the covers? What computer screen will you quickly minimize? What conversation will you hush? What activity will you stammer to excuse or justify? How much of your life is spent in thoughts and actions that you would not really want Jesus to see?

The passage I just quoted from Matthew comes from an apocalyptic portion of the Gospel. It is referring to the end of time, the final judgment. We do not know when that end time will come. (Be skeptical of anyone who says he does know.) It would undoubtedly be good for all of us to be a bit more mindful of that final day in our daily living.

But, much more importantly, we need to remember that the risen Christ is with us all the time, not just at the end of time. Jesus is with us all the time. Every Sunday we pray the so-called Collect for Purity: “Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known and from you no secrets are hid.” That’s the beginning of the collect, the part of a collect where we affirm something about God. The intercession part comes later. In this collect we pray that God will cleanse our hearts… cleanse the temple of our hearts. But in the first part of this collect, we are not praying or hoping that our lives will be known to God; we are stating that they are. “Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires are known and from you no secrets are hid.” All that we do, all that we desire and feel, is known to God. Nothing is or can be hidden. Jesus doesn’t pay surprise visits; Jesus is always with us.

Jesus is always with us. In times of need or pain or uncertainty we pray that we will be aware of his never-failing presence. His presence never fails; we pray that we will recognize that presence. We pray that we will find comfort and guidance in his ever-abiding presence with us. But Jesus does not just make house calls in times of need or at our request. Jesus is with us all the time. His presence is indeed never-failing, abiding. What would it mean to really live with that awareness?

Jesus is never absent. What would it mean to really live with the awareness that nothing in our lives can be hidden from God?

First, knowing that Jesus is constantly with us, we might be more mindful of seeking God’s will and following God’s commandments. We might try harder on a daily basis to live lives worthy of our calling as God’s children.

Second, we might spend more time in repentance, taking seriously our many and inevitable sins, lamenting things done and left undone in which we cheapened God’s grace in our lives. Lent reminds us of the need all Christians have to continually renew our repentance and faith.

Third, living with the awareness that nothing in our lives is hidden from God, we might pray more. Today’s collect reminds us that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves. We cannot even attempt to live godly lives without God’s help. There is another collect we pray every year on a Sunday in mid September. I have remembered it clearly ever since it showed up as the collect for the very first Sunday I was in seminary. “O God, because without you we are not able to please you, mercifully grant that your Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts…” God, without your help we are not able to please you. Grant that your Holy Spirit may direct and rule our hearts. Pray constantly for God’s help and direction.

Finally, what would it be like to really live with the awareness that nothing in our lives is hidden from God? To truly know that God’s presence with us is never-failing? It would be glorious. The more we seek to live constantly as God’s children in the world, the more we will know God’s loving care with us all of the time. The more we repent, the more we will experience the limitless abundance of God’s forgiveness. The more we pray for God’s help and guidance, the more the Holy Spirit will bring freedom and cleansing for our souls. To live with the constant awareness that Jesus is always with us would be glorious.